THE ESSEX REGIMENT
H.M.s 44th & 56th Regiment of Foot

The 44th first served in India in 1822, and in 1841 during the First Afghan War, the entire column moving from Kabul to Jellalabad was massacred in the deep snow at Gundamak. The 56th arrived in India in 1805 and was amalgamated with the 44th Regiment of Foot in 1881 to become the Essex Regiment.

By Ian Hook, Keeper of the Essex Regiment Museum.

In 1741 the 44th Regiment of Foot was added to the establishment, one of seven infantry regiments raised during the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1755, with the approach of what was to become known as The Seven Years War, ten additional foot regiments were raised. These included the 56th Regiment of Foot, which took for its facing colour "Rose Pompadour", the favourite colour of the Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XIV. Their smart appearance soon earned the nickname of "The Pompadours" or "The Saucy Pompadours".

Although the 44th and 56th and its successors have served, like any other infantry regiment, numerous tours in India and Burma, its colours bear only the Battle Honour earned in India, that for "AVA".

For the siege of Gibraltar the 56th Foot was awarded the battle honour "Gibraltar, 1779-83", with the right to bear on its colour a "Castle and Key" with the motto "Montis Insignia Calpe" (the sign of the Rock of Calpe).

In 1782 the 44th became the 44th or East Essex Regiment, and the 56th, similarly, the West Essex Regiment. This was the first territorial connection of these two regiments with Essex.

In 1801 the 44th took part in the Battle of the Pyramids and the siege of Alexandria. It was awarded its first battle honour "The Sphinx Superscribed Egypt", to be borne on the Regimental Colour. The Sphinx later topped the Regimental cap badge.

During the Napoleonic Wars the 2nd Battalion, the 44th, won for the Regiment the battle honours of "Badajoz", "Salamanca", "Peninsula", and "Waterloo". It was a party of the 2/44th, under the command of Lieutenant W. Pearce, that captured the Eagle Standard of the 62nd Regiment of French Infantry during the battle of Salamanca in 1812. This Eagle rests in the Essex Regiment Museum at Chelmsford and an Eagle badge is worn as an arm badge by the Royal Anglian Regiment.

In 1841 the 44th Regiment were sent to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, a country then occupied by the British in what is known as the First Afghan War. Violent insurrection, however, placed the British garrison of Kabul in jeopardy. In retiring to Jellalabad, incessantly attacked, and without shelter or food, the force waded in deep snow through the narrow passes for four days, at the end of which the entire column had been annihilated. The last stand was made by twenty men of the 44th at Gundamak.

During the final stage of the bitter retreat Lieutenant T.A. Souter tore the Regimental Colour from its Pike and attempted to conceal it by wrapping it around his body. In the final massacre his life was spared because the Afghans, seeing the rich material of the Colour, took him for a rich potential source for ransom. Souter and the Colour eventually returned unharmed, but the Queen's Colour was lost. The remnants of the Gundamak Colour now hang in the Regimental Chapel at Warley.

A small detachment of the 56th arrived in India from the Crimea in time to play a small part in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

In 1881 the 44th and the 56th Regiment were brought together as the 1 st and 2nd Battalions of the Essex Regiment.

Between the World Wars the 2nd Battalion served 19 years abroad, largely in India, including active service on the North West Frontier.

During the Second World War, the 1st Battalion served in India, Assam and Burma, patrolling as "Chindits" against the Japanese lines in Assam and Burma in
1944. The 1/4th (TA) gave distinguished service in North Africa, Italy and Greece. Its veterans to this day immensely proud of being part of the 4th (Indian) Division.

After 1945 the 1st Battalion remained in India and took part in controlling some of the worst excesses of intercommunal violence prior to the British departure. The Battalion was the last British Army unit in Fort St. George and, it is believed, the penultimate Battalion to quit India.

‘Essex Regiment Museum Family History Service’

The Museum has a strong commitment to providing answers for family historians.
Over 16 years, staff and volunteers have built up a substantial card index of over 100,000 named individuals with an Essex military connection. There is also a growing computer database of over 38,000 individuals.

The Museum also indexes men of those units which bear an Essex title, such as the Essex Yeomanry and the Essex (Fortress) Royal Engineers, but an inquiry on any name will be answered.

Military photographs can also be identified, and aspects of military `Jargon' found in other records may be deciphered! No charge is made for the service but an SAE and a donation to "The Trustees of the Essex Regiment Museum" is always appreciated.

Ian Hook, Keeper
Essex Regiment Museum Oaklands Park, Moulsham Street Chelmsford, Essex CM2 9AQ.

The cap badge of the Essex Regiment has a castle encircled by its name ‘The Essex Regiment’ and oak leaf spray at the upper sides. Above the castle, there is the word ‘Egypt’ with a sphinx sitting above it.

Nickname: `The Pompadours'- originally just the 56th Foot but latterly the whole Regiment.
`The (Little) Fighting Fours' - 1st Bn, after the little feisty men of the 2nd Battalion, 44th Foot in the Peninsula, and at Waterloo.

`The Flat Irons' - from the shield shape of the Essex County Arms worn as a collar badge.

Regimental Days Salamanca Day: 22nd July Gallipoli Day:
25th April - 1 st Bn, 1919-1939 Arras Day:
28th March - 2nd Bn, 1919-1939 SG Patrick's Day:
17th March - commemorating the Irish element/"Little Fighting Fours".

INDIAN STATIONS OF THE

56TH AND 2ND BN., ESSEX REGIMENT 1805-1935

1st Battalion 56th Foot. 1805-1815 India.

2nd Battalion 56th Foot. 1807-1817 India.

1st Battalion 56th Foot. 1857-65 India.

Small detachment took part in the Mutiny.

1871-77 India.

1892-97 India.

1897-1901 Burma.

1901 India.

1922-1935 India.
 

INDIAN STATIONS OF THE

44TH AND 1ST BN., ESSEX REGIMENT 1822 - 1947

1822-24 India.

1824-25 Burma War.

1825-40 India.

1840-41 Afghanistan

First Afghan Wa r.

1842-43 India.

1857-60 India

Interrupted by China War.

1861-65 India.

1871-77 India.

1877-81 Companies in Burma.

1881-84 India.

1902-06 India.

1906-08 Burma.

1908-13 India.

1942-43 India.

1943-44 Burma.

1944-1947 India.

Return to