36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot | |
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Colours of the 36th Foot in 1853
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Active | 1701–1881 |
Country |
Kingdom of England (1689–1707) Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1881) |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | 1 battalion (2 battalions 1756–1758, 1804–1814) |
Garrison/HQ | Norton Barracks, Worcestershire |
Nickname(s) | "The Saucy Greens" |
Colors | Green Facings |
March | The Poacher |
Engagements |
War of the Spanish Succession Jacobite rising War of Jenkins' Ear War of the Austrian Succession Seven Years' War Third Anglo-Mysore War Napoleonic Wars Peninsular War |
The 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1701. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot to form the Worcestershire Regiment in 1881. Its lineage is continued today by the Mercian Regiment.
The unit was raised on the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession: on 28 June 1701 William III issued a warrant to William Caulfeild, 2nd Viscount Charlemont to raise a regiment of foot in Ireland. It was the successor to a previous regiment raised by Charlemont in 1694 for Irish service. William died in March 1702 and his successor, Queen Anne, issued a further warrant declaring that Charlemont's Regiment of Foot was to be one of six newly formed regiments to be equipped for "sea service".
The regiment was selected to form part of an Anglo-Dutch force under the command of the Duke of Ormonde that was to make an assault of the southern coast of Spain. They moved from Ireland to the Isle of Wight in June 1702, embarking for Cádiz in the following month. They landed on 15 August, but the force failed to take the City of Cadiz, and the regiment left Spain on 24 September, sailing for the West Indies. They returned to Ireland in 1704.
In April 1705 Charlemont's Regiment left Ireland once more, forming part of an expeditionary force led by the Earl of Peterborough. The force landed in Catalonia in August, and the regiment took part in the Siege of Barcelona, with the city falling in October. In April 1706 the regiment helped relieve Barcelona which was under siege by a Franco-Spanish force. On 10 May 1706 Viscount Charlemont was replaced as colonel by Thomas Allnutt, within the unit becoming Allnutt's Regiment of Foot. Allnutt's Regiment was engaged in a number of minor engagements in Valencia and Murcia throughout the rest of 1706. In April 1707 they became part of a force of English, Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish troops under the command of the Marquis of Minas and Earl of Galway, suffering defeat at the Battle of Almansa. The regiment was nearly destroyed, with Colonel Allnutt wounded and taken prisoner.