Historical Record of the Nineteenth, or the First Yorkshire North Riding…

This is military history rendered as living chronicle: the story of one regiment's journey from a hastily raised force in the chaos of 1688 to a battle-hardened institution by 1848. Richard Cannon, serving as the Adjutant General's chronicler, does far more than list battles. He captures the texture of soldiering across a century and a half of empire, following the Nineteenth (or First Yorkshire North Riding) Regiment through the siege lines of Flanders, the forests of North America, and the killing fields of Waterloo. The writing carries the peculiar gravity of official record, yet moments emerge: a colonel killed at Dettingen (the last British monarch to personally lead troops in battle), the regiment's desperate winter retreat from Burgos, the quiet pride of men who served across generations. For military historians and anyone fascinated by how professional armies take shape, this volume offers a window into the machinery of British imperial power, told through the particular experiences of one regiment that grew from political necessity into legendary fixture.