The Devonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that served under various titles and served in many wars and conflicts from 1685 to 1958, such as the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War. In 1958 the regiment was amalgamated with the Dorset Regiment to form the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment which, in 2007, was amalgamated with the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, the Royal Green Jackets and The Light Infantry to form a new large regiment, The Rifles.
History Formation
In June 1667 Henry Somerset, Marquess of Worcester, was granted a commission to raise a regiment of foot, The Marquess of Worcester's Regiment of Foot. The regiment remained in existence for only a few months and was disbanded in the same year. It was re-raised in January 1673 and again disbanded in 1674. In 1682, Henry Somerset was created Duke of Beaufort, and in 1685 he was again commissioned to raise a regiment, The Duke of Beaufort's Regiment of Foot, or Beaufort Musketeers, to defend Bristol against the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion.
Early years
The regiment was not required to fight at the time of its formation since the Duke of Monmouth was drawn away from Bristol. Its first action came in Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690Cannon, p. 16 and the siege of Limerick in August 1691 when it fought for William III against the Irish Army of the deposed James II.Cannon, p. 18 It joined the armies of the Duke of Marlborough in Holland in the War of Spanish Succession in 1703, and also fought in the Iberian Campaign, being captured by the French at Portalegre in 1704Cannon, p. 20 and part of the British army defeated at the Battle of Almansa in April 1707.Cannon, p. 21 Back in the United Kingdom, it helped put down the Jacobite rising of 1715, fighting the rebels at the inconclusive Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715Cannon, p. 26 and at the Battle of Glen Shiel in June 1719.Cannon, p. 28
The regiment was deployed to Flanders in summer 1742 for service in the War of Austrian SuccessionCannon, p. 29 and took part in the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743,Cannon, p. 30 the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745Cannon, p. 31 and the Battle of Rocoux in October 1746.Cannon, p. 33
The regiment embarked for the continent in spring 1760 for service in the Seven Years' War; it fought at the Battle of Warburg in July 1760,Cannon, p. 36 the Battle of Kloster Kampen in October 1760Cannon, p. 37 and the Battle of Villinghausen in July 1761Cannon, p. 38 as well as the Battle of Wilhelmsthal in June 1762Cannon, p. 40 and the inconclusive Iberian campaign. After the war, it garrisoned the island of Menorca.Cannon, p. 41
The regiment served under the name of its various Colonels until it was numbered as the 11th Regiment of Foot when the numerical system of regimental designation was adopted in 1751. It was given the additional county title of 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot in 1782.
French and Napoleonic Wars The 11th Regiment spent the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars serving as detachments in the Mediterranean with the Royal Navy.Cannon, p. 42 It also took part in an abortive raid on the port of Ostend in 1798.Cannon, p. 49 It was deployed to the West Indies in 1801 where it captured Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin later that year.Cannon, p. 51 A 2nd Battalion was formed in 1809 and took part in the disastrous Walcheren Campaign.
The 1st battalion returned to Europe in July 1809 to fight in the Peninsular War.Cannon, p. 55 It took part in the Battle of Bussaco in September 1810 and then fell back to the Lines of Torres Vedras.Cannon, p. 57 It took part in the siege of Badajoz in April 1811,Cannon, p. 61 the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812 and earned its nickname, The Bloody Eleventh, at the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812.Cannon, p. 64 It fought at the siege of Burgos in September 1812Cannon, p. 69 and then pursued the French Army into France taking part in the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813,Cannon, p. 71 the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813Cannon, p. 73 and the Battle of the Nive in December 1813Cannon, p. 74 as well as the Battle of Orthez in February 1814Cannon, p. 76 and the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814.
The Victoria era
The regiment spent most of the 19th century on garrison duty throughout the Empire. The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at Topsham Barracks in Exeter from 1873, or by the Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. Under the reforms the regiment became the Devonshire Regiment on 1 July 1881. At the same time it merged with the militia and rifle volunteer units of the county of Devon. It took part in the Tirah Campaign in 1897 and the Second Boer War in 1899. The 1st Battalion were besieged at Ladysmith. It departed for India on 3 January 1902. The 2nd Battalion fought in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Anglo-Ashanti wars and the Second Boer War.
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve; the regiment now had one Reserve and four Territorial battalions.
