28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot

The 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot was a British infantry regiment from 1782 to 1881.

From 1751 to 1782 they were the 28th Regiment of Foot, and in 1881 they merged with the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot to form the Gloucestershire Regiment.

History

For their conduct at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801 the 28th was given the unique honour of wearing a badge on both the front and rear of their head dress.^[1] This commemorated a possibly unique feat, when, drawn up in two ranks to repel a French infantry attack, they repelled a simultaneous attack on their rear by French cavalry. Lieutenant-Colonel Chambers, who had taken over command following the serious wounding of the Commanding Officer, Colonel Paget, gave the historic order "Rear rank, 28th! Right about face!". The rear ranks turned and with exemplary discipline waited until the French cavalry were a few horse lengths away. They then fired one devastating volley, causing heavy casualties amongst the cavalry and forcing them to withdraw. The regiment served throughout the Peninsular War, including the battles of Talavera, Albuhera and Vittoria. They were one of the few Peninsula veteran regiments which were available for the Hundred Days campaign and fought in the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo as part of the 8th Brigade commanded by James Kempt. Because of their actions in this campaign, they earned distinguished mention in the dispatches of the Duke of Wellington. During the Hundred Days the 28th continued to wear the old style stovepipe shako, distinguishing them from most British regiments that had adopted the new Belgic shako.

Lady Butlers The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras

The 28th Regiment were the subject of a famous oil painting on canvas from 1875 by Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler), portraying the regiment in action at Quatre Bras.

Archive material of the 28th Regiment of Foot is held by The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum in the Historic Docks Gloucester.^[2]

Battle honours

Battle Honours:^[3]

• Egypt campaign: No individual battle honours were awarded immediately after the campaign, instead the Sphinx badge superscribed "Egypt" (8 March –26 August 1801) was awarded in 1802. Mandora, awarded 1813–1817. The battles of the campaign which the 28th were involved in were: Aboukir, Roman Camp, Alexandria (21 March), Cairo, Alexandria (17 August – 2 September 1801)
• Peninsula War: Corunna, Talavera, Barrosa, Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula
• Quatre Bras
• Waterloo
• Crimea War: Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol

Notable Colonels

• 1854–1878 Henry John William Bentinck ^[4]

Footnotes

1. "The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment: History". army.mod.uk. Archived from the original on 9 January 2007.
2. The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum
3. "(North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008.
4. The London Gazette: no. 21640. p. 4051. 12 December 1854. Retrieved 7 November 2009.

External links

• The 28th Regiment (North Gloucestershire)
• The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum