The 30th Regiment of Foot (which would later be named the Cambridgeshire Regiment in 1782) had its origins in 1689, when a body of men was raised by Viscount Castleton, and was known as Castelton’s Regiment of Foot. The regiment fought Flanders from 1692 to 1699, and wore grey and purple (!) uniforms; it was disbanded in 1698, but a new regiment raised as marines in 1702, now wearing red coats with yellow facings. They were involved in an assault on Gibraltar in 1704 and the capture of the French fort at Annapolis, Nova Scotia,  in 1710. The regiment was disbanded in 1713 at which time a mutiny related to their pay being greatly in arrears (7 years!) and being dumped 200 miles from home with just 14 days subsistence to assist them. Their commander, General Charles Willis, borrowed 600 GBP to pay them partial arrears, and after initial harsh threats, the men were ultimately paid their long overdue wages by the government. 

 

The regiment was reraised as the 30th Foot in 1714, in response to the increasing Jacobite threat. Although General Willis did see combat during the first Jacobite uprising in 17154, the regiment did not. It served chiefly in the Mediterranean (Minorca, Gibraltar), and Lorient in France.

It was a late arrival to the American War of Independence in 1781, serving in South Carolina and participating in the Battle of Eutaw Springs. 

The regiment is depicted wearing the rather unglamorous “Round hats and roundabouts” of the later War, especially in the South.  

At least their bright yellow facings and the reversed color of the hornist elevate their dress! The figures are once again Perry metals. The flag was created from internet sources. 

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the regiment served at Toulon and Corsica (1793), Egypt (1801 – 1802), Cadiz (1809), Fuentes de Onoro (1811), Badajoz and Salamanca (1812), and Waterloo (1815).

It served in the West Indies and Ireland, before arriving in Boston in 1769. It took part in the capture of New York City in 1776, and fought at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777.

The regiment moved to South Carolina 1779, and participated in the capture of Charleston in 1780; the last years of the Revolutionary War were spent back in the West Indies

In 1783 it was given the County designation of “Staffordshire”.  The figures are Perry, and flags are downloaded and edited from various online images.

According to the 1764 warrant, which uniform this regiment is wearing, black faced regiments like the 64th still had their flags in black (with a red Cross of St George overall, and the drummers in black faced red; in later years both the flags and drummer’s jackets for black faced regiments would become white. , 

During the French Revolutionary Wars it was involved in the invasions of St Lucia and Martinique in 1794. 

It was involved in the capture of the Dutch colony of Surinam in 1804, fought from Canada during the war of 1812, and arrived in Belgium in 1815, but too late to participate in the Battle of Waterloo. 

2025 ended on a Revolutionary note, a theme that will continue into 2026, especially with the 250th anniversary of the American War of Independence. I’ve added a new page to the blog for my AWI troops. Otherwise, the less said about US politics the better. 

This unit of Continentals I have assigned as being from New York.

Per the 1777 regulations, their dark blue coats have buff facings. 

I have given them brown vests and white pants, for no particular reason. 

This unit has not applied the (regulation) white lace to their hats.

Note the fifer in reversed colors. 

New York’s quota for 1777 was 4 regiments (battalions) of Continentals. Interestingly, of all of the 13 Colonies, New York had perhaps the highest percentage of the population with Loyalist sympathies. After evacuating Boston, the British took control of New York City in 1776 following the battles of Brooklyn, Haarlem Heights, etc., and retained control of the city until the end of the War.