Positive Review of Protecting the Empire's Frontier.

The Irish Sword Vol XXX (120) the Winter 2015 issue includes an extremely positive review of Protecting the Empire's Frontier. The journal is produced by the Military History Society of Ireland. It is extremely positive and ends with "Dr. Baule's work is distinguished scholarship, and not a white less readable for being detailed and closely-researched. It deserves the consideration of those who award the prizes that are open to writers on military history." The book is a collective biography of the officers of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot which served in America from 1767 through 1776.

William Osborne, the Chaplain's Servant

William Osborn(e) appears to have enlisted in the British Army about 1755. He was about 32 years old making him a rather old recruit. It isn't clear from available sources if he enlisted directly into the Royal Irish Regiment or if he was drafted (transferred to) the 18th Foot at some time prior to 1767. In that year,  He was listed as being from Westfall, but no such places existed. He was most likely from Westphaltown, about 12 miles from Dublin. He embarked for America from Cork Harbor in May 1767 arriving at Philadelphia in July. He was assigned as a private in Captain Hugh Antrobus's Coy which become Benjamin Johnson's Company after Antrobus's death on the ocean voyage to America. With Johnson's Coy, he was ordered to Fort Pitt where he remained from the summer of 1768 until the post was mostly abandoned in the summer of 1772. Johnson's Coy returned to the North Barracks at Philadelphia where it remained for the next two years. In June of 1773, Osborne was transferred to the General's Coy. This may be the direct result of his being selected by the chaplain as a servant. He remained as the chaplain's servant through his service in Boston. In October 1774, that company was one of five marched through New Jersey to NYC where that detachment replaced the 23rd Foot which had been ordered to Boston. Osborne was most likely involved in the stand off against the NYC Sons of Liberty on June 6, 1775, when the remaining troops of the Royal Irish evacuated from the NYC Barracks and took shelter aboard the HMS Asia. Osborne and his mates arrived in Boston shortly before Bunker Hill, but they observed the battle and didn't participate.
Osborne was transferred to the Lt. Colonel's Coy of the 5th Foot at Boston in December 1775 when the men of the 18th were drafted into the other regiments remaining in Boston. Osborne was later transferred to Captain Baker's Company in the 5th Foot by 1777. He was listed as sick on the returns of  23 April 1777 and 8 March 1778. It isn't clear but appears unlikely he had been wounded. He was listed as discharged and recommended from the 5th Foot on 5 May 1778, but he examined at Chelsea on 13 May 1778. Most likely he had been embarked for England earlier in the spring and simply paid through 5 May 1778. According to the Chelsea records, he was "worn out" from 23 years of service. He listed his trade as a bucklemaker prior to enlisting.

Joseph Fordice, an American who marched to Concord with the Regulars

Grenadier Joseph Fordice (also Fordue) was first listed as enlisted 9 March 1773 on the 27 July 1773 return of the Grenadier Company at Philadelphia.  He appears to have been born in the colonies at Roxbury, Massachusetts and was between 26 and 30 years old when he enlisted. His trade was that of a carpenter. He may have had some previous service as he was  the only new enlistee assigned to the Grenadier Company on that return. He remained with the Grenadier Coy at Philadelphia in the North Barracks until October 1774 when the Grenadier Coy was sent to Boston. He was Court Martialled on 8 November 1774 for sleeping on his post and sentenced to 400 lashes which were all remitted. There is no other record of his being disciplined during his military career; so he may have learned his lesson and the remission of his punishment by his superiors appears to have been a wise decision. 

As a member of the Grenadier Coy, Fordice was with Colonel Smith's column that marched through Lexington to Concord. Most likely, he was involved in searching the town of Concord for munitions. He also participated in the assault on Bunker Hill and escaped any significant injury in that battle. He was listed as on duty on 7 October 1775 while the Grenadier Coy was encamped on Charles Town Heights outside of Boston, near where the assaults on Bunker Hill had taken place. 

