Place Name
Commemorating the Battle of Albuera (May 16, 1811) during the Peninsular War in which the British, Spanish and Portuguese, led by British Marshal Beresford and the Spanish General Blake fought against the French Marshal Soult. The opposing armies met at the village of Albuera. Both sides suffered heavily in the ensuing struggle and the French finally withdrew on 18 May. The name Albuhera appears as a battle honour on the colours of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, as a successor regiment to the 57th West Middlesex regiment. The 57th and its immediate successor the Middlesex Regiment (formed by the union of the West Middlesex and the East Middlesex), had the nickname The Die-Hards from Lieutenant General Sir – then Colonel – William Inglis’s battle cry: “Die hard 57th, die hard!” It is laid out on the grounds of the former Mill Hill or Inglis Barracks, which was home to the regiment. The military ceased used the barracks in 2007 and the site was sold by the Ministry of Defence for residential development.
