51st (or the 2nd Yorkshire West Riding) — Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry)L
| Rank in the | |||||
| LIEUT.-COLONEL. | Regiment. | Army. | |||
| 1 | Hugh Henry Mitchell | 13 | June, | 1811 | 4 June, 1813 |
| MAJOR. | |||||
| 2 | Samuel Rice | 13 | July, | 1809 | Lt.-Col., 22 Nov. 1813 |
| CAPTAINS. | |||||
| 3 | John Thos. Keyt | 24 | June, | 1804 | Maj., 4 June, 1814 |
| 4 | James Campbell | 1 | Aug. | 1805 | |
| 5 | William Thwaites | 2 | Jan. | 1807 | Maj., 4 June, 1814 |
| 6 | Richard Storer | 13 | July, | 1809 | |
| 7 | Jas Henry Phelps | 21 | Sept. | 1809 | |
| 8 | James Ross | 12 | Dec. | 1811 | |
| 9 | John Ross | 15 | Apr. | 1813 | |
| 10 | Sam. Beardsley, W. | 16 | Sept. | 1813 | |
| 11 | Edward Frederick | 28 | Apr. | 1814 | |
| LIEUTENANTS. | |||||
| 12 | Benjamin B. Hawley | 10 | May, | 1809 | |
| 13 | Thos. Brook | 18 | May, | 1809 | |
| 14 | Francis Minchin | 12 | July, | 1809 | |
| 15 | Walter George Mahon | 13 | July, | 1809 | |
| 16 | Wm. Henry Hare | 20 | July, | 1809 | |
| 17 | Oliver Ainsworth | 26 | July, | 1810 | |
| 18 | Henry Read | 20 | Feb. | 1811 | |
| 19 | Francis Kennedy | 21 | Feb. | 1811 | |
| 20 | Joseph Dyas | 11 | July, | 1811 | |
| 21 | John Flamanck | 12 | Dec. | 1811 | |
| 22 | Wm. Henry Elliott | 13 | Aug. | 1812 | |
| 23 | Wm. Davidson Simpson | 3 | Dec. | 1812 | |
| 24 | Frederick Mainwaring | 15 | Apr. | 1813 | |
| 25 | Wm. Jones, Adjt. | 16 | Apr. | 1813 | |
| 26 | Chas. Wm. Tyndale, W. | 3 | June, | 1813 | |
| 27 | Henry Martin | 21 | Oct. | 1813 | |
| 28 | Harry Hervis Roberts | 7 | Jan. | 1814 | |
| 29 | Egerton C.H. Isaacson | 14 | July, | 1814 | |
| 30 | Thos. Troward | 29 | Sept. | 1814 | |
| 31 | John Lintott | 25 | Dec. | 1814 | 22 Apr. 1813 |
| ENSIGNS. | |||||
| 32 | G.F. Berkeley St. John | 3 | June, | 1813 | |
| 33 | Henry Krause | 21 | Oct. | 1813 | |
| 34 | W. Johnstone | 6 | Jan. | 1814 | 25 Oct. 1813 |
| 35 | Alexander Fraser | 21 | Apr. | 1814 | |
| 36 | John Blair | 14 | July, | 1814 | 18 May, 1814 |
| 37 | Henry Lock | 13 | Oct. | 1814 | |
| PAYMASTER. | |||||
| 38 | John Gibbs | 15 | Feb. | 1810 | |
| QUARTERMASTER. | |||||
| 39 | Thos. Askey | 18 | Mar. | 1813 | |
| SURGEON. | |||||
| 40 | Richard Webster | 14 | July, | 1808 | 26 Oct. 1804 |
| ASSISTANT-SURGEONS. | |||||
| 41 | John F. Clarke | 25 | June, | 1812 | |
| 42 | Percy FitzPatrick | 11 | Mar. | 1813 | |
| Facings grass green. Lace gold. | |||||
“I know a man of whom ’tis truly said
He bravely twice a storming party led,
And volunteered both times; now here’s the rub,
The gallant fellow still remains a sub.”
In Dec. 1820, owing to the representations of Col. Gurwood and Sir H. Torrens, the Duke of York promoted Dyas a capt. in the 2nd Ceylon Regt., but impaired health obliged him to retire on h. p. 9th Aug., 1821. D. 28th Apr., 1850 at Ballymuir, Ireland.
Notes
L. On the morning of 18th June, 1815, the 51st was composed of 2 field officers, 9 captains, 26 subalterns, 6 staff officers, 39 sergts., 18 drummers, and 521 privates.
1. Served under Sir Eyre Coote in Egypt, and was present at the taking of Alexandria. Commanded the 4th British Brigade at Waterloo. C.B. and K. St. Vladimir. M. in 1804, Lady Harriet Somerset, youngest dau. of the 5th Duke of Beaufort, and had issue. D. in London, 20th April, 1817, aged 45.
2. Served in the Pa., and had the gold medal for Nivelle. Commanded the 51st at Waterloo. C.B. Lt.-col. of this regt. 1817. D. 7th March, 1840. He belonged to an old family in Carmarthenshire, and was brother to Ralph Rice, Judge at Bombay, who d. 1850.
3. At Waterloo, Maj. Keyt was appointed by Col. Mitchell to command the light companies of the 51st, 14th, and 23rd regts. (which three regts. were under Col. Mitchell’s command), and for this command he was made bt. lt.-col. and C.B., after Waterloo. Was appointed Lt.-col. of the 84th Regt. in 1828, and d. in Jamaica in 1835.
4. Promoted maj. in this regt., 17th May, 1821; lt.-col. in 1881; and retired on h. p. 1838. K.H. M.-Gen. 1854. Served in the Pa., and in 1848 received the silver war medal with five clasps. D. at Breslington, 8th May, 1856.
5. Major 22nd June, 1815. Quitted the service before 1824.
6. Retd. as capt. 1823. D. at Egham, 1844.
7. Lt.-col. 1837. D. at Sydney, 1842.
8. Retd. 1824.
9. Maj. in this regt., 5th Nov., 1825. Lt.-col. on unattached list 1836, served in the Pa. and in the Walcheren expedition. Was severely wounded at Waterloo, and is said, “to have lost five brothers in this battle.” D. at Hardway, Herts, 16th Sept., 1851, aged 61.
10. Retd. 1820 as capt.
11. Edward Henry Frederick was 5th son of Sir John Frederick, Bart., by Mary, youngest dau. and co-heir of Richard Garth, of Morden, Surrey. Bn. 6th Aug., 1788. Retired on h. p. as capt. 7th April, 1826. D. 1846.
12. Capt. 7th Apr. 1825. Retd. 1835.
13. H. p. 1825. D. 21st Dec., 1845 at Askham Bryan, Yorkshire.
14. Capt. 22nd June, 1815. Out of the regt. before 1824. Barrack-master at Sheffield, 1854. D. a military Knight of Windsor, 1865.
15. Capt. 91st Foot 1830. Retd. same year.
16. Capt. 18th Nov., 1819. H. p. 25th July, 1822. Living 1846.
17. Capt. 14th Aug., 1828. Retd. 1843. D. 3rd Dec., 1859, at Launceston, Australia.
18. Paymaster 68th Foot 8th Oct., 1818. Out of the army, 1836.
19. H. p. 1824. D. at Lincoln, 1857.
20. One of the greatest heroes of the Par. War. Led the Forlorn Hope on two successive occasions during the siege of Badajoz, in 1811, when Fort San Christoval was assaulted by the British. The second assault, on the night of 9th June, is graphically described in Reminiscences of a Subaltern:—“At ten o’clock at night, 200 men moved forward to the assault, Dyas leading the advance. He made a circuit until he came exactly opposite to the breach instead of entering the ditch as before; a sheep-path, which he remembered in the evening while he and Major MacGeechy made their observations, served to guide them to the part of the glacis in front of the breach. Arrived at this spot, the detachment descended the ditch, and found themselves at the foot of the breach; but here an unlooked-for event stopped their further progress, and would have been in itself sufficient to have caused the failure of the attack. The ladders were entrusted to a party composed of a foreign corps in our pay, called ‘the Chasseurs Britanniques’; these men, the moment they reached the glacis, glad to rid themselves of their load, flung the ladders into the ditch, instead of sliding them between the palisadoes; they fell across them, and so stuck fast, and being made of heavy green wood, it was next to impossible to move, much less place them upright against the breach, and almost all the storming party were massacred in the attempt. Placed in a situation so frightful, it required a man of the most determined character to continue the attack. Every officer of the detachment had fallen, Major MacGeechy one of the first; and at this moment Dyas and about five-and-twenty men were all that remained of the 200. Undismayed by these circumstances, the soldiers persevered, and Dyas, although wounded and bleeding, succeeded in disentangling one ladder, and placing it against what was considered to be the breach, it was speedily mounted, but upon arriving at the top of the ladder, instead of the breach, it was found to be a stone wall that had been constructed in the night, and which completely cut off all communication between the ditch and the bastion, so that when the men reached the top of this wall, they were, in effect, as far from the breach as if they had been in their own batteries. From this faithful detail it is evident that the soldiers did as much as possible to ensure success, and that failure was owing to a combination of untoward circumstances over which the troops had no control. Nineteen men were all that escaped.” The gallantry of Ensign Joseph Dyas was proclaimed to the world in Wellington’s account of the two assaults of San Christoval, but for all that a grateful War Office allowed him to remain a subaltern for ten years longer!
