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Tag Archives: 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot


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Birth of George Roupell, British Army Officer & Victoria Cross Recipient

Brigadier George Rowland Patrick Roupell, VC, CB, DL, a senior officer in the British Army and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, is born on April 7, 1892, in Tipperary, County Tipperary.

Roupell is born into a military family. His father, Francis Frederick Fyler Roupell, having served with the British Army in the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot and commanded the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment from 1895 to 1899, is promoted to colonel in 1901. He had married Edith Maria Bryden at Kingston in 1887.

Roupell is educated at Rossall School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He is commissioned into the East Surrey Regiment, his father’s regiment, on March 2, 1912, and is appointed a lieutenant on April 29, 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I.

At the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914, the 1st Battalion the East Surreys are deployed as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) into northern Belgium. Roupell commands a platoon in the BEF’s first major action, the Battle of Mons, in August 1914. He keeps a diary throughout the war, which has since been a, sometimes humorous, source of insight and observation on the events that he witnessed and participated in. In the trenches at Mons, he recounts how he had to hit his men on the backside with his sword in order to gain their attention and remind them to fire low as they had been taught.

Soon after, following the retreat from Mons in September 1914, Roupell leads his platoon in the First Battle of the Aisne. Once again, he comes under heavy fire, this time while crossing the Aisne on a raft. The Surreys’ advance is pushed back with heavy casualties.

On April 20, 1915, during the continued fighting around Ypres, Roupell is commanding a company of his battalion in a front trench on “Hill 60,” which is subjected to a most severe bombardment throughout the day. Although wounded in several places, he remains at his post and leads his company in repelling a strong German assault. During a lull in the bombardment, he has his wounds hurriedly dressed, and then insists on returning to his trench, which is again being subjected to severe bombardment. Toward evening, his company being dangerously weakened, he goes back to his battalion headquarters, represents the situation to his commanding officer, and brings up reinforcements, passing back and forth over ground swept by heavy fire. With these reinforcements he holds his position throughout the night, and until his battalion is relieved next morning. For these actions he is awarded the Victoria Cross.

Roupell is presented with his VC by King George V on July 12, 1915. In addition to his Victoria Cross, he is awarded the Russian Order of St. George (4th Class) and the French Croix de guerre and is mentioned in dispatches. He is retrospectively appointed temporary captain with effect from December 29, 1914, to April 20, 1915, inclusive, and again later the same year.

Roupell is aboard TSS The Queen when it is captured and sunk in the English Channel in October 1916. He is appointed acting brigade major on December 29, 1917. On May 9, 1918, he is seconded to the general staff with the rank of temporary major.

Following the end of hostilities in Europe, Roupell, still an acting major, is promoted to acting lieutenant colonel in charge of a battalion from December 1918 to March 1919. His appointment to the general staff is confirmed on July 1, 1919. During this time, he is attached to the allied force under Edmund Ironside and sent to support Tsarist Russians as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. On a visit to a Tsarist unit, they mutiny, and he and others are taken prisoner near Arkhangelsk, sent to Moscow, and finally repatriated in 1920.

Early in 1921, Roupell marries Doris P. Sant in Paddington. Daughter Phoebe and son Peter are born in 1922 and 1925, respectively.

Roupell’s inter-war military career continues with appointments as staff captain (1921), brigade major (1926), and promotion to substantive major (1928). During the inter-war period, he serves in Gibraltar, the Regimental Depot, India and the Sudan and he attends the Staff College, Camberley. As major (GSO2), he spends two years from 1929 at the Royal Military College of Canada, and in 1934 a year with the British troops in China. Following his return, he is promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1935.

At the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Roupell is promoted to colonel and made an acting brigadier, placed in command of 36th Infantry Brigade from October 7, 1939. His brigade is deployed as part of the 12th (Eastern) Division in April 1940 and becomes part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), taking part in the Battle of France. The German thrust near the river Somme toward Abbeville eventually cuts off the BEF, northern French and Belgian forces from the rest of France. His brigade headquarters near Doullens is attacked by enemy troops and, on being told of the threat, he exclaims, “Never mind the Germans. I’m just going to finish my cup of tea.”

When the brigade headquarters is overrun on May 20, 1940, Roupell gives the order for the survivors to split up into small groups and endeavour to re-contact Allied troops. He, with a captain and French interpreter, avoid capture, hiding by day and walking at night for over a month. They arrive at a farm near Rouen where the two officers remain for almost two years, working as labourers. With the help of the French Resistance, they are moved through unoccupied France into non-belligerent Spain, finally boarding a ship in Gibraltar and returning to the United Kingdom.

Following his return, Roupell is appointed commanding officer of the 114th Brigade, part of the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division, on March 18, 1943, a command he holds until November 2 of that year. The brigade is not destined to see battle, however, and he is soon appointed as garrison commander at Chatham, where he remains until retirement.

In 1946, Roupell is formally retired from the army on retirement pay and granted the honorary rank of brigadier and, at the age of 58, is excused from the reserve list of officers in 1950. He is appointed a Deputy lieutenant of Surrey in 1953.

