Regiments
Of the Malta Garrison
The Royal Sicilian

The Royal Sicilian Regiment

In 1806, Count Francesco Rivarola raised the whole of the Sicilian Regiment, which in 1811, by his exertions rose to upwards of a 1,000 men. Rivarola, entered the British Army as an ensign in April 1795.

In 1796 he emigrated from Corsica with the British troops and raised the greatest number of men for the Royal Corsican Rangers, then Sir Hudson Lowe's Regiment.

The Royal Sicilian Regiment

1807 Sicilian Volunteers

1 Nov 1807 Strength: 28 Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 44 NCOs, 557 rank and file fit for duty, 42 rank and file sick, 684 total officers and men.

1808 Sicilian Volunteers

1 Aug 1808 Strength: 27 Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 73 NCOs, 892 rank and file fit for duty, 52 rank and file sick, 1052 total officers and men.

1 Sep Strength: 28 Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 72 NCOs, 932 rank and file fit for duty, 75 rank and file sick, 1118 total officers and men.

1 Dec Strength: 31 Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 74 NCOs, 935 rank and file fit for duty, 74 rank and file sick, 1122 total officers and men.

1809 Sicilian

25 Jan 1809 Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Crawford Ferguson was appointed Colonel of the Sicilian Regiment. The Sicilian Volunteers were presented with their regimental Colors at Floriana by General Hildebrand Oakes.

1810 Sicilian

25 June 1810 Field officers present: 2; Captains present: 3; Subalterns present: 20; Rank and File (Effective): 954; Rank and File (Establishment): 1000; On passage: 0; At Home: 2.

1811 Sicilian

25 Oct 1811 Field officers present: 1; Captains present: 3; Subalterns present: 23; Rank and File (Effective): 1205; Rank and File (Establishment): 1200.

Surgeon Henry Duncan Goodsir was transferred from the Sicilian Regiment to the 89th Foot vice Dixon who was promoted. Assistant Surgeon Griffith Jones was promoted from the 44th Foot to be surgeon vice Goodsir.

1812 Sicilian

HQ Floriana.
7 Oct 1812 175 Piedmontese and Italians were transferred to the Italian Levy agreeable to Horse Guards.

25 Oct Field officers present: 2; Captains present: 4; Subalterns present: 26; Rank and File (Effective): 1180; Rank and File (Establishment): 1200; At Home: 147.

25 Dec Field officers present: 2; Captains present: 4; Subalterns present: 27; Rank and File (Effective): 1012; Rank and File (Establishment): 1200; At Home: 176.

1813 Sicilian

25 Feb 1813 Field officers present: 2; Captains present: 4; Subalterns present: 27; Rank and File (Effective): 1034; Rank and File (Establishment): 1200.

25 May Field officers present: 2; Captains present: 3; Subalterns present: 27; Rank and File (Effective): 1035, Rank and File (Establishment): 1200.

The men were quartered at Floriana.

25 Aug Rank and File (Effective): 1031; Rank and File (Establishment): 1200.

25 Oct Rank and File (Effective): 1034; Rank and File (Establishment): 1200.

1814 Sicilian

Strength: 1034 men.
In September 1814, 342 men whose time of service had expired in December 1813, and who were unable to leave because of the outbreak of the plague, were finally returned to Sicily.

15 Oct 1814 The colonial governor Thomas Maitland recognised the most dangerously and most unpleasant service undertaken by the Sicilian Regiment while maintaining a sanitary cordon around the infected village of Xaghra in Gozo during the plague of 1813. Maitland singled out Captain Carter, the eldest captain of the Sicilian Regiment, who commanded in Gozo during the whole period of the plague. Maitland stated that Carter did not loose out of the whole population of that island more than a 100, and got totally out of it in less than 3 months from when it originally showed itself in March. His conduct was most meritorious and I propose to solicit for him the rank of major in the army. I have given him the command of Gozo, having done away with the governorship, and the local provincial rank of major as Governor of the island.1

Of Captain Andora and Mr Macleod of the Sicilian Regiment, Maitland said that both have distinguished themselves by their conduct in the plague in Malta. They were both shut up in places where it raged with the greatest violence and both by their activity contributed to the extinction of it in the places where they commanded. I solicit for the first the rank of major and for the second a company in some foreign corps.1

1815 Sicilian

Strength: 657 men. Location: HQ Floriana.

1816 Sicilian

The Sicilian Regiment disbanded on 24 March 1816.

Bibliography