The 23rd - Royal Welsh Fusiliers - British Army- Litho after Frank Feller -1889

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Seller: suffolk_art ✉️ (9,267) 0%, Location: Lowestoft, Suffolk, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 142427749108 The 23rd - Royal Welsh Fusiliers - British Army- Litho after Frank Feller -1889.

An Antique Lithograph

of

"The 23rd - Royal Welsh Fusiliers "

From an original portrait produced by Frank Feller

c1889

This item comprises the portrait as described above in good condition.

NB: It is being offered, suitably mounted, ready for framing.

This is a genuine antique being over 100 years old - NOT a modern reproduction.

FORMAT

Overall Size:- 8 1/4" x 11 3/4" including the margin.

Image Size:- 6" x 8" approx

About the Subject..

The Royal Welch Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. 

It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and to take part in the imminent war with France.

The regiment was numbered as the 23rd Regiment of Foot, though it was one of the first regiments to be granted the honour of a fusilier title and so was known as The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers from 1702. The "Royal" accolade was earned fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713.

It was one of the oldest infantry regiments in the regular army, hence the archaic spelling of the word Welch instead of Welsh. 

In the Boer War and throughout the First World War, the army officially called the regiment "The Royal Welsh Fusiliers" but the archaic "Welch" was officially restored to the regiment's title in 1920 under Army Order No.56. During those decades, the regiment itself unofficially used the "Welch" form. The regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Regiment of Wales (RRW) on 1 March 2006, to become the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh (RRW becoming the 2nd Battalion).

The regiment primarily recruited from North Wales. It should not be confused with the Welch Regiment, which recruited from South and West Wales.

History

The Royal Welch Fusiliers were formed by Lord Henry Herbert at Ludlow in March 1689 to oppose James II and to take part in the imminent war with France. The regiment continued to have ties with the town of Ludlow, for example marching through having completed active service in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997, and its successor battalion in The Royal Welsh regiment was granted the freedom of the town in 2014.

The regiment served in the Williamite War in Ireland, fighting at the Battles of the Boyne and Aughrim.

In the War of the Grand Alliance, they were at the Siege of Namur and in the War of the Spanish Succession, they were at Schellenberg and Blenheim. During the War of the Austrian Succession, they were at Dettingen, Fontenoy and Lauffeld and in the Seven Years' War, they fought at Minden, Warburg, Kloster Kampen and Wilhelmsthal.

American Revolutionary War

The light infantry and grenadier companies of the Fusiliers saw bloody action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the light infantry only had five men left unwounded. All companies, except the grenadiers who were garrisoning New York City, fought at the Battle of Guilford Court House in the American War of Independence.

The regiment participated in nearly every campaign from the Lexington & Concord to Yorktown.

At the surrender of Yorktown, the Royal Welch Fusiliers were the only British regiment not to surrender their colours; these were smuggled out tied around the ensign’s waist.

In the French Revolutionary Wars, the Fusiliers served in the West Indies in 1793-94, before going to Europe for the Helder Expedition and to Egypt for the Battle of Alexandria.

Napoleonic Wars

During the Napoleonic Wars, they served from 1810 to 1814 in the Peninsular War; fighting at Albuera, Badajoz, Salamanca, the Pyrenees, Nivelle and Toulouse and took part in the Battle of Waterloo where they fought in the 4th Brigade under Lt-Col.

In the nineteenth century, the regiment took part in the Crimean War, the Second Opium War, the Indian Mutiny and the Third Anglo-Burmese War before serving in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.

First World War

The 1st Battalion landed at Zeebrugge as part of the 22nd Brigade in the 7th Division in October 1914 for service on the Western Front.

The 1st Battalion became forever associated with the terribly destructive action at Mametz Wood in 1916.

The 2nd Battalion landed at Rouen as part of the 19th Infantry Brigade which was an independent command at this time. The 2nd Battalion endured the horrors of the massacre in the mud of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) in 1917. In 1914 The Royal Welch Fusiliers did not participate in any Christmas 1914 Football Game with the Germans. The myth that they did was created in 2008 when a plaque was unveiled to the Royal Welch Fusiliers Truce at Frelinghien. 

Although it was then acknowledged that no football was played by 2nd Battalion, a game was played as part of the day's celebrations.

Territorial Force

The 4th (Denbighshire) Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 3rd Brigade in the 1st Division in November 1914 for service on the Western Front.

