POLITICAL HISTORY 



Bedford, while the southern or Luton Division comprises the sessional 

 division of Leighton Buzzard, Luton and Woburn, so much of the Ampthill 

 sessional division as is not within the Biggleswade Division, and the municipal 

 boroughs of Dunstable and Luton.™ 



The changes brought about in county administration by the Acts limiting 

 the powers of justices of the peace, and the establishment of a county 

 council, have been wholly beneficial in Bedfordshire. 



The title 'Bedfordshire Regiment' is now borne by the old i6th, but 

 the connexion of that regiment with the county dates only from 1809. In 

 1782 the 14th Foot was ordered to assume the title of 'Fourteenth, or Bed- 

 fordshire Regiment of Foot,' and to ' cultivate a connexion with that county ' 

 for recruiting purposes.'"' How far the intention was realized it is not easy 

 to discover. The regiment was among the first selected for foreign service 

 on the outbreak of the French war in 1793 ; ^'"' it was soon busy in Flanders 

 under the Duke of York, and fought with distinction at Famars, 23 May 

 1793,^"' where the regimental drummers, at the order of Colonel Doyle, struck 

 up ^a Ira, to ' break the scoundrels to their own damned tune,' ^°* and at 

 Tournay in May 1794."" From 1795 to 1803 it was in the West Indies.^*" 

 In 1804 a second battalion was added to the regiment,^"^ and in 1807 the 

 ist Battalion went to India,™ and was engaged there, while the 2nd, reinforced 

 by strong drafts of volunteers from the Bedfordshire and other militia regi- 

 ments, was sent to Spain under Sir David Baird, and joined Sir John Moore 

 in time to take part in his celebrated retreat.™ The ' vigorous attack made 

 by the 2nd Battalion of the Fourteenth ' at the Battle of Corunna, 1 6 January 

 1809, was mentioned by Sir John Hope in his dispatch."" On returning to 

 England the battalion was stationed at Buckingham, and the county title of 

 the regiment was changed from Bedfordshire to Buckinghamshire May 1809, 

 an exchange of titles being made with the i6th."' 



Of the connexion of the 14th with Bedfordshire between 1782 and 1809 

 there is little evidence in the authorized history of the regiment. On return- 

 ing home after the Flemish campaign in 1795 they 'marched to Hitchin and 

 its neighbourhood,' "^ but no direct mention of Bedfordshire occurs there or 

 elsewhere, and none of the officers during the period in question bear names 

 that suggest a Bedfordshire origin. But curiously enough there is evidence of 

 such connexion six years after the date of the change of title. In 1 8 1 3 a 

 third battalion was added to the 14th, formed of volunteers from the Militia 

 and commanded by Lieut.-Col. Hon. James Stewart."^ One captain and two 

 lieutenants were from the Bedfordshire Militia, and must have brought with 

 them certain quotas of militia volunteers to enable them to receive rank in 

 the Line equal to that which they had held in the Militia. It had been in- 

 tended for the American War, and on peace being made with America was 

 just about to be disbanded when Napoleon's reappearance revived the war with 



«» Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, 48 & 49 Vict. cap. 23. 



«" Capt. H. O'Donnell, Hist. Rec. ofi^th Reg. of Foot (1893), 49. «" Ibid. 53. 



603 HjJjJ cj "" Ibid. 58. The tune has ever since been retained as the regimental quickstep. 



'«' IbiA 65-8. "* Ibid. 7 1-7- "" Ibid. 79. 



.08 Ibid. 83. "'Ibid. 84. "» Ibid. 87. 



»" Ibid. 88. See also Cannon, Hist. Rec. ofi6th or Beds. Reg. of Foot (1848), 28. 

 »" O'Donnell, op. cit. 70. '" Ibid. 102. 



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