Roll's Regiment | |
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Active | 1794-1815 |
Allegiance | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
Type | Line infantry |
Size | One regiment of two battalions |
Colours | Red coats with royal blue facings (sky blue after 1801) |
Engagements | French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars |
Commanders | |
Colonel of the Regiment | Francis de Rottenburg |
Roll's Regiment (also de Roll's or von Roll's Regiment) was a regiment of the British Army formed of Swiss, French and German soldiers raised in 1794 for service in the French Revolutionary Wars.
The regiment's first colonel was Louis de Roll, a former officer of the pre-revolutionary French Swiss Guards. The unit served in various garrisons in the Mediterranean and saw action in Tuscany before being reduced to a single battalion. The regiment was dispatched to Egypt in 1800 to oppose the French occupation and distinguished itself in action at the Battle of Alexandria. The regiment received drafts of French and Polish prisoners of war to replace its losses and in 1810 participated in the British invasion of the Septinsular Republic. The regiment then served in Sicily as guard to Ferdinand IV of Naples.
During the Peninsular War it saw action at the capture of Fort St Felipe (near Tortosa) and the 1813 Siege of Tarragona. The regiment disbanded at Corfu in 1815 following the end of the Napoleonic Wars.