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56th Regiment of Foot

56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot
56th West Essex Regiment of Foot.JPG
Cap badge of the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot
Active 1755–1881
Country  Kingdom of Great Britain (1755–1800)
 United Kingdom (1801–1881)
Branch  British Army
Type Line Infantry
Size One battalion (two battalions 1804–1817)
Garrison/HQ Warley Barracks, Brentwood
Nickname(s) The Pompadours
Motto(s) Montis insignia Calpe (Badge of the Rock of Gibraltar)
Colors Purple facings to uniform
March Rule, Britannia!
Engagements Seven Years' War
American Revolutionary War
French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Crimean War
Battle honours Havannah;Moro; Gibraltar; Sevastopol

The 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, active from 1755 to 1881. It was originally raised in Northumbria as the 58th Regiment, and renumbered the 56th the following year when two senior regiments were disbanded. It saw service in Cuba at the capture of Havana in the Seven Years' War, and was later part of the garrison during the Great Siege of Gibraltar in the American Revolutionary War. During the French Revolutionary Wars it fought in the Caribbean and then in Holland. On the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars the 56th raised a second battalion in 1804 as part of the anti-invasion preparations; both saw service in India and in the Indian Ocean, with the first capturing Réunion and Mauritius. A third battalion was formed in the later years of the war, but was disbanded after a brief period of service in the Netherlands.

The regiment spent much of the following period on foreign garrison duties, and saw service in the later stages of the Crimean War, at the Siege of Sevastopol. It was despatched to India during the Indian Mutiny, but did not see active service. The regiment was amalgamated with the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot to form the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment in 1881, as part of the Childers Reforms; the Essex Regiment's lineage is currently maintained by the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment, a mechanised infantry unit.


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