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The regiment was raised in 1689 by Sir Albert Conyngham (Cunningham) after whom it was named; the men came mostly from County Donegal. There is reference to an interesting note among King William III's State papers: 'The Inniskilliners do not care for the English, but they like the Scots, most of their parents being Scotch. It is well therefore not to have too many English in their regiments.' The regiment's first major action was the Battle of the Boyne (11 July 1690). Writing about it in his introduction the author says: "Of the earliest years of the Regiment's existence I have spoken as one walking on thin ice; susceptibilities are on edge in Ireland when the Battle of the Boyne is mentioned........." That was written in 1909 and things haven't changed since. The regiment was in action during the War of The Austrian Succession and was present at Dettingen and Fontenoy. It was again on active service 1758-1763, this time in Germany in the Seven Years War. At Waterloo the regiment was part of the Union Brigade (Royals, Scots Greys and Inniskillings`) and took part in the celebrated charge in which one officer and 85 other ranks were killed (and 164 horses) and six officers and 101 other ranks wounded. It served in the Crimea where it took part in another charge, that of Scarlett's Heavy Brigade, also at Balaklava - more successful but less publicised than that of the Light Brigade. Surgeon James Mouat, attached to the Regiment, won the VC at Balaklava but this does not get a mention in the book though it does say he was awarded the Crimean medal. The Crimea was followed by eight years in India enlivened by the antics of the CO who quite clearly had a screw loose. He had one of his officers courtmartialled and he himself was ordered to prosecute. He placed under close arrest three witnesses for the defence and kept them there, incommunicado, till the so-called trial ended. The whole affair is told in detail and can only be described as mind-boggling. At the end of October 1899 the Regiment embarked for S Africa where it came under General French's command (the C in C of the BEF in 1914), taking part in yet another charge - at Klipfontein. The Regiment served in S Africa throughout the war, returning to the UK after the conclusion of peace negotiations in 1902, and this is where this history ends Forty-one officers and men were killed and forty-one died from other causes. Finally there is an index.

According to the dedication The Regiment was raised in 1759 in honour of General Wolfe who, in that same year, had died in the moment of victory over the French of wounds received at Quebec on the Plains of Abraham. This history takes the story of the 17th Lancers from 1759 to 1894. Originally designated 18th Light Dragoons the number was changed to 17th in 1763, to 3rd three years later and back to 17th three years after that. Finally, in 1822 the designation 'Light Dragoons' was changed to 'Lancers.'For the first fifteen or so years of its existence the Regiment served at home, six years of that time in Ireland from where, in 1775, they embarked for Boston, the first cavalry regiment selected for service in America and where it first saw action in the War of Independence. Eight years later, 1783, the Regiment returned to Ireland. There followed a short spell (two years) in the West Indies and in 1806/7 the Regiment took part in the ill-fated expedition to S America.They had hardly got back from S America (January 1808) when they were sent off to India (February 1808) where they served for the next fifteen years during which time they saw action in the Pindari War which lasted some two years. During its time in India the 17th, which arrived in Calcutta in 1808 790 strong, lost 26 officers and 796 men from disease and climatic conditions alone while it had received 929 officers and men in the same period. The next major campaign was the Crimea in which the Regiment took part in the famous charge of the Light Brigade; three VCs were awarded for gallantry during the campaign. The Regiment arrived back in Ireland in May 1856 and in November the following year it sailed for India among the reinforcements sent out in response to the crisis caused by the Indian Mutiny; another VC was won. Apart from the descriptions of the Regiment in action there is a good deal of domestic interest such as rates of pay, clothing scales, ration scales and two excellent appendices to close the record: one is a complete list of officers shown on a year by year basis from 1759 to 1894, the other is the itinerary of the Regiment from 1759.

King James II came to the throne in 1685 and was immediately faced with threats of rebellion by the Dukes of Monmouth and Argyll which necessitated an increase in the regular to meet them. Accordingly additional cavalry and infantry regiments were raised including the Suffolk, which formed at Norwich as the Duke of Norfolk's Regiment of Foot. The title then changed with the Colonel's name till 1751 when Foot numbers were introduce and the Regiment became 12th Foot, adding East Suffolk in 1782 and finally, in 1881, it became The Suffolk Regiment.This is a very detailed history by an experienced author who observes that he was much assisted by the wealth of personal diaries, journals and varied reminiscences of the old 12th, probably more than possessed by any other regiment, all of which were put at his disposal. and have been put to good use. There are one or two informative appendices, such as the succession of Colonels with biographies, succession of COs and Adjutants and a chapter on uniform, equipment and the Colours. Following the accession of William and Mary to the throne (1688) the Regiment was sent to Ireland to fight the rebels supporting ex-King James and took part in the Battle of the Boyne. In 1743 the 12th Foot gained its first battle honour, Dettingen, the last occasion on which the British Sovereign led his troops in battle. Six years later they were one of the six infantry regiments at Minden, one of the great victories over the French, which is still celebrated today by the six regiments (or their descendants) with a ceremonial parade in which the drums parade garlanded with roses and personnel wear a rose in their headgear. The regimental cap badge of a castle superscribed 'Gibraltar' reflects their defence of the Rock during the four-year siege 1779-1783. During the almost 230 years covered by this history the Suffolks served in India (Seringapatam is a principal battle honour), in Africa during the Kaffir and Boer Wars, in New Zealand in the Maori War, on the NW Frontier in the 2nd Afghan War, in the West Indies and Mauritius. Colour plates depict uniforms, battle scenes and the Colours in 1686 and 1849 (1st 8n)