32nd Regiment of Foot

For a list of all Corporals in the Regiment in 1888, see the Adjutant’s Roll. For a list of married Sergeants and Corporals, see the Married Roll.

Chronology

• 1702 raised as Fox's Regiment of Marines
• 1751 became 32nd Regiment of Foot
• 1782 became 32nd (The Cornwall) Regiment of Foot
• 1858 became the 32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry
• 1881 amalgamated with the 46th Regiment of Foot to become 1st Battalion, The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
• 1959 merged to become part of the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry
• 1968 amalgamated with the three other regiments of the Light Infantry Brigade to form The Light Infantry

Service in India

1847-1859

In 1847 the regiment were in Meerut and were involved in the 2nd Sikh War (1848-49).

At the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in 1857 the 32nd (The Cornwall) Regiment was stationed at Lucknow except for 30 men who were at Cawnpore. They were part of the Siege of Lucknow from 30 May until the final relief by Sir Colin Campbell on 27 November. They lost 15 officers and 364 other ranks dead and 11 officers and 198 other ranks wounded. The regiment won four Victoria Crosses for gallantry during the siege:

• Cpl William Oxenham 30 June
• Pte William Dowling 4 July, 9 July and 27 September
• Lieut Samuel Hill Lawrence 7 July and 26 September
• Capt Henry George Gore-Browne 21 August

1888-1901

During 1884, The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was stationed at Dublin, where its men would be sent after four months training at the newly-built depot at Bodmin, Cornwall. The Regimental Museum has photographs of all the recruits of the time, but unfortunately, they are not named. In 1885, the First Battalion moved to Malta, and three years later, on 18th February 1888, to India arriving in Madras on 7th March.

In 1890, rebellion broke out in Burma, led by a tribe known as the Tsawbaws. The First Battalion was moved to Mandalay, and the following year took part in what became known as the Wunthoo Expedition which successfully quelled the revolt.

It then returned to India, doing garrison duty successively at Pur and Roorkee (1893), Chakrata and Meerut (1894) and Lucknow (1896). In 1897 a campaign was fought on the North West Frontier in which the battalion took part in the Tirah Campaign 1897-98, seeing active service in Tirah and the Bara Valley.

During the next two years it was stationed at Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lucknow (1898-1899) and Calcutta and Dum Dum (1900). In 1901, prisoners of war from South Africa were shipped over to Ceylon to hastily constructed camps, and the First Battalion was given the task of guarding them.

1902-1914

The following year the battalion sailed for South Africa as part of the army of occupation, and was stationed at Stellenbosch (1902), Middleburg and Cape Colony (1903) and Wynberg (1904-05). In 1906, the Battalion returned to England whereit was initially quartered at Crownhill Barracks, Plymouth. From thereit moved to Woolwich (1907), Gravesend (1908-1910) and Tidworth (1911). In 1913 it was back in Ireland in Curragh and they mobilised for war on 5th August, 1914. They took part in every major battle on the Western Front.

Regimental Museum

For further information on the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, you could contact the Regimental Museum. Its address is:

Regimental Museum

The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

The Keep

Bodmin

Cornwall

PL31 1EG

ENGLAND

Telephone: Bodmin (0208) 2810.

Nominal rolls

This section was transcribed by Cathy Day of Alice Springs, Central Australia in November, 1998. Cathy's great-grandfather, Job Henry HARMAN, served in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry from 1882 until he transferred to the East Surrey Regiment in 1895. Job finally retired from military service in 1918 and died the following year.

Adjutant’s Roll 1888

The following is an extract from the Adjutant’s Roll of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry for 1888 when the regiment was in Madras, India. This brief extract is from a single page of the Roll and contains the names of all Corporals.

No. of Soldier	Name of Soldier	Rank	Rate of Good Conduct Pay
1527	Ball H.	Corporal	F
380	Harman Job	Corporal	A
381	Harris Thomas	Corporal	C
1833	Henczenberg William	Corporal	B
441	Hodges C.J.	Corporal	H
867	Hunter A.	Corporal	E
1521	James T.	Corporal	E
1740	Keating J.	Corporal	A
1538	Kelly E.J.	Corporal	E
1329	Liddell W.	Corporal	E
1840	Morris T.	Corporal	D
1610	Ovenden H.	Corporal	D
928	Pester H.	Corporal	D
1691	Sandy W.T.	Corporal	B
905	Tabutt C.J.	Corporal	E
240	Teague J.W.	Corporal	H
1247	Thompson G.	Corporal	H
1064	Webb W.	Corporal	C
1185	White James	Corporal	G

Married Roll 1889

The following is the Married Roll of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry for 1889, when the regiment was in Madras, India. This brief extract is from a single page of the Roll and contains the names of Sergeants down to Lance Corproals, with one Private named.

