Capture of Dixmuide en Deinze 1695, pt. II

This blog reported earlier on the capture of Dixmuide and Deinze by the French in July 1695. In July 1695, in order to divert the Confederates from their siege of Namur, the French undertook operations against the towns of Dixmuide and Deinze. They did not succeed in raising the siege, but captured both towns nevertheless. With the capture of these town, the complete garrisons of 10 battalions (regiments) of infantry and one regiment of dragoons went into captivity.

The identity of most of these eleven regiments can be established without too much effort: the English and Scots regiments, and one Dutch at Deinze, are mentioned as such in several sources. The problem lies with the other regiments at Dixmuide. Besides the two English and two Scots regiments, there were four more regiments. Some sources make reference to two each of Dutch and German regiments, others mention Dutch and Danish. Two of these four can be found without too much work as well: one Dutch regiment in English pay, and a Danish regiment in English pay. The colonel of this last regiment, Elnberger, was also governor of Dixmuide and was beheaded for surrendering to the French without any serious attempt to defend the town.

Of the remaining two regiments, the previous blog report makes mention of one Dutch regiment and a regiment from Wolfenbüttel. Though the latter is correct, the former was actually a Brandenburg regiment in Dutch service. We are talking here about the regiment Jung-Holstein. The Wolfenbüttel regiment, in the previous blog said to be Regiment Holle. Holle died in 1693, however, and contemporary sources referred to the regiment as Regiment Schack; Schack may have been the successor.

This missing piece of information comes from a letter from the Duke of Württemberg to Antonie Heinsius, the Dutch Raadspensionaris, dated 17 August 1695. This letter details the 'l'infame reduction' of Deinze and Dixmuide, and loss of ten battalions and one regiment of dragoons. It also informs us on the French bombardment of Brussels: 4000 bombs in 36 hours.
The letter can be found in the second part of Het Archief van den Raadspensionaris Antonie Heinsius, page 101, found in full on Google Books.

So, taken into captivity were two English regiments of foot, three Scots regiments, two Dutch regiments, one Danish, one Brandenburg, and one Wolfenbüttel, and one English regiment of dragoons.

Reduced officers in 1699 ~~ preview

A sneak preview of what is currently under preparation. Please check the site of Drenth Publishing for more information.

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.

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

Keeping track of accounts

Working with a non-decimal system can be problematic and confusing. This might be the case when one tries to study financial topics during the early 18th century. In those days, a English pound was divided into 20 shillings, and each shilling numbered 12 pence.

Two tools were created to ease working with this non-decimal system. One is designed to convert a daily payment into its yearly equivalent. In documents on, for example, half-pay officers, the sums paid to these officers is given in daily or  yearly sums. The second tool is a simple calculator, to enable addition and subtraction.

The tools can be found at http://drenthpublishing.nl/research.html.

The pity of war

The Calendar of Treasury Books are a real goldmine for all kinds of detail on regiments, their movements, payments due to regiments, etc etc. One will also find many details related to individuals. Sometimes in the form of a petition, when officers from a regiment reduced long ago demanded payment of arrears. In this post the example of a pension granted to a captain who had to leave active service because of illness. This captain had to wait, and suffer, for more than four years for his pension, because of some mistake in the bureaucratic machinery.

Royal warrant dated St. James's [to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland] to insert on the list of French pensioners on the Establishment of Ireland the name of Moses Caries with 3s. a day pension as from Sept. 29 last, he having been Capt. of a Company in the late Foot Regiment of Col. Charles Dubourgay, and being by sickness and other infirmities contracted in the service rendered unable to repair to his post in Spain, whereupon the late Queen granted him a pension of 3s. a day on the Establishment of Ireland in lieu of his Company, but the said Queen's warrant for that purpose to the Marquess of Wharton, then Lieutenant General of Ireland, being by mistake countersigned by Robert Walpole, then Secretary at War, whereby said Caries could never obtain any benefit of the said pension, whereby he has been there 4½ years in a starving condition, being now bedridden and almost blind. Out Letters (Ireland) IX, p. 622.

This makes one wonder about the fate to ordinary soldiers, who had fallen ill during service. (Excerpt taken from Warrant Books, February 1715, Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 29.)

new book: Marlborough: Soldier and Diplomat

The author was recently notified on a new publication on the Duke of Marlborough: Marlborough: Soldier and Diplomat. Other than previous publications, in which Marlborough is typically seen by, through and for British perspective, this publication places Marlborough in a much wider, European, context. A dozen specialists have written on the Duke, each from a different perspective.

The book is edited by John B. Hattendorf, Augustus J. Veenendaal, and Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier. Contributing authors include David Onnekink from the Netherlands, John Hattendorf, Jamel Ostwald, and John Stapleton from the United States, and Alan Guy and Tony Claydon from the United Kingdom.

The book is published by Karwansaray Publishers, and more information on the book is found here. Judging from the topics covered, the book looks like a 'must-read' and one will eventually find its way to the author's library.