Lord Digby’s Regiment of Foot

Also Colonel Lewis Farrell's Regiment of Foot

Irish regiment serving in Flanders that joined Charles II in exile, they fought at the Battle of the Dunes

• March: Raised at the surrender of the garrison of St Ghislain

• June: Battle of the Dunes
• November: Farrell recognised as Colonel by the Spanish ¹⁾

• September: Leave Spanish service for that of Charles II

• November: Shipped to Tangiers

• January: Arrive at Tangiers
• Incorporated into 'The Old Tangiers' Regiment

The regiment's history is discussed in Firth, C. H. (1898), Royalist and Cromwellian Armies in Flanders, 1657-1662, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, pp. 67–119

Charles II began to raise an army at Bruges in Flanders in 1656, having signed a treaty to ally with Spain against France and Cromwellian England. Over the winter of 1656 to 7 a small French garrison under the Duke of Schomberg occupied St Ghislain. Lewis Farrell's regiment had served overseas for many years, having been raised in 1585 and served the Spanish before the French. As the soldiers were mostly Irish, Lord Digby opened secret negotiations which led to them surrendering to Don John's Spanish and changing sides in March 1657. The regiment, unlike the rest of Charles' little army, appear in a list of Spanish regiments in Flanders ²⁾. In July 1658 the regiment fought at the Battle of the Dunes in Blagge’s brigade, but the French and English Protectorate forces were victorious and Digby's regiment were routed. In 1659 Digby succeeded to the title of Second Earl of Bristol and the regiment are sometimes known by this name. Likely Digby was nominal commander and they were commanded in the field by Colonel Farrell throughout. Remaining in Flanders after the Battle of the Dunes, they were shipped to Tangiers in 1661, eventually being incorporated into the 'Old Tangiers Regiment'. The Old Tangier Regiment became the Second, or Queen’s Regiment of Foot, the senior English Regiment of the line in the British army, where it has now been amalgamated into the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

Lord Digby

• January 1662: 381 men

• The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment