Cover of Memoirs and Services of the Eighty-third Regiment, County of Dublin, from 1793 to 1907 Including the Campaigns of the Regiment in the West Indies, Africa, the Peninsula — A Closer Reading

Memoirs and Services of the Eighty-third Regiment, County of Dublin, from 1793 to 1907 Including the Campaigns of the Regiment in the West Indies, Africa, the Peninsula — A Closer Reading

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Authors: Bray, Edward William, 1823-1891 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2021 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Great Britain -- History, Military; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 83rd (County of Dublin) -- History; Great Britain. Army. Royal Irish Rifles. Battalion, 1st -- History Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 25,555

Reading time 112 min

Text sections 11

The catalog record for Memoirs and Services of the Eighty-third Regiment, County of Dublin, from 1793 to 1907 Including the Campaigns of the Regiment in the West Indies, Africa, the Peninsula — A Closer Reading provides practical reading context through 25,555 words, 1 hr 52 min estimated reading time, and 11 detected text sections.

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Source: Project Gutenberg record #66945

A regimental history of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment from 1793 to 1907, compiled from orderly room records and the work of Brevet Major Edward William Bray, detailing campaigns in the West Indies, Africa, the Peninsula, Ceylon, Canada, and India, with precise accounts of sieges, troop movements, and casualties.

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or Edward William Bray, who was then serving with the Regiment. The later history, from 1864 up to present time, has been collected from the Authentic Records preserved in the Regimental Orderly Room.

PART I contains the Services of 1st Battalion, from 1793, the date of its being raised, to 1817, when the 1st and 2nd Battalions were amalgamated at the Cape of Good Hope.

PART II contains the History of the 2nd Battalion from 1804 to 1814, and the Services of the Regiment during the Peninsular War.

PART III contains the Services of the Regiment in Ceylon from 1814 to 1829.

PART IV contains the Services of the Regiment from 1829 to 1848, including its Services in Canada.

PART V contains the Services of the Regiment in India, including the Indian Mutiny, from 1849 to 1857.

PART VI contains the Services of the Regiment from 1858 to 1863, including the campaign of 1858 in Central India.

PART VII contains the Services of the Regiment from 1864 to 1907, including the campaign of 1881 in South Africa.

EIGHTY-THIRD REGIMENT

SERVICES OF THE 1ST BATTALION, 1793–1817

In September, 1793, Major William Fitch obtained a letter of service to raise a regiment, which, after being numbered, became the 83rd, its formation bearing date 28th September, 1793, and of which the major was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant. The regiment was embodied at Dublin, and quartered in the old Custom House at Essex Bridge for about two months, when it was called upon to take a portion of the garrison duties, in consequence of a great number of troops having been drawn from that garrison for the purpose of embarking for the West Indies. The regiment then moved to the royal barracks. The establishment of the regiment at this period was fixed at 72 sergeants, 26 drummers, 1200 rank and file, and an additional lieutenant added to each company.

In October, 1794, a second battalion was added to the regiment, and the establishment of the first battalion was reduced to 52 sergeants, 22 drummers, and 1000 rank and file. The 2nd Battalion soon afterwards was numbered, and became the 134th Regiment.

On the 7th November, 1794, the regiment embarked at Dublin and sailed for England. It landed at Pill and marched to Bath, in Somersetshire, where it was quartered several months. It then marched to Poole, in Dorsetshire, where it remained about five months, and from thence to Southampton.

On the 5th May, 1795, the regiment embarked at Stokes Bay for the West Indies, and sailed in about ten days afterwards.[1]

On the arrival of the regiment at Martinique, it received orders to proceed to Jamaica, and, after a few days’ sail, arrived at Port Royal on the 16th July, 1795.

The regiment was then removed from the chartered ships to men-of-war and transports, and sailed for Saint Domingo; but the Maroon insurrection having broken out a few days after the regiment had sailed, Lord Balcarras, the Governor, despatched a schooner to recall them; but she could only overtake two ships, which returned with about half the regiment, which landed at Mondego Bay and was marched into the interior.

The regiment was actively employed in the suppression of the Maroon insurrection for about eight months, and sustained a loss of 70 killed and wounded; amongst the former was the Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant, William Fitch; and Captains Lee and Brunt slightly wounded--the former died in four days afterwards.

On the 13th September, 1795, Major-General James Balfour succeeded to the colonelcy, vice Lieutenant-Colonel Fitch, killed in action.