Fordice was promoted to corporal on 25 December 1775 and remained with the grenadiers. He was listed with the Grenadier Coy throughout his career, which was somewhat uncommon and may allude to his having been a rather tall man. He returned to England in February 1776 and was promoted to sergeant on 16 November 1777. He was reduced to private on 25 December 1778. He was at Warley Camp on 19 July 1779 as part of the large training exercised that summer. He was promoted to corporal on 13 April 1780. He was most likely in London along with the rest of the Royal Irish at the end of the Gordon Riots from late June through the early fall of 1780and was at Finchley in October 1780. He was reduced to private between June and December 1781. He was listed as a private in the Grenadier Coy in July 1784 but not in the February 1784 or December 1784 returns.  He appears to have been discharged in late 1789 and appeared before the Invalid Examination Board on 4 December 1789. His reason for discharge after 19 years of service with the Royal Irish was listed as his being an asthmatic. It isn't clear why he is listed with 19 years of service but according to the returns of the Royal Irish, he would have only had 16 1/2 years of service at his time of discharge. 

The Royal Irish's Colonel Sir John Saunders Sebright

Above is a portrait of Sebright that Francis Wheatley painted around 1770.  Sir John Saunders Sebright was born on October 19, 1725, in Flamstead Parish in Hertfordshire, England.  He was the second son of Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright, Fourth Baronet, and his mother was Henrietta Dashwood, the daughter of Sir Samuel Dashwood. Sebright began his military career at an early age, obtaining an ensign’s commission in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards on April 18, 1741.  He was promoted to lieutenant and captain on February 20, 1744, and to captain and lieutenant colonel on November 20, 1750.  Sebright left the 1st Foot Guards to become the colonel of his own regiment, the 83rd Regiment of Foot, on October 14, 1758.  Raised in Ireland for garrison duty, the 83rd was also known as “Sebright’s Invalids.”  The 83rd underwent conversion into a line infantry regiment in 1759. Sebright exchanged his colonelcy of the 83rd for that of another of another Irish regiment, the 52nd  Regiment of Foot Foot, on November 27, 1760.  Promotion to major general came on March 13, 1761.  On April 1, 1762, Sebright exchanged the colonelcy of the 52ndFoot for that of yet a third Irish regiment, the Royal Irish. 

 April 28, 1763, he was elected to the House of Commons from Bath.  He would hold that seat from 1763 to 1774, and again from 1775 to 1780.  With the death of his elder brother, Sir Thomas Sebright, Fifth Baronet, in 1765, Colonel Sebright inherited the baronetcy.  In the following year, Sir John Saunders Sebright, Sixth Baronet, found the time to take a wife.  On May 15, 1766, he married Sarah Knight, the daughter of Edward Knight and Elizabeth James, in St. George’s Church, St. George Street, Hanover Square, in London.  Sarah would bear her husband five children – three boys and two girls.

The 18^th Foot sailed to North America in 1767, but it appears its colonel remained home in England.  Such conduct was not exceptional among British regimental commanders at that time, however, and Sir John Sebright received a promotion to lieutenant general on April 30, 1770.  He did seem to take an active interest in the regiment and definitely was involved in approving the purchase of officers into the regiment  in at least three cases. He made full general more than twelve years later on November 20, 1782.  He died at his London home on February 23, 1794, at the age of sixty-eight.

Some Thoughts about Books on the British Army.

Below are ten of what I consider the best books for beginning to learn about the American Revolution; particularly from the British point of view. If you have other thoughts, please let me know.

Boyle, J. (2009). From Redcoat to Rebel: The Thomas Sullivan Journal. Heritage Press.
Hagist, D. (2012). British Soldiers, American War: Voices of the American Revolution. Westhomle Publishing.
Harvey, R. (2001). A Few Bloody Noses: The Realities and Mythologies of the American Revolution. The Overlook Press.
Houlding, J. (1981). Fit for Service: The Training of the British Army, 1715-1795. Oxford University Press.
Lamb, R. (2004). A British Soldier's Story: Roger Lamb's Narrative of the American Revolution. Don Hagist, ed. Ballindalloch Press.
Martin, J. (1979). Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier. Center for Cultural Resources.
McConnell, M. (2005). Army and Empire: British Soldiers on the American Frontier, 1758-1775. University of Nebraska Press.
Peebles, J. (1998). John Peebles' American War: The Diary of a Scottish Grenadier, 1776-1782. Stakepole Books. Spring, M. (2008). With Zeal and Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775-1783. University of Oklahoma Press.
Urban, M. (2007). Fusiliers: The Saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Nativity of the Royal Irish, 1767 & 1776

One may think that the Royal  Irish Regiment would be plum full of O'Briens, O'Roukes and McFaddens. However, in fact the Royal Irish was about 30% Irish when it was inspected in April 1767 at Dublin. The drafts to the four regiments embarking for America from Cork that May were also about a third Irish, so the regiment most likely retained a similar character to that it had when inspected at Phoenix Park, Dublin on 11 April 1767. The return of the men by "Nativity" is below for the 1767 and the 1777 Inspection Returns. Only a return for Johnson's Coy, stationed at Ft. Pitt, has been found for the intervening period.

Dublin,  April 11, 1767 WO 27/11

Countrys	Companies
	Col.	Lt.C.	Maj.	Gren.	I.H.	H. A.	J.S.	G.S.	Shee	Total
English	17	20	21	17	24	18	22	21	17	177
Scotch			2	4	3	5			3	15
Irish	15	10	8	11	6	9	10	11	12	92
Foreigners		2	1						1	4
Totals	32	32	32	32	32	32	32	32	32	288

Dover Castle, May 15, 1777 WO 27/36

Countrys	Companies
	Col.	Lt.C.	Maj.	Lord	B.C.	B.P.	R.H.	W.R	W.B.	H.F.	Total
English	29	35	25	30	35	32	29	32	33	27	307
Scotch	2	1	2	2	3	2	2	2	1	1	18
Irish	12	9	18	13	19	10	14	11	23	15	144
Foreigners	2								2	1	5
Totals	45	45	45	45	57	44	45	45	59	44	474

For those wondering, there were two O'Haras, an O'Neill and and an O'Kane who served in the Royal Irish between 1767 and 1775. 

The Royal Irish Prepares for America

Unfortunately, there are no extant muster rolls for the period prior to leaving Ireland (1765-1767) for North America , so much is unclear about the men of the Royal Irish Regiment. However, in order to expand from the Irish Establishment strength of 28 private men per company to the 45 private men per company, the regiments, including the Royal Irish, leaving Ireland needed to either recruit the difference or accept drafts (transfers) from other regiments. Most regiments sent out recruiting parties in Ireland and potentially to England or Scotland, but the most common and reliable way to expand the strength of a regiment in a short time was to draft from regiments that were to remain in Ireland. In late April and early May 1767, the Royal Irish, received 203 drafts from eight other regiments. In total, 794 men were drafted to the 10th, 16th, 18th and the 26th Regiments from 20 other regiments which were to remain in Ireland. The 10th, 16th, and 26th Regiments were ordered to America as part of a rotation of regiments along with the Royal Irish.
The most one of the other regiments gave were 50 men. Both the 58th and the 64th Regiments gave up 50 men. The 58th's all were received by the Royal Irish. Twenty-six of those men were Irish; the other 24 were British from the 58th Foot.
Court martial returns identify a few of the individual soldiers drafted, but the individual identities of the vast majority of the drafts cannot be identified. The 203 drafts to the Royal Irish came from the 5th Foot (48 men), the 40th Foot (3 men), the 44th Foot (3 men), the 49th Foot (2 men), the 50th Foot (49 men), the 58th Foot (50 men), one man from the 61st Foot and 47 men from the 69th Foot. The men of the 50th Foot were definitively drafted at Cork Harbor immediately before the Royal Irish embarked for America. Although mythology often states that the ranks of the red coated regiments were filled up with the  dregs of society being dragged out of prison, in fact, only three men were obtained from Irish Gaols. All three men were sent to the 10th Foot.