OF

THE SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT;

ORIGINALLY RAISED AS

THE SECOND BATTALION OF THE FORTY-SECOND ROYAL HIGHLAND REGIMENT.

The present seventy-third regiment was authorised, on the 30th of July 1779, to be raised as the Second Battalion of the Forty-second Royal Highlanders, and was embodied at Perth, on the 21st of March 1780. Its establishment consisted of one lieut.-colonel (and captain), one major (and captain), eight captains, twelve lieutenants, eight ensigns, one chaplain, one adjutant, one quarter-master, one surgeon, one mate, thirty serjeants, forty corporals, twenty drummers, two pipers, and seven hundred private men. Soon after its formation, the battalion marched to Fort George to be drilled and disciplined, and in the course of the year was ordered to proceed to England for embarkation for India, where events had occurred which occasioned reinforcements to be sent to that country.

Hyder Ali, a soldier of fortune, had risen to the chief command of the army of the Ruler of Mysore, and when the Rajah died, leaving his eldest son a minor, Hyder Ali assumed the guardianship of the youthful prince, whom he placed under restraint, and seized on the reins of government. Having a considerable territory under his control, he maintained a formidable military establishment, which he endeavoured to bring into a high state of discipline and efficiency. He soon evinced decided hostility to the British interests in India, and formed a league with the French. Hostilities had also commenced between Great Britain and Holland, and the British troops were employed in dispossessing the Dutch of their settlements in Bengal, and on the coast of Coromandel. Thus three powers were opposed to the British interests in India, and the Second Battalion of the Forty-second Royal Highland regiment was ordered to proceed to that country.

About the end of the previous year the battalion had arrived at Gravesend from North Britain, and on the 21st of January 1781, embarked at Portsmouth for India, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Norman Macleod.

One division of the regiment landed at Madras on the 18th of May: but the other divisions, consisting of seven companies and a half, had a voyage of thirteen months and thirteen days; they ultimately landed at Bombay in February 1782.

These divisions, soon after landing, took the field, and the battalion was subsequently united under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Macleod, when it shared in the campaign against Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo Saib.

The situation of Colonel Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston (Lieut.-Colonel Commandant of the seventy-eighth, now seventy-second regiment) who had been despatched with troops to the Malabar coast, having become very perilous, the second battalion of the Forty-second regiment, with other troops, proceeded to his relief at Mungarry Cottah. In the meantime Tippoo Saib, with his usual activity, suddenly collected a body of troops, and proceeded to cut off the force at that station. Notwithstanding the secrecy of the expedition, Colonel Humberston received some vague intelligence of its arrival on the northern banks of the Coleroon, and suspecting at once the design of the enemy, destroyed the fortifications at Mungarry Cottah, and retreated to Ramgaree; where receiving certain information that Tippoo was approaching with the utmost rapidity, he withdrew to Paniané, fighting every step of the march. Upon arriving at the river Paniané, a deep ford, after a search of two hours, was found, and the troops passed over, up to the chin in water, with the loss of only two camp followers. He gained the Fort of Paniané on the 20th of November, much to the surprise of Tippoo, who had expected an easy conquest.

Colonel Macleod, of the second battalion of the Forty-second regiment, having arrived at Paniané from Madras, the command of the forces devolved upon him, and the place was immediately invested by Tippoo Saib and Monsieur Lally, with an army amounting to eight thousand infantry, including some hundreds of French and Europeans; ten thousand cavalry, and above six thousand polygars. The enemy kept up a considerable but ineffectual cannonade for some days; the British commander at length endeavoured to surprise the enemy’s camp, but after forcing an outpost or two, and taking a few prisoners, the colonel found it necessary to relinquish the design.

This sally was returned by Tippoo in a few days, who made a vigorous attack with his combined army on the 28th of November, being led by Monsieur Lally at the head of his Europeans. Tippoo’s forces were everywhere repulsed with the greatest gallantry, and the victors profited by their success as much as their disparity in numbers would admit. About two hundred of the dead of the enemy, whom he was not able to carry off, were buried by the British; and a French officer, who led one of the columns to the attack, was taken prisoner. Colonel Macleod and the troops under his command acquired great praise for their gallantry at Paniané.

Tippoo acknowledged his defeat by repassing the river Paniané, and placing it as a barrier against the British. A state of inaction succeeded on both sides for several days: but in the night between the 11th and 12th of December, Tippoo suddenly broke up his camp, and returned by rapid marches to Palacatcherry, from whence he proceeded directly back to the Carnatic.

In December 1782, occurred the decease of Hyder Ali, and he left a kingdom of his own acquisition to his son Tippoo Saib, who now became one of the most powerful princes in India.

Brigadier-General Mathews having determined to besiege the city of Onore, situated midway between Paniané and Bombay, Colonel Macleod embarked as many troops as the ships were capable of receiving, but the place was taken in January 1783, before their arrival.

The President and Council of Bombay had despatched orders to Brigadier-General Mathews, that he should penetrate through the Ghauts, (as the passes in the mountains on both sides of the Indian Peninsula are termed,) into the Bednore or Canara country, and particularly to gain possession of the capital, which along with a strong fort on a small mountain that joins the city, were the great depositories of the treasures collected by the late Hyder Ali, as well as the grand magazines of his arms and military stores.

After the capture of Onore, Brigadier-General Mathews, in pursuance of his orders, proceeded further down the coast, and took the towm of Cundapore with little loss. He subsequently forced a passage through the Ghauts, and the rich Canara kingdom, with its capital, now lay open to the invaders. The city of Bednore had recently changed its name to Hyder Nagur, or the Royal City of Hyder.

The government and command of the city and country were lodged in the hands of Hyat Saib, who surrendered the place to the British, after an action had taken place at the Hussanghurry Ghaut. This occurred early in February 1783; and on the 9th of March Mangalore fell into the hands of the British.

Tippoo Saib, who had now succeeded to the title of Sultan, determined to use every effort for the recovery of these favorite possessions. Having recovered Bednore, which surrendered on the 28th of April, the Sultan, in defiance of the terms of the capitulation, ordered Brigadier-General Mathews and his officers into close confinement, from which they never returned, being afterwards put to a violent death.

Tippoo next proceeded to invest Mangalore, on the Malabar coast, and it required all the abilities of Lieut.-Colonel John Campbell, major of the Forty-second, seconded by the well-tried valour of the second battalion of that regiment, and other corps, to supply the defects of the fortifications. The place was invested on the 18th of May by the whole of the enemy’s forces, commanded by Tippoo in person. The garrison under Lieut.-Colonel Campbell (Colonel Macleod being employed as a Brigadier-General), made a most gallant and successful defence, subject to hardships and wants which have seldom been exceeded in the annals of sieges.

In consequence of the General Peace which had been entered into with the European Powers, Tippoo became deprived of his French allies, and the Sultan entered into negociations for terminating the war between Mysore and the British, when an armistice took place.

This event terminated the siege of Mangalore about the end of September, at a time when all the works which defended the garrison were nearly shattered to pieces; all the provisions exhausted, and numbers of the brave soldiers were dying daily, victims of want and disease.[6]

The contest was, however, again renewed, and the garrison was a second time invested by Tippoo.

The fortress of Mangalore was defended until the 25th of February 1784, when sickness, and the want of provisions, compelled Lieut.-Colonel Campbell to evacuate the place, after obtaining the most honorable terms from the enemy. Peace was afterwards concluded with the Sultan of Mysore on the 11th of March following.

The battalion embarked in this year for Calcutta, and was employed on active service in the Upper Provinces of Bengal.

The Seventy-third Highland Regiment, having in the year 1786 been directed to be numbered the Seventy-first Regiment, the Second Battalion of the Forty-second Royal Highland Regiment was constituted a distinct corps, and numbered the SEVENTY-THIRD Highland Regiment, the colonelcy being conferred upon Major-General Sir George Osborn, Bart., (Lieut.-Colonel of the Third Foot Guards), from the 18th of April 1786. The facings were at the same time altered from blue to dark green.

