Military Records

The 16th Foot (The Bedfordshires) Regiment

The 16^th Foot or Bedfordshire Regiment was raised in October 1688 by James II in an effort to muster loyal regiments and thereby counter the threat from William of Orange. The regiment was raised by Colonel Archibald Douglas at Reading, one of twelve regiments raised at the time. The regiment was known by the names of its successive colonels until numbered 16^th Regiment of Foot in 1751, it was then renamed again in 1782 as the 16^th (Buckinghamshire) Foot and then in 1809 as the 16^th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot, Buckinghamshire became the 14^th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment. It only became known truly as the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1881 split into the 1^st and 2^nd Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment. The 3^rd Battalion was created from the Bedford Militia and the 4^th Battalion the Hertford Militia. In 1919 it then became the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment which, in 1958, was amalgamated with the Essex Regiment to become the 3^rd East Anglian Regiment (16^th/44^th Foot). This was subsequently redesignated in 1964 and again in 1968 to become the 3^rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment and subsequently renamed, in 1980, the 3^rd Battalion (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex). In 1992 it was disbanded.

1688	The raising of the Regiment, Archibald Douglas's Regiment of Foot known until 1751 by the names of nine other colonels
1689-1713	Service in north-west Europe. The battles of Namur, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet.
1689-97	Flanders
1689	Walcourt
1692	Steenkirk
1693	Neer Landen
1695	Namur
1702-12	Germany
1702	Liege
1704	Schellenberg
1704	Blenheim where honours on the Colours were received
1706	Ramilies where honours on the Colours were received
1708	Oudenarde where honours on the Colours were received
1708	Lisle
1709	Tournay
1709	Malplaquet where honours on the Colours were received
1713-1745	The north of England and Scotland.
1741	Carthegena.
1742	Cuba.
1745	Belgium.
1746-1749	Scotland.
1749-1767	Ireland.
1751	Named the 16th Regiment of Foot.
1767-1781	America. New York, West Florida, 1778 Baton Rouge, 1781 Pensacola.
1782	Became the 16th (the Buckinghamshire) Regiment of Foot.
1782-1791	Ireland.
1790	Nova Scotia.
1791-1796	Jamaica, the Maroon War.
1793-94	San Domingo
1795	Jamaica.
1796-1802	Home Service.
1803-1815	the West Indies, Canada, Barbados.
1806	Surinam where honours on the Colours were received, Paramaribo, Quebec
1809	Named the 16th (the Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot exchanged county titles with 14th Foot.
1814	Canada
1814-1815	North America Engagements Years in War Facing Colour Coat Colour Lace   Plattsburg 1814-15
1815-1819	Home Service, Cork.
1820-1840	Ceylon and India, Colombo, Calcutta, Cawnpore.
1841-1845	Home Service. Ireland.
1846-1853	Gibraltar, Corfu.
1853-1857	In the West Indies (Jamaica) and Canada (Quebec) during the period of the Russian War returned home from Canada in 1857
1858-1889	Home Service.
1861-1870	Sent to Canada (Montreal) again at the time of the "Trent" difficulty in 1861, and served in North America and Bermuda until 1870, when it came to England from Nova Scotia (Halifax).
1870-1881	Ireland.
1881	Named the The Bedfordshire Regiment
1890-1898	Malta, India, North-West Frontier, Chitral.
1895	Chitral where honours on the Colours were received.
1899-1902	The Boer War (South Africa). 5th Battalion 1900-1902
1903-1914	India, Aden, Ireland, South Africa.
1914-1918	The First World War. Mons, Le Cateau, Marne, Ypres, Suvla, Somme, Passchendaele, Palestine, Arras.
1915	HILL 60 Belgium. In 1915, the German and British armies were dug in, face to face, after a year of battle Hill 60 was a low mound to the south-east and with a view over Ypres. The Royal Engineers reduced it to a series of craters on 17 April 1915. This is an account of how 2/Lieut B.H. Geary won his V.C. on the 20/21 April 1915. Pte Roger Morris remembers "At about 16:30 on 20 April the Germans started a very heavy bombardment of the Hill. They destroyed the communication lines and the Commanding Officer was hit along with many other soldiers from the Bedfordshire Regiment. A messenger then came back saying reinforcement was needed urgently. 2/Lieut Geary, my Platoon commander, of the East Surrey Regiment, today the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, led us up to a crater on the left of Hill 60. There, we established ourselves, digging in and trying to prepare defences. Still under heavy bombardment and countless grenade attacks from the Germans, our crater soon started to fill with the wounded and dead, until all the ground was covered. 2/Lieut Geary had organised them as best he could so they began to help each other, whilst still trying to control our defence against the constant attacks. Further reinforcements arrived but suffered casualties on the way due to the defences being destroyed as quick as we could build them. The Germans then made an attack up one of our old communications trenches. 2/Lieut Geary seeing this, took the initiative. Using Private White to load the rifles, he almost single handedly held them off for an hour until they retreated. The Germans at the same time also launched attacks all over the Hill, including one directly to our front. Corporal Reid controlled our fire and within an hour, we had them beat and running away. 2/Lieut Geary, leaving Cpl Reid in charge, then moved around to the right-hand trench to find out what was going on. When he got there, he discovered they were under attack from their left, he found two officers and a few men defending the crater. Having received no orders, they then made the decision to hold the Hill at all cost. Some more reinforcements then appeared. They had come to re-take the ground lost to the Germans, where 2/Lieut Geary was. He then led them to a position where they could defend the crater and whilst still under fire and on exposed ground, helped them prepare a defence position. During this time with no regard for his own safety, the Platoon Commander led a defensive attack against the German assault and beat them back. 2/Lieut Geary returned to our crater with some much-needed ammunition. He then returned to the right-hand crater to find the Germans had withdrawn completely, for the time being. All of this I must point out whilst we were still under heavy shelling and grenade attacks. Some of the time the Platoon Commander was completely exposed to direct enemy fire. By now it was getting close to dawn so 2/Lieut Geary moved back to our crater. There, he realised we could not hold on much longer without reinforcements, due to the number of casualties we had taken. 2/Lieut Geary then went back over to the right-hand crater to find a Major Lee who had come forward, to tell him of our requirements. Before he managed to do so 2/Lieut Geary was hit in the head by a bullet and rendered unconscious. We managed to get the Platoon Commander taken back to the dressing station to be treated. He survived but lost the sight in one eye and had serious hearing difficulties."
1915	1st/5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment - Gallipoli Deaths
1919	Named the The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
1919-1939	India, Ireland, China, Palestine.
1939-1945	The Second World War. Dunkirk, Greece, Syria, Tobruk, Singapore, North Africa, Cape Bon, Chindits, Italy, Cassino, Gothic Line.
1958	Amalgamated with The Essex Regiment, to form 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot)
	Awards
	Victoria Crosses - those residing in the Regimental Museum

