British Orders of Battle During the Peninsular War

This was posted to Steven Thomas blog - I need a copy for reference only. Please go to his site for full and up to date and correct information!

Foot

The regimental list below is those that served in the Peninsular (Haythornthwaite, 1995; Sapherson, 1991). I have only put references if they disagree. The number of battalions comes from Sapherson (1991).

Foot Guards Regiment	Name	Type	Btn	Remarks
1st		Guard	3
2nd	Coldstream Guard	Guard	2
3rd	Scots Guard	Guard	2
Line / Foot Regiment	Name	Type	Btn	Remarks
1st	Royal Scots	Line	4
2nd	Queen’s Royal	Line	1
3rd	East Kent, Buffs	Line	2
4th	King’s Own	Line	2
5th	Northumberland	Line	2
6th	1st Warwickshire	Line	2
7th	Royal Fusiliers	Fusiliers	2
9th	East Norfolk	Line	2
10th	North Lincolnshire	Line	2	Sapherson (1991) says served in the Peninsular.
11th	North Devonshire	Line	2
14th	Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire until 1809	Line	3
20th	East Devonshire	Line	2
23rd	Royal Welsh Fusiliers	Fusiliers	2
24th	Warwickshire	Line	2
26th	Cameronian	Line	2
27th	Inniskilling	Line	3
28th	North Gloucestershire	Line	2
29th	Worcestershire	Line	2
30th	Cambridgeshire	Line	2
31st	Huntingdonshire	Line	2
32nd	Cornwall	Line	2
34th	Cumberland	Line	2
36th	Herefordshire	Line	2
37th	North Hampshire	Line	1	Raised a 2nd Bn in 1811
38th	1st Staffordshire	Line	2
39th	Dorsetshire	Line	2
40th	2nd Somersetshire	Line	2
42nd	Royal Highlanders	Highland	2
43rd	Monmouthshire Light Infantry	Light	2
44th	East Essex	Line	2
45th	1st Nottinghamshire	Line	2
47th	Lancashire	Line	2
48th	Northamptonshire	Line	2
50th	West Kent	Line	2
51st	2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry	Light	1
52nd	Oxfordshire Light Infantry	Light	2
53rd	Shropshire	Line	2
57th	West Middlesex	Line	2
58th	Rutlandshire	Line	2
59th	2nd Nottinghamshire	Line	2
5/60th	Royal American	Rifle	1	The 60th Royal American regiment had 6 battalions (Sapherson, 1991). Only the rifle armed battalion, 5/60th, served in the Peninsular. The rest of the regiment was in garrison in the West Indies.
61st	South Gloustershire	Line	2
62nd	Wiltshire	Line	2
66th	Berkshire	Line	2
67th	South Hampshire	Line	2	Sapherson (1991) says served in the Peninsular.
68th	Durham Light Infantry	Light	1
71st	Highland Light Infantry	Light	2
74th	Highlanders	Highland	1
76th	Hindostan	Line	1
77th	East Middlesex	Line	1
79th	Cameron Highlanders	Highland	2
81st		Line	2
82nd	Prince of Wales’s Volunteers	Line	2
83rd		Line	2
84th	York and Lancaster	Line	2	Haythornthwaite (1995) says served in the Peninsular.
85th	Bucks Volunteers Light Infantry	Light	1
87th	Prince of Wales’s Own Irish	Line	2
88th	Connaught Rangers	Line	2
89th		Line	2	Haythornthwaite (1995) says served in the Peninsular.
90th	Perth Volunteers	Line	2	Sapherson (1991) says served in the Peninsular.
91st		Line	2
92nd	Gordon Highlanders	Highland	2
94th		Line	1
95th	Rifles	Rifle	3
97th	Queen’s Own	Line	1
Foreign Regiment	Name	Type	Btn	Remarks
	King’s German Legion Line Battalions	Line	8	All light companies carried rifles (Sapherson, 1991).
	King’s German Legion Light Battalions	Light	2
	Dillon’s	Line
	De Watteville’s	Line
	De Roll’s	Line		The light company carried rifles (Haythornthwaite, 1995).
	Chasseurs Britannique	Line

Foot Guards

The British Guards Infantry battalions where larger than the line battalions, and as such could field more light infantry companies than the line units could (Partridge & Oliver, 1998).

Line Infantry

British Infantry regiments had one or more battalions (Partridge & Oliver, 1998). The first battalion of the regiment was the senior and was usually sent on active service first. The second battalion, if any, acted as the depot from which the first battalion drew fit and trained men. Because of this system the first battalion was more likely to be up to strength (about 1,000 men) and the second battalion much reduced (about 600).
British Line Infantry battalions had 10 companies including eight centre companies (or battalion companies), one grenadier company and one light company (Partridge & Oliver, 1998). The grenadier company formed up on the right and the light company on the left.

Light Infantry

British Light Infantry battalions also had 10 companies, but did not have specialist flank companies (Partridge & Oliver, 1998).

Rifles

The 95th Rifles (Haythornthwaite, 1995).
The 5/60th Royal Americans (Haythornthwaite, 1995; Rafferty, 1988a, Sapherson, 1991).
The Rifle company of De Roll’s Regiment (Haythornthwaite, 1995; Sapherson, 1991).

Fusilier

7th Royal Fusiliers and 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers served in the Peninsular (Haythornthwaite, 1995; Sapherson, 1991).

Highlander

According to Haythornthwaite (1995) the 42nd, 79th and 92nd Foot wore Highland uniform in the Peninsular.

