When actual hostilities broke out, the garrison of Gibraltar, including the two regiments that had been sent from Ireland and Minorca, consisted of the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers), 13th (Somerset Light Infantry), 18th (Royal Irish), 20th (Lancashire Fusiliers), and the 29th (Worcesters). Considerable delays occurred in despatching the reinforcements, and, as I have remarked, it was not until the month of April that these left England. The Governor, the veteran Lord Portmore, who was at home on leave, returned to his post, and at the same time a battalion of the Grenadier Guards, under Colonel Guise--a name which has ever been synonymous in the service with daring gallantry--the 14th (West Yorks), 25th (Scottish Borderers), 26th (Cameronians), 34th (Border Regiment), and 39th (Dorsets), were despatched under convoy of the fleet to Gibraltar.
There would appear to have been the same eagerness amongst the younger members of the House of Lords to see active service in those days as there was in the Crimea and in the Boer War. The Duke of Richmond, who was a Knight of the Garter and a member of the King's Household, applied for leave to join the army, and so did a son of the Duke of Devonshire. On the other hand, the Duke Wharton joined the Spanish forces, and was happily wounded very early in the siege, and so spared the shame of taking a prolonged share in the operations against his own fellow-countrymen.
I have experienced considerable difficulty in obtaining any records of the casualties, but the following list appears in a contemporary publication written by an officer who took part in the siege, and may, I think, be relied on as showing to a certain extent the losses incurred during a portion of the siege:
+-----------------------------+-----------+-----------+ | |_Officers._| _Men._ | | _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | K. | W. | K. | W. | +-----------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |Royal Artillery | 1 | - | 11 | 16 | |Grenadier Gds. | - | - | 2 | 19 | |5th Fusiliers | - | - | 4 | 18 | |13th Somerset L.I. | - | - | 7 | 26 | |14th W. Yorks | - | - | 6 | 22 | |18th Roy. Irish | - | - | 8 | 17 | |20th Lanc. Fus. | 1 | - | 8 | 12 | |25th K.O. Scottish Borderers | 1 | - | 3 | 13 | |26th Cameronians | - | - | 6 | 28 | |29th Worcesters | - | - | 2 | 11 | |30th E. Lancs | - | - | 8 | 14 | |34th Border Reg. | - | - | 2 | 16 | |39th Dorsets | 1 | - | 6 | 13 | +-----------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+