The establishment of the regiment for the ten companies serving in India, was fixed as follows:—One colonel, with an allowance in lieu of a company; one lieut.-colonel and captain, one major and captain; eight captains, twelve lieutenants, eight ensigns, one chaplain, one adjutant, one quarter-master, one surgeon, one surgeon’s mate, thirty serjeants, forty corporals, twenty drummers, two fifers, and seven hundred private men. The company kept at home for recruiting consisted of one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, six serjeants, eight corporals, four drummers, and seventy private men: in all nine hundred and nineteen.

On the 11th of August 1786, Major-General William Medows was appointed to be colonel of the SEVENTY-THIRD, in succession to Major-General Sir George Osborn, Bart., who was removed to the fortieth regiment.

The insatiable ambition of Tippoo Sultan, the powerful ruler of the Mysore, soon involved the British Government in India in another war; he appeared near the confines of Travancore, at the head of a powerful army, made unreasonable demands on the Rajah, a British ally, and commenced hostilities towards the end of December 1789.

This caused the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment to be removed from the Presidency of Bengal, and it joined the troops under Major-General Robert Abercromby, which consisted of His Majesty’s seventy-fifth and seventy-seventh regiments, in addition to other corps belonging to the East India Company.

The Mahratta armies having advanced to Seringapatam in May 1791, later than the appointed period, their delay, and other unforeseen circumstances, compelled General Charles Earl Cornwallis, K.G., to destroy his battering train, after having defeated Tippoo on the 15th of May, in a pitched battle, and obliged his lordship to lead back his army, leaving the siege of the enemy’s capital to be the object of another campaign.

The Bombay army, of which the SEVENTY-THIRD formed part, commanded by Major-General Abercromby, had, with infinite labour, formed roads, and brought a battering train, with a large supply of provisions and stores, over fifty miles of woody mountains called Ghauts, that immense barrier separating the Mysore country from the Malabar coast. This army, after surmounting all its difficulties, had therefore to retrace its steps, worn down by sickness and fatigue, and exposed to the incessant rains which then deluged the western coast of India.

The troops under Major-General Abercromby were again ordered to act from the same quarter as in the former campaign; they marched on the 5th of December towards the Poodicherrim Ghaut, and took possession of the pass on the 15th of that month.

On the 5th of February 1792, General the Earl Cornwallis directed Major-General Abercromby to march from his encampment near Periapatam, and on the 11th of that month he crossed the Cavery, at Eratore, a ford about thirty miles above Seringapatam, and joined the army under Earl Cornwallis on the 16th of February.

Meanwhile the army under General the Earl Cornwallis had attacked the forces of the Sultan on the night of the 6th of February, near Seringapatam, and gained a decisive victory.

The power of the Sultan being greatly reduced, and preparations for the siege of his capital having been commenced, he sued for peace, and a treaty was concluded, by which half of his dominions were ceded to the allies. A large sum of money was also to be paid by the Sultan, all the prisoners in his power were released, and two of his sons were delivered as hostages.

The French Revolution, which had commenced a few years previously, had at this period assumed a character which called forth the efforts of other countries to arrest the progress of its destructive principles, and on the 1st of February 1793, shortly after the decapitation of Louis XVI., war was declared by the National Convention of France against Great Britain and Holland.

News of this event arrived in India in May 1793; in June the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was ordered to prepare to take the field; it marched soon afterwards against the French settlement of Pondicherry, on the coast of Coromandel, and arrived before the fortress in July,—being formed in brigade, with the seventy-second and seventy-fourth regiments, and the third East India Company’s European regiment, under Lieut.-Colonel David Baird of the seventy-first regiment; the troops employed on this service were commanded by Colonel John Brathwaite.

