Introduction

                    This is a history of the 1st Battalion, 82nd South Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales Volunteer's) during the period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. I have taken a keen interest in this regiment, as an ancestor who brought my family name to Canada fought as a private in the corps through 1813 and 1814, both in Canada and in the Peninsula: a soldier by the name of William Davis. The 82nd Foot was in no way a corps of particular distinction, such as the 95th Rifles or the Guards Regiments. It is however a good example of the average line regiment of heavy foot that did such good service for England in the wars of this period.

                    The 82nd's adventures from 1793 to 1815 are a mixture of far-flung expeditions, garrison duty, hard campaigning and short stints of recruitment back in England. The conditions of service in the wars of this time were such that not a single man who joined the corps at its activation remained present with the colours at the end, although some did last many years, until promotion to other units or the wear-and-tear of many campaigning seasons forced on retirement. Sometimes a single campaign where disaster was met could turn a hitherto experienced and veteran corps into a body of raw recruits. Such was the fortune of war for regiments serving in England's far-flung war of this period.

                    This history is in no way a simple laudatory recounting of the glory days of the regiment, as are most of the short and concise histories of the 82nd I have so far come across in my researches. The corps had both its good times and bad, its glories and its shames and both are included for reading here. It is fortunate that a good portion of the 82nd's service from 1806 to 1814 are the subject of a first-person account by Capt. George Wood, who published a memoir of his experiences with the colours. His colourful descriptions and anecdotes provide a human element to what would otherwise (or may still be) have been a dry account of marches and battles. Many, many thanks to Mr. Wood.

                    I dedicate this history the men, and men they were, who served in the regiment during those sanguinary times: brave souls who stood shoulder to shoulder and endured shot, shell and bayonet in the service of England and a fledgling Canada. Never once in all of their bloody contests did they break and run, but instead stood with their colours and always gave better than they got...and if fortune required, fell as heroes among their friends and comrades on the field of battle.

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