page_title: Royal Leicestershire Regiment
section_title: Early wars
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Leicestershire Regiment / History / Early wars
caption_attribution_description: Uniform of the 17th Foot.
context_page_description: The Leicestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both World War I and World War II, before being amalgamated, in September 1964, with the 1st East Anglian Regiment, the 2nd East Anglian Regiment and the 3rd East Anglian Regiment to form the present day Royal Anglian Regiment, of which B Company of the 2nd Battalion continues the lineage of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.
context_section_description: On 27 September 1688 a commission was issued to Colonel Solomon Richards to raise a regiment of foot in the London area. In its early years, like other regiments, the regiment was known by the name of its various colonels. Following a failed attempt to break the Siege of Derry in 1689, Richards was dismissed and replaced by the Irishman George St George. The regiment embarked for Flanders in 1693 for service in the Nine Years' War and took part in the attack of Fort Knokke in June 1695 and the Siege of Namur in summer 1695 before returning home in 1697.
  In 1701 the regiment moved to Holland for service in the War of the Spanish Succession and fought at the siege of Kaiserswerth in 1702, the siege of Venlo later that year and the capture of Huy in 1703. It transferred to Portugal in 1704 and took part in the sieges of Valencia de Alcántara, Alburquerque and Badajoz in 1705 as well as the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in 1706. It also saw action at the Battle of Almansa in April 1707 before returning to England in 1709. It went to Scotland to suppress the Jacobite rising of 1715 and fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715.
  In 1726 the regiment moved to Menorca and in 1751 a royal warrant assigned numbers to the regiments of the line, and the unit became the 17th Regiment of Foot. The regiment embarked for Nova Scotia in 1757 for service in the French and Indian War; it fought at the Siege of Louisbourg in June 1758, at the Battle of Toconderoga in July 1759. The following year, the regiment took part in the successful three pronged attack against Montréal in September. It also saw engagements in the West Indies in 1762 and during Pontiac's Rebellion before eventually returning to England in 1767.
  The regiment embarked for Boston, landing there on New Year's Day 1776, for service during the American War of Independence. It saw action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 and the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776. The regiment also took part in the Battle of Princeton in January 1777; its performance in the battle was commemorated in the addition of an unbroken laurel wreath to its insignia; it went on to fight at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777 and at the Battle of Germantown in October 1777. Several companies were captured at the Battle of Stony Point in July 1779 by a daring night-time bayonet charge by "Mad" Anthony Wayne. The regiment was in action again at the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781 and at the Siege of Yorktown in September 1781.
  A royal warrant dated 31 August 1782 bestowed county titles on all regiments of foot that did not already have a special designation "to cultivate a connection with the County which might at all times be useful towards recruiting". The regiment became the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot. The regiment moved to Nova Scotia in 1783 before returning to England in 1786.
  The regiment was increased to two battalions in 1799 and both battalions took part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, being present at the Battle of Bergen in September 1799 and the Battle of Alkmaar in October 1799, before the second was disbanded in 1802. In 1804 the regiment moved to India, and remained there until 1823. In 1825 the regiment was granted the badge of a "royal tiger" to recall their long service in the sub-continent. The Regiment was posted to New South Wales from 1830 to 1836.
caption: Regimental uniform, 1840s
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