1835  88^th Regiment. Arrived in Cove on 10^th September and went to the barracks at Charles Fort from which a company was dispatched to Bandon on 14^th September.   They departed on 2^nd May, 1836. 

1847  67^th Regiment of Foot

1848  79^th regiment

1849  12^th Lancers

1849  88^th Regiment

1850  41^st regiment

1850  7^th Hussars

1857  8^th Regiment

1858  74^th Regiment

1861  4^th Regiment of Foot

1868  The 14^th Light Dragoons were employed in aid of the civil power at the parliamentary elections in a number of towns including Bandon.  In November under Major Chapman they went to a number of places including Bandon and returned to Dublin afterwards.

1870  The 1^st Dragoons were stationed.

1871  The 14^th Light Dragoons C troop under Captain Russell moved from Carrick on Suir to Bandon after May.  The troop at Bandon under Captain Russell marched in aid of the civil power on the 21^st August 1871 to Kinsale and returned on 23^rd August to Bandon.

1872  The 17^th Lancers were stationed.

1873  The 17^th Lancers left Bandon and stopped in Cork for a few days

1875   4^th Oct  Dragoons 7^th Regmt left Bandon and 12^th Regmt of Foot relieved them.  Militia band played them into town.  They walked from Kinsale

1920   1^st Battalion Essex regiment stationed at Bandon Garrison.

Snippets

14^th Light Dragoons & Captain Monk’s Troop – Embarked for East Indies with Sir John Burgogyne.  Initially raised in 1715.  In 1739 they marched from Dungannon to Bandon.  In October 1779 they moved to Bandon from Carrigaline.  The regiment at that time consisted of 6 troops of 34 non commissioned officers and men, 23 troop horses and 3 officers per troop.  They remained at Bandon in 1780 – five troops and headquarters remaining in Bandon and 1 troop in Innishannon.  In 1781 Major G. Blakeney became the Lieutenant Colonel and the vice Sir Lieutenant J. Burgogyne, Bart was appointed Colonel of the 23^rd Infantry.  They were in Bandon and Innishannon for all of 1781. On 30^th June 1782 3 troops moved to Kilkenny, 3 troops to carrick on Suir and afterwards 1 troop went from Carrick on Suir to Ballyragget.  They moved back to Bandon and out stations in 1794.  Major Arthur Carter received the brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 1^st March and Colonel Grice Blakeney became Major General on 3^rd October.  Two of the troops were sent in 1794 to Flanders and were attached to the 8^th Light Dragoons on arrival.

5^th Royal Irish Dragoons.  The regiment was originally named the 5^th Royal Irish Lancers and was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.  In 1756 they were renamed the 5^th Royal Irish Regiment of Dragoons.  This regiment was active during the rebellion of 1798.  They were disbanded in 1799.  They were accused of treachery as it was stated that their ranks had been infiltrated by rebels which was probably false.  After the campaign in the low countries of the early 1700s they stayed in Ireland for the next 85 years.  Their duties included apprehension of smugglers, highwaymen and other dangerous criminals, the control of the irish peasantry and garrison duties.  The regiment was divided up and billeted in various locations around the country and was not kept as a cohesive unit.

8^th Light Dragoons.  The regiment was first raised in Ireland as Henry Conynghams Regiment of Dragoons.  In 1751 it was formally titled 8^th Regiment of dragoons and was designated light dragoons in 1775 as the 8^th regiment of Light Dragoons.  For the latter part of the 18^th century the regiment was exclusively stationed around Ireland helping the civil authorities.  In 1794 they moved to the Low Countries for 18 months of conflict.

17^th Light Dragoons.  Were established in 1759.  They had small, lean hunter horses under 15.1 hands.  Originally they were not equipped with swords and instead their main armament was a carbine that could have a bayonet fitted, pistols and an axe.  They were trained to fire from the saddle.  At the ouset troops were recruited in Hertfordshire.  They wre enticed with a bounty of three guineas for service to the King.  In 1775 the 17^th landed at Boston for the American War of Independence and they spent 8 months there.  At the end of the American War of Indepence in 1783 the 17^th were transferred back to Ireland and spent 12 relatively peaceful years there.

12^th Dragoons (12^th Royal Lancers).  Established in 1715. To crush the Jacobite rising against George 1.  In 1718 the regiment was stationed in Ireland.  As of 1759 it had 2 squadrons and a total of 180 men.  Troops were armed with a sword, a pair of pistols and a musket.  The regiment remained in Ireland until the outbreak of the French Revolutionary wars.  Full name of the regiment beame in 1768 the 12^th (The Prince of Wales’s) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers)  They left in 1793 for the Mediterranean.

1796 On his return from the West Indies, Eyre Coote was sent to Ireland and stationed at Bandon under the overall command of General William Dalyrmple.  Coote had operational command of the area around Bantry where the French attempted to land in December 1796.  He became a Major General in 1798 and was given command at Dover.  Vernan Pick, major of Bandon at the time.  Royal County Limerick Militia also stationed in Bandon in 1796 and reference to Captain John Bateman.  Eyre Coote in Bandon until February 1798

30^th Cambridgeshire Regiment of Foot  An infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1702.  Involved in the Napoleonic wars and returned to England in 1791 after which they spent ten years on garrison duty.  In 1796 they moved from Colchester in England to Bandon.  In 1797 and 1798 they were stationed in Bandon.  In 1798 they moved from Bandon to Minorca in the Mediterranean.  (In 1797 the marine company was at Cape St Vincent).  The Colonel at the time was Thomas Clarke.

Copy of a letter from Sir Hugh O’Reilly, Lieutenant Colonel of the Westmeath Regiment of Militia to Lieutenant General Sir James Stewart, at Cork

Bandon, June 20, 1798

Sir

I hve the honor to inform you, that a part of the Westmeath regiment, consisting of two hundred and twenty men, rank and file, with two six-pounders (under my command) were attacked on our march from cloghnakilty to Bandon, near a village called Ballynascarty, by the rebels, who took up the best position on the whole march.

The attack was made from a height on the left of our column of march, with very great rapidity, and without the least previous notice, by between three and four hundred men, as nearly as I can judge, armed mostly with pikes, and very few fire arms.  We had hardly time to form, but very soon repulsed them with considerable loss, when they retreated precipitately, but not in great confusion; and when they regained the height, I could perceive they were joined by a very considerable force.  I, with the greatest difficulty and risk to the officers, restrained the men, halted and formed the greater part of them, when I saw that the enemy were filing off a high flank, with an intent to take possession of our guns.

A detachment of one hundred men of the Caithness legion, under the command of Major Innes, was on its march to replace us at Cloghnakilty, and hearing our fire, pressed forward, and very critically fired upon them whilst we were forming, and made them fly in every direction with great precipitation.  At the same moment, a very considerable force shewed itself on the heights in our rear.  A vast number of pikes appeared some with hats upon them, and other signals, I suppose in order to collect their forces.  I ordered the guns to prepare for action, and very fortunately brought them to bear upon the enemy with good effect; as they dispersed in a short time, and must have left a considerable number dead.  Some were killed in attempting to carry away the dead bodies.  It is impossible to ascertain the loss of the enemy, but a dragoon, who came this morning from Cloghnakilty to Bandon, reports that their loss is one hundred and thirty.

I feel most highly gratified by the conduct and spirit of the officers and men of the Westmeath regiment; and had only to complain of the too great ardour of the latter, which it was almost impossible to restrain.  I cannot give too much praise to Major Innes, Captain Innes, and all the officers, non commissioned officers and privates of the Caithness legion for their cool, steady conduct, and the very efficient support I received from them.  Our loss was one serjeant and one private.

I have the honor to be, &c

Hu. O’Reilly

Lieut Col. Westmeath regiment.

(from the book:  The History of the late grand insurrection or struggle for liberty in Ireland by Robert Emmet, Alexander Stephens, Edward Hay, John Jones (of Dublin), William parnell  1805

36^th Foot  (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. An infantry regiment formed in 1701.  The regiment was brought up to strength in Winchester by recruits from the militia before being moved to ireland in January 1800.  They formed part of an expeditionary force under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Maitland.  In 1804 they were authorised to raise a second battalion recruiting in County Durham.  That battalion saw no foreign service and was disbanded in 1814.

88^th Regiment. Arrived in Cove on 10^th September and went to the barracks at Charles Fort from which a company was dispatched to Bandon on 14^th September.   They departed on 2^nd May, 1836.  A letter was sent to Captain Rutherford signed by the provost as follows

Bandon, 2^nd May, 1836

Sir – We the undersigned inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Bandon, having learned with regret that you are about to be removed with the detachment under your command of the Eighty Eighth regiment, consider it but justice to express to you before your departure, our perfect satisfaction at the regular and strict propriety of conduct of the men of your distinguished corps while they have been stationed here, now upward of seven months; thus proving to their friends at home as they have often done to their enemies abroad, what can be effected by uniform steadiness and high discipline.

We beg you to accept and express to your men, our very best wishes for yours and their happiness and success, and the great satisfaction we shall feel, shoud the Connaught Rangers at any future period be quartered among us”

Signed by the honourable William Bernard, Provost of Bandon, eight Magistrates, ten Clergymen and one hundred and forty eight of the most respectable and influential inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood.

To the foregoing Captain Rutherford made the following reply:-

“To the Provost, Magistrates, Clergymen and Inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Bandon.

Bandon, 3^rd May 1836

Gentlemen – I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your very flattering address of the 2^nd inst.

That the conduct of the men of the Eighty Eighth regiment, since they have been quartered here, has elicited the approbation of so numerous and highly respectable a body of the inhabitants, is to me, as I am sure it will be to every officer of the corps, a source of the greatest gratification.

The regret you express at the departure of the detachment, and the satisfaction it would afford, should the Connaught Rangers at any future period return to Bandon, must be fully participated in by every individual who has had the good fortune to be stationed here, where the officers have received such general and friendly attention, and where the men have witnessed such cordiality and good feeling.

With a deep sense of the honour you have conferred not only on me, but the Eighty Eighth regiment generally.

I have the honour to remain

Your very obedient humble servant

H.W. Rutherford

Captain 88^th Commandg Detach