The Scottish brigade in the service of the Dutch Republic, 1689 to 1782

A rather wild search on the WWW returned a rather nice article from the hand of professor John Childs on the Scots (Scottish) brigade in service of the Dutch Republic during the 18th Century. The article is of additional interest as it gives sufficient introductory and contextual details on the genesis of the brigade.
The article can be found under the following link: 
http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_doc003198401_01/_doc003198401_01_0004.php

the Prince of Orange's march on London in 1688

In the September 1966 edition of the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (this being volume XLIV, number 179) an article was published on the march of William of Orange to London. The article details the names of regiments and places where they were billeted from the day after the invasion at Brixham on 15 November (N.S.) up to and including 28 December when the army had reached London. It is based on a manuscript that had belonged to William Blathwayt (Secretary of War under Charles II, James II, William III and Anne) and was edited and annotated by the Marquess of Cambridge.

A map has been created to visualize the route followed by several regiments in the army of the Prince of Orange, as this will tell much more than thousand words. For the Garde du Corps and the Gardes te Voet the complete route is given from the invasion beach near Brixham to London. The route of the Garde Dragonders is picked up mid December, when the army passed Salisbury. Finally, the stations of the Scots Brigade are added for the last week.



Please contact the author for a pdf version of the map.

Colonel Lillingston of the future Warwickshire Regiment

Anyone with a some knowledge of the older regiments of the British Army will know that several regiments started life in service of a foreign power. Famous are of course The Royal Scots in service of France between 1633 and 1678 (except a few years in England), and The Buffs which originate from regiments formerly in service of the Dutch Republic. Others are the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers which were both formed late 1674 for Dutch service. This post will discuss this latter regiment, and one of its first colonels in particular.

The regiment was apparently formed 12 December 1673 in England as a volunteer regiment for Dutch service, under command of Sir Walter Vane. Sir Walter was colonel of a regiment raised in 1667, and hold colonelcy of the Holland Regiment (the future Buffs) between 1668 and 1673. He was killed at the Battle of Seneffe 11 August 1674 and was succeeded by colonel Lillingston.

English sources (Dalton's English Army Lists and Commission Registers, or succession of colonels as found in Army Lists) claim this was Luke Lillingston, the same Lillingston that would raise a regiment in 1705 (eventually becoming the 38th Foot). On the other hand, Dutch sources claim it was a Henry Lillingston that commanded this English regiment in Dutch service. This Henry Lillingston commanded a Cromwellian regiment raised in the late 1650s to serve in Flanders on the French side (during the Franco-Spanish War; Royalist (English) regiments fought on the Spanish side). This claim is supported by C. H. Firth in his article Royalist and Cromwellian Armies in Flanders, 1657-1662 (Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 17, pp. 67-119 (1903)). Firth assumes that Luke was a son of Henry Lillingston, and that Luke served as a junior officer in his father's regiment in 1675. This is supported by an article in De Nederlandsche Leeuw of 1944, (the magazine of the Dutch society for genealogical and arms studies) stating that Luke Lillingston became captain on 19 January 1676, and that he was probably a son of Henry Lillingston who commanded an English regiment entering Dutch service in 1674-75.
Furthermore, a note to Henry Lillingston's commission in Het Staatsche Leger, volume 6, page 255 states he relinquished his command in 1676, and that prince William III awarded him a lifelong pension.

In addition, Luke Lillingston appears as an ensign in the Earl of Mulgrave's Regiment in January 1673. The same regiment in which Henry was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel. This regiment was disbanded in 1674, and it is likely that many officers sought employment on the continent. Luke being an ensign in 1673 makes is not very likely that he became colonel in 1674/75.

Combining all this it appears more likely that it was Henry Lillingston who commanded the English regiment in Dutch service in 1674-75, and not Luke Lillingston as found in many English sources, most notably in histories of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. (This, unless there was another Luke Lillingston not identified yet.)

Addendum: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contains an entry on Luke Lillingston written by John Childs. This article by Childs confirms the above.

Precedence - commentaries on the 1694 Warrant

With some comments on the previous post on the 1694 Warrant on precedence in mind, the author thought it necessary to publish a supporting article with additional comments and remarks.

In the said warrant the Queen's Regt of Foot is mentioned, after which the three English Regt's previously serving in Holland should take precedence. As there were various regiments known as the Queen's Regt, or some other form, in the late 17th century, this may give rise to confusion.

The Queen's Regiment mentioned here is what would later become the 4th (the King's Own) Regiment of Foot, and eventually the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). Raised on 13 July 1680 as the 2nd Tangier Regiment, it was named in 1684 after the future Queen Mary (of Modena), the wife of the duke of York and Albany, the future James II. In 1688 the regiment was renamed as the Queen's Consort's after Queen Mary II, consort of William III. It appears from literature that the designation Consort was omitted; see, e.g., the regiment's historical record by Richard Cannon. In 1702 it was renamed the Queen's Regiment. This changed to Queen's Own Regiment later, probably to avoid confusion with the other Queen's Regiment, the future King's Regiment.

