CANNON, Richard.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Historical Record of the Thirty-Ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: First and most desirable edition; subsequent printings were published with inferior, unsigned wood-engraved variants of the original plates. The exact process by which copies of Cannon's histories came to be bound in this handsome style, generally termed "presentation" - very occasionally signed by Smith of Long Acre - is not known."Reputedly, William IV proposed that a series of regimental histories should be compiled, whereby the general public could be apprised of the distinguished services rendered by the regiments of the British army... the work of compilation was entrusted by royal warrant to Cannon [principal clerk of the adjutant-general's office]. He started immediately and the first volume to be published was a history of the Life Guards in 1837. Cannon's warrant expired on the death of William IV but was renewed on Victoria's accession to the throne. Unfortunately the official funding was not maintained and Cannon endeavoured to finance the project from his own pocket, consequently running into serious pecuniary difficulties... Cannon's volumes were authoritative and readable, well produced and often well illustrated. If somewhat lacking in the human interest expected of modern historians, Cannon nevertheless set a standard for succeeding regimental historians to emulate" (ODNB).The Dorsets, raised in 1689 and reformed in 1702, fought in Spain and Portugal during the War of the Spanish Succ

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