In 1954, Roupell is appointed Colonel of the East Surreys, succeeding Lieutenant General Arthur Dowler, and is to be the last Colonel of the East Surrey Regiment, relinquishing office in 1959 when amalgamation with the Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey) takes place to form the Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment. He is appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1956.

Roupell dies at the age of 81 in Shalford, Surrey, on March 4, 1974. His body is cremated at Guildford Crematorium, where his ashes are scattered.


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Birth of Sir Eyre Coote, Soldier, Politician & Governor of Jamaica

Sir Eyre Coote, Irish-born British soldier and politician who serves as Governor of Jamaica, is born on May 20, 1759.

Coote is the second son of the Very Reverend Charles Coote of Shaen Castle, Queen’s County (now County Laois), Dean of Kilfenora, County Clare, and Grace Coote (née Tilson). Educated at Eton College (1767–71), he enters Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on November 1, 1774, but does not graduate. In 1776 he is commissioned ensign in the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and carries the regiment’s colours at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. He fights in several of the major battles in the war, including Rhode Island (September 15, 1776), Brandywine (September 11, 1777) and the siege of Charleston (1780). He serves under Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, in Virginia and is taken prisoner during the siege of Yorktown in October 1781.

On his release Coote returns to England, is promoted major in the 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot in 1783, and in 1784 inherits the substantial estates of his uncle Sir Eyre Coote. He inherits a further £200,000 by remainder on his father’s death in 1796. He resides for a time at Portrane House, Maryborough, Queen’s County, and is elected MP for Ballynakill (1790–97) and Maryborough (1797–1800). Although he opposes the union, he vacates his seat to allow his elder brother Charles, 2nd Baron Castle Coote, to return a pro-union member. He serves with distinction in the West Indies (1793–95), particularly at the storming of Guadeloupe on July 3, 1794, and becomes colonel of the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot (1794), aide-de-camp to King George III (1795), and brigadier-general in charge of the camp at Bandon, County Cork (1796).

Coote is active in suppressing the United Irishmen in Cork throughout 1797, and in June arrests several soldiers and locals suspected of attempting to suborn the Bandon camp. On January 1, 1798, he is promoted major-general and given the command at Dover. He leads the expedition of 1,400 men that destroy the canal gates at Ostend on May 18, 1798, holding out stubbornly for two days against superior Dutch forces until he is seriously wounded and his force overwhelmed. Taken prisoner, he is exchanged and in 1800 commands a brigade in Sir Ralph Abercromby‘s Mediterranean campaign, distinguishing himself at Abu Qir and Alexandria. For his services in Egypt, he receives the thanks of parliament, is made a Knight of the Bath, and is granted the Crescent by the Sultan.

In 1801 Coote returns to Ireland. Elected MP for Queen’s County (1802–06), he generally supports the government and is appointed governor of the fort of Maryborough. He gives the site and a large sum of money towards the building of the old county hospital in Maryborough. In 1805 he is promoted lieutenant-general, and he serves as lieutenant-governor of Jamaica (1806–08). His physical and mental health deteriorates in the West Indian climate, and he is relieved of his post in April 1808. He is second in command in the Walcheren Campaign of 1809 and leads the force that takes the fortress of Flushing. However, he shows signs of severe stress during the campaign and asks to be relieved from command because his eldest daughter is seriously ill.

Coote is conferred LL.D. at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1811. Elected MP for Barnstaple, Devon (1812–18), he usually votes with government, but opposes them by supporting Catholic emancipation, claiming that Catholics strongly deserve relief because of the great contribution Catholic soldiers had made during the war. He strongly opposes the abolition of flogging in the army. Despite a growing reputation for eccentricity, he is promoted full general in 1814 and appointed Knight Grand Cross (GCB) on January 2, 1815, but his conduct becomes increasingly erratic. In November 1815 he pays boys at Christ’s Hospital school, London, to allow him to flog them and to flog him in return. Discovered by the school matron, he is charged with indecent behaviour. The Lord Mayor of London dismisses the case and Coote donates £1,000 to the school, but the scandal leads to a military inquiry on April 18, 1816. Although it is argued that his mind had been affected by the Jamaican sun and the deaths of his daughters, the inquiry finds that he is not insane and that his conduct is unworthy of an officer. Despite the protests of many senior officers, he is discharged from the army and deprived of his honours.

Coote continues to decline and dies in London on December 10, 1823. He is buried at his seat of West Park, Hampshire, where in 1828 a large monument is erected to him and his uncle Sir Eyre Coote.

Coote first marries Sarah Robard in 1785, with whom he has three daughters, all of whom die young of consumption. Secondly, he marries in 1805, Katherine, daughter of John Bagwell of Marlfield, County Tipperary, with whom he has one son, his heir Eyre Coote III, MP for Clonmel (1830–33). He also has a child by Sally, a slave girl in Jamaica, from whom Colin Powell, United States Army general and Secretary of State, claims descent.