109th (Aberdeenshire) Regiment of Foot

other units with the same regimental number 109th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation) November 2019 109th (Aberdeenshire) Regiment of Foot 1794–1795 United Kingdom Army Line Infantry Infantry One battalion Alexander Leith Hay The 109th (Aberdeenshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1794 to 1795. Raised by Alexander Leith Hay for service in the French Revolutionary Wars the regiment was briefly deployed in Jersey before it was disbanded in England and its men sent to reinforce the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot. The disbandment was controversial as Leith-Hay believed it contravened an assurance given to him in his original letter of service to raise the regiment. Establishment thumb|Alexander Leith-Hay, founder of the regiment, pictured later in his career as a general The 109th was one of fifty-eight regiments of foot raised in 1793–95 as part of a recruiting drive. The majority of these units had a short and uneventful existence as it was decided in 1795 to "reduce" all regiments numbered above 100, and to draft their members into existing senior regiments.Reid Stuart British Redcoat 1793–1815, Volume 2 1997 Osprey Publishing Oxford 9781855325562 4–5 https://books.google.com/books?id=Zh-Db24gYS0C&q=109th+Regiment+of+Foot+1794&pg=PA4Colburn's United Service Magazine, Issue 266 1851 https://books.google.com/books?id=T49DAAAAcAAJ&q=109th+Regiment+of+Foot+1794&pg=PA558 558 The establishment of the regiment had been proposed to the House of Commons committee of supply on 19 November 1793 by Major-General Richard FitzPatrick on behalf of Alexander Hay.Almon J The parliamentary register; or, History of the proceedings and debates of the House of Lords and House of Commons 1796 271 https://books.google.com/books?id=8kFSAAAAYAAJ Alexander was known as "Sandie" Leith-Hay after inheriting Leith Hall from his brother, and later taking on the additional titles of Hay of Rannes to honour his great uncle Andrew Hay, a renowned jacobite in the 1745 rising. He was a regular army soldier who had been commissioned lieutenant upon his birth and promoted to captain in the 7th Dragoons at the age of ten, as well as a noted laird in Aberdeenshire.Bulloch John Malcolm John Malcolm Bulloch Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 255 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrichBoase George C. Hay, Andrew Leith 25 250,251 On 8 March 1794 Leith-Hay wrote to Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet, Secretary of State for War, to remind him of his offer to recruit soldiers to fight in the French Revolutionary Wars, and he was granted a letter of service to raise the regiment on 2 April 1794.Whitton Frederick Ernest The Old Army 1924 Gale and Polden 173 https://books.google.com/books?id=7tUcWD7g9wAC The regiment was raised on 17 May 1794 in Aberdeenshire, and was initially known as "Hay's" or the Aberdeenshire Regiment. Leith-Hay was reported to have offered between 20 and 25 guineas bounty as an incentive to recruits in Aberdeen and also gave his recruits a written promise that they would not be drafted into another regiment.Sunter Ronald M. Cormack Andrew RAISING THE 97th (INVERNESS-SHIRE) HIGHLAND REGIMENT OF FOOT Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 1998 76 306 102 44230101 0037-9700The problems of recruitment of Scottish line regiments during the Napoleonic Wars Scottish Tradition 2001 26 65 http://www.irss.uoguelph.ca/article/viewFile/211/245 Leith-Hay adopted the "Aberdeenshire" name for the regiment, apparently causing a dispute with the rival Huntly Gordon family who had originally considered the name for their 100th Regiment of Foot (which instead became known as the Gordon Highlanders).Gaffney Victor The Lordship of Strathavon: Tomintoul Under the Gordons Third Spalding Club Banffshire, Scotland 1960 126 https://books.google.com/books?id=7nxnAAAAMAAJ The 100th and 109th regiments reflected the rivalries of their colonels, with both attempting various means to recruit from the limited pool of available men in north-east Scotland.Royle Trevor The Gordon Highlanders: A Concise History 2011 Random House https://books.google.com/books?id=-qCC7fcvtZYC&pg=PT9 978-1-78057-248-2 9Bulloch John Malcolm Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 206 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrich Officers of the Gordons complained that the Aberdeen town council showed favour to the 109th over their regiment.Bulloch John Malcolm Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 199 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrich The rivalry extended to the Highland Fencible Corps too, with Leith-Hay's brother, James, raising the Aberdeenshire Fencibles in 1795 in direct rivalry to the Duke of Gordon's Northern Fencibles.Bulloch John Malcolm Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 254 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrich Leith-Hay was able to furnish his regiment with experienced officers, his majors, captains and all bar one of his lieutenants already holding commissions in other regiments. Upon its first muster the regiment comprised 32 sergeants, 30 corporals, 22 drummers and 610 privates. The officer