 The 5th (Flintshire) Battalion, the 6th (Carnarvonshire & Anglesey) Battalion and the 7th (Merioneth & Montgomery) Battalion sailed from Devonport, bound for Gallipoli via Imbros (now Gökçeada) on 19 July 1915 and landed at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 9 August 1915.

The battalions were evacuated from Gallipoli during December 1915 and moved to Egypt.

The evacuation was forced by a combination of combat, disease and harsh weather which saw the division reduced to just 162 officers and 2428 men, approximately 15% of full strength.

New Armies

The 8th (Service) Battalion landed in Moudros as part of the 40th Brigade in the 13th (Western) Division in July 1915 and subsequently served in Gallipoli, Egypt and Mesopotamia.

 The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 58th Brigade in the 19th (Western) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 10th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 76th Brigade in the 25th Division in September 1915 for service on the Western Front.

The 11th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 67th Brigade in the 22nd Division in September 1915 but moved to Salonika in November 1915.

The 13th (Service) Battalion (1st North Wales), 14th (Service) Battalion, 15th (Service) Battalion (1st London Welsh), 16th (Service) Battalion and 17th (Service) Battalion (2nd North Wales) all landed in France as part of the 113th Brigade in the 38th (Welsh) Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 19th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 119th Brigade in the 40th Division in June 1916 for service on the Western Front.

During this war, several writers served with various battalions of the regiment in France, including the poets Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, David Jones and Hedd Wyn. 

Their memoirs, including Graves' Good-Bye to All That, have resulted in the activities of this regiment being vividly recorded for posterity. Captain J C Dunn, a medical officer attached to the regiment's 2nd Battalion, compiled a chronicle of that unit's experiences during its more than four years of service in France and Belgium.

His epic, The War the Infantry Knew, has become a classic among military historians for its comprehensive treatment of all aspects of daily life and death in the trenches. Another record can be found in Frank Richards' Old Soldiers Never Die, detailing how, as a reservist, he was recalled to the colours at the outbreak of the First World War, serving on the Western Front until the end of the war (including being in the front line during the famous Christmas Truce of 1914)

Second World War

During the Second World War the regiment was awarded 27 battle honours. 1,200 men of the Royal Welch Fusiliers were killed in action or died of wounds.

Regular Army battalions

During the Second World War, the 1st Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers was a Regular Army unit and part of the 6th Infantry Brigade, assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and served in France with the British Expeditionary Force. 

They fought in the short but fierce battles of France and Belgium and were forced to retreat and be evacuated during the Dunkirk evacuation. After 2 years spent in the United Kingdom, waiting and preparing for the invasion that never came (Operation Sea Lion), the 1st RWF and the rest of 2nd Division were sent to British India to fight the Imperial Japanese Army after a string of defeats inflicted upon the British and Indian troops.

They were involved in the Burma Campaign and particularly the Battle of Kohima, nicknamed Stalingrad of the East due to the ferocity of fighting on both sides, that helped to turn of the campaign in the South East Asian theatre.

The 2nd Battalion also served in British India during the war as part of the 29th Independent Infantry Brigade. 

The battalion fought with the brigade throughout the war and served in the Battle of Madagascar in 1942 against the Vichy French. It was transferred to the South-East Asian Theatre soon after. In 1944 the battalion and brigade became part of 36th British Infantry Division, previously an Indian Army formation.

Both the 1st and 2nd Battalions came under the command of Lieutenant-General Bill Slim, commander of the British Fourteenth Army, described at the time as the 'Forgotten Fourteenth' (so-called because their exploits went almost unnoticed in the British Press and were seemingly of little or no importance to the war).

Territorial Army battalions

The 4th, 6th and 7th battalions, all Territorial units, served in 158th (Royal Welch) Brigade assigned to the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, and took part in the Battle of Normandy at Hill 112 where the 53rd Division suffered heavy casualties.

 Due to heavy fighting and casualties in Normandy, some of the battalions were posted to different brigades within the division. The 53rd again suffered heavily during Operation Veritable (the Battle of the Reichswald) under command of the First Canadian Army where the British and Canadians, and 53rd Division in particular, endured some of the fiercest fighting of the entire European Campaign against German paratroops.

The 10th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers was a 2nd Line Territorial battalion raised in 1939 as a duplicate of the 7th Battalion.

 The 10th RWF served with the 8th and 9th battalions in the 115th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Brigade, 38th (Welsh) Division, itself a 2nd Line duplicate of the 53rd (Welsh) Division. The 10th was selected to be converted, in the summer of 1942, into the 6th (Royal Welch) Battalion, Parachute Regiment. The 6th Parachute Battalion was assigned to the 2nd Parachute Brigade, alongside the 4th and 5th Parachute battalions, originally part of the 1st Airborne Division.