The siege of Pondicherry was commenced in the early part of August, the army encamping in a thick wood where tigers were so numerous, that the natives durst not travel in the night. On the 22nd of August a white flag was displayed by the garrison, with a request for permission to surrender. The French soldiers in the fortress had embraced democratical principles, and were particularly insubordinate; they insisted that the governor should surrender, but after the white flag was displayed, they fired two shells, which killed several men. During the night they were guilty of every species of outrage, breaking into houses and becoming intoxicated. On the following morning, a number of them environed the house of the Governor, General Charmont, and threatened to hang him before the door, when application was made to the British for protection. The English soldiers rushed into the town, overpowered the insurgents, rescued the governor, and preserved the inhabitants from further violence.

In the early part of the year 1795, Holland became united to France, and was styled the Batavian republic. When information of this event arrived in India, an expedition was immediately fitted out against the large and mountainous island of Ceylon, where the Dutch had several settlements, and the SEVENTY-THIRD Highlanders were selected to take part in the enterprise; the troops employed on this service were commanded by Colonel James Stuart, of the seventy-second, who was promoted to the rank of Major-General at this period. The fleet arrived on the coast of Ceylon on the 1st of August, and two days afterwards they landed four miles north of the Fort of Trincomalee; the siege of the place was commenced as soon as the artillery and stores could be landed, and removed sufficiently near to the place. On the 26th of August a practicable breach was effected, and the garrison surrendered. The fort of Batticaloe surrendered on the 18th of September, and the fort and island of Manaar capitulated on the 5th of October.

The regiment continued to be actively employed until the whole of the Dutch settlements in Ceylon were reduced, which was accomplished in February, 1796, when the governor, John Geraud Van Angelbeck, surrendered the fortress of Colombo to the British arms. The people in the interior of the island had not been deprived of their independence by the Dutch, and they were not interfered with by the British so long as they preserved a peaceful demeanour.

Major-General Gerard Lake was removed from the colonelcy of the fifty-third to that of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment on the 2nd of November, 1796, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir William Medows, K.B., who was appointed colonel of the seventh dragoon guards.

In April 1797, the regiment proceeded from Colombo to Point Pedro, in Ceylon, and shortly afterwards embarked for Madras. It was removed from Fort St. George to Wallajahbad in October, but returned to Fort St. George in January, 1798.

The regiment proceeded from Fort St. George to Poonamallee in September, 1798, and continued at that station during the remainder of the year.

The reduction of the power and resources of Tippoo Saib, effected by the treaty of Seringapatam in 1792, had weakened, but not extinguished, the evils consequent on his inveterate hatred of the British. The Sultan had entered into a negociation with the Governor of the Isle of France in 1798, and sent an embassy to Zemaun Shah, sovereign of Cabool, for the purpose of exciting him to an attack on the British possessions. Having also derived encouragement from the successes of Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt, from which country the French Directory intended to act against the British dominions in India, Tippoo commenced augmenting his military force, and his hostile designs became every day more apparent. The Governor-General the Earl of Mornington (afterwards the Marquis Wellesley), seeing a rupture inevitable, resolved to anticipate the attack, and ordered the British army to take the field, and march into the heart of the dominions of the Sultan Tippoo Saib.

In conformity to these orders, Major-General George (afterwards Lord) Harris, who was serving with the local rank of lieut.-general, advanced with the army under his command, on the 11th of February, 1799, and entered the Mysore territory on the 5th of March. The SEVENTY-THIRD formed part of the second brigade under Colonel John Coape Sherbroke, Lieut.-Colonel of the thirty-third regiment.

The army reached Mallavelly on the 27th of March, when on approaching the ground of encampment, the forces of Tippoo Sultan were discovered drawn up on a height at a few miles distance. The advanced piquets were attacked by the enemy, and a general action ensued. The enemy lost one thousand killed and wounded, and immediately retreated upon Seringapatam.

On the following day the army advanced, and arrived before Seringapatam on the 5th of April, when preparations for the siege were commenced.

