130th Regiment of Foot

130th Regiment of Foot (Loyal Staffordshire Volunteers)
Active	1794–1796
Disbanded	1796
Country	Great Britain
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Line infantry
Commanders
Notable commanders	George Pigot

The 130th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, created in 1794. After being raised it was sent to the West Indies, where it suffered heavy losses from tropical disease. The unit was disbanded at Santo Domingo in 1796, with the survivors drafted into other regiments.

Background

The 130th Regiment of Foot was raised as part of a rapid expansion of the British Army from 1793 as a reaction to the French Revolutionary Wars, which had begun in 1792. More than 40 regiments of foot and cavalry were added to the establishment; many of these units were short lived. British Army regiments are given a number, according to the seniority in which they were raised, but the numbering of these units is somewhat erratic. The supposedly junior 131st Regiment of Foot was accepted onto the Army List a full 18 months before the 130th Regiment. This probably represents differences in the speed of recruitment to individual regiments (units were not accepted onto the list until they had reached a certain "establishment" strength). The naming of the new units is also varied. Some were granted formal names but others were known by their commander's names or by number alone. Most of the new regiments disbanded by 1797.^[1]

History

In 1794 Captain