55th Foot

The regiment was raised in Scotland in 1755, initially as the 57th Foot. It was re-numbered the 55th in 1757. It was sent to Halifax in 1757 and saw extensive service in the F&IW. Lord George Augustus Viscount Howe was appointed Colonel of the regiment in September that year and proceeded to train the regiment in light infantry tactics, skills that Howe had studied with Robert Rogers. Howe, described by General Wolfe as "the best officer in the British army", was one of the older brothers of the AWI's Billy Howe. In 1758 the regiment took part in Abercrombie's attack at Ticonderoga, during the course of which Howe was killed in a skirmish. The regiment continued to fight until the French surrender in 1760. The regiment then remained in America on garrison duty. A detachment suffered badly in the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac's rebellion.


In 1763 the regiment's men were drafted into various other regiments while the officers went to Ireland to raise a new battalion. The 55th next appeared in American in December 1775. It was present at the battles of Long Island, Brandywine and Gremantown. In November 1778 the battalion left America for duty in the West Indies.


This is another older unit that I have recently added to. The 55th was one of the first British regiments I painted, back in 2004. I only painted 12 figures because that was what was required for the Brandywine and Germantown orbats. When I was going through the leadpile recently I found two dozen firing line figures of Brits in 1768 warrant dress. After a perusal of the various "British Grenadier!" scenario books I decided to add another 4 figures to the 55th Foot and then paint the 57th Foot from scratch. The 55th increases to 16 figures for the Long Island scenario so I thought I might as well use up some of these spare figures getting the battalion up to full strength. Completely co-incidentally, I noticed that Steve Jones had recently done the same thing on his rather excellent blog.


16 figures. Painted 2004 and November 2010. Flags by GMB.