Volunteer Regiments

As well as the Bedfordshire Regiment existed some Volunteer Regiments, in 1806 these comprised of:

• Bedford Infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Whitbread, a total of 418 men whose uniform was red with green collar and cuffs with blue breeches/pantaloons.

• Bedfordshire Cavalry under Colonel The Earl of Upper Ossory, a total of 142 men whose uniform was blue with red collar and cuffs, the officers wearing gold lace, the buttons were gold and the breeches/pantaloons blue.

• Bedfordshire Infantry also under Colonel The Earl of Upper Ossory, a total of 1,300 men whose uniform was red with green collar and cuffs, the officers wearing gold lace, the buttons were gold and the breeches/pantaloons blue.

Military Ancestors

Most archives are either held at the Central Record Office (CRO) or the Public Record Office (PRO). There are some Bedfordshire Regimental records held at the CRO where the artefacts are held in the Luton Museum.

In 1884 there was a publication of records belonging to the Bedfordshire Militia for the period 1759 to 1884. Muster Rolls and Books, Ballot Lists and Posse Comitatus Lists are held at the CRO and PRO. The lieutenancy paper in the CRO contain rolls of the Bedfordshire Militia (1852-72) and of the local Rifle Volunteers, which later became the 3^rd Volunteer Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, 1860-92. The Muster List (1864-1901) for the Bedford town companies of the volunteers are also held in detail.

World War 1 records can be established by using sources such as the register of absent voters and the parish rolls of honour. There is also a book detailing Bedfordshire Soldiers who served in the Great War which was available for reading in the Bedford Record Office. There are some Home Guard rolls, which are not comprehensive, held for World War 2.

Indexed Muster Lists produced from various documents at the CRO and PRO for various hundreds within Bedfordshire, 1539 to 1831, were published which included the names of the Bedfordshire soldiers impressed for service in Ireland (1591-1602), the New Model Army deserters (1645-46), Militia Rolls and County Militia Enrolments, Ballot Lists and National Defence Lists (1803).