On the 20th of April an attack was made on an entrenchment of the enemy, about six o’clock in the evening. Colonel Sherbroke, commanding the advanced posts, directed the attack. Three different columns were to advance at the same time from Macdonald’s post; one to the left, under Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, of the SEVENTY-THIRD, consisting of four companies of that regiment, and four of the Bengal volunteers, was to proceed along the bank of the river Cavery, and to turn the right flank of the enemy’s entrenched post. Another, to the right, consisting of the flank companies of the twelfth regiment, and two companies of Bengal volunteers, under Lieut.-Colonel Gardiner, was to move along Macdonald’s nullah, and to turn the enemy’s left. The centre column, composed of six companies of the SEVENTY-THIRD, and four of the Bengal volunteers, under Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George St. John, (Major of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment), was directed to make a feint, which was to be converted into a real attack, should it be deemed expedient.

The three columns at dusk, advanced under a well-directed fire from the guns which commanded the entrenchment. The enemy’s resistance was unavailing, and the several attacks were completely successful. It was afterwards ascertained, that the enemy had two hundred and fifty men in killed and wounded, and it is remarkable, that although about eighteen hundred of Tippoo’s infantry occupied the entrenchment, the British, in this attack, had only one man wounded.[7]

The siege of Seringapatam was prosecuted with vigour. On the 26th of April, the SEVENTY-THIRD had Lieutenant James Todd wounded; and Lieutenant Archibald John Maclean was wounded on the following day. A breach being reported practicable on the 3rd of May, the assault was ordered, and the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was selected to take part in this enterprise, which was ordered to be commenced in the heat of the following day, as the enemy’s troops would then be the least prepared to oppose the attack.

The assault took place about half-past one o’clock in the afternoon of the 4th of May, and the troops for this service, commanded by Major-General David Baird, were divided into two columns of attack. The SEVENTY-THIRD, with the seventy-fourth regiment, four European flank companies, fourteen Sepoy flank companies, with fifty artillerymen, formed the right column, under Colonel Sherbroke. Each column was preceded by one serjeant and twelve men, volunteers, supported by an advanced party of one subaltern and twenty-five men. A brigade of engineers, under Captain Caldwell, accompanied the storming party; Lieutenant James Farquhar, of the seventy-fourth, commanded the European pioneers, and Lieutenant John Lalor, of the SEVENTY-THIRD, both of whom had examined the ford, conducted the columns.

The attack was completely successful, and in a short space of time the British colours waved over the fortress. The body of Tippoo Sultan was found among heaps of slain, and was afterwards interred in the magnificent mausoleum which he had erected over the tomb of his father, the once powerful Hyder Ali; a portion of the victorious troops attended the ceremony.

In this manner terminated the siege of Seringapatam,[8] and the fall of this capital placed the kingdom of Mysore at the disposal of the British government, and extinguished a power in India which had proved itself a formidable enemy.

In the assault on the 4th of May, the SEVENTY-THIRD had Lieutenant John Lalor killed; Captain William McLeod, Lieutenant John Thomas, and Ensigns Henry Antill and John Guthrie, wounded.

During the siege the regiment sustained a loss of twenty-one killed, and ninety-nine wounded, including all ranks.

The SEVENTY-THIRD afterwards received the Royal authority to bear on the regimental colour and appointments, the word “Seringapatam,” in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry displayed by the regiment in the storming and capture of that fortress.

In the General Orders issued on the 5th of May by Lieut.-General Harris, the gallantry of Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, and Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George St. John, of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, is particularly recorded.

In the General Orders issued by the Earl of Mornington (afterwards the Marquis Wellesley), dated Fort St. George, 15th May, 1799, it was stated:—

“The Right Honorable the Governor-General in Council having this day received from the Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in the field, the official detail of the glorious and decisive victory obtained at Seringapatam, on the 4th of May, offers his cordial thanks and sincere congratulations to the Commander-in-Chief, and to all the officers and men composing the gallant army which achieved the capture of the capital of Mysore on that memorable day.

“His Lordship views with admiration, the consummate judgment with which the assault was planned, the unequalled rapidity, animation, and skill with which it was executed, and the humanity which distinguished its success.

“Under the favour of Providence and the justice of our cause, the established character of the army had inspired an early confidence, that the war, in which we were engaged, would be brought to a speedy, prosperous, and honorable issue: but the events of the 4th of May, while they even surpassed the sanguine expectations of the Governor-General in Council, have raised the reputation of the British arms in India to a degree of splendour and glory, unrivalled in the military history of this quarter of the globe, and seldom approached in any part of the world.

“The lustre of the victory can be equalled only by the substantial advantages which it promises to establish, in restoring the peace and safety of the British possessions in India on a durable foundation of genuine security.”

Upon the division of the territory subject to the late Sultan Tippoo, Seringapatam, with several extensive districts, was allotted to the East India Company; another portion was given to the Nizam; and a third to the Mahratta power; the remainder continued to form an independent state under a descendant of the ancient Rajahs of Mysore. Thus was the hostile combination against England confounded, the British territory extended, and its power and revenue increased.

The SEVENTY-THIRD regiment remained encamped until November, 1799, when it was selected to garrison Seringapatam.

Major-General George Harris was appointed, from lieut.-colonel of the seventy-sixth, to the colonelcy of the SEVENTY-THIRD, on the 14th of February, 1800, in succession to Lieut.-General Gerard Lake, who was removed to the eightieth regiment.

The regiment remained at Seringapatam until May, 1800. The SEVENTY-THIRD, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, afterwards served with distinction against the Polygars, during which campaign great exertions were made, and losses sustained, of which no distinct record has been preserved.

In October, 1801, the regiment was removed from its encampment to Gooty.

The regiment remained at Gooty until December 1802, when it proceeded to Bellary.

In July, 1803, the regiment returned to Gooty, and in September following, it proceeded to Pondicherry, in the capture of which place it had participated in the year 1793.

The SEVENTY-THIRD remained at Pondicherry until September, 1804, when the regiment proceeded to Fort St. George, Madras, where it continued to be stationed during the remainder of the year.

On the 8th of September, 1805, the SEVENTY-THIRD embarked at Fort St. George, Madras, for England, after having transferred five hundred and twelve men to other regiments serving in India.

The regiment arrived in England in the beginning of July, 1806, and disembarked at Greenwich, where it was quartered until the middle of November, when, after discharging the men recommended to be invalided, the remainder proceeded to Scotland, on board of some Leith packets. Shortly after the disembarkation of the SEVENTY-THIRD at Leith, the head-quarters of the regiment proceeded to Stirling Castle, from whence recruiting parties were sent to all the towns in Scotland, and some to England and Ireland, as far as officers were disposable for that service.

In February, 1807, the regiment was ordered from Stirling Castle to Glasgow, as a better recruiting station; but not having proved as successful there as was expected, it was removed in May following to Perth, which, from being the town where the regiment was originally embodied, was expected to prove a better recruiting station.

In 1807 the regiment received new colours and accoutrements from Lieut.-General George Harris, and was newly armed and equipped in that year.

On the passing of the Act, in the year 1808, for permitting a certain number of the militia of the United Kingdom to volunteer their services to regiments of the line, the SEVENTY-THIRD received a very considerable augmentation of force by volunteers, particularly from the Irish militia. The number received from the Scotch regiments of militia, allotted for the SEVENTY-THIRD, was not at all in the same proportion, and the only English corps allotted to it was the Stafford militia, from which thirty-three men volunteered, a circumstance totally unexpected, from the dislike English soldiers were known to entertain to the Highland uniform.

In December, 1808, the regiment, being then about four hundred rank and file, received orders to proceed to England, to embark for New South Wales, and commenced its march from Perth on the 26th of that month.

On the order for the embarkation of the regiment for New South Wales, a second battalion was added to the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, which was directed to be placed on the establishment of the army from the 24th of December, 1808. It was ordered to consist, in the first instance, of four companies. When these companies were completed to a hundred rank and file each, the battalion was to be augmented to six companies, and so on, in succession, until the establishment was increased to one thousand.

On the 13th of January, 1809, the regiment embarked at Leith on board of four packets, and the whole arrived in the course of that, and the beginning of the following month, at Gravesend, where the men were transhipped into two transports, and ordered round to Spithead. In March the regiment was landed at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, marched to Newport, whence, after a few days, it was ordered to Colwell barracks.

