A Brief History of how Lord Strange the Earl of Derby’s Regiment was formed. We had previously set ourselves up as Alexander Hamiltons Regiment of Artillery in the Scots Brigade. However, as with all things if you do not evolve you tend to stagnate.

So we decided a change was in order, after negotiations with the high ups in the Sealed Knot, we were allowed to re-incarnate ourselves as:

Lord Strange, the Earl of Derby’s Regiment.

This identity was chosen because of our geographical location in England, (the majority of us live in Lancashire), and the fact that as Hamiltons we had previously setup good links with the Isle of Man, as had the Earl of Derby.

We have only just changed to our new identity of Derby’s Regiment, and are looking to expand from being just Artillery, at sometime in the not too distant future we will want to field both Musket and Pike on the battlefield to add to our Artillery presence. We are still only a small group at the moment but as previously stated we aim to expand as we get more people onboard, this will enable us to widen our scope a little and bring other idea’s into being, and even though I say so myself, I think that we have some damned good idea’s for the future.

It has been a learning curve for all of our crew, as we came into the Artillery game as very much the beginners. We aimed high for our achievements and in the Third year of our existence it paid off. The Brian Ing Trophy is awarded each year, usually to an individual for their contribution to the cause of Artillery Excellence.

Sir Alexander Hamilton’s Regiment of Artillery (Now Derby’s Regiment), became the first Regiment to win the this trophy for their efforts in 1999, and in 2000 it was the turn of an individual of Hamilton’s to win it. Ellie Wain a Gun Capt. in the Regiment became the first women to win the award for her efforts. We hope to continue to stride forwards and set the pace. There is always plenty of work to do in running a Regiment.

So if you feel that you are up to the challenge why not give it a go, new comers are always welcome. Come and do something a little bit different.

After all, just how many people do YOU know who fire cannons for a hobby?