South Essex Regiment - Regimental Colonels

Regimental Colonels

This is a rough list of the colonels of the regiment described in the books and the period they served as colonel. There are gaps where colonels are not known in the books. The Prince Regent, later George IV was the colonel in chief and added his patronage in 1813. Sir Henry Simmerson (1809) was the first Colonel, raised the regiment and led it on its first campaign. Relieved from command by the next colonel, William Lawford (1809–1812) who commanded the regiment during the Portugal campaign before being wounded at Ciudad Rodrigo. The regiment would then be commanded by a former staff officer of General Sir Thomas Picton, Colonel Windham from the siege and storming of Badajoz until his death shortly before the Battle of Salamanca (1812). It is then commanded by the American expatriate Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Leroy until his death at the Battle of Vitoria (1813). Lieutenant Colonel Bartholomew Girdwood would then assume command of the now renamed Prince of Wales Own Volunteers until his mental breakdown at the Battle of the Nivelle (1813). Sharpe would be in effective command until the French capitulation at the Battle of Toulouse (1814). The regiment is reformed after Napoleon's escape from Elba and the resumption of hostilities and is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Ford until his mental collapse under fire at Waterloo, where Wellington gives command of the regiment to Sharpe where they assist in defeating the Old Guard.