The other regiment in 1694 with Queen in its title was the Queen Dowager's Regiment, named after Queen Catherine, widow of Charles II. This regiment was raised in 1661 as the Tangier Regiment. The title "Royal" was conferred upon the regiment in 1703 for gallant duty in Flanders. It is unclear whether the regiment was redesignated the Queen's Royal in 1705, after the demise of the late Queen Catherine, or that this happened later (see, e.g., the regimental timeline on the Queen's Royal Surrey's website).

Now to the three English Regiments from Holland. These three regiments were part of the Anglo - Dutch Brigade, which additionally contained three Scots Regiments. The English regiments all date from 1674, when, after the Treaty of Westminster, England was opened again as recruiting ground for the Dutch. (In 1665 the English regiments in Dutch service were recalled; see the Holland Regiment for information on this.) Actually one regiment was known as the Irish Regiment, but that was omitted in 1675.

In 1674/75 the regiments were:
Viscount Clare's, this being Daniel O'Brien, the 3rd viscount
Henry Lillingston's, being most likely the father of the later Luke Lillingston. Often these two are confused.
William Molyneux - Disney's

In 1685 the regiments were recalled to England by James II because of Monmouth's rebellion, and were placed on the English establishment for the period 5 June - 3 August. In November 1688 the regiments would return with William of Orange's invasion force, and be placed on the English establishment subsequently. In 1688 the regiments were known as:
Thomas Tollemache's
Philip Babbignton's
John Cutt's

Only the first two regiments would be retained after the Treaty of Rijswijk in 1697, and would become known as the 5th Regiment of Foot and 6th Regiment of Foot, respectively, and much later as the Northumberland Fusiliers and Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
As has been illustrated, the third regiment was disbanded, despite attempts saving it by placing the regiment on the Naval establishment. The reason for this is unclear, as the regiment held precedence over several regiments that were retained.

Finally the author want to point at a possible writing error in the document in the previous post: it says that in 1668 the earl of Ossory made a capitulation of the regiments in Holland. However, the earl of Ossory assumed command of the Anglo - Dutch Brigade in 1678. So probably it should be 1678 and not 1668.

Marine regiments -- an Anglo - Dutch connection

First of all: happy 2010 and all best wishes!!

In a series of future articles it is the intention to discuss the various regiments of marines in the British Army during the reign of the Stuarts. The Royal Marines date from 1755, and before that time it was customary that army regiments were re-roled as marines and were operating aboard ships. Especially in times of war, like the Anglo - Dutch Wars, an increase of marine regiments is observed. Though these regiments remained part of the army, they were paid for by the naval treasury.

The subject of this first article is a regiment of the famous Anglo - Dutch Brigade that became a marine regiment in 1698. This was William Seymour's Regiment of Foot, which was formed in 1674 and of which Seymour became colonel on 3 October 1694. This regiment was converted to marines 1 August 1698 during the great disbandment after the Nine Years' War, and the debate on the size of the standing army to be retained. This regiment, together with several other foot regiments, was converted to marines, and thus placed on the Navy Establishment, in order to save it from disbandment. However, this could not save the regiment and it was disbanded anyway on 20 May 1699.

Since this regiment did not survive into the 20th Century like the other two regiments of the Anglo - Dutch Brigade (the future Northumberland Fusiliers and Warwickshire Regiment), its early history is better studied from Dutch sources than English. For example, Dalton does not provide a clear lineage.

The regiment was raised in 1674 at Bois-le-Duc from English troops in Dutch service and designated as the 2nd English Regiment. It's first colonel was William Molyneux - Disney whose commission dates from 1 January 1675. Following colonels were: Ralph Widdrington (or Roger Warington) on 1 January 1676, Thomas Dolman (see also the Holland Regiment) 1 August 1676. Later that year William MacDowell succeeded him. On 31 January 1678 Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory, became colonel of the regiment and commander of all English regiments in Dutch service. After his death in 1680 Alexander Canan (or Canon, Cannon) became colonel on 30 July 1680. In 1689 Canan would command some Jacobite forces in Scotland. In 1685 Thomas Herbert, the 8th Earl of Pembroke and 5th Earl of Montgomery, succeeded Canan. On 17 April 1688 the colonelcy was bestowed on Henry Sydney, the future 1st Earl of Romney, and John Cutts was given command as colonel-commandant. The regiment, however, became known as Cutt's Regiment and is designated as such in, e.g., the calendar of state papers domestic from early 1689 on.

As stated above, William Seymour became colonel in 1694, until the regiment's disbandment in 1699. Later Seymour would be colonel of the future 24th Regiment of Foot (1701 - 02) and future 4th Regiment of Foot (1702 - 17). This latter regiment was converted into a marine regiment in 1703, and in 1702 Seymour was appointed as Brigadier-General of the Marine Forces.