Lieut. -Col. Lewis Butler Books

This second of the fine five-volume unit history of the King's Royal Rifle Corps begins with the development of the unit's characteristic weapon - the rifle - and of its equally ubiquitous uniform, the green jacket, under its Colonel, Baron Francis de Rothenburg. It details the unit's role in crushing the Irish rebellion of 1798, and in repelling the French invasion of Ireland in the same year. The Rifle Battalions then saw service in their old battlegrounds of the Americas, in Martinique, Surinam and Halifax, Novia Scotia, before returning to Europe to take part in the Peninsula War against Napoleon. They came under the command of both Sir Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) and Sir John Moore, repelling the French invasion of Portugal and fighting at Rolica and Vimiero. Under Wellesley, the Battalions pursued Marshal Victor, taking part in the Battle of Talavera. They manned Wellington's impregnable Lines of Torres Vedras, thwarting Marshal Massena's invasion of Portugal, ..

The third in the excellent five-volume history of the K.R.R.C. takes the story from the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars in the 1830s to 1873. The 19th c. K.R.R.C. was the creation of Col. Robert Beaufoy Hawley, who adapted its early principles to mid-19th century military conditions. The early chapters detail the unit's service in Ireland and the Mediterranean, recounting such hazards as the capture of officers by Balkan brigands, shipwrecks and an outbreak of yellow fever in Jamaica which carried off a Col. A. F. Ellis MP. Serving in South Africa and India, the Corps took part in the 2nd Sikh War under Sir Charles Napier, the siege of Mooltan and camapaigns against the Afghan tribes. The book describes the discontent which led to the Indian Mutiny, and the Mutiny itself, in which the Corps took part in the siege and storming of Delhi - winning no fewer than seven VCs in the action. The Corps took part in the 'Opium Wars' in China, helping to capture Peking (Beijing). Later in the...