A second volunteering from the militia took place in April, 1809, by which the SEVENTY-THIRD received a considerable increase of numbers, particularly from the Stafford, West Middlesex, and Durham regiments.

In April, 1809, officers and non-commissioned officers were detached to recruit for the second battalion, the head-quarters of which were fixed at Nottingham.[9]

It appearing that the Highland dress was an obstacle to the recruiting of the regiments wearing that costume, orders were issued, directing the SEVENTY-THIRD, and five other regiments, to discontinue that dress, and to adopt the uniform of other English regiments.[10]

While at Colwell barracks, sixty men, who had volunteered from veteran battalions to serve at New South Wales, were transferred to the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, and were ordered to embark with the first battalion for that colony, which, by the addition of these men, and of the volunteers from the militia, was now upwards of eight hundred strong, and its establishment was fixed at ten companies, consisting of fifty-four serjeants, twenty-two drummers, and a thousand rank and file.

The first battalion embarked on the 8th of May, 1809, at Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight, on board of His Majesty’s ships “Hindoostan” and “Dromedary,” and sailed from St. Helen’s on the 25th of that month. The fleet touched at Madeira, Port Praya, Rio Janeiro, and at the Cape of Good Hope, and anchored at Port Jackson, New South Wales, on the 28th of December.

The battalion landed at Sydney on the 1st of January, 1810, and detachments were sent out in the course of that, and the two following months, to the Derwent and Port Dalrymple, in Van Diemen’s Land; to Norfolk Island, and to Newcastle, whence Sydney, the capital of the colony, was supplied with coals, lime, and cedar wood, for buildings and making furniture.

The first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment having been considerably reinforced by volunteers from the hundred-and-second regiment (late New South Wales corps), which it relieved at New South Wales, and which was ordered home, its establishment was raised, in the year 1812, to twelve hundred rank and file, which included a veteran company formed from the veterans of the hundred-and-second regiment, and attached to the SEVENTY-THIRD, while the battalion continued to serve at New South Wales, and was, on its leaving that colony, transferred to the forty-sixth regiment.

About the end of the year 1813, an order arrived from England to embark the first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment for the island of Ceylon, and the first division, consisting of three companies, sailed from Port Jackson on board the ship “Earl Spencer,” hired for the passage, on the 24th of January, 1814. On the 24th of March two more divisions embarked on board the “General Hewitt” and “Windham,” and sailed from Port Jackson on the 5th of April; but the “Windham” being ordered to the Derwent to take on board the two companies stationed at Van Diemen’s Land, the “General Hewitt,” having the head-quarters and flank companies on board, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Maurice Charles O’Connell, after a very circuitous voyage round New Guinea, New Britain, and through the Molucca islands, arrived at Colombo, in Ceylon, on the 17th of August.

Prior to the embarkation of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment from New South Wales, Major-General Lachlan Macquarie,[11] commanding in New South Wales, stated in General Orders, dated 17th March, 1814, that—

“On the occasion of parting with the first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment His Excellency Major-General Macquarie, the Governor and Commander of the Forces in this territory, cannot fail to express the warm feelings of interest he takes in the corps, which he has commanded for six years; and to assure them, that no additional prosperity or honor, to which they may be entitled, in the part of the world where they are now destined to serve, and where they have already obtained so large a portion of well-earned fame, can exceed his sanguine wishes and expectations.

“This station has not afforded the usual field for military glory; but in as far as the industrious exertions of those non-commissioned officers and privates, who could be spared from military duty, have been exerted, this colony is much indebted for many useful improvements, which but for the soldiers of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, must have remained only in the contemplation of those anxious for its civilization for a length of time, and the Major-General cannot doubt but that the comforts enjoyed by the colonists, in consequence of the zealous and laborious exertions of the soldiers of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, will long be remembered with grateful recollections.

