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).
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