The 2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment
(Royal Canadians)
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The 2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) |
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The origin of the second battalion of the Leinster Regiment develops from the 109 Regiment of Foot, and the earliest record of the Regiment bearing the title The 109 Foot dates from 1762.
On the 25th of December 1761 a Battalion of London Volunteers was created. Recruited from the men of Hertfordshire and Middlesex the Regiment was by, March 1762, based in Aylesbury. It was this Regiment that in April 1762 was ordered to become the 109 Foot with an establishment of four companies of seventy privates each, plus a fifth company of the same establishment created from an independent company previously known as Pountenay's Independent Company. Later that year a sixth company from Essex, the Independent Company of London Volunteers joined the Regiment. This all occurred around the period of the Seven Years War with France, and following the Peace of 1763, the 109 Foot returned from Belleisle to Bristol were an it was disbanded in June of that year.It is interesting to note at this point in time, the manner in which Regiments were raised towards the end of the of the 18th century. The Crown would contract with a distinguished soldier, or gentleman of high position, who undertook to raise the men, receiving a certain sum as bounty money for each recruit. For the maintenance of the Regiment the Colonel received an annual sum sufficient to cover the pay of the men and the expenses of clothing and recruiting. The Colonel was given a special "beating order", without which no enlistment was legal and he was also responsible for maintaining his Regiment at full strength. The validation of the existence of the Regiment, was the responsibility of the "muster master", whose duty it was to muster regiments and check the numbers. These muster parades survived for over a century, the purpose being to ensure that everyone in the unit who could stand on two legs attended. In such a manner, it was possible to validate that the money paid by the Crown could be accounted for. Regiments raised in this way were known as Muster Regiments.
The next time we hear of the 109th is in 1794 when an Aberdeenshire (Scotland) Regiment was raised by letter of service granted on the second of April 1794, to Colonel Alexander Hay of Rannes, and by the end of April, Sir William Forbes of Craigievar, had congratulated Colonel Hay for the success of the years recruiting campaign. By September the Regiment was complete with a muster of 23 officers and 718 non-commissioned officers and men, this soon increased through 1000 and by the end of September the Regiment was in Dundee on route to Jersey. The 109th remained in Jersey until July 1795, when it was ordered to combine within the 53rd Regiment of Foot thus ceasing to exist as the 109th Aberdeenshire Regiment, on the 12th of September 1795.