page_title: Cheshire Regiment
section_title: Early wars
hierarchical_section_title: Cheshire Regiment / History / Early wars
caption_attribution_description: English: Soldier of the 22st regiment (1742)
context_page_description: The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence of over 300 years. The regiment was expanded in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the linking of the 22nd Regiment of Foot and the militia and rifle volunteers of Cheshire. The title 22nd Regiment continued to be used within the regiment.
  On 1 September 2007, the Cheshire Regiment was merged with the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment and the Staffordshire Regiment to form a new large regiment, the Mercian Regiment, becoming the 1st Battalion, Mercian Regiment.
context_section_description: Following the 1688 Glorious Revolution and the exile of James II, Henry Howard, Duke of Norfolk, raised a regiment at Chester on behalf of the new regime.
  The experience of the 1638-1652 Wars of the Three Kingdoms meant many considered standing armies a danger to individual liberties and a threat to society itself. Until the mid-18th century, regiments were considered the property of their Colonel, changed names when transferred and were disbanded as soon as possible.
  In September 1689, Sir Henry Belasyse became Colonel and as Belasyse's Regiment of Foot, the unit went to Ireland as part of an Anglo-Dutch force commanded by Frederick Schomberg. When inspected at Dundalk in October 1689, it was reported as having '...hardly any good officers and an entire absence of good order...but Belasyse expected to work reforms.'
  During the 1689-1691 Williamite War in Ireland, it fought at The Boyne, Aughrim, and the Second Siege of Limerick that ended the war in August 1691. The regiment was transferred to Flanders in October, where it spent the rest of the Nine Years War, fighting at the Battle of Landen in 1693 and during the 1695 Allied siege of Namur.
  After the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, the Tory majority in Parliament was determined to reduce costs and by 1699, the English military was less than 7,000 men. However, England, Ireland and Scotland were then separate entities with their own Parliaments and funding; Belasyse's Regiment of Foot avoided disbandment by being transferred onto the Irish military establishment.
  On the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, the regiment was posted to Jamaica; this was a notoriously unhealthy location and Sir Henry Belasyse transferred his Colonelcy to William Selwyn. The regiment spent the next twelve years in the West Indies; soon after arrival in April 1702, Selwyn died and was replaced by Thomas Handasyd, both as Colonel and Governor of Jamaica. Thomas returned to England and was succeeded as Colonel by his son Roger Handasyd in 1712, a position he retained until 1730.
  In 1726, the regiment was posted to Menorca, where it remained for the next 22 years, although a detachment was present at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743, during the War of the Austrian Succession.
  By 1751, the regiment had become the 22nd Regiment of Foot. In 1758, it took part in the Siege of Louisbourg in French Canada. The regiment also took part in General Wolfe's victory over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in September 1759. They then took part in the conclusive three pronged attack against Montréal which capitulated in September 1760.
  The regiment received two battle honours for taking part in the capture of Martinique and the British expedition against Cuba during 1762.
caption: Soldier of 22nd regiment, 1742
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