First World War
Regular Army The 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment was a Regular Army unit and, after absorbing some 500 reservists, departed for France, landing at Le Havre on 21 August 1914, just 17 days since Britain's entry into the war, as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The battalion joined the 8th Brigade of the 3rd Division in early September 1914, and then transferred to the 14th Brigade of the 5th Division later in the month. The battalion served on the Western Front throughout the war, seeing action first during the Battle of La Bassée in October where they helped in the capture of Givenchy Ridge, followed by the First Battle of Ypres, where the battalion, in common with most of the rest of the British Regular Army, sustained very heavy casualties. The 1st Devons lost in the battle two thirds of their officers and a third of the other ranks. The battalion then took part in the Winter operations 1914–1915, occupying trenches in deep mud and snow before, in April 1915, suffering 200 casualties from shelling and German counterattacks after holding Hill 60 after its capture a few days before.
The 2nd Battalion, assigned to the 23rd Brigade, 8th Division, was another Regular Army unit, that was awarded the French for holding up the massive final German advance of the war at the Bois des Buttes on 27 May 1918, the first day of the Third Battle of the Aisne. General Henri Berthelot, General Office Commanding the French 5th Army in his Order of the Day of 20 August 1918 said: "Thus the whole battalion, colonel, 28 officers and 552 non-commissioned officers and men, responded with one accord and offered their lives in ungrudging sacrifice to the sacred cause of the Allies."
The 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion (formerly part of the Militia) was mobilised upon the outbreak of war to serve mainly in a training capacity, holding and training officers and men before sending them overseas to active battalions of the regiment throughout the world. By the end of the war over 13,000 men and 750 officers had passed through the battalion.
Territorial Force The 1/4th, 1/5th (Prince of Wales's) and 1/6th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment, all First Line Territorial Force (TF) units, were mobilised upon the outbreak of war, serving together in the Devon and Cornwall Brigade of the Wessex Division, and were sent to India. The 1/4th and 1/6th Battalions later saw action in Mesopotamia, while the 1/5th was transferred to the Western Front. The Second Line battalions (2/4th, 2/5th (Prince of Wales's) and 2/6th) also went to India, with the 2/4th and 2/5th later serving in Palestine and Mesopotamia respectively. The 1/7th and 2/7th (Cyclist) Battalions served in Home Defence.Devonshire Regiment at Long, Long Trail.
Kitchener's Army The 9th (Service) Battalion was one of the few British units to reach its initial objectives on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, albeit at the cost of 463 dead or wounded of the 775 men who went 'over the top', with only one officer remaining unwounded. The 8th (Service) Battalion, part of 20th Brigade reserve, was committed within 3 hours of the beginning of the attack and suffered 639 casualties on the first day. The 8th Battalion later served on the Italian Front. The 10th (Service) Battalion served at Salonika. The regiment also raised the 11th (Reserve), 12th (Labour), 13th (Works) and 14th (Labour) Battalions.
The later years of the war The experience of an 18-year-old volunteer joining the 35th Training Reserve Battalion, part of the Devon Regiment, in 1918, is provided by A S Bullock. (Page 52)
Second World War
The 1st Battalion was serving in British India when the Second World War broke out, and spent the entire war in India, Ceylon and Burma. In 1942 the battalion joined the 80th Indian Infantry Brigade, attached to the 20th Indian Infantry Division and served with them until 1945 when the battalion was transferred to the British 26th Infantry Brigade. The brigade was part of the British 36th Infantry Division.
The 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment was a Regular Army unit that was serving on the island of Malta as part of the 1st Malta Infantry Brigade (redesignated as the 231st Infantry Brigade in April 1943) and was involved in the siege of Malta from June 1940 until November 1942. In July 1943 the battalion, together with the 231st Brigade, fought in the Allied invasion of Sicily, and, briefly, in the Allied invasion of Italy in September. After Italy the brigade was withdrawn to Sicily and then the United Kingdom where it became permanently part of the veteran 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and trained with them in preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, it was intended that the battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Cosmo Nevill, should land at Le Hamel, on Gold Beach, behind the 1st Hampshires. However, owing to adverse sea conditions and an unexpectedly high tidal surge, three of the four rifle companies were carried over a mile to the east before they could make landfall and had to make their way to their assigned assembly point on foot. Of the four company commanders, two were wounded and one was killed. The battalion continued to fight well throughout the Battle of Normandy and the liberation of North-West Europe. However, in December 1944, the 50th Division was disbanded, due to a severe shortage of infantrymen in the British Army at the time, and the battalion was transferred to the 131st (Lorried) Infantry Brigade, part of the 7th Armoured Division, The Desert Rats, and remained with them for the rest of the war, participating in Operation Blackcock in January 1945 followed by Operation Plunder where they crossed the River Rhine. The division advanced on its destination of the city of Hamburg, Germany, as part of the Western Allied invasion of Germany, taking part in the Battle of Hamburg in late April 1945.