69th of Foot

Alun Cleaver · 10-09-2013, 16:41

When visiting the PRI at Wrexham I noticed an A4 sizepaperback book about the Royal Welch. Under the Royal Welch heading in brackets was 23rd, 24th, 41st and 69th. We all know the Royal Welch is an amalgamation of the RWF and RRW (formed from the amalgamation of the 24th and 41st) but who was the 69th? I asked around and I found no one who had heard of them.
An entry in Wikipedia for the 69th of foot follows.

The 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regimentof Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army,formed in 1758 and amalgamated into The Welsh Regiment in 1881.
The regiment was raised by the redesignation of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot in April 1758, ranked as the 69th Regiment of Foot. Most ofthe soldiers were recruited from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire,and Lancashire.In 1782 they took a county title as the 69th(South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot. The regiment fought with distinctionin the Capture of St. Lucia (1778), the Vellore Mutiny (1806), and the Invasion of Java (1811), and served throughout the Waterloo Campaign of 1815.^[1][2] As marines on HMS Agamemnon under Lord Nelson,part of the regiment also participated in the Battle of Genoa (1795), evacuation of Leghorn, action in Laona Bay, and capture of Porto Ferrajo,then, after Nelson's transfer into the Captain, with him at the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797). MatthewStevens, a soldier from the regiment, was the first to board the Spanish ship San Nicolas.
The regiment's nickname "The Ups and Downs" may come from its number, which reads the same upside down.

What a great number.

**jcj** · 10-09-2013, 18:53

In 1782 the 69^th were also awarded the unique honour of being authorized by Parliament to bear a Naval Crown on the Colours similar to that of the Royal Marines which was eventually born on the Colours of the Welch Regt and finally the RRW.

Naval Crown 001.jpg

**Baconwallah** · 11-09-2013, 11:13

Well done, gentlemen!

John

**Jerry B** · 19-03-2014, 17:07

The history of the 69th foot is covered in J.M. Brereton's A History of the Royal Regiment of Wales, (24th/41st foot) and its predecessors, 1689-1989, Cardiff 1989.