No. of Soldier	Name of Soldier	Rank	Name of Wife	Ages of Children	Date of Being Placed on Marriage Roll
400	Adair, W.	Private	Annie	2 yrs 8 mths / 0 yrs 2 mths	18 Feb 1888
1803	Belt, E.J.	Sgt	Mary Jane	None	5 Mar 1889
2121	Bradley, E.	Corporal	Sarah Ruth	2 yrs 7 mths	10 Jun 1883
2148	Evans, G.	Corporal	Laura	7 yrs 7 mths / 0 yrs 4 mths	23 Apr 1880
2895	Fitzwalter, W.F.	Lance Corporal	Eve Winifred	None	Struck Off
380	Harman, J.	Lance Sgt	Sarah Florence	None	29 May 1889
1340	Hawke, H.	Sgt	Mary Ann	None	18 Feb 1888
1833	Henczenberg, W.	Lance Sgt	Jane	None	17 Feb 1888
1538	Kelly, E.J.	Corporal	Kate	1 yr 9 mths	22 Jan 1883
1308	Misson, G.	Sgt	Bridget	4 yrs 4 mths / 2 yrs 4 mths	7 Dec 1883
1629	Perkins, W.	Sgt	Margaret	None	30 Jan 1889
1851	Reader, W.	Sgt	Ethel B.	0 yrs 11 mths	18 Feb 1888
1691	Sandy, W.T.	Corporal	Elizabeth	None	18 Feb 1888
2114	Trowell, D.	Sgt	Jane	None	17 Dec 1881
191	Warren, J.S.	Lance Corporal	Emma Mole [?]	Child born / 27 Mar 1889	17 Feb 1888

External Links

• British Library Catalogue link
• 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot Wikipedia
  
• Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry www.lightinfantry.me.uk
  
• Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Wikipedia
  
• Somerset & Cornwall Light Infantry Wikipedia
  
• Regimental Timeline www.lightinfantry.org.uk
  
• 32nd (Cornwall Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot including deployments Regiments.org, an archived site
  
• The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry including deployments: 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived site
• The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 1914-1918 The Long, Long Trail. The 1/4th Battalion and 2/4th Battalion were in India as part of the Territorial Force 1914-1916 and 1914-1918 respectively.
• Cornwall’s Regimental Museum.

Historical books online

• Four Years' Service in India by John Ryder 1853 Google Books. The author was in India 1846-1849. (This title has been reprinted subsequently by Leonaur Publishing as A Leicestershire Soldier in the Second Sikh War: Recollections of a Corporal of the 32nd Regiment of Foot in India 1848-49.)
• Historical Records of the 32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry now the 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s L.I., compiled by Colonel G C Swiney 1893 Archive.org
• "Notes on the History and Services of the Thirty-Second Regiment" Colburn's United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal. Sections relating to the Indian Mutiny are in 1880 Parts 2 and 3, and 1881 Part 1, as follows:

Page 290, from 1880 Part 2; page 114, page 218, page 299 from 1880 Part 3, page 23 from 1881, Part 1. Archive.org and HathiTrust Digital Library.

Earlier history is available in earlier pages of 1880 Part 2, and earlier editions of Colburn's United Service Magazine, see Military periodicals online - The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine.

• The Siege of Lucknow, A Diary by The Honourable Lady Inglis 1892 (archive.org) Account by the wife of the colonel of the 32nd Regt during the Siege of Lucknow.
• The Chronicle Of Private Henry Metcalfe H M 32nd Regiment of Foot, together with Lieutenant John Edmondstone’s Letter to his Mother of 4 January 1858 collected and edited by Lieut.-General Sir Francis Tuker 1953 Archive.org. Metcalfe embarked for India 14 June 1849, and served there until the regiment returned to England in 1859. He served until discharged 1872.
• The History of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry 1914-1919 by Everard Wyrall 1932. Transcription by OCR, so subject to errors. lib.militaryarchive.co.uk. Snippet view, Searchable Google Books. Also Searchable at HathiTrust Digital Library.