The 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1701. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 107th (Bengal Infantry) Regiment of Foot to form the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1881.
History
Formation
The regiment was raised in Belfast by Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall as the Earl of Donegall's Regiment of Foot or the Belfast Regiment on 28 June 1701 to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession. This was the second raising of the Earl of Donegall's Regiment: the previous regiment was raised in 1693 and disbanded on 8 February 1697: despite the names there was no lineal connection between them. The regiment was a strongly Protestant unit tasked with resisting the spread of Roman Catholicism in Britain. King William III, gave special permission for the regiment to bear orange facings to show their religious allegiance and as a mark of royal favour.
Early service
Queen Anne issued a Royal Warrant on 1 June 1702 under which Donegall's Regiment was one of six regiments designated for "sea service" and put under the command of the Royal Navy. The troops embarked on several ships in June 1702, and took part in the Battle of Cádiz in August 1702 and the defence of Gibraltar in spring 1705 as well as the siege of Barcelona, where the Earl of Donegall was killed on 16 April 1706. On his death Brigadier Richard Gorges was appointed colonel, with the unit becoming Gorges's Regiment of Foot.
At the disastrous Battle of Almansa in April 1707 the regiment was practically wiped out and the regimental colours were lost. The survivors returned to Ireland where the regiment was reconstituted. In 1717 Gorges resigned as colonel and was replaced by General Charles Otway. In 1751 a royal warrant declared that regiments should no longer be known by the name of their colonel, but their number in the order of precedence, and Otway's duly became the 35th Regiment of Foot.
Seven Years' War
In April 1756 the regiment embarked from Ireland to America for service in the Seven Years' War. The commanding officer of the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel George Monro, led the defence of the Fort William Henry in August 1757 but was forced to surrender to the superior forces of General the Marquis de Montcalm. The British troops were allowed to leave the fort with their weapons but when the Native American allies of the French attacked the retreating column Montcalm did not intervene. The regiment subsequently took part in the siege of Louisbourg in July 1758 when several of the regiment's officers were wounded. In September 1759 the regiment had its revenge on Montcalm when it fought under General James Wolfe at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Regimental tradition later related that the 35th routed the French Regiment Royal Roussillon, which had been present at Fort William Henry, and took white feathers from the Royal Roussillon hats as trophies. The emblem of the 'Roussillon Plume' was later incorporated into the Royal Sussex Regiment badge. It saw action again at the Battle of Sainte-Foy where 12 of its men were killed and the subsequent siege of Quebec in April to May 1760. It then took part in the final and decisive campaign between July and September 1760 when Montreal fell. The regiment proceeded to take part in the Invasion of Martinique in January 1762, and departed with the British expedition against Cuba and was part of the besieging force which took Fort Morro in July 1762 and Havana in August 1762. The following year it proceeded to Florida, which had been ceded by Spain to the United Kingdom, before returning to England in 1765.
American Revolutionary War
The regiment returned to America arriving at Boston in April 1775 for service in the American Revolutionary War. It suffered tremendous casualties at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775: of the Light Infantry, all officers and non-commissioned officers were killed or wounded and of the Grenadier Company only five soldiers were alive and unscathed. The regiment suffered the hardships of the siege of Boston in spring 1776 before sailing to New York and taking part in the Battle of Long Island in July 1776 and the Battle of Harlem Heights in September 1776. The commanding officer of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Carr, was killed at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 and, under fresh command, the regiment fought again at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776. It saw action in the Philadelphia campaign during much of 1777 and then sailed for the West Indies in July 1778. It took part in the Capture of St. Lucia in December 1778 and then returned to England in September 1785.