The battalion played a small part in the Allied invasion of Italy during Operation Slapstick, an amphibious landing aimed at capturing the port of Taranto. After that the 2nd Para Brigade became an independent brigade group. The brigade took part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France, being the only British troops to do so (see 2nd Parachute Brigade in Southern France).

 They went back to Italy before being sent to Greece to help calm the Greek Civil War.

War Service battalions

The 5th Battalion was a 1st Line unit that was converted, before the war, into the 60th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery in the Royal Artillery and, in 1939, raised a 2nd-Line duplicate, the 70th Anti-Tank Regiment. 

The 11th and 12th battalions, both raised during the war, were also converted to a similar role, the 12th becoming 116th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery and served with 53rd (Welsh) Division until December 1944. The 8th, 9th and 13th battalions never saw active abroad and remained in the UK throughout the war in a training role, supplying trained replacements to units overseas. In this capacity, the 9th battalion served with the 80th Infantry (Reserve) Division and the 38th Infantry (Reserve) Division.

Post Second World War

After the War ended, the regiment was mostly based in Germany and other British colonies.

The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1957. The regiment did not take part in the Gulf War and did several tours in Northern Ireland (Operation Banner) before being deployed to the Balkans.

During the Yugoslav Wars, the regiment came to attention when 33 of their men and 350 other UN servicemen part of UNPROFOR were taken hostage by Bosnian Serbs at Goražde on 28 May 1995. 

The situation caused some political debate as the UN troops had been given orders only to "deter attacks" and did not have a mandate or adequate equipment to fully defend the mainly Muslim town of Goražde, which was initially declared "safe" by the UN, thus rendering them exposed when armed members of the Army of Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb Army) ignored the NATO ultimatum and attacked the town without warning. The regiment managed to hold off the Bosnian Serbs until they were forced to retreat into bunkers - those who did not make it quickly enough were taken hostage - and remained trapped underground while BiH Army reinforcements arrived and fought back. 

The commanding officer Lt Col Jonathon Riley (later promoted to Lieutenant General) broke with protocol and directly reported to then Prime Minister John Major about the situation over the phone while in the bunker. 

All the men were eventually safely rescued.

An unprecedented five gallantry awards, seven mentions in despatches and two Queen's Commendations for Valuable Service were awarded to the regiment. Although the incident was largely unreported at that time, the regiment was credited in hindsight by observers for saving the town from a possible genocide - after failing to take Goražde the Bosnian Serbs continued south to Srebrenica where they would massacre over 8,000 Bosniaks.

Amalgamation

It was one of only five line infantry regiments never to have been amalgamated in its entire history, the others being 

The Royal Scots, The Green Howards, The Cheshire Regiment, and The King's Own Scottish Borderers. However, in 2004 it was announced that, as part of the restructuring of the infantry, the Royal Welch Fusiliers would merge with the Royal Regiment of Wales to form a new large regiment, the Royal Welsh.

Victoria Crosses

The following members of the regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross:

Captain Edward William Derrington Bell, Crimean War (20 September 1854)

Company Sergeant Major Frederick Barter, First World War (16 May 1915)

Corporal John Collins, First World War (31 October 1917)

Corporal James Llewellyn Davies, First World War (31 July 1917)

Corporal Joseph John Davies, First World War (20 July 1916)

Lt-Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie, First World War (26 April 1915)

Private Albert Hill, First World War (20 July 1916)

Lance-Sergeant William Herbert Waring, First World War (18 September 1918)

Lance-Corporal Henry Weale, First World War (26 August 1918)

Regimental goat

As with the Royal Regiment of Wales, the regiment traditionally had a goat, never called a mascot. The tradition dated back to at least 1775, and possibly to the regiment's formation.

The goat was always named 'Billy'.

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About the Artist....

Frank Feller (1848-1908) 

He was a Swiss artist who settled in England and made a career as an illustrator and painter. 

His most famous painting was entitled The Last Eleven at Maiwand completed in 1882. It depicted a small handful of men from the 66th Regiment with their regimental mascot, "Bobby", making a last stand as Afghan horseman approach. The original painting has disappeared but is known from the print published by Henry Graves in April 1884.

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  • Type: Print
  • Era: 1816-1913
  • Service: Army
  • Country/ Organization: Great Britain

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