MILITARY HISTORY 



The regiment proceeded to Tangier, of which garrison Lord Peter- 

 borough was commandant, and saw service against the Moors. While 

 there, it was recruited by a large draft of the remains of one of the 

 regiments raised for the garrison of Dunkirk, made available by the sale 

 of the place to France. 



The Lamb and Flag was an old badge of the House of Braganza, 

 and it was therefore given to the West Surrey regiment as being the 

 Queen's regiment. Piercy Kirke was appointed colonel of the regiment 

 in 1682,' whence the nickname of Kirke's Lambs. The record of the 

 services of the regiment belongs rather to English history ; but, in pass- 

 ing, it is permissible to suggest that the bad name associated with it for 

 its actions in Monmouth's rebellion is probably not deserved. Military 

 execution among a rebellious population necessarily implies brutal treat- 

 ment. The insurgents who fought at Sedgemoor were brave men, but the 

 rising was a singularly mischievous attempt, and was bound to call for 

 strong repression. Legend has added to Kirke's crimes, but nothing 

 actually done by Colonel Kirke prevented William III. from employing 

 him at the relief of Londonderry and elsewhere. His son commanded 

 the regiment in the eighteenth century. 



The Queen's fought in Flanders under William and Marlborough, 

 and in Spain under Galway, sharing in the defeat of Almanza. Later 

 on it was in garrison at Gibraltar, but not during the famous siege. 

 It served under the Duke of York in Holland in 1799, under Aber- 

 crombie in Egypt, under Wellington in the Peninsula from Vimiera to 

 Toulouse, in India, in China and in Afghanistan. It was, as the West 

 Surrey, on the north-west frontier of India in 1897-8, and subsequently 

 in South Africa. When the campaign on the north-west frontier was 

 over, Sir William Penn Symons, who was afterwards killed at Talana 

 Hill in South Africa, issued the following order : — 



8 May 1898. 

 I cannot permit the West Surrey regiment to leave the Khaibar force without 

 giving you an expression of my thorough appreciation of your brilliant services since 

 you have been under my command in the field. Whilst you were with me in can- 

 tonments in Ambala I formed a high opinion of the efficiency of the battalion. It 

 has been more than justified throughout the Tirah campaign ; no matter what the 

 occasion, whether on picket duty, foraging, advancing or retiring, we all had sure 

 confidence that if the Queen's were in it there need be no anxiety. The great care 

 taken by the officers of the men, good discipline, especially on the march, sound 

 instruction of all ranks in their profession as soldiers, all combine with esprit de corps 

 to make you the smartest and best all round British infantry battalion that I know. 

 I am very sorry to lose you. I wish you good-bye and the best of good fortune. 



The West Surrey justified its character in Natal. 



The history of the West Surrey is a plain story of one regiment. 

 That of the East Surrey is more complicated. By the scheme com- 

 pleted in 1 88 1 the Thirty-first, called the Huntingdonshire regiment, 

 and the Seventieth, called the Surrey regiment, were amalgamated to 

 form the two battalions of the East Surrey. There was only a nominal 



1 Scott, British Army, iii. 427 ; Colonel Davis, History of the ^een's, i. 205. 



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