corps comprised Leith-Hay, 2 majors, 8 captains, 14 lieutenants, 15 ensigns, a chaplain, surgeon, adjutant and quartermaster (though not all of these served at one time, with some resigning or joining later).Bulloch John Malcolm Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 254–259 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrich Service thumb|Sir Hector Munro, who inspected the regiment prior to it entering service The regiment received its colours and was inspected by General Sir Hector Munro, 8th laird of Novar at Aberdeen on 5 September 1794.Bulloch John Malcolm Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 259 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrich On 1 October 1794 the regiment was numbered as the 109th Foot and Hay appointed colonel by royal warrant. By September 1794 it was billeted in the Dundee area before boarding ships at Burntisland for transit to Southampton where they disembarked on 26 October. Disbandment thumb|Sir Ralph Abercromby, under whose command the 109th served in 1795 In April the following year the regiment moved to Jersey, returning to England in July to form part of a force commanded by General Sir Ralph Abercromby for service in the West Indies. Whilst mustering with 19 other regiments on Nursling Common, Southampton, the regiment received the order to disband on 15 September.Whitton Frederick Ernest The Old Army 1924 Gale and Polden 175 https://books.google.com/books?id=7tUcWD7g9wACHome News The Lady's Magazine 1785 XXVI 485 https://books.google.com/books?id=angEAAAAQAAJ This caused disquiet amongst the regiment's officers and two of their number, Captain Leith and Lieutenant Leslie, were brought to the attention of General Gordon for their behaviour. Under the circumstances he showed leniency, a decision later approved of by the commander-in-chief, the Duke of York. Colonel Leith-Hay travelled to London to protest the move, claiming he had been promised that if the regiment were ever to disband it would do so in Aberdeenshire and to allow the men to enter a regiment of their own choosing as volunteers.Bulloch John Malcolm Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 260 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrich His protests, and those of The Morning Chronicle, were in vain and the regiment ceased to exist on 24 September 1795.Bulloch John Malcolm Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1759–1814 1914 University of Aberdeen 261 https://archive.org/details/territorialsoldi00bullrich The men were drafted into the existing 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot, despite an apparent attempt to place Scottish recruits into other Scottish regiments in such circumstances.Brown Steve The "Ephemeral Corps" 1793–1796 http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/Britain/Infantry/Regiments/c_ephemeral.html British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793–1815 19 January 2013 18 November 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121118030723/http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/Britain/Infantry/Regiments/c_ephemeral.html dead Such instances of drafting of Scottish soldiers into non-Scottish regiments created a distrust among recruits that hampered recruitment north of the border.Sunter Ronald M. Cormack Andrew RAISING THE 97th (INVERNESS-SHIRE) HIGHLAND REGIMENT OF FOOT Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 1998 76 306 110 44230101 0037-9700 The 109th's officers were placed on half-pay. On 26 November 1795 the House of Commons ordered that all correspondence between Colonel Leith-Hay and the government's secretaries of state regarding the raising and disbanding of the regiment be presented to the house.Journals of the House of Commons 1795 119 https://books.google.com/books?id=I3o5AQAAMAAJ This was at the instigation of Generals Fitzpatrick and Macleod, who believed that the disbanding of the regiment and drafting of its men contravened the letter of service originally granted to Leith-Hay. The colonel had himself almost resigned his commission in disgust at the decision to disband the regiment.Magnusson Magnus Scotland's castles and great houses 1981 Harmony Books 198 9780517545102 https://books.google.com/books?id=RGQKAQAAMAAJ Leith-Hay went on to have a distinguished military career and became a full general of the British Army in 1838. References External links http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/109-794.htm regiments.org Aberdeenshire Regiment of Foot https://web.archive.org/web/20071015184231/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/109-794.htm 15 October 2007 dead 28 July 2007 109 Regiment of Foot https://web.archive.org/web/20160119023120/http://www.oldsite.leinster-regiment-association.org.uk/history/regiment_history.htm#109th_Regiment 19 January 2016 ; Regimental Association of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment Category:Infantry regiments of the British Army Category:Military units and formations established in 1794 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1795 Category:1794 establishments in Great Britain Category:1795 disestablishments in Great Britain Category:1794 establishments in Scotland Category:1795 disestablishments in Scotland