5Th Battn. 60Th Regt. Rifles

5th Battn. 60th Regt. (Rifles) , a living history group dedicated to portraying the life and times of riflemen in the Peninsular Wars.

No. 1 Company 5th Battalion 60th Regiment (Rifles) were a British serving company within the 5th btn, 60th Regiment of Foot (Royal Americans).

The 60th itself was a regiment raised to police America only, originally being given the number 62 in the line, it changed to the 60th in 1757. The regiment was charged mainly with fighting the French, and actually won the motto 'Swift & Bold' from General James Wolfe after driving the French from Quebec. This motto is still in use today with the modern day Rifles.

Parliament passed legislation in late 1797 to add another battalion, 1, 000 men strong to the Regiment. This brought the addition of a fifth battalion to the 60th, which was raised on the Isle of Wight with Lt. Col. Baron de Rottenburg as the commanding officer. The battalion was wholly armed with a Prussian Rifle, and consisted of men drafted in from two foreign corps; Lowenstein's Chasseur's (Dutch) and Hompesch's Mounted riflemen (German). It is from the latter that the battalion gained it's uniform style - a pair of tight fitting pantaloons, and a green jacket with red facings (unlike the other battalions of the 60th, the 5th used a green jacket with red facings instead of blue, but retained the royal status of the regiment with its blue pantaloons). This battalion became the first in the British Army not only to be wholly equipped with rifles, but also to wear the now famous green jacket.

Early service in Ireland beckoned the newly raised 5th btn, and saw them successfully quash a rebellion at the Battle of Vinegar Hill under the command of Sir John Moore. The battalion then served in the America's briefly, serving at Martinique, Surinam and Halifax before travelling on to Portsmouth.

1808 saw the opening of a marvelous and colourful chapter in not only the regiments history, but also of Britain itself. Sir Athur Wellesley (Later Lord Wellington) landed at Mondego Bay in Portugal, thus beginning the Peninsular Wars. The 5 /60th along with the 2 /95th were the first men ashore and became the first British forces to encounter the French. The battlalion itself was ordered to work at Company level (the typical European way of employing riflemen in the field) and was strung through the various divisions of the British army to provide elite' sharpshooters to work with the light companies of line regiments. It's also important to note that on the first order of the battle made during the Peninsular, 5 /60th were accompanied by 2 /95th Rifles in the Light Division, with 5 /60th being the senior battalion.

The battalion went on to win no less than 16 battle honours in the Peninsular and France campaigns, which are still worn with pride today by the officers of the current Rifles.

The Commanding Officer of the 1st Company who we represent, was called John Galiffe. He was the most highly decorated officer of the British Army which served in the Peninsular Wars, with no less than 15 actions to his name. Galiffe went on to command the 5 /60th from the beginning of 1813 until the end of hostilities in April 1814.

5 /60th itself was itself present in the Peninsular from the very beginning to the last day of the war (1808-1814). Only two other battalions in the British Army achieved this feat.

The battalion was eventually disbanded in 1818 with the remaining men amalgamated into the 2nd. Rifle Battalion, better known as the King's Royal Rifle Corps (now 2nd Btn The Rifles), where the exploits of the 5 /60th live on today in their music (Lutzow's Wild Hunt - quick march of the KRRC), traditions, battle honours and of course their ever proud history.