Name : Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Started : 1908 Ended : 1958 Previous Regiment Lineage(s) : ---------------------------------------- Fowke's Regiment of Foot (1741 - 1741) Graham's Regiment of Foot (1741 - 1746) Kennedy's Regiment of Foot (1746 - 1751) 43rd Regiment of Foot (1751 - 1782) 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot (1782 - 1803) 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) (1803 - 1881) Oxfordshire Light Infantry (1881 - 1908)
---------------------------------------- 54th Regiment of Foot (1755 - 1756) 52nd Regiment of Foot (1756 - 1782) 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (1782 - 1803) 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) (1803 - 1881) Oxfordshire Light Infantry (1881 - 1908)
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Subsequent Regiment Lineage : ---------------------------------------- 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) (1959 - 1966) Royal Green Jackets (1966 - 2007) The Rifles (2007 - Present)
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The Oxfordshire Light Infantry
The 43rd Foot, formerly the Monmouthshire Light Infantry, and linked, from 1873 to 1881, with the 53rd, was combined with the 52nd Oxfordshire Light Infantry, which had been up to then linked with the 85th, to form the present regiment. The 1st battalion was raised in 1741, and assembled at Winchester; but it did not receive its numerical title until 1751. Its county title was bestowed in 1782, and it was made light infantry in 1803. Its first active service was in North America in 1757, etc., where it was present at Louisburg and Nova Scotia, and took an active part in the storming of the heights of Abraham at Quebec, earning from the French the encomium that "they levelled and fired absolument comme un coup de canon." It shared in the defence of Quebec, at Montreal and Sillery; and also saw fighting at Martinique and Havannah. Returning home in 1764, the regiment was sent back ten years later to America, to take part in the War of Independence, and shared in the fighting and heavy loss at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker's Hill; at Long Island, White Plains, Fort Washington, and New York Island; at Quaker's Hill, and other affairs, until the capture of York Town.
Then it went home, but was soon sent to the West Indies, to take part in the attacks on Martinique, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe in 1794. The 43rd was at Copenhagen, and afterwards saw much and distinguished service in the Peninsula: first at Vimiera, where the men displayed the greatest gallantry; next, under Moore, at Corunna, where, it is said, "many men came to take their places in the ranks crawling on hands and knees, so fearfully lacerated were their feet;" and finally, with the 52nd and 95th, as part of Crawford's Light Brigade. With it the 43rd saw almost continous fighting. It was at the Coa, Busaco, Pombal, Redinha, Castelnuova, Fuentes d'Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Sabugal, Salamanca (where it advanced "in line for a distance of three miles under a cannonade with as clean and firm a front as at a review"), Vittoria, Vera, Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. The names of twelve of these battles and "Peninsula" adorn the colours.
After the peace the regiment embarked for America, and was under fire at New Orleans and at Fort Bowyer, Mobile. Though too late, on its return home, to take part in the Waterloo campaign, it formed part of the Army of Occupation from 1815 to 1818, and also of that in Portugal in 1827. Assisting to suppress the Canadian insurrection in 1837, it saw no serious active service until the Kaffir War of 1851-53, when it was present at the Wateekloof and Berea. During the Mutiny the 43rd marched from Bangalore to Calpee 1,300 miles - during the hot weather, and was employed at Kirwee, Bundeelcund, etc. This campaign gained the V.C. for Private Addison and Captain F.A. Smith.
In New Zealand it took part in the campaign of 1861-63, where the loss was heavy, and has seen no further important war service since, except against the Moplas in Malabar in 1873. Among the distinguished officers of the regiment must be mentioned the historian, Sir W. Napier. A 2nd battalion existed from 1804 to 1817, and served under Moore in Spain and at Walcheren, where the army had 12,000 men on the sick list in fourteen days.
The present 2nd battalion, the old 52nd, has an equally brilliant history with the 1st. It is difficult to even summarise it. It was raised as the 54th fifteen years after the 43rd, and rendezvoused at Coventry; but it got its well-known number in 1757, its county title in 1782, and its "Light Infantry" designation in 1803. Embarking for Canada in 1765, it was transferred to Boston in 1774, and fought at Concorde, Bunker's Hill (where the grenadier company had only eight of its total strength untouched), Brooklyn, Pell's Point, White Plains, Fort Washington, Rhode Island, Forts Montgomery and Clinton, Brandywine, Wayne's Skirmish, and Freehold.
The next active service of the 52nd was in India; at Cannanore (where Private Taylor sounded the depth of the ditch under a heavy fire), Dindigull, Bangalore, Savendroog (where the band played "Britons, Strike Home" during the assault), Outredroog, and Seringapatam (where the enemy lost 20,000 men), and Pondicherry. For these services "Hindoostan" was added to the colours. Two years after its formation it served in the French Coast Expedition; and then at Bock, Minden, Corbach, and Warburg; at the defence of Port Philip in Minorca in 1771, where, after an heroic struggle, during which 1,900 out of a total of 2,600 had perished, the garrison was compelled to surrender. But they marched out with all the honours of war, and "an involuntary shout burst from the enemy as they passed, and many of the French officers were affected to tears."
In 1794 the regiment was engaged at Fiorenza and at Bastia, in Corsica, where it captured a redoubt at the point of the bayonet, and without firing; and in 1800 it did good work in Ceylon; but its most distinguished service was in the Peninsula, where it was sent in 1808. The 51st was present at Corunna, and at Walcheren; returning to Portugal, it fought at Fuentes d'Onor, Sabugal, Salamanca, Badajoz, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, and Orthes, earning the right to carry seven of these names and "Peninsula" on the colours. In 1813 "every man of the 51st starting in pursuit of the French, under Soult, put a sprig of laurel in his cap, 'according to an old custom of the corps,' and the other regiments gave three cheers as they passed by, the bands striking up the 'Minden March.'"
In the campaign of 1815 it was on the left at Waterloo, and shared in the storm of Cambray; but after that the 51st saw no further active service until 1852, when it took part in the first Burmese War at Pegu, Martaban, etc., while a detachment on board the H.E.I.C. steamer Sesostris acted as marines at Rangoon, Bassein, etc. A Burmese bell captured at Rangoon was presented after this campaign, in 1858, to the City of York. It assisted to suppress the Harzara insurrection in 1863, and joined the Jowaki Expedition in 1877, completing its Indian service about that time by forming part of the army for the Afghan campaign. In that war the 51st was present at Ali Musjid, Zatra Khel, at the numerous punitive expeditions about Jellalabad, and Jugdulluck, etc. For gallantry near Ali Musjid Lieutenant Reid gained the Victoria Cross. The last name on the battle-roll is that of "Burma, 1885-87."
The 2nd battalion of the regiment was the "2nd Madras European Regiment," and was formed in 1839, changing its name in 1858 to the "2nd Madras Light Infantry," and, in 1861, to the "105th Madras Light Infantry." It saw service in Madras and Burmah between 1839 and 1860. The uniform is scarlet, the present facing blue; but those of the 51st were originally "grass green," and were changed to blue in 1821. The facings of the 105th were yellow or "pale buff." On the button is worn the "Minden wreath," a French horn, or bugle, crowned, with a rose in the centre; the collar bears the bugle and rose alone; the helmet-plate and waist-plate have in addition the motto "Cede nullis," which came from the 105th. The 3rd battalion was formed from the 1st West Yorks Militia, raised in 1759, and which was formerly a Rifle Regiment. The only volunteer battalion is the 5th West Riding (scarlet and blue), with head- quarters at Wakefield. The regiment has been called the "Kolis," from the initial letters of the words "King's Own Light Infantry." The depot was at Pontefract.
