However, he enjoyed greater success through siege warfare, capturing a string of enemy forts along the River Meuse. He was twice thwarted by his over-cautious allies in his efforts to bring the enemy to battle. The opening campaign brought much frustration for Marlborough. After an initial attack was repulsed, they restored the situation, rushing forward and planting their colours in the breach. Parker's regiment undertook a desperate assault on a bastion known as the Terra Nova. They were initially deployed to William’s covering army, where they engaged in a series of cat-and-mouse manoeuvres with the enemy to prevent them from undertaking a relief of the city. Then, on 30 August, they were called upon to take part in the storming of Namur’s formidable citadel. The Siege of Namur in 1695 provided Parker and his regiment with their first experience of this style of warfare. The conflict here consisted of a series of chess-like manoeuvres in which armies grappled for advantage during great sieges, only rarely confronting each other in battle. This was the epicentre of the war between William and Louis, and the most heavily fortified region in Europe. However, the victory went once more to William’s forces, who completed their conquest of Ireland soon after.Ī few years later, Parker and his regiment were deployed to the Low Countries (now Belgium and the Netherlands). The battle was a close contest, with Parker noting that ‘never did the Irish fight so well in their own country’. This inflicted a much more serious wound, one that would trouble Parker for the rest of his life.įollowing this defeat, the Jacobites made a final stand at Aughrim. The second came during the final assault, when a rock thrown by one of the town’s defenders struck him on the shoulder. The first was during the preliminary operations, when a cannon ball grazed his head. During the fighting, Parker was twice wounded. The Siege of Athlone resumed the following year, ultimately with greater success. William’s forces were initially checked in their attempts to take both places. Resolving to fight on, the Jacobites formed a defensive line along the River Shannon, anchored by the fortified towns of Limerick and Athlone. This ended in a famous defeat for James, causing him to flee the country. In July 1690, Parker’s regiment formed part of William’s army at the Battle of the Boyne. The conflict here would settle the unfinished business of the Glorious Revolution and decide the fate of the British Isles, but it was also part of the wider struggle against Louis XIV of France, who backed James’s claim to the throne. Parker’s first taste of battle came during the Irish campaign of 1689-91, which pitted the forces of the newly-crowned William against the deposed James and his supporters, the Jacobites. However, he resolved to advance himself in his profession by gaining the respect of his officers and becoming an expert in the use of arms. He now knew enough of the hardships of soldiering to reflect that ‘carrying a brown musket was but a melancholy prospect’. Parker’s decision to re-enlist was not without some trepidation. He joined the Earl of Meath’s Regiment - formed in Ireland by the Earl of Granard in 1684 - which was to enjoy a long and illustrious history as the Royal Irish Regiment. This transformed Parker’s personal situation, enabling him to re-enlist. In November 1688, William arrived in England and successfully displaced James as king in a bloodless invasion remembered as the ‘Glorious Revolution’. He also headed the coalition formed to frustrate the expansionist ambitions of the French King Louis XIV during the Nine Years War (1688-97). One of the great figures of Europe, William was the leader of the Dutch United Provinces. In September 1688, Parker resolved to travel to Holland and enter the military service of William, Prince of Orange.
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