British Light Infantry in the 18th Century

The birth of British light infantry dates from the year 1798, for from this year on, we find a steadily increasing interest being taken in this arm, and the formation of the 5th Battalion the 60th, trained according to the admirable system of de Rottenburg, conspicuously marks the year 1798 as such. Just two years later, in January, 1800, the Duke of York authorised the formation of an Experimental Corps of Riflemen, and Sir John Moore (Correctly speaking General Moore, for Moore was only made a K.B. in 1804.) issued a circular, to the commanding officers of 13 regiments - the 2nd of the 1st, 2Ist, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 29th, 49th, 69th, 71st, 72nd, 79th, 85th and 92nd - to furnish one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, two sergeants, one corporal and thirty privates each, these to be brigaded for instruction in light infantry work, the whole corps to be formed as a unit under Colonel Coote Manningham, who had commanded several light companies under General Grey in the West Indies. Six of the above regiments took this excellent opportunity of getting rid of their worst men, one sending twenty-two unserviceable men out of the thirty asked for.

In March, 1800, the detachments assembled at Horsham and remained there until April 1st. Thence they marched to Windsor Forest (General Maurice mentions the place as Swanley. "Diary of Sir John Moore," Vol. II., p. 65,) to be trained under Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. William Stewart: The original idea was not to keep this corps together as a permanent unit, but to split it up and diffuse knowledge of the rifle throughout the army. This idea seems to have held good until 1803. At Stewart's request the corps was embarked for Ferrol in July, 1800. Some weeks later it was broken up at Malta. "History of the British. Army," Vol. IV., p. 918. Hon. J. W. Fortescue. This did not, however, destroy the existence of the Corps; for eleven days after the Corps had been ordered to assemble at Horsham, the Horse Guards called upon thirty-three of the Fencible Regiments in Ireland to supply twelve active young men each as volunteers to the Rifle Corps; in all they supplied three hundred and ninety-six men. "History and Campaigns of the Rifle Brigade," Vol. I., p. 24., Col. Willoughly Verner. These men were assembled under the original officers appointed to the Corps.

We learn from the "Rifle Brigade Chronicle" of 1893, that Cornwallis; who was Viceroy of Ireland in 1800, objected to supply these drafts, as he was "unwilling to weaken the Line by any such measure; but that if he was overruled, fifteen or twenty men only should be taken from each Regiment, and that in the new Corps only 10 per cent should be armed with rifles." He supported his argument by quoting Colonel Wurmb, who commanded a corps of Hessian Jaegers during the American War of Independence, and who had presumably requested Lord Howe to withdraw the rifles from the Hessians and substitute firelocks; possibly it was on Colonel Wurmb's suggestion that Howe also withdrew the rifles from Ferguson's rifle corps, not realising that they were of a superior pattern.

"Lord Cornwallis's views, however, were not accepted," writes Colonel Verner ("History and Campaigns of the Rifle Brigade," Vol. I., p. 24,) "and the Rifle Corps was raised in spite of him. In writing to Major-General Ross from Dublin, on October 24th, 1800, he complains that, 'we have given between 3,000 and 4,000 men from the Fencibles to the Line and to Colonel Manningham's Rifle Corps, which last is a very amusing plaything! Lord Cornwallis was no military amateur but an experienced soldier of many campaigns, and one who must have seen in America the power of the rifle in the hands of men who knew how to use it." This is hardly fair criticism. According to one authority, as we have seen, the American sharpshooters sometimes took a quarter of an hour to load their rifles; a skilful shot could only fire from the Baker rifle one round a minute against four to five which could in the same time be fired from the musket.

In August the same year the camp was reformed under Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. W. Stewart at Blatchington for the discipline and organisation of which the famous "Regulations of the Rifle Corps" were drawn up. On Christmas Day, 1800, Charles Napier joined this camp.

THE REGULATIONS OF THE RIFLE CORPS

"The Regulations of the Rifle Corps," a standing model for all such regulations, were compiled, in all probability, by Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. W. Stewart, under the authorisation of Colonel Coote Manningham, Lieut.-Colonel Stewart founding his Regulations on the Company System. This means that each company formed, so to speak, a family under its Captain, the whole being cemented together by honour, comradeship, mutual confidence and affection. This sytem of discipline was, in 1800, practically unknown to the British Army. It is still, unfortunately, in some units not completely appreciated, yet it is the one and only system by which true soldiership can be gained. The company system is the backbone of the army, and when discipline in a battalion is seriously lacking, in nine cases out of ten it is because the company system, that is the individual care of the officers for their men, is not as good as it should be. "Tel officier, telle troupe," is the watchword of this organisation.

"The Regulations of the Rifle Corps" had such an important influence on the whole system of economy established by Sir John Moore at Shorncliffe, and Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. William Stewart played so conspicuous a part in the training carried out at that model camp, that I will now conclude this short introduction to "Sir John Moore's System of Training " with a brief account of the life and opinions of this remarkable man.