Lieut-General Humphrey BLAND
Colonel of the 36th Regiment of Foot (became 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment in 1881)
Appointed Colonel on 27th June 1737 to 8th January 1741
Humphrey Bland served in several campaigns on the continent under the famous John Duke of Marlborough, as a Lieutenant and Captain of horse. He afterwards served as Lieut.-Colonel in Spain, and on the 27th of July 1710 was wounded at the battle of Almanara. In 1715, when a number of new corps were raised, King George I. appointed him Lieut.-Colonel of the 11th Dragoons, and he was instrumental with his regiment in suppressing the rebellion which broke out in Scotland towards the end of that year; he was afterwards appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the 2nd Horse, later known as the First Dragoon Guards, and having distinguished himself as an efficient and loyal officer, he was on the 27th of June 1737, promoted to the colonelcy of the 36th Regiment of Foot, from which he was removed, in 1741, to the 13th Dragoons, and two years afterwards to the 3rd or King's Own Dragoons.
He had his horse shot under him at the battle of Dettingen on the 27th of June 1743; on the 30th of March 1745, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General; he displayed great gallantry at the battle of Fontenoy on the 11th of May following, and highly distinguished himself in the battle of Culloden on the 16th of April 1746; he was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 12th of September 1747. In July 1752 he was removed to the First Dragoon Guards, the colonelcy of which regiment he retained until his death in 1763.