32nd Regiment
Also known as Brig-Gen. William Douglas' Regiment
Brig-Gen. William Douglas commanded 1745 - 1747
Became the 32nd
(Cornwall Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot
1743 - 32nd at
Dettingen. 27th June.
During the Battle of Dettingen am Main
in Bavaria (June 27, 1743), an army of British, Hannoverians, and
Hessians, under the command of George II, king of Great Britain and
Ireland and elector of Hannover, defeated the French.
1745 -
32nd at Fontenoy.
At the Battle of Fontenoy in Flanders (May
11, 1745), the French under Marshal de Saxe defeated the Austrians
and their allies and began the conquest of the Austrian Netherlands.
32nd were ordered home for the 'Rebellion in Scotland' and
landed at Gravesend.
1746 - 32nd in Scotland, returned to
Flanders, Battle of Roucoux.
1748 - 32nd at Chelmsford.
1747 - 32nd in Battle of Val or Laffeld.
The following are extracts from Historical Records of the 32nd
(Cornwall) Light Infantry, 1893, with particular reference to it's
Colonel, William Douglas
of Kirkness
William Douglas {1745-47.)
Appointtd sgth May, 1743.
First commission, cajitain, 15th May, 1709; captain, Coldstream
Guards, gih Junu, 1720; second major, iglh December, 1740; first
major, aytli April, 1743; colonel, 32nd Regiment, 27lh May, 1745.
Shortly after 1715, the year in which the regiment was
raised.
Captain Douylaa joined Croft's Light Dragoons (now gih
lancers),
from which, in 1720, he was appointed to the
Coldstream Guards.
He served with distinction in the War of the
Austrian Succession,
and was given the command of the 32nd
Regiment soon after
Fontenoy.
On 19th July, 1745, liitie more than two months after Fontenoy
had been fought, the young Chevalier landed in the Highlands, and
the Scottish clans began to rally round him, It was not until
ihe
beginning of September that the king and his ministers began
to realize
the importance of the crisis ; nay, had become fully
aware that the
young Chevalier was actually at that moment upon
British soil. A
message was then despatched to the Duke of
Cumberland with
directions that a part of the Flanders army
should at once return
home. The first general order which
intimated such a movement
occurs under date of September 24th,
when as after orders "all
"the posts of Sowles' (11th),
Pultney's (13th), M. G. Howard's
"(19th), Bragg's (28th),
Douglas' (32nd), Johnson's (33rd), and
" Cholmondeley's (34th)
regiments to be relieved immediately.
** These seven regiments
to be ready to march at an hour's warning."*
These
regiments, with the exception of the 19th, and with the
addition
of the brigade of Guards and the Buffs, embarked at
Wilhelmstadt
in October, under the command of Sir John Ligonier,
and ten days
later arrived off Gravesend. The steadiness and good
order of
these troops on embarkation elicited the highest praise from
Ligonier.
After its arrival in England, the 32nd Regiment
(now commanded
by Colonel William Douglas,) in the army of the
Duke of Cumber-
land, moved northwards. On 4th December the
duke's head-quarters
were at Stafford, the young Pretender and
the Highland army being
at Derby and in its neighbourhood. The
Duke of Cumberland's
army was brigaded as the following extract
from General Orders
shows : —
EXTRACT FROM GENERAL
ORDERS.
« L : G : Anstruther & Brigr Bligh— Sempill's
(26th), Scotch Fuzileers,
" (21st), Johnson's (33rd),
Douglas' (32nd).
" M : G : Skelton & Brigr Price— Howd* (3rd
Buffs), Skelton's (12th).
" Brig' Douglas— Bowie's (IXth),
Handyside's (31st), The Train."
The regiment subsequently
did good service in Lancashire, but
does not appear to have
taken part in the battles of Falkirk Moor or
CuUoden.
In Henderson's History of the Rebellion y Douglas' regiment
(32nd) is men-
tioned with others ** who had served so well
under the eye of His Royal Highness
" in Lancashire and
Cheshire."
The regiment pruceeded to Scotland on the
dispersal of tlie clans,
remaining there but a short lime, as
they could ill be spared from
Flanders, where their services
were urgently needed. In the autumn
of 1746 they were back again
in that country, under their old chief,
Sir John Li^oniei.
On 7th October a sharp affair occurred on the Jaar, in which the
French were repulsed ; but Saxe, reinforced by Clermont,
re-crossed
that stream a few days later, and the Allies —
instead oi opposing the
passage — sent off their heavy baggage
to Maesiricht and chose a new
position in rear of the villages
of Endist, Slinge, and FixhiJ, where
they awaited the French
altaclc. Between Fixhe and Liers was a
plain, in front of the
Hanoverians ; the Brili)^h and Hessians wi^re
posted in rear of
Liers; the Hanoverian genera!, Zastrow, and
Brigadier Douglas,
32nd regiment, held Warem and Roucoux, and the
Prince of Waldeck
occupied the suburbs of Liege. In this position
the Allies were
vigorously assailed by the French, who advanced in
three
columns, covered by a powerful artillery, and, though at first
repulsed on the left, gradually extended their attacks along the
whole
front, driving Zastrow out of the villages of Warem and
Roucoux
and compelling the Allies to fall back upon the Meuse,
leaving five
thousand of their dead, chiefly Hessians, on the
field. The French,
too, had been roughly handled, and the
retreat was effected without
interruption.
This affair
ended the year's operations, and on 26th October the
British and
Hessians marched to Venloo, whence they proceeded to
their
winter quarters in the duchies of Limburg and Luxembourg.
The Allies were in the field again in April, 1747, the Duke of
Cumberland having made great prejiarations during the winter ; but
ill luck seemed to hover around them, and they were outnumbered
and outmancEuvred by the French.
Il appears from the
same source (although not absolutely stated)
thai Douglas'
regiment (32nd) occupied winter quarters in Breda,
1747-48,
Early in March, 1748, troops were moved towards Maes-
tricht
"for it IS thought that the French are going to lay siege to it."
There marrheil In defend that town, fifteen regiments of foot
and five
of horse, two guns being sent to every foot regiment,
following the
unaccountable fashion of the time; Douglas' (32nd)
was apparently
not with this force.
" August ye 4th
1748.
"General Sickness thro' all y* English Regiments,
Taken with a Pain in
" the head. Fever & Eague, above three
fourths of y* Regiments had it
"and a Great Number Died,
Especially those which Lay on y« Low
" Ground, the only remedy
was Setons in y« neck and drinking ye water
" after it was
boil'd."
Brigadier Douglas having died the year previous,
viz., 1st December,
1747, was succeeded by Colonel Francis I-eighton,
as colonel of the
regiment.
On the conclusion of peace,
before narrated, the whole of the
British troops were wididrawn
from the Low Countries. In December,
1748, the 32nd Regiment
was at Chelmsford, and was reduced by
two companies. In 1749 it
was sent to Gibraltar, the scene of its
earliest experiences
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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