war, and, according to the official returns, in the 1707 beginning of November, three hundred and eighty officers and soldiers were present at head quarters. Many men were, however, unfit for active service, and, during the winter, the regiment was ordered to transfer its service men to other corps and return to England to recruit. It arrived at Portsmouth in the summer of 1708, and was stationed at Worcester and Hereford. 1708 In February, 1709, the regiment marched to Man- 1709 chester and Stockport, from whence it proceeded to Chester, in June, and it embarked for Ireland soon afterwards. The NINTH were stationed in Ireland during the 1713 remainder of the war of the Spanish succession, and at the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, their numbers were reduced to a peace establishment. Queen Anne died in 1714, and King George I. 1714 ascended the throne. In the following year the active 1715 exertions of the partisans of the Pretender created great political excitement, and, for some cause which has not been explained by historians, General William Stewart was removed from the colonelcy of the regiment. He was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel James Campbell, from the Royal North British dragoons, by commission dated the 27th of July, 1715. Colonel Campbell commanded the regiment eighteen 1717 months, and in February, 1717, he was removed to the Scots Greys, at the head of which corps he had distinguished himself in the Netherlands; and King George I. conferred the colonelcy of the NINTH on Lieut.Colonel the Honorable Charles Cathcart, from the Scots Greys. After commanding the regiment twelve months. 1718 Colonel Cathcart retired, and the colonelcy was con 1718 ferred on Lieut.-Colonel James Otway, a very meritorious officer, from Pitt's horse, now second dragoon guards, by commission dated the 7th of January, 1718. 1725 1737 In the summer of this year the regiment embarked from Ireland to relieve the Seventh Royal Fusiliers at Minorca, the second of the Balearic islands, situate in the Mediterranean, near the coast of Spain, which was captured by Major-General Stanhope in 1708, and ceded to Great Britain by the treaty of Utrecht. On the 23rd of December, 1725, Colonel James Otway died; and was succeeded by Brigadier-General Richard Kane, who commanded a regiment of foot in the reign of Queen Anne, which was disbanded at the peace of Utrecht. Brigadier-General Kane commanded the NINTH eleven years, and died on the 9th of February, 1737, when King George II. conferred the colonelcy on Brigadier-General William Hargrave, from the thirty-first foot. This officer was appointed, in 1739, to the seventh royal fusiliers, and was succeeded by Brigadier-General George Reade from the twenty-ninth regiment. 1739 During the war which commenced at this period, 1739, and was terminated by the treaty of Aix-laChapelle, in 1748, the NINTH did not take the field; 1746 but in 1746, the twenty-ninth and forty-sixth regiments having been removed from Gibraltar to North America, the NINTH were withdrawn from Minorca, and proceeded to Gibraltar, where they were stationed during the remainder of the war; and in 1749 they returned to Ireland. 1749 Lieut.-General Reade was appointed colonel of the ninth dragoons, on the 1st of November, 1749, and was succeeded by Brigadier-General Sir Charles Armand Powlet from lieut.-colonel of the tenth marines. Sir Charles A. Powlet was appointed to the thirteenth 1751 dragoons in January, 1751, when King George II. conferred the colonelcy of the NINTH foot, on Colonel the Honorable John Waldegrave, from major in the third foot-guards. In the royal warrant regulating the standards, colours, and clothing of the army, dated 1st July, 1751, the facing of the NINTH FOOT is directed to be of yellow. The King's, or first, colour, to be the great Union; the second, or regimental colour, to be of yellow silk with the union in the upper canton; in the centre of each F. colour in gold characters, within a wreath of roses At this period the costume of the regiment was cocked hats bound with white lace; scarlet coats with yellow lappels and cuffs, and ornamented with white lace having a scarlet worm down the centre; white cravats; scarlet waistcoats and breeches, and white gaiters. On the 22nd of January, 1755, Colonel the Honor- 1755 able John Waldegrave was removed to the eighth dragoons; and two months afterwards, the command of the NINTH foot was conferred on Colonel the Honorable Sir Joseph Yorke, one of the King's aides-de-camp. The regiment left Ireland in the same year, and, hostilities having commenced in America between Great Britain and France, the establishment was augmented. In 1756 the regiment proceeded to Scotland, where 1756 it was stationed during the following year, and in 1758, 1758 it returned to Ireland. Major-General Sir Joseph Yorke was appointed to the eighth dragoons, in October, 1758, and was succeeded 1757 by Major-General William Whitemore, from the fiftythird foot. 1759 The NINTH returned to England in 1759, and in 1760 1760 they were encamped at Chatham under Major General Kerr. 1761 Leaving Chatham, the regiment proceeded to Portsmouth, where it embarked in March, 1761, with the expedition, under Major-General Studholme Hodgson, against Belle Isle, a French island off the coast of Brittany, noted for its extensive pilchard fishery. The NINTH embarked, eight hundred rank and file, under Lieut.-Colonel Rowland Phillips. The expedition arrived off the island on the 7th of April, and found it about nine miles long from two to four broad, surrounded by steep rocks forming a natural fortification, and defended by numerous works at every point where a landing was deemed practicable. On the 8th of April the troops proceeded towards the shore in boats; the NINTH leapt on the beach in the face of the enemy's entrenchments, and rushed up the steep acclivity to storm the works, but were unable to gain the summit without ladders. Very gallant efforts were, however, made; Major Lewis Thomas of the regiment was wounded and taken prisoner; two serjeants and nine rank and file were killed; Lieutenants Samuel Surnam, William Ryder, one serjeant and forty rank and file, having ascended higher than the other men, were intercepted by the French and made prisoners. Being unable to overcome the difficulties, the troops returned to their boats and proceeded back to their several ships. On the 25th of April another attempt was made to effect a landing, while the enemy's attention was diverted by two feint attacks. Brigadier-General Lambert landed with a few grenadiers near Lochmaria, 1761 and climbing a rock of so difficult ascent that the enemy was less attentive to that part of the coast, he gained the summit without opposition. The enemy detached three hundred men against the grenadiers, who took post behind a wall and defended themselves until other troops climbed the rocks to their aid, when the enemy was driven back with the loss of three pieces of artillery. Having thus made good their landing, the British dragged their cannon up the rocks, and carried the lines which covered the town of Palais by assault. The siege of the citadel was commenced; the governor, the Chevalier St. Croix, made a vigorous defence, but he was forced to surrender in June, and the reduction of the island was thus effected with the loss of about eighteen hundred men killed and wounded. Success attending the British arms in various parts 1762 of the world, the court of Paris induced Spain to engage in hostilities with Great Britain. While negociations were pending, an armament was prepared for an immediate attack on the Spanish possessions in South America, in the event of hostilities taking place, and the valuable settlement of the Havannah, in the island of Cuba, being looked upon as the key to the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, was selected to be the object of the first attack. The NINTH having been joined by a fine body of recruits, mustered a thousand officers and soldiers, and they were selected to proceed on this enterprise with the troops under General the Earl of Albemarle. They sailed from Spithead on the 5th of March, 1762; the fleet was separated by a storm, but was reunited at Barbadoes, and war having been declared against Spain, the troops proceeded upon the projected enterprise. Sailing |