"Did Napoleonic regiments recruit by locality?" Topic

The answers to this question will vary depending on nation and time period, but did the major armies of the Napoleonic era (French, British, Russian, Prussian, and Austrian) tend to recruit from particular areas for regiments?

The British did, many fine county Regiments, and still do,

Tally Ho!

Prussian I take it did, but everything I see about Russia didn't. Regiment titles ( Kexholm for instance)had nothing to do with personal coming from those towns or regions.
Maybe a clue for Prussians Landwehr definitely got recruited by towns or regions.

For the British, perhaps in theory they did, but in practice only a few recruited in fixed geographical areas. The proof of this is the large number of Irishmen in many regiments. The Scots and particularly the Highland regiments were more regional but not exclusively.

There is a description of how recruitment was done in the book on the 12th Light Dragoons by Andrew Bamford. Recruiting parties often returned to areas where they had been successful earlier. The Colonels had a great deal of influence and some felt that it was good to have a mix of English, Irish and Scots. It is not often mentioned but there were a number of mainland European recruits and the 73rd had a black soldier, George Rose from Jamaica, who fought at Waterloo and was not a musician.

link

Also varies regular vs other. Volunteers, Landwehr, grenzer, National Guard and such are usually local even where regulars are not.

French regulars are in theory national, but of course regiments simply annexed from the Kingdom of Holland or the Hanse states for instance, would have had a strong local cadre, and I wouldn't be surprised at a certain channeling of recruits just so they understood their superiors. (I've seen accounts of US forces needing to do this as late as WWII when local accents were stronger.)

Agree with 14Bore and Trockledockle. I think you'll find Austrian regulars are, if not local at least regional. That's my understanding, and really, why send Italians to regiments where officers and NCO's spoke Magyar?

The French regiments are usually mixed, of course this excludes units who are like a "Territorial Army" such as the National Guard obviously recrtuited locally, the Departemental Reserve Companies, and some particular cases such as the Pyrenean Mountain Chasseurs, the Corsican Tirailleurs, the 112e de ligne from Belgium etc…

British Cavalry Regiments according to Steve Brown

The most 'English' cavalry regiments:
Royal Horse Guards – 99% of other ranks (1809)
1st Dragoon Guards – 98% of other ranks (1809)
7th Hussars – 98% of other ranks (1808)
15th Hussars – 96% of other ranks (1810)
10th Hussars – 93% of other ranks (1812) also 95% of field officers

The most 'Scottish' cavalry regiments:
2nd Dragoons – 86% of other ranks (1803) and 13 out of 18 field officers
6th Dragoon Guards – 23% of other ranks (1803)
25th Light Dragoons – 17% of other ranks (1815)
Most other regiments <5% of other ranks.

The most 'Irish' cavalry regiments:
(Late) 5th Dragoons – 100% of other ranks
18th Hussars were 100% Irish in 1794, but only 57% by 1810.
13th Light Dragoons – 94% of other ranks (1794)
4th Dragoon Guards – 88% of other ranks (1795)
8th Light Dragoons – 64% of other ranks (1808)
Short-lived 30th-33rd Light Dragoons almost 100% Irish

Steve Brown
author for Helion of the following titles
King George's Army British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815 Volume 1 : Administration and Cavalry
King George's Army, British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815 Volume 2 : Foot Guards and 1st to 30th Regiments of Foot
Fit to Command : British Regimental Leadership in the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Wars
By Fire and Bayonet : Grey's West Indies Campaign of 1794
The Autobiography or Narrative of a Soldier : The Peninsular War Memoirs of William Brown of the 45th Foot

Austrian regiments did. See Ascerbi for details.
Cheers,
John