21. Major 16th Dec., 1836. H. p. 30th June, 1837. Retd. 1849 as bt.-col. unattached.
22. Commanded the above regiment for many years. Was son of Capt. John Elliott, R.N., one of Capt. Cook’s circumnavigators. Attained the rank of Gen. and Col.-in-Chf. 51st Regt. G.C.B. and K.H. M. in 1831 a dau. of W. Adams, of Ipswich. D. in London, 27th Feb., 1874.
23. Retd. 1821. D. April, 1855.
24. Afterwards maj. in same regt. Promoted lt.-col. unattached list 1849. Served in the Pa. with the 51st. M. Mary, dau. of Lt.-Col. Popham, and had issue. D. in Jersey, 25th Sept., 1858. He was 4th son of Edward Mainwaring, and grandson of Edward Mainwaring, of Whitmore Hall, co. Stafford—a family co-existent with the Norman Conquest.
25. H. p. 60th Rifles 25th Feb., 1819.
26. Son of Col. Tyndale of 1st Life Guards. He represented the younger branch of an ancient Gloucestershire family which resided at Stanchcombe in that county. Retired on h. p. as capt. in 1837, and was aftds. maj. on unattached list. For a short time held the post of military sec. to Gen. Sir A. Woodford at Gibraltar. M. in 1845 his cousin, a dau. of Samuel Phelps. D. s. p. at Gosport, 23rd Dec., 1854.
27. H. p. 1818. D. 1840.
28. H. p. 1818. Retd. 1840.
29. Served in the Pa. Retired on h. p. as lieut. 1823. For some years previous to that date he was lieut. to the garrison company in the Bahamas. Was subsequently adjt. to the Brecknock Militia. D. at his residence, Upper Nutwell, co. Devon, 29th Dec., 1860.
30. H. p. 1818. Retd. 1829. D. 17th June, 1859.
31. Capt. 29th May, 1817. Exchanged to 13th Foot, 9 Apr., 1825. D. at Dinapore, 9th Aug., 1829.
32. Second son (by a second wife) of Gen. the Hon. Frederick St. John (son of 3rd Visct. Bolingbroke). Acted as orderly officer to Sir H. Clinton at Waterloo. Aftds. maj. in the 52nd L.I. Retd. 1840. M. in Jan., 1836, Henrietta, third dau. of the Rev. John Jephson, and had issue. A Knight of Windsor. D. 24th July, 1866.
33. H. p. 1818. Retd. 1825. Took Holy Orders and settled in Dublin.
34. Eldest son of the Rev. H. Johnston, of Malherry, co. Dublin. H. p. 25th Dec., 1818. M. 2nd July, 1831, Sarah, dau. of Wm. Mills, of Cordoxtown, co. Kildare, and granddaughter of Sir John Dillon, Bart. D. 1836 at Dublin.
35. Lieut. 47th Foot, 14th Sept., 1820. Capt. 1833. Retd. 1839.
36. Lieut. 15th Foot, 8th Apr., 1825. D. at Montreal, 25th May, 1833.
37. H. p. 60th Foot, 30th Sept., 1819. D. at Mominabad, East Indies, 16th May, 1824.
38. H. p. 1846. D. same year.
39. H. p. 97th Foot 18th Feb., 1819. Retd. 1830.
40. Surgeon 4th D.G. 3rd Aug., 1826. D. at Piershill Barracks, Edinburgh, 14th Feb., 1831.
41. Inspector-Gen. of Hospitals, 1843. H. p. 1847. D. 29th Oct., 1848.
42. H. p. 1818.