Memoir of the Services of Lieut.-Colonel Matthew Shawe, C.B., of the Eighty-seventh Regiment
Mr. Shawe was appointed an Ensign in the Twelfth foot on the 7th of May 1799, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the Seventy-fourth Highlanders on the 15th of November 1801, with which regiment he served at the storming and capture of the important fortress and town of Ahmednuggur on the 8th and 12th of August 1803; was wounded severely at the battle of Assaye on the 23rd of September following, when the troops under Major-General the Honorable Arthur Wellesley gained a victory over the combined army of Scindiah and the Rajah of Berar. His next service was at the battle of Argaum, on the 29th of November; afterwards at the siege and storming of Gawilghur, on the 15th of December 1803: this was a very strong fort, situated on a range of mountains between the sources of the rivers Poorna and Taptee. Lieutenant Shawe served with the Seventy-fourth at the siege of Chandore, a strong hill fort in Candeish. This place surrendered on the 12th of October 1804. Lieutenant Shawe was also at the siege of Gaulnah in the same month; on the 30th of October he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Seventy-fourth regiment.
Captain Shawe proceeded with his regiment to the Peninsula in January 1810; was present at the battle of Busaco on the 27th of September following; also at the affairs of Redinha on the 12th of March 1811, Condeixa on the day following, Foz d’Aronce on the 15th of that month, Sabugal on the 3rd of April, and at the battle of Fuentes d’Onor on the 3rd and 5th of May 1811; in the latter action Captain Shawe was wounded. He was advanced to the brevet rank of Major on the 30th of May 1811, and served at the siege and storming of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812; the siege of Badajoz and the escalading of Fort Picurina on the 25th of March. This fort was assaulted and carried by five hundred men of the third division, two hundred of whom were under Brevet-Major Shawe, who was dangerously wounded; he however recovered, and received the brevet of Lieut.-Colonel, which was dated the 27th of April 1812, for his services on this occasion. He was also thanked in general orders by Viscount Wellington for his conduct, received a medal, and was subsequently nominated a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Shawe was appointed Major in the Fifty-ninth regiment on the 4th of June 1813, and was promoted Lieut.-Colonel in the Eighty-fourth regiment on the 15th of April 1817, and was removed to the Eighty-seventh regiment on the 30th of April 1818, the command of which devolved upon him in May 1823 in consequence of the decease of Lieut.-Colonel Miller. Lieut.-Colonel Shawe died on the 10th of April 1826, on board His Majesty’s sloop “Slany,” while within one day’s sail of Penang, where he was buried with all military honors. His life was sacrificed to his zeal for his duty, his health being such that, on leaving Calcutta, his medical advisers tried every argument to dissuade him from proceeding to join his regiment, then employed in the Burmese territory.
List of Fifty-six Battalions formed from Men raised under the Army of Reserve and Additional Force Acts, in the Years 1803 and 1804.
Under the Army of Reserve Acts in 1803.
The following Nineteen Regiments were appointed to receive men raised for limited service in Great Britain and Ireland, under the Army of Reserve Acts, passed in the year 1803, and were augmented by second battalions, viz.:
| In England. Under the Act passed on the 6th of July 1803. | In Scotland. Under the Act passed on the 6th of July 1803. | In Ireland. Under the Act passed on the 11th of July 1803. | |
| 3rd Reg. | 53rd Reg. | 26th Regiment | 18th Regiment |
| 28th ″ | 57th ″ | 42nd ″ | 44th ″ |
| 30th ″ | 61st ″ | 92nd ″ | 58th ″ |
| 39th ″ | 66th ″ | 67th ″ | |
| 47th ″ | 69th ″ | ||
| 48th ″ | 81st ″ | ||
In addition to the above corps, Sixteen Reserve Battalions were also formed from the men raised in the several counties of Great Britain and Ireland, under the Army of Reserve Acts, as under specified, viz.:
| In England. | In Scotland. | ||||
| 1st | Reserve Battalion | 9th | Reserve Battalion | 5th | Reserve Battalion |
| 14th | ″ | ||||
| 3rd | ″ | 10th | ″ | ||
| 4th | ″ | 11th | ″ | In Ireland. | |
| 6th | ″ | 12th | ″ | ||
| 2nd | Reserve Battalion | ||||
| 7th | ″ | 15th | ″ | 13th | ″ |
| 16th | ″ | ||||
| 8th | ″ | ||||
Under the Additional Force Acts in 1804.
