334
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. iv. OCT. ?i, wn.
manuscript in which the ' Chronicle ' is
preserved, Claudius D. vii. in the Cottonian
collection, and find that cervicisse is a silent
emendation of the editor. The manu-
script has cervitese, which is nonsense ; and
any one acquainted with the handwriting
of the fourteenth century Mall see at once
that it has arisen from a misreading of cer-
vicose. The sentence in question will then
run as follows :
"Contigit enim Baronem sue diocesis tocius Anglie nominatissimum cervicose contra honestatem sui gradus et ecclesie reverenciam aliquid [not aliucl, as printed] perperam commisisse."
G. A.
MAIDA: NAKED BRITISH SOLDIERS (US. iv. 110, 171, 232, 271). Permit me to point out an error in MR. RHODES' s reply on p. 272. He says :
" From the English field state above alluded to, it appears that ' Cole's brawny brigade ' consisted of six companies (including the Grenadier com- panies) of the 20th, now the East Devon Regi- ment."
Since 1881 this regiment has been converted into the Lancashire Fusileers.
JOHN W. LEE, Colonel.
I am again much indebted to correspond- ents for interesting information. But is MR. RHODES quite accurate in all his state- ments ? It was Sir John Stuart who com- manded the English force, not Sir James Craig. Sir John was made Count of Maida for the victory. Again, the 20th is no longer the East Devon Regiment, but the Lan- cashire Fusiliers. Thirdly, the Regiment de Watteville cannot bear " Maida " on its colours, it having now no existence, since it was disbanded after Waterloo, as another correspondent has stated. Again, a sentence runs, " the 27th, the Innis- killings (not the 6th Dragoon Guards, who also bear Maida on the colours)." The parenthesis should close after the word " Guards." There were no British cavalry present, and MR. RHODES is wrong in styling the 6th Dragoon Guards " Innis- killings," a title which belongs to the 6th Dragoons, the former regiment being known as the Carabiniers. E. L. H. TEW.
Upham Rectory, Hants.
MR. RHODES has made some mistakes as regards the nomenclature of certain British infantry regiments. For instance, the 20th Regiment of Foot is not now the East Devon Regiment. For the last thirty years its designation has been, and is now, the Lancashire Fusiliers (1st Battalion).
Why the 6th Dragoon Guards is mentioned
by him at all is not easy to understand. He
is possibly thinking of the 6th (Inniskilling)
Dragoons. The 81st was never called the
Lincoln Regiment. It was the Loyal Lin-
coln Volunteers, and is now the 2nd battalion
of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
I venture to commend the following books as giving the correct names of regi- ments at any period of their existence :
The Official Monthly Army List.
- Records and Badges of the British Army,' by
Chichester and Burges-Short. Published by Gale & Polden.
'Regimental Records,' by J. S. Farmer. Pub- lished by Grant Richards. 1901.
JOHN H. LESLIE, Major.
Sheffield.
There appears to be a little obscurity as to the composition of Cole's Brigade, so a full copy of it from the Field State will better explain the whole thing. It consisted of eight companies of the 27th Regiment, and a Grenadier Battalion composed of six companies, that is, the leading companies from the 20th, 27th, 36th, 58th, 81st, and De Watteville' s Regiments. The 27th mustered 27 officers and 754 men, of whom in the battle 6 men were killed and 47 wounded ; the Grenadier Battalion had 21 officers and 642 men, of whom 6 men were killed, 1 officer and 26 men wounded (Journal of the Royal Artillery, March, 1908).
As a further explanation I may add that battalions were differently composed at that time. Grenadiers were soldiers who threw hand grenades, but though these weapons became obsolete, the title Grenadier was retained, and each regiment had a Grenadier company, always posted on the right of the line or head of the column. They were selected or picked men, the tallest and stoutest, and at the time of the battle of Maida were clothed differently from the rest of the battalion to which they belonged, &c. (James, ' A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary,' 1810).
As a curiosity, I give a note from a book which contains a brief account of the battle, and an anecdote of the 20th Regiment : -
" The men were bathing. The bugle sounded. Without waiting to dress, the soldiers threw on their accoutrements and fell in they even attacked the enemy ' in puris naturalibus.' " This is from Stocqueler's ' Familiar History of the British Army,' p. 146, which, to say the least, is history distorted.
A. RHODES.
[MB. T. H. BARROW and MR. J. C. RINGHAM also thanked for replies.]