“Major-General Macquarie feels particular satisfaction in rendering his best acknowledgments to Lieut.-Colonel O’Connell for his attention to the discipline of the corps, and the health and comfort of the soldiers under his immediate command, and also for his zealous and assiduous attention to the duties devolving on him as Lieut.-Governor, during the Governor’s necessary and occasional absence from head-quarters.

“To the field-officers, captains, and subalterns, of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, the Major-General desires to offer his best wishes for their health and happiness, and particularly to those with whom he has had a long acquaintance, and whose worth and honorable sentiments he is thereby the more fully enabled to appreciate; and he has no doubt but that the martial appearance, and strength of the corps, so far surpassing what is generally to be met with, will call forth feelings of surprise and gratification, wherever their services are required.

“Under these impressions, Major-General Macquarie now takes leave of the regiment, with that regret which a long acquaintance naturally inspires, but at the same time with the consolatory assurance that the SEVENTY-THIRD will show themselves at all times worthy of the respect and esteem which cannot fail to be paid to military bravery and unshaken loyalty.”

The “Windham” having made nearly the same voyage as the “General Hewitt,” after leaving Van Diemen’s Land, did not arrive at Ceylon until the 6th of November.[12]

In the meantime the reigning sovereign of Candy had evinced so cruel and tyrannical a disposition, that he became odious to his subjects, who experienced a total insecurity of life and property under his rule, individuals being frequently deprived of both at the caprice of the king. The governor of one of his provinces was summoned to appear at the capital; but this chief, expecting that the sacrifice of his life, and the seizure of his property, were intended, did not obey the mandate. The king assembled an army, overpowered the forces of the disobedient chief, and forced him to fly for protection to the British settlements in the island.

In addition to this oppressive tyranny over his own subjects, the King of Candy, elated with his success against the refractory chief, prepared to invade the British territory, against the frontier of which he had long carried on occasional hostilities. He had also inflicted cruelties on some British subjects, who had gone into his dominions on trading speculations.

These circumstances occasioned Lieut.-General Robert Brownrigg, the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Ceylon, to render assistance to the natives to throw off the yoke, and at the same time preserve the English provinces from aggression, by invading the kingdom of Candy. The British troops advanced into the kingdom of Candy in seven divisions, in the beginning of February 1815, and detachments were formed from the SEVENTY-THIRD, and attached to four or five divisions of the invading army.

The soldiers underwent great fatigue in crossing mountains, passing morasses and rivers, and traversing regions inhabited only by the wild beasts of the forest; they succeeded in overcoming all opposition, and arrived at the capital in the middle of February. The king had fled with a small number of his Malabar adherents; but on the 18th of February, he was surrounded, and made prisoner by his own subjects, who showed the utmost detestation of the tyrant.

A solemn conference was held between the British Governor and the Candian chiefs, and the assembly declared the Malabar dynasty deposed, and the provinces of Candy united to the dominions of the British Crown. Thus was an extensive tract of country, bountifully endowed with natural gifts, and producing the necessaries and luxuries of life, including spices, metals, and precious stones, added to the British dominions; a numerous race of human beings, of a peculiarly interesting character, was delivered from the power of despotism, and brought under the advantages of the just government and equitable laws of Great Britain. Every species of torture was immediately abolished; but the ancient religion of the inhabitants, and the former mode of administering justice, were preserved. The conduct of the British troops was highly meritorious, and reflected credit on the several corps employed in this enterprise; the soldiers abstained from plunder and violence, and behaved with such order and regularity as to conciliate the inhabitants, whose condition, improved by a policy founded on liberal ideas, and exhibiting enlarged views, prepared the way for their emancipation from the errors of superstition, and their introduction to the advantages of Christianity, and of European arts, sciences, and commerce.

While the first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD was thus employed, the Second Battalion had acquired the word “Waterloo” for the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of its distinguished services in that memorable battle, which terminated the lengthened war in which the powers of Europe had been engaged.

A portion of the British troops occupied posts in the newly-acquired territory, and the corps not required for this duty returned to their former quarters. The first battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was again stationed at Colombo.