In the year 1804, thirty-seven other Regiments (as shown in the following list) were augmented by second battalions, in consequence of having been appointed to receive men raised for limited service in Great Britain and Ireland, under the Additional Force Acts passed on the 29th of June, and 10th and 14th of July, 1804, viz.:
| In England. Under the Act passed on the 29th of June 1804. | |||
| 5th Foot | 25th Foot | 56th Foot | |
| 6th ″ | 31st ″ | 59th ″ | |
| 7th ″ | 32nd ″ | 62nd ″ | |
| 8th ″ | 36th ″ | 63rd ″ | |
| 9th ″ | 38th ″ | 82nd ″ | |
| 10th ″ | 40th ″ | 83rd ″ | |
| 14th ″ | 43rd ″ | 90th ″ | |
| 15th ″ | 45th ″ | 96th ″ late 2nd | |
| Battalion of | |||
| 23rd ″ | 50th ″ | 52nd Regiment. | |
| 24th ″ | 52nd ″ | ||
| In Scotland. Under the Act passed on the 10th of July 1804. | In Ireland. Under the Act passed on the 14th of July 1804. |
| 1st Royal Regiment | 27th Regiment |
| 21st ″ | 87th ″ |
| 71st ″ | 88th ″ |
| 72nd ″ | 89th ″ |
| 91st ″ |
List of the Fifty-six regiments which were appointed to receive men, raised for limited service in England, Scotland, and Ireland, under the Additional Force Acts, passed in the year 1804, including the Nineteen regiments (marked thus *) which had been augmented by Second Battalions from the men raised under the Army of Reserve Acts passed in the previous year (1803), and specifying the counties allotted to the several regiments.
Adjutant-General’s Office,
Horse Guards, 1804.
| In England. Under the Act passed on the 29th of June 1804. | |||
| Regiments. | Counties. | Regiments. | Counties. |
| *3rd | London City. | 43rd | Worcester. |
| 5th | Sussex. | 45th | Nottingham & Rutland. |
| 6th | Lancaster. | *47th | Norfolk. |
| 7th | York (West Riding). | *48th | Lancaster. |
| 8th | York (North Riding). | 50th | Gloucester. |
| 9th | Dorset and Somerset. | 52nd | Hertford, Oxford, & Bucks. |
| 10th | Essex. | *53rd | York (West Riding). |
| 14th | Bedford, Buckingham, Northampton. | 56th | Surrey. |
| 15th | York (East Riding). | *57th | Kent, & the Cinque Ports. |
| 23rd | Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, & Merioneth. | 59th | Derby. |
| 24th | Warwick. | *61st | Northumberland. |
| 25th | Cumberland, Westmoreland. | 62nd | Wilts. |
| *28th | Devon. | 63rd | Suffolk. |
| *30th | Huntingdon, Leicester, Cambridge. | *66th | Hants, & the Isle of Wight. |
| 31st | Chester. | *69th | Lincoln. |
| 32nd | Cornwall. | *81st | Hereford, Montgomery, & Radnor. |
| 36th | Durham. | 82nd | Tower Hamlets. |
| 38th | Stafford. | 83rd | Middlesex. |
| *39th | Salop. | 90th | Monmouth, Glamorgan, & Brecknock. |
| 40th | Dorset & Somerset, late Second Battalion of 52nd Regiment. | 96th | Cardigan, Carmarthen, & Pembroke. |
| FORTY REGIMENTS. | |||
| In Scotland. Under the Act passed on the 10th of July 1804. | In Ireland. Under the Act passed on the 14th of July 1804. | ||
| Regiments. | Counties. | Regiments. | Counties. |
| 1st Royal | Lanark, Wigton, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Selkirk, & Roxburghe. | *18th | Donegal, Londonderry, Tyrone, & Antrim. |
| 21st | Renfrew & Ayr. | 27th | Fermanagh, Monaghan, Armagh, & Down. |
| *26th | Edinburgh City & County, Linlithgow, Peebles, Berwick, & Haddington. | *44th | Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Westmeath, King’s County, & Queen’s County. |
| *42nd | Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, & Caithness. | *58th | Cork City & County, & Kerry. |
| 71st | Stirling, Dumbarton, Fife, Kinross, Clackmannan, Kincardine, & Forfar. | *67th | Dublin City & County, Roscommon, Longford, & Meath. xx |
| 72nd | Aberdeen. | 87th | Tipperary, Galway, & Clare. |
| 91st | Bute, Argyle, & Perth. | 88th | Cavan, Louth, Leitrim, Sligo, & Mayo. |
| *92nd | Nairn, Elgin, Inverness, & Banff. | 89th | Wexford, Kilkenny, Waterford, & Limerick City & County. |
| EIGHT REGIMENTS. | EIGHT REGIMENTS. | ||