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Coldstream Information

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1650 - 1661



ORIGINS
The Regiment was formed in July and August 1650, and it was officially approved by Parliament on 13^th August, 1650. However, to understand the origins of the Regiment we need to look at the events of the preceding decade.

The English Civil War (1642-49) had just finished. For seven years royalists, who believed in the King as the supreme, autocratic ruler, had fought the roundheads who believed that the country should be ruled by a democratically elected Parliament. The Roundheads under Oliver Cromwell won the war, and King Charles I was executed on 1^st January, 1649. This however was not the end of the matter. The future King Charles II had fled with loyal supporters to Holland, and the Scots still strongly supported the Stuart cause.

Cromwell depended on the New Model Army for his power, and one of his most promising officers was Colonel George

Monck. Monck was a Royalist and did very well in the Civil War, but he was captured at the Battle of Nantwich in 1644 and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He used his time well and wrote papers on military matters. These were brought to Cromwell’s attention and Monck was offered his freedom on condition that he joined the New Model Army and serve with it in Ireland. He soon proved his worth and was commanding the Parliamentary forces in Ulster. Cromwell was so impressed that he decided to give Monck his own regiment. Cromwell chose Colonel John Bright’s

Regiment of Foot as Bright was about to retire, but by a remarkable coincidence, this was the regiment that captured Monck in 1644 and the men refused to have him as their Colonel.

Cromwell solved the problem by creating a new regiment for him. He took five companies from Sir Arthur Hazelrigg’s Regiment (formed 1645) and five companies from Colonel Fenwick’s Regiment (also formed in 1645). The new regiment was called ‘Monck’s Regiment of Foot.’


Service in Scotland.
The Scots were still fiercely loyal to the Royalist cause, and Charles Stuart, the exiled son of King Charles I, landed at Speymouth to reclaim the English throne. Cromwell immediately sent a force of 16,000 men, including Monck’s Regiment, and defeated the Scots at Dunbar on 3^rd September, 1650.

Despite their defeat, the Scots were still causing problems, so in August 1651, Cromwell gave Monck command of all Parliamentary forces in Scotland with orders to bring the country firmly under control. This he did in all but the far north of the country. Monck was compelled to leave Scotland in 1652 due to ill health, and he served at sea until 1654. He returned to Scotland in 1655 to suppress uprisings in the Highlands.

Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 and was succeeded by his son Richard who had none of the convictions or strength of character of his father. The country gradually fell into decline. Loyalties once again were divided and army officers found themselves with three choices. They could support the existing regime of Richard Cromwell which in effect meant rule by the Major Generals, they could hope for a democratically elected Parliament, or the Monachy could be restored under a new constitution.

Monck refused to commit himself and he made it clear to his officers that they were expected to obey the Government of the day. Being away from London with a force of 6,000 men under his command, he was in a very strong position.

In December 1659, the military authorities in London issued an order requiring Monck and his officers to sign a declaration of their loyalty to the Commonwealth. Monck called a council of his officers in Scotland to obtain their views. The outcome was that they overwhelmingly rejected the declaration.

On 8^th Decemeber, 1659, Monck moved his headquarters from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Coldstream. There he remained throughout December. Many cities were calling for the return of Parliament and the loyalty of the army was under severe strain. Officers and men alike were either stating their neutrality or calling for the return of Parliament. On 26^th December Richard Cromwell bowed to Public opinion and recalled Parliament, and Monck gave orders for his now famous march south. It was a historic moment for the Coldstream Guards, and to quote Thomas Gumble;

“The town of Coldstream, because the General did it the honour to make it the place of his residence for some time, hath given title to a small company of men whom God made the instruments of great things; and though poor, yet honest as ever corrupt nature produced into the world, by the no dishonourable name of Coldstreamers.”

The March to London 1660.
Monck and his army of 6,000 men left Coldstream on 2^nd January, 1660, and marched down the east coast and arrived in London on 3^rd February. The Rump Parliament was still in power but it was unpopular and unrepresentative. Monck made a speech to Parliament and told them bluntly that the country wanted them dissolved and a new start made, but unsurprisingly this view was not accepted. However, he was supported by the Common Council of London who declared that they would not pay taxes until Monck’s demands were met.

