The Irish Establishment and Tangier garrison in 1682

The internet, or more specifically online archives, is like a box of chocolates as you never know what you will find. The Calendar of Treasury Books is like one of those boxes: lots and lots of letters, memos, notes, snippets on all kinds financial. Sometimes the information is quite detailed (someone requesting reimbursement for something he paid for at this and that period in time), sometimes you will find complete lists of half-pay officers.

Volume 7 of this CTB, covering the years 1681-85, gives us details on the Establishment of Ireland, Civil and Military, starting on Christmas 1682. It is found under Entry Book: March 1683. For example for the Civil List: the Earl of Burlington, who was Lord Treasurer, received 336£ a year, whereas the keeper of the records in Birmingham Tower had to do with 10£ a year. All together, this Civil List required a little over 23,335£ a year.

The military forces kept in Ireland requested, however, six times that amount: 167,113£ per year. The Master of the Ordance earned a comfortable 453£ 9s, the colonel of the Royal Regiment of Guards was good for 201£ 12s. A private soldier in one of the 74 foot companies had to do with a modest 6d a day, or 8£ 8s per year.

The whole military establishment for Ireland comprised one troop of horse guards of 100 men, twenty-four troops of horse, each of 45 men. There was company of foot guards, armed and clad as the Yeomen of the Guard in England, a regiment of foot guards, with 12 strong companies, of over 1,100 men in total. The Scotch Regiment, the future Royal Scots, was also in Ireland with twenty-one companies, each 50 men strong. The backbone, probably, was formed by 74 companies of foot, each consisting of 60 privates.

The amounts in this overview are given as being per month, and a -- financial -- month seems to have numbered 28 days.

Interesting on this document is the inclusion of the Tangier Garrison, which was paid for from the Irish Treasury, apparently! We find two regiments of foot, each consisting of sixteen companies of 50 privates each, and four troops of horse, each of 25 privates. These regiments are of course the Tangier and 2nd Tangier Regiments, better known in our era as the Queen's Royal Regiment and King's Own Royal Regiment. I may have overlooked this in literature, but this piece of information tells somehow that these regiments were on the Irish Establishment whilst in Tangier. As an aside, though the Scotch Regiment is listed under the troops in Ireland, sixteen companies were actually serving in Tangier between 1680 and 1684.

The Governor of Tangier received a nice income of 1,500£ per year! A colonel of foot had to do with 219£ a year, and a humble private with 4£ 11s 3d, i.e. 3d a day. A little algebra tells that the yearly income of a private was about what the governor received in just one day. Though his stay in Tangier was a kind of all-inclusive -- victualling was taken care of and trips for a meet-n-greet with the locals were also scheduled -- a memorandum informs us that clothing, and other necessaries, were to be paid from that 3d. Despite this meagre income for the private soldiers, the Tangier Garrison still cost about 42,338£ per year.

Origins of the Queen's Royal Regiment

The website of the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment is one of the better and more extensive regimental websites. A great deal of the website is devoted to the history of the regiment, and provides a good basis to compile a lineage of the Tangier Regiment, which would later became the 2nd Regiment of Foot and eventually, in 1881, the Queen's Royal Regiment, the county regiment for West Surrey.

The origin of this regiment is found in a variety of regiments with a most varying pedigree:
1. the original Tangier Regiment was raised in 1661 in England after the restoration and was intended to garrison Tangier.
2. former Parliamentary regiments. These regiments were raised in 1657 for service in Flanders alongside France in France's with Spain. Three regiments would eventually merge into the Tangier Regiment mentioned above: the regiments from Lord Rutherford (the later Earl of Teviot), Sir Robert Harley, and Roger Alsop (but in 1661 Viscount Falkland may be colonel). By 1663 these four regiments (the original Tangier Regiment and the three ex-Parliamentary regiments) had merged into one English regiment. In 1668 it would merge with the former Irish regiment at Tangier (see next) as a single regiment.
3. former Royalist Irish regiments. These regiments were raised in the 1650s from Irish regiments already in foreign service (the author has not been able yet to find more on this), which joined Charles II army in the late 1650s. This army would serve alongside Spain. Two of these regiments would go to Tangier in late 1661: the regiments of Lewis Farrell and John Fitzgerald. In 1663 these two merged into one Irish regiment. In 1668 the regiment merged with the English regiment at Tangier (see above).

From the above it become clear that no less than six regiments contributed to the pedigree of the Tangier Regiment of 1668, which would become famous as the Queen's Royal Regiment.

Emergency regiments 1671 and 1680

While reading Knight's excellent Historical Records of the Buffs the author came across several temporary battalions, or emergency regiments, formed from drafts of existing regiments.

One of these emergency regiments was formed in April 1671. Since a new war with the Dutch Republic was eminent, and the ill-preparedness of 1667 when the Dutch were actually masters of the English waters, it was decided to form a regiment to guard the Medway. It was under command of William Rolleston from the 1st Regiment of Guards (the later Grenadier Guards), and was composed of twelve companies: four from the 1st Regiment of Guards, four from the Admiral's Regiment, three from the Holland Regiment, and one was originally an independent garrison company. As Rolleston fell ill around May 1672, he was succeeded by Sir John Atkins. It appears that the regiment was broken up in 1674.

A second emergency regiment was formed 31 May 1680 for service in Tangier. The situation was quite bad there for the British, and a large force was sent from England as reinforcements. Amongst these said regiment, composed of five companies and under command of Edward Sackville. The regiment was formed by taking 10 men from each company in each regiment in England, i.e., the 1st Foot Guards, the Coldstream Regiment of Guards, the Duke of York's Regiment, and the Holland Regiment. It was dubbed the King's Battalion and took precedence of the forces in Tangier.
(The drafts from the future Royal Scots would rank next, and the regiment formed from the garrison of Tangier, the future Queen's Royal Regiment, would take rank after the Scots.)
The battalion returned to England in April 1684 and was broken up with men returning to their former regiments.