The few men that remained of the detachment that went to Saint Domingo in 1795 returned to Jamaica in 1798.

The regiment remained on the north side of Jamaica until the beginning of June, 1802, when it embarked in men-of-war at Savannah le Mar, Falmouth, and Mondego Bay, for Port Royal, and on its arrival marched to Spanish Town; shortly afterwards the men were allowed to extend their services in the 60th and 85th, and a few to the 2nd West India Regiment.

On the 4th July, 1802, the regiment embarked on board His Majesty’s ship _Delft_, and landed at Portsmouth on the 22nd August following, its strength being 1 lieutenant-colonel, 2 majors, 9 captains, 16 subalterns, 29 sergeants, 11 drummers, and 294 rank and file.

During the service of seven years of the regiment in the West Indies, it received drafts and volunteers from several regiments, amounting to 410 rank and file, and deducting men who were drafted and volunteered on its embarkation from England, the regiment appears to have lost by deaths 870 non-commissioned officers and rank and file, from the period of its arrival in the West Indies to its return to England in August, 1802.

During this period the officers named in the margin also died.[2]

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The 83rd Regiment was raised in September 1793 by Major William Fitch, who obtained a letter of service and was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant. The regiment was embodied at Dublin and initially quartered in the old Custom House at Essex Bridge. Within two months, it was called upon to take over garrison duties as troops were embarked for the West Indies. This memoir, originally prepared by Brevet Major Edward William Bray up to 1863 and later extended to 1907 using regimental orderly room records, traces the unit's movements across multiple continents, from the Peninsula to Central India.

Structure and Scope of the Memoir

The work is divided into seven parts, each covering a distinct period and geographical focus. Part I covers the 1st Battalion from 1793 to 1817, ending with the amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd Battalions at the Cape of Good Hope. Part II treats the 2nd Battalion from 1804 to 1814 and the Peninsular War. Subsequent parts cover Ceylon (1814–1829), Canada (1829–1848), India including the Indian Mutiny (1849–1857), Central India (1858–1863), and South Africa (1864–1907). The narrative is built from official records, with Bray's original manuscript forming the core of the early sections. The preface notes that the later history was “collected from the Authentic Records preserved in the Regimental Orderly Room” at Meerut in December 1907.

Siege and Assault: The Capture of Kotah

The account of the siege and capture of Kotah in March 1858 exemplifies the memoir's detailed operational reporting. The city, on the River Chumbul, was held by a “formidable insurgent force.” Major-General Roberts moved against it with two brigades totaling about 4,500 men, including H.M.’s 8th Hussars, the 72nd, 83rd, and 95th Regiments, and a siege-train of 18 heavy guns and mortars. The 83rd furnished working parties, trench and battery guards, and outlying picquets. On 25 March, 200 men of the 83rd crossed the river to protect the Rajah’s palace, sustaining three killed and five wounded over three days of repulsed assaults. The city was taken on 30 March, with the centre column led by the head-quarters division of the 83rd under Lieutenant-Colonel Steele.

Casualties and Conditions: The Human Cost

Throughout the excerpts, the memoir records casualties with stark precision. At Neemuch in November 1857, a detachment under Ensign Chamley and Major Simpson held a small fortified position against a “very large insurgent force” for fifteen days, repulsing escalade attempts and sustaining about 20 wounded. At the fortress of Awah in January 1858, an assault was arranged for 24 January, but the enemy evacuated during a night of “intense darkness and a heavy thunderstorm,” leaving 13 guns; the detachment had two men wounded. These entries, while brief, accumulate to show the regiment's repeated exposure to siege warfare, disease, and climate, though the memoir does not dwell on broader suffering beyond the official returns.

Readers should note that this memoir is a regimental history compiled from official sources, not a personal narrative. It focuses on unit movements, engagements, and command changes, with little attention to individual soldiers' experiences or the social context of the campaigns. The appendices and battle honours listed on the title page—including “Talavera,” “Busaco,” “Salamanca,” and “Central India”—provide a quick reference to the regiment's major actions, but the text itself rewards those interested in the logistics and chronology of 19th-century British imperial warfare.

Reading this regimental history, I thought of my grandfather’s quiet way of listing his own service dates, each one a stone in a wall. The precise casualty numbers here feel less like facts and more like held breath. It reminded me of the stillness in Terrain Exercises — Inside the Classic, where every contour line seemed to wait for a story that never quite arrived. Both books ask for patience, not action.