Bloody Eleventh
Preserved but no longer current.
The Devonshire Regiment, llth Foot, raised m 1685. At the Battle of Salamanca, in the Peninsular War, the regiment fought so stub- bornly that there was hardly a man among them who was not wounded, and from this exploit they got their name.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Bloody Eleventh” mean?
The Devonshire Regiment, llth Foot, raised m 1685. At the Battle of Salamanca, in the Peninsular War, the regiment fought so stub- bornly that there was hardly a man among them who was not wounded, and from this exploit they got their name.
Is “Bloody Eleventh” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.