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| 20th Regiment of Foot (East Devonshire) | |
|---|---|
| Unit name | 20th Regiment of Foot (East Devonshire) |
| Dates | 1689–1881 |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Regiment |
20th Regiment of Foot (East Devonshire) was an infantry regiment of the British Army raised in the late 17th century that served in major European and imperial campaigns through the 19th century before being reorganised under the Childers Reforms. The unit saw service in conflicts associated with the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Napoleonic Wars, Crimean War, and imperial operations in India, South Africa, and China. Its lineage continued into the Devonshire Regiment after the 1881 reforms.
The regiment's history intersects with dynastic and imperial struggles including the reigns of William III, Queen Anne, George III, and Queen Victoria. It participated in continental campaigns linked to the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), the War of the Spanish Succession, and coalitions opposing Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Revolutionary Wars. During the 19th century the unit served on multiple colonial fronts connected to the East India Company, the British Empire, and expeditionary operations such as the First Opium War and the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Raised in 1689 during the military expansions following the Glorious Revolution, the regiment was part of sweeping reforms under figures like Duke of Marlborough and organisational changes influenced by the Board of Ordnance. Early officers and colonels had ties to aristocratic patrons involved in the War of the Spanish Succession, and the regiment fought in campaigns associated with sieges and pitched battles characteristic of Marlborough's campaigns such as actions related to the Battle of Blenheim and the Flanders Campaign. During the 18th century the unit alternated between home service in counties like Devon and overseas deployments tied to the strategic priorities of the British Army establishment and the Royal Navy.
In the era of Napoleon the regiment took part in coalition operations that aligned with commanders such as Wellington and contemporaries active during the Peninsular War and the later campaigns culminating in 1815. The regiment's battalions were employed in linear infantry tactics, often conducting line and column formations used at engagements influenced by lessons from the Battle of Salamanca and the Battle of Waterloo. In the early 19th century the regiment was also implicated in garrison duties across imperial stations, providing detachments to protect interests contested during events like the Anglo-Afghan tensions and the policing of trade routes controlled by the East India Company and the Royal Navy.
Under Queen Victoria the regiment served in theatres shaped by the Crimean War and imperial interventions. Deployments included service in the Crimean Peninsula, where units of the British Army fought alongside formations from the French Army and the Ottoman Empire against the Russian Empire. The regiment later participated in the suppression of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, operating in the subcontinent in coordination with units of the British Indian Army and the administrative structures of the East India Company transitioning to Crown rule after the 1858 transfer of power. Further colonial duties saw the regiment deployed to China during the Second Opium War and to South Africa in operations related to frontier conflicts and colonial expansion.
The 20th Regiment's administrative identity changed dramatically with the Cardwell Reforms and the Childers Reforms of 1881, which reorganised numbered regiments into county regiments. The unit was linked to county depots and amalgamated into the Devonshire Regiment, preserving lineage, battle honours, and traditions within battalions that later served in the First World War and the Second World War. Veterans, regimental records, and memorials tied to engagements such as Inkerman, Sevastopol, and Indian operations contributed to regimental museums and collections associated with institutions like the Imperial War Museum and local museums in Exeter and Plymouth.
The regiment adopted insignia and dress consistent with line infantry of the period, including red coats, facing colours associated with East Devonshire, and badges reflecting royal warrants and colonelcies such as crowns, battle-emblazoned scrolls, and devices used across the British Army in the 18th and 19th centuries. Traditions included regimental marches, colours paraded at ceremonies in towns like Exeter and on cantonments in Cork and Aldershot, and the maintenance of muster rolls and medal entitlements administered through the War Office. Commemorations of actions and memorial plaques later entered civic remembrance alongside monuments to campaigns like Sevastopol and colonial casualties interred in cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The regiment accrued battle honours reflecting service in major battles and sieges such as honours connected to the Peninsular War, Waterloo, engagements in the Crimean War including Alma, Inkerman, and Sevastopol, and colonial operations in China and India. Notable officers associated with the regiment included field and line leaders whose careers intersected with figures like Wellington, Marlborough, and senior colonial administrators involved in campaigns across the British Isles, Europe, and the imperial frontiers. The regiment's legacy endures in regimental histories, museum collections, and lineage maintained by successor units within the post-Childers British Army.
Category:Infantry regiments of the British Army Category:Military units and formations established in 1689 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1881