I would like to publish a comprehensive list of the british regiments during the period of 1792 to 1815. I've consulted several works like Fortescue or Oman, but after a first glimpse I didn't find a table with the recruiting areas of the regiments - o.k. many names relate to an area, but I assume not exactly with the county. And of course I know the guards and rifles were recruited nationwide.
I found a very interesting image with the areas for the line infantry of ca. 1887.
As I use Swinson Register of the regiments and corps of the british army I know the later amalgamations ... but one question rises: did the recruiting areas of the regiments change between the napoleonic era and the 1880s?
And if someone has a list of the recruiting areas (also for cavarly and artillery) that would be very appreciated.
Greetings from Berlin
Markus Stein
Hi Markus,
"County Lieutenancies and the Army 1803-1814" is certainly a useful book - here is copy
All the best
Ian
Thank you Ian & Rob for your further comments and hints. I got the chance to obtain four further volumes of Fortescue covering the period from 1803 to 1813 (the volumes before and the no. 9/10 I had) and there are lots of descriptions from several governmental acts regarding the recruitment. And as you wrote, the Irish delivered lots of men (I read some time ago, the the Foot Guards had many irish guys in their ranks).
I "re-discovered" Fortescue, o.k. a kind of bias towards the british army (as the title promises) but a treasure of information. He stated that more information about the recruitment and particularly the migration of milita troops towards the line could be found in his work about the "County Lieutenancies and the Army 1803-1814" - could you recommend that book? In this case I'll try to get it via abebooks.
Now, I plunge into more details about the british army ... greetings from Berlin
Markus Stein
Hi Markus,
There are two interesting articles by T. H. McGuffie titled "Recruiting the Ranks of the Regular British Army During the French Wars - Recruiting, Recruits and Methods of Recruitment" in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (Vol. 34, No. 138 (JUNE, 1956), pp. 50-58) https://www.jstor.org/stable/44226688 and (Vol. 34, No. 139 (SEPTEMBER, 1956), pp. 123-132) https://www.jstor.org/stable/44226543
Although these will not give you an answer they are fascinating reading as they deal with: Recruiting; Recruits; Bounties; Outfits; Class of Men; Occupation of Recruits; Ranks (N.C.O.s) and Duties; Drink; & Opinions on the English Army.
I certainly learnt an awful lot about "crimps".
All the best
Ian
Hi Marcus,
I think you'll find that recruiting areas for each regiment were very much more fluid than in later periods. The Scottish regiments tended to be a bit more homogenous, and some like the 33rd might have some association with a specific area, but generally regiments operated recruiting parties where they were most likely to get men or where their 2nd battalions were or depots were based. For example, most regiments had high proportions of Irish recruits, even Highland regts. Also transfers from the militia, a major source of men after about 1807, were pretty random; the same regiment could have men from many different county militia regiments. There were officers in charge of recruiting districts but I think they were there to regulate the process and avoid too many parties in any area, rather than feed particular units.
David & Bob: thank you for your comments - I know Steve Brown's effort ... and I see, it is a really complicating affair and I should postpone at least the recruiting point (I read some passages in the Fortescue volumes).
All the best
Markus Stein
You would probably have to contact the National Army Museum as they have a network of connections to the various regimental museums, eg: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/58th-rutlandshire-regiment-foot The National Archives in Kew, SW London, did a big research project many years ago on British soldiers of the Wars, although there does not seem to be any trace of it on their site https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-research-and-academic-collaboration/
Marcus-
Steve Brown is writing a five volume encyclopedia of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. The name of the book is "King George's Army: British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815". It is being published by Helion Books. Two volumes have been published so far. Its origins were similar articles that he wrote for the Napoleon Series.
https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/Britain/Infantry/Regiments/c_InfantryregimentsIntro.html
The information for each regiment is massive! For example, there are 12 pages just on the 5th Foot. One of the things he includes for each regiment is a section called "Significant Intakes of Militia / Volunteer Intakes. This section gives you an idea where many of the men came from, Unfortunately I did not seen anything on recruiting areas.
Bob