The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #165483   Message #3969950
Posted By: GUEST,Arthur McClench
05-Jan-19 - 10:11 AM
Thread Name: Origins: 'Success to the Regiment '
Subject: Origins: 'Success to the Regiment '
Greetings. In 1801 a soldier of the 11th Hussars was on trial at Wakefield for the murder of a man he assaulted for mocking him as he sang a regimental song with a verse or chorus that ended:
"Success to the Regiment, and God save the King."

That's all that's recorded of the song.

The odd thing is that the fragment resembles a song dating from ten or so years later- 'Sahagun' chronicling the exploits of another regiment, the 15th Hussars, at the village of that name during a near disastrous campaign in Spain 1808-09.

The last line of the last verse is:

'Success to the Fifteenth; and 'God Save the King'

My question is, do we have record of a generic soldier's drinking song from the late C18th on which both songs might have been based?

Many thanks.