Question of the Hour

[geo]

Colonel Charles Hamilton-Smith and the 6th of the 60th
and deRottenberg with the 5th of the 60th.................

all working on disposing of the bright red jackets on the battlefield.......

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

Well the 60th Regiment is the antecedent regiment of the King's Royal Rifle Corps (1881) which is now part of the Royal Green Jackets (along with the former Rifle Brigade) and next year will combine with three  light infantry regiments to form "The Rifles". I'm glad I'm not in charge of designing the cap badge.

 

[redleafjumper]

Berndawg is correct as to the person called the father of the British Riflemen.  Baron Francis de Rottenberg it is!  Again, there is some real diligence being shown in finding those answers.

However, the rifle regiment formed in 1799 by an exile from _____ European country is still proving elusive. 

 

[vonGarvin]

Just a guess, but would it be the First Regiment of United States Riflemen?

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

Even if one accepts the modern conception of the Anglosphere  ;D, The First Regiment of United States Riflemen although it was authorized in 1799  wasn't granted funds until 1808 .

from
http://www.fortatkinsononline.org/1stRifles.htm

 

[Rhibwolf]

Légion de Managhetta, an Alpine Chasseur Regt in British Service. (the chasseurs were comparable to the British Rifles)???

 

[redleafjumper]

Wow, there are some great educated guesses here.  It has been a good run, so here it is:

According to De Witt Bailey, PhD, in his book British Military Flintlock Rifles 1740-1840,  pages 101-102, the exiled Prince of Orange raised a regiment of riflemen as part of the Dutch Emigrant Brigade in 1799.  The regiment was equipped with 1,012 Rifles with sword bayonets made by the Hesse-Cassel gunmaker And. Herman Thornbeck.  The regiment served in Lymington and at Jersey.  It seem that the forming of this regiment helped push the War Office into the decision to raise a purely British regiment.  Apparently the Prince Of Orange's regiment served as a template for the new British rifle regiment.

The documents suggest that this was the "...first recognizable rifle regiment in British service, as well as the largest at the time."


Anyone else have a new question?

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

Name the four countries (not including Canada  ) to have stationed military units in  Canada or its antecedents (excepting training purposes).

 

[Rhibwolf]

Just a guess - Spain, France, Britain, Russia

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

Well that's definitely three of the four I was thinking of (France, UK, and Spain) but now I am wondering about Russia. Considering the Alaska boundary border wasn't settled until the late 19th Century I wouldn't be surprised if there was Russian trading posts in what is now Canadian territory. Whether these posts had a military component is another question. There still remains one other country.

 

[George Wallace]

I'd go with the US of A, Britain, Russia and France.

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

And that's the last one (USA).

I'll assume that no one needs a source for the US, French and British presence

From Canadian Military Heritage

In Europe, meanwhile, interest in Nootka diminished considerably.  In February 1793 Great Britain and Spain had become allies in a war against France!  The problems of the northwest coast already seemed far away, and the two allies signed an agreement on January 11, 1794, in which they agreed to abandon the region.  That same year the Catalan volunteers in garrison at Nootka were relieved by some 20 soldiers of the Compania fija de San Blas, which mounted the guard until March 23, 1795.  On that day, following an official farewell ceremony attended by marine lieutenant Thomas Pierce, representing England, the Nootka presidio was dismantled.  The artillery and the garrison were loaded onto the Activa, which sailed southward.  Thus ended the reign of Spain on the northwest coast

 

[Kat Stevens]

Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England... you did say countries, right?  ;D

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

One could argue for Newfoundland as well I suppose.

 

[redleafjumper]

You left out Germany, notwithstanding the weather station in Labrador during WW2, one might also consider the armoured formation that used to operate out of Shilo.

 

[Pistolman 71]

    Okay. Here's a fun one.

            Zipperheads.

    How did the Lord Strathcona's Horse (R.C.) get this nickname ? And why ?

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

You left out Germany, notwithstanding the weather station in Labrador during WW2, one might also consider the armoured formation that used to operate out of Shilo.

Can't say I knew about it, but was it more than a training formation?, I excepted training units otherwise I'd have to include all the NATO countries that trained out of Goose Bay.

With regards to Zipperheads, I though it applied to all armoured units and it referred to the full length zipper on the head gear

 

[BernDawg]

I was always under the belief (as per common knowledge/urban legend) that the zipperheads (all armoured types) got the name from the abundance of hatch ring/periscope scars they sport on their foreheads.  ;D 

ps.  That is, of course, if that's what we're talking about.

 

[redleafjumper]

Zipperhead?  I always understood that this was from either the grease marks or hatch scars on the forehead.  The German weather station in Labrador was an enemy installation; the German unit in Shilo was a training formation for Leopard tanks.

 

[rmacqueen]

The term zipperhead does indeed apply to all Canadian armoured soldiers.  The actual origin, though, appears to be lost to history.  Some accounts say that it refers to the wearing of a form of headgear that had a zipper in it which doesn't seem to jive with the account that the Essex Regt adopted the wearing of the black beret.  Other accounts say it is due to the hatch/periscope/gun sight scars on the foreheads of tankers.  I would be interested in any definitive information that could be provided.