+--------------------+-----------+-----------+ | |_Officers._| _Men._ | | _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | K. | W. | K. | W. | +--------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |Royal Scots | - | 2 | 9 | 45 | |3rd W. India R. | - | 2 | 4 | 23 | |64th North Staffords| - | 4 | 6 | 33 | +--------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
The regiments authorized to bear this distinction are the Bedfordshire and the North Staffords.
It commemorates the capture of this colony from the Dutch by a combined naval and military expedition on the resumption of hostilities with Holland after the Treaty of Amiens. The colony had been captured in 1799 by Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour and General Trigge, but had been restored to the Dutch in 1802.
Carlisle Bay (Barbados) was the rendezvous, the squadron being under the command of Commodore Samuel Hood, whilst the troops were commanded by Major-General Sir Charles Green. These consisted of the 16th (Bedfords), 64th (North Staffords), and the 6th West India Regiment. Leaving Barbados on April 6, 1804, the squadron, delayed by adverse and light winds, did not arrive off the mouth of the Surinam River until the 25th, when the Dutch commander was invited to surrender. To the summons he returned a truculent reply; and the troops, divided into two brigades, under Colonels Maitland and Hughes, were thrown ashore, reinforced by a naval brigade 600 strong. The defence was feeble, and in three days the place fell into our hands. Our loss was trifling, falling on the naval brigade and the North Staffords, neither the Bedfords nor the West India Regiment suffering any casualties.
CASUALTIES AT THE CAPTURE OF SURINAM, 1804.
+------------------------+-----------+-----------+ | |_Officers._| _Men._ | | _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | K. | W. | K. | W. | +------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |Naval Brigade | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |N. Staffords | - | 2 | 2 | 8 | |Naval Brigade | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | |Bedfords | - | - | - | - | |6th West India Regiment | - | - | - | - | +------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
The only regiments authorized to bear this distinction are the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and the West India Regiment.