{{for|other units with the same regimental number|57th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox military unit |unit_name= 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot |image=57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot badge.jpeg |caption=Badge of the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot |dates= 1755 to 1881 |country={{flag|Kingdom of Great Britain}} (1755–1800)<br>{{flag|United Kingdom}} (1801–1881) |branch={{army|United Kingdom}} |type=Line Infantry |role=Light Infantry |size=One battalion (two battalions 1803–1815) |garrison=Hounslow Barracks |ceremonial_chief= |ceremonial_chief_label= |colonel_of_the_regiment= |nickname= "The Steelbacks"<ref name="Burnham">{{cite book |last1=Burnham|first1=Robert|last2=McGuigan|first2=Ron|year=2010|title=The British Army against Napoleon|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire|publisher=Frontline Books|isbn=978-1-84832-562-3|page=126}}</ref><br>"The Die Hards" |motto= ''Honi soit qui mal y pense'' (Evil be to Him, who Evil Thinks) |colors= Yellow facings, gold braided lace |march= '''Quick:''' ''Sir Manley Power''<br />'''Slow:''' ''Caledonian'' |mascot= |battles= American Revolutionary War<br>French Revolutionary Wars<br>Napoleonic Wars<br>Crimean War<br>Indian Rebellion<br>New Zealand Wars<br>Anglo-Zulu War |battle_honours= |notable_commanders= |anniversaries= }}
The '''57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot''' was a regiment of line infantry in the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment in 1881.
==History== ===Early wars=== [[File:Fort Montgomery 04.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins of Fort Montgomery, stormed by the regiment in October 1777]] The regiment was raised in Somerset and Gloucester by Colonel John Arabin as the 59th Regiment of Foot in 1755 for service in the Seven Years' War.<ref name=regiments>{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/057-757.htm |title=57th (the West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot |publisher=regiments.org |access-date=17 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061201151140/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/057-757.htm |archive-date=1 December 2006}}</ref> It was re-ranked as the '''57th Regiment of Foot''', following the disbandment of the existing 50th and 51st regiments, in 1756.<ref name=regiments/> The regiment, which originally operated as marines, was deployed to Gibraltar in 1757, to Menorca in 1763 and to Ireland in 1767.<ref name=warre30>Warre, p. 30</ref>
It was dispatched to Charleston, South Carolina in February 1776 for service in the American Revolutionary War.<ref name=warre30/> The regiment saw action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776<ref name=warre30/> and stormed Fort Montgomery at the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in October 1777.<ref name=warre31>Warre, p. 31</ref> The regiment's light company then served under General Lord Cornwallis and was taken prisoner at the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781.<ref name=warre32>Warre, p. 32</ref>
It adopted a county designation as the '''57th (the West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot''' in August 1782.<ref name=regiments/><ref name="handbook">Chant, p. 103</ref> After this it moved to Nova Scotia in October 1783 and returned to England in November 1790.<ref name=warre33>Warre, p. 33</ref>
===Napoleonic Wars=== [[File:GenSirWilliamInglis.jpg|thumb|left|Colonel William Inglis, struck down while commanding the 1st battalion at the Battle of Albuera, May 1811]] [[File:Lady Elizabeth Butler - steady the drums and fifes.jpg|thumb|The drummer boys of the 57th Regiment at the Battle of Albuera, May 1811; "Steady the Drums and Fifes" by Lady Elizabeth Butler]] In 1793 the regiment embarked for the Low Countries for service in the Flanders Campaign and re-enforced the garrison at Nieuwpoort for some months before returning home later in the year.<ref name=warre35>Warre, p. 35</ref> The regiment returned to Flanders in 1794 before returning home again in 1795.<ref name=warre44>Warre, p. 44</ref> It embarked for the West Indies in spring 1796 and took part in the capture of Saint Lucia in May 1796 before embarking for Trinidad in 1797 and returning home in 1803.<ref name=warre46>Warre, p. 46</ref> A second battalion was raised in 1803 to increase the strength of the regiment but spent most of the war in Jersey.<ref name=regiments/> The 1st battalion embarked for the Mediterranean Sea in November 1805 and, after four years at Gibraltar, landed in Portugal for service in the Peninsular War in July 1809.<ref name=warre47>Warre, p. 47</ref> The battalion fell back to the Lines of Torres Vedras in October 1810.<ref name=warre50>Warre, p. 50</ref>
The battalion earned the regiment its nickname of "the Die Hards" after their participation in the Battle of Albuera, (order of battle) one of the bloodiest battles of the war, in May 1811.<ref name=warre53>Warre, p. 53</ref> The commanding officer of the battalion, Colonel William Inglis, was struck down by a charge of canister shot which hit him in the neck and left breast. He refused to be carried to the rear for treatment, but lay in front of his men calling on them to hold their position and when the fight reached its fiercest cried, "Die hard the 57th, die hard!".<ref name="Inglis">{{cite web|url=http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/exhibitions/shortVisits/heroes/page7.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001183450/http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/exhibitions/shortVisits/heroes/page7.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-10-01|title=Lieutenant-Colonel William Inglis (1764-1835)|publisher=National Army Museum|year=2009|access-date=2009-01-12}}</ref> The casualties of the battalion were 422 out of the 570 men in the ranks and 20 out of the 30 officers.<ref name="handbook"/> The Allied commander of the Anglo-Portuguese force General William Beresford wrote in his dispatch, "our dead, particularly the 57th Regiment, were lying as they fought in the ranks, every wound in front".<ref name="dispatches">Gurwood, p. 576</ref>
The battalion also fought at the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813.<ref name=warre62>Warre, p. 62</ref> It then pursued the French Army into France and saw further action at the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813,<ref name=warre64>Warre, p. 64</ref> the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813<ref name=warre65>Warre, p. 65</ref> and the Battle of the Nive in December 1813.<ref name=warre66>Warre, p. 66</ref> The battalion embarked for North America in May 1814 for service in the War of 1812<ref name=warre67>Warre, p. 67</ref> but, without seeing any action, it embarked for home in spring 1815.<ref name=warre68>Warre, p. 68</ref>
===The Victorian era=== [[File:57th West Middlesex Regiment of Foot.jpg|thumb|Lieutenant-Colonel H.J. Warre and an unidentified non-commissioned officer of the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot, serving in the Crimean War, photographed in 1855 by Roger Fenton]] The regiment traveled to New South Wales in detachments as escorts to prisoners in 1824.<ref name=warre73>Warre, p. 73</ref> It moved on to India in 1830<ref name=warre76>Warre, p. 76</ref> and, while there, helped to suppress a rebellion in Mangalore in 1837.<ref name=warre82>Warre, p. 82</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/060416/1837-when-the-rebel-flag-fluttered-high.html|title=1837: When the rebel flag fluttered high|date=6 April 2016|publisher=Deccan Chronicle|access-date=14 January 2017}}</ref> The regiment did not embark for home until April 1846.<ref name=warre95>Warre, p. 95</ref> In September 1854 the regiment embarked for service in the Crimean War:<ref name=warre115>Warre, p. 115</ref> it fought at the Battle of Inkerman in November 1854<ref name=warre118>Warre, p. 118</ref> and the Siege of Sevastapol in winter 1854.<ref name=warre121>Warre, p. 121</ref> It moved to Malta in June 1856<ref name=warre139>Warre, p. 139</ref> and then sailed for India to help suppress the Indian Rebellion in May 1858.<ref name=warre145>Warre, p. 145</ref> It then sailed for Auckland in New Zealand in November 1860 for service in the New Zealand Wars.<ref name=warre156>Warre, p. 156</ref> Ensign John Thornton Down and Drummer Dudley Stagpoole were both awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during a skirmish at Allen's Hill near Omata in October 1863 during the Second Taranaki War.<ref name=warre179>Warre, p. 179</ref> The regiment returned to England in 1867<ref name=warre202>Warre, p. 202</ref> and then moved to Ceylon in 1873.<ref name=warre220>Warre, p. 220</ref> From Ceylon it sailed to South Africa in 1879 for service in the Anglo-Zulu War.<ref name=regiments/>
As part of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 57th was linked with the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 50 at Hounslow Barracks.<ref name=training>{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/depot/1873.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060210172841/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/depot/1873.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 February 2006|title=Training Depots|publisher=Regiments.org|access-date=16 October 2016}}</ref> On 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment.<ref name="handbook"/>
==Regimental marches== The regiment's regimental marches were 'Sir Manley Power' (quick) and 'Caledonian' (slow).<ref name="handbook"/>
==Victoria Cross== * Ensign John Thornton Down, New Zealand Wars (2 October 1863) * Sergeant George Gardiner, Crimean War (22 March 1855) * Private Charles McCorrie, Crimean War (23 June 1855) * Drummer Dudley Stagpoole, New Zealand Land Wars (2 October 1863)
==Battle honours== The regiment's battle honours were as follows:<ref name=regiments/> * Peninsular War: Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Peninsula * Crimean War: Inkerman, Sevastapol * Later wars: New Zealand, South Africa (1879)
==Colonels of the Regiment== Colonels of the Regiment were:<ref name=regiments/>
===59th Regiment of Foot=== *1755–1757 Col. John Arabin
===57th Regiment of Foot=== *1757–1767 Lt-Gen. Sir David Cunynghame *1767–1780 Gen. Sir John Irwin *1780–1806 Gen. John Campbell (of Strachur)
====57th (the West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot==== *1806–1811 Gen. John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore *1811–1830 Gen. Sir Hew Whitefoord Dalrymple, Bt. *1830–1835 Lt-Gen. Sir William Inglis *1835–1843 Gen. Sir Frederick Adam *1843–1856 F.M. Sir Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge *1856–1865 Gen. Sir James Frederick Love *1865–1873 Gen. Charles Richard Fox *1873–1875 Gen. Freeman Murray *1875–1881 Gen. Sir Edward Alan Holdich
==See also== *Edwin Bezar – last surviving member
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite book |title=The Handbook of British Regiments |last=Chant |first=Christopher |year=1988 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-00241-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNcNAAAAQAAJ&q=badajoz+manley+power&pg=PA103}} *{{cite book |title=The dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, K. G. during his various campaigns in India, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low Countries, and France: From 1799 to 1818, Volume 7 |last=Gurwood |first=John |year=1837 |publisher=J.Murray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5n4BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA576}} *{{cite book |title=Historical records of the fifty-seventh, or, West Middlesex Regiment of Foot: compiled from official and private sources, from the date of its formation in 1755, to the present time, 1878|first=Lieutenant-General H. J. |last=Warre|year=1878|publisher=W. Mitchell & Co|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalrecor00regigoog}}
{{PWRR}} {{Regiments of Foot}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
57 Category:1755 establishments in Great Britain Category:1881 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Category:Regiments of the British Army in the Crimean War Category:Regiments of the British Army in the American Revolutionary War Category:Military units and formations established in 1755 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1881 Category:Middlesex Regiment Category:Military units and formations in Middlesex Category:Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Peninsular War