Parliament retaliated by ordering Monck to march on the City, destroy the gates and arrest the ten leading figures. This put Monck in a difficult position, but he decided that he had no option but to obey the order at this stage. His troops were halfway through this task when Monck again called on Parliament to come to terms with the City. Once again they refused. That night some of his senior officers went to him and said that they would rather resign rather than “make themselves odious to the whole nation.” This was the expression of support that Monck was looking for and he immediately wrote to Parliament demanding their dissolution. He then fully declared his defiance by marching his troops to the City to protect the City Council.

They was now a growing clamour for the restoration of the Monarchy but Monck did not declare his support publicly, maintaining that it was for the public and Parliament to decide. The new freely elected Parliament met on 25^th April. One of its first acts was to vote for the restoration of the Monarchy, and Monck, sitting as a member for his native county of Devon, voted in favour.


The Restoration 1660.
King Charles II landed at Dover on 25^th May, 1660, and was met amongst others by Monck. The Royal party immediately set off for London, but stopped off at Canterbury on the 27^th. It was here that the King bestowed the Order of the Garter on Monck, a rare honour for a commoner. Unusually, the King placed the ribbon on Monck personally rather than leave it to the Garter King of Arms.

Monck was also created Duke of Albemarle and appointed Lord General of the Land Forces on 7^th July. His regiment now became ‘The Duke of Albemarle’s Regiment’ or ‘The Lord General’s Regiment,’ and remained so named until Monck’s death in 1670. As its badge it took the Star of the Order of the Garter, which is still the badge of the Regiment today.

Although the King was back on the throne, the loyalty of a large part of the New Model Army was still questionable. His only personal troops were a Troop of Life Guards, and The Duke of Albemarle’s Regiments of Foot and Horse. Therefore Charles decided that the whole army must be purged and reorganised. He dismissed all officers whose loyalty was in question and replaced them with Royalist’s. He would have like to retain a small standing army but Parliament opposed any form of permanent military power in the hands of the Monarch, and therefore passed an Act in August 1660 requiring the disbandment of the whole of the New Model Army. There were to be no exceptions, but a concession was made to the Duke of Albemarle’s Regiment’s in that they would be the last regiments to be disbanded.

However, on 6^th January, 1661, just two days before they were due for disbandment they were called out to quell disturbances in the City of London. This episode showed that there was a need to maintain a professional standing army and that Monck’s regiments were too valuable to be disbanded.


Creation of the Standing Army 1661.
Charles signed a Royal Warrant authorising the establishment of a Standing Army on 26^th January, 1661. Monck’s Regiments were saved, but Act requiring the disbandment of the New Model Army was still on the Statute Book. Therefore, on 14^th February, 1661, both Monck’s Regiment of Foot and his Regiment of Horse paraded on Tower Hill where they symbolically laid down there arms as a regiment of the New Model Army, then took them up again in the service of the King.

Monck’s Regiment of Horse was immediately renamed ‘Lord Albemarle’s Troop of His Majesty’s Life Guards’ and became the third troop in the Household Cavalry.

Monck’s Regiment of Foot became ‘The Lord General’s Regiment of Foot Guards’ and took seniority after Lord Wentworth’s and Colonel John Russell’s Regiments (now the Grenadier Guards). Whilst the Regiment accepted the King’s command over their seniority, they did not wish it to be forgotten that they were the oldest English regiment still in existence so they adopted the motto ‘Nulli Secundus’ or ‘Second to None’, and to this day the Regiment does not accept that it should ever be referred to as ‘The Second Guards’, a point confirmed by the Secretary of State for War in 1830.


Naming of The Coldstream Guards.
General Monck, Duke of Albemarle died on 3^rd January, 1670, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It was now officially given the name by which it had been unofficially known for many years; "His Majesty’s Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards."