HISTORY OF THE NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS 1674-1902

The Northumberland Fusiliers (the ‘Royal’ title was conferred in 1935) was one of the oldest regiments in the British Army, the 5th of Foot. I say ‘was’ because it no longer exists as such, having become the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in 1968. But all this is well after the period covered in this book. The regiment was raised in Holland in 1674 as an Irish regiment by Lord Clare and in 1688 it officially became part of the British Army; in 1747 it was numbered 5th Regiment of Foot. During the next 155 years it fought in more than fifty campaigns and battles across the world – in N America, Canada, S America, West Indies, the Peninsula, India (three VCs were won during the Mutiny) and finally S Africa where this history ends. One of the appendices contains extracts from the Army List between 1688 and 1900.