Foreign

Kings German Legion

The Kings German Legion (KGL) was formed from Hanoverian citizens during 1803-1806, King George III being the Elector of Hanover (Haythornthwaite, 1995). Ultimately it comprised eight infantry and two light infantry battalions, five cavalry regiments, and horse and foot artillery. The legionnaires were amongst the finest troops in the British Army.
The 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Line served in the Peninsular (Haythornthwaite, 1995). The 5th Line was nicknamed “the Fighting Battalion” by the British. Each battalion included a half-company of sharpshooters in addition to the light company. Either these sharpshooters or the light company were equipped with rifles (Sapherson, 1991).
The two Light Battalions were equipped with rifles (Haythornthwaite, 1995).
In 1813 the Dragoons were converted to Light Dragoons and the Light Dragoons to Hussars (Haythornthwaite, 1995). Having said that, Schaumann (1999) who was a Hanoverian war commissary in the Peninsular consistently refers to the light cavalry as Hussars, even in the early period.

De Roll’s Regiment

De Roll’s, Dillon’s, and De Watteville’s Regiments were the remains of those French and Swiss troops which refused to serve the French after the Revolution, and Sapherson (1991) describes them as French Royalist. De Roll’s Regiment was predominantly Swiss in origin and were considered superior to the KGL (Haythornthwaite, 1995). Weak in numbers this regiment had to recruit from French deserters. Three companies were sometimes brigaded with men from Dillon’s Regiment as the Roll Dillon Provisional Battalion. De Roll’s rifle company also formed part of a combined light infantry battalion.

Dillon’s Regiment

De Roll’s, Dillon’s, and De Watteville’s Regiments were the remains of those French and Swiss troops which refused to serve the French after the Revolution, and Sapherson (1991) describes them as French Royalist. Haythornthwaite (1995) suggests Dillon’s Regiment was another Swiss unit – certainly it operated with the Swiss De Roll Regiment. Like De Roll’s, Dillon’s was considered superior to the KGL. Weak in numbers this regiment had to recruit from French deserters. At times three companies of de Roll’s regiment and five of Dillon’s were combined into a provisional battalion called “Roll Dillon’s”.

De Watteville’s Regiment

De Roll’s, Dillon’s, and De Watteville’s Regiments were the remains of those French and Swiss troops which refused to serve the French after the Revolution, and Sapherson (1991) describes them as French Royalist. Weak in numbers this regiment had to recruit from French deserters.

Chasseurs Britanniques

Originally formed in 1801 from French émigrés overtime it was kept up to strength by prisoners of war, deserters, and other nationals (Italians, Poles, Swiss) (Haythornthwaite, 1995). This mix led to high desertion rates, so much so the unit was never used on outpost duty. None-the-less the unit was considered of good quality, largely because of the French royalist officers.

Calabrian Free Corps / Calabrian Light Infantry and Rifles

The Calabrian Free Corps was a two battalion unit (shrinking to one) raised by Sir John Stuart in Sicily. It had British officers and Calabrians in all other ranks. It was also known as the Calabrian Light Infantry and Rifles, reflecting its split between these two types of troops.

Anglo-Italian Levy / Italian Legion

I assume what Gates (1986) calls the “Anglo-Italian Levy” is what Haythornthwaite (1995) call the “Italian Legion” as both are Italian and both served in the Eastern army, and there is nobody else in that force with a similar description. The Italian Legion was a 2 battalion unit formed form Italian prisoners in England. Austrians commanded the first regiment and other foreigners in Sicilian service the 2nd.

3rd ‘Estero’ Sicilian Infantry Regiment

The 3rd ‘Estero’ Sicilian Infantry Regiment was a regular unit of two battalions (Sapherson, 1991).

Sicilian Grenadier Battalion

Sapherson (1991) notes that the Sicilian Grenadier Battalion – who also fought with the Eastern Army – would have had the same uniform as the Grenadiers from the Estero Regiment.

Foreign Recruit Battalion

Horse

Cavalry

British Cavalry usually had fours squadrons, each of two troops (Partridge & Oliver, 1998). Only three squadrons took the field and the fourth was kept at home as a training depot. Regiments numbers at most 500 men.

Brunswick-Oels Hussars

The Brunswick-Oels Hussars had 200-250 men formed into 2 squadrons (Sapherson, 1991). They, along with 12 companies of infantry, were raised in 1809 for Austrian service from German, Croat, Danish, Dutch, Italian and Polish prisoners of war. The Brunswickers almost immediately transferred to British service. Only the Hussars served in the Eastern army in Spain.

1st Sicilian Light Dragoons

References

Funcken, L. and F. (1973). The Napoleonic Wars (Part II). London: Ward Lock.
Haythornthwaite, P. (1995). Uniforms of the Peninsular Wars 1807 – 1814. London: Arms and Armour Press.
Kannik, P. (1968). Military Uniforms in Colour. London: Blandford.
Rafferty, J. (1988a). Painting Guide to Napoleonics (Part One): British Infantry. Active Service Press.
Rafferty, J. (1988b). Painting Guide to Napoleonics (Part Two): British Cavalry. Active Service Press.
Rafferty, J. (1989a). Painting Guide to Napoleonics (Part Nine): French & British Artillery. Active Service Press.
Sapherson, C. A. (1991). Peninsular Armies 1808 – 1814. Leeds, UK: Raider Books.
Schaumann, A. (1999). On the road with Wellington: The diary of a war commissary. Greenhill Books.