The 104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers) was a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

, raised by the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

in 1765. Under the

Childers Reforms The Childers Reforms of 1881 reorganised the infantry regiments of the British Army. The reforms were done by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers during 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell Reforms. The reorganisation wa ...

it amalgamated with the

101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) The 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) was an infantry regiment of the East India Company and British Army that existed from 1652 to 1881. The regiment was raised in India in 1652 by the East India Company as the company's first non ...

to form the

Royal Munster Fusiliers The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company's Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Beng ...

History

Early history

The regiment as first raised by the

as the 2nd Bengal European Regiment when it was formed from the

1st Bengal European Regiment The 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) was an infantry regiment of the East India Company and British Army that existed from 1652 to 1881. The regiment was raised in India in 1652 by the East India Company as the company's first non ...

in 1765. It went to take part in an action at

Rohilkhand Rohilkhand (previously Rampur State) is a region in the northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, India, that is centered on the Rampur, Bareilly and Moradabad divisions. It is part of the upper Ganges Plain, and is named after the Rohilla tribe. ...

in April 1774 during the

First Rohilla War The First Rohilla War of 1773–1774 was a punitive campaign by Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh on the behalf of Mughal Emperor, against the Rohillas, Afghan highlanders settled in Rohilkhand, northern India. The Nawab was supported by troops of t ...

before being absorbed by the Marine Battalion in 1803. It was re-raised as the 2nd Bengal (European) Regiment in 1822 and took part in a deployment to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

in 1825 before being disbanded in 1830.

The Victorian era

Monument of the Battle of Chillianwala 3

The regiment was re-raised as the 2nd Bengal (European) Light Infantry from a nucleus of 1st Bengal (European) Regiment in 1839. It saw action at the Battle of Chillianwala in January 1849 and the

Battle of Gujrat The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the East India Company, and a Sikh army in rebellion against the company's control of the Sikh Empire, represented by ...

in February 1849 in the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

during the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company that took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently ...

. The regiment became the 2nd Bengal (European) Fusiliers in 1850 was deployed to Burma again in 1853 during the

Second Anglo-Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( my, ဒုတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Em ...

and then served at the

Siege of Delhi The siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but essentially it was sparked by the mass ...

in autumn 1857 during the

Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

. After the Crown took control of the

Presidency armies The presidency armies were the armies of the three presidencies of the East India Company's rule in India, later the forces of the British Crown in India, composed primarily of Indian sepoys. The presidency armies were named after the presiden ...

in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion, the regiment became the 2nd Bengal Fusiliers in November 1859 and then the 1st Royal Bengal Fusiliers in May 1861. It was then renumbered as the 104th Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) on transfer to the

in September 1862. Although a new commanding officer was appointed on transfer to the British Army, both majors and six of the twelve captains had prior service in the regiment. During the

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

epidemic of 1869, the regiment left its barracks at

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

on the North West Frontier for the countryside, to try to alleviate the impact of the disease. After the regiment had returned to barracks with the end of the epidemic, the commanding officer's wife,

Elizabeth Webber Harris Elizabeth Webber Harris (1834–1917) was an English nurse who was awarded a replica Victoria Cross (VC) in 1869, with the permission of Queen Victoria, for her bravery during a cholera outbreak in India. She remains the only woman to be awarded ...

, was presented with a gold replica Victoria Cross, by the officers of the regiment, for her tireless endeavours tending the sick men. The presentation had the approval of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

and was made by General Sir

Sam Browne General Sir Samuel James Browne, (3 October 1824 – 14 March 1901) was a British Indian Army cavalry officer, known best as the creator of the Sam Browne belt. He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the most prestigious award for gallantr ...

, commander of the Peshawar garrison. The regiment embarked for England in 1871. As part of the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attention ...

of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 104th was linked with the

, and assigned to district no. 70 at Ballymullen Barracks in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

. On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) to form the

Battle honours

Battle honours won by the regiment were: *''Rohilla War'': Rohilcund 1774 (inherited from predecessor regiment) *''Second Anglo-Sikh War'': Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Punjaub * ''Indian Mutiny'':

Delhi 1857 Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the Regiment were: ;2nd Bengal Fusiliers (HEIC) *c.1859: Maj-Gen. Robert Blackall ;104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers) (British Army) *1862–1863: F.M. Sir Patrick Grant, GCB, GCMG *1863–1867: Gen. Sir George Bell, KCB *1867–1874: Gen. George Dixon *1874–1881: F.M. Sir Frederick Paul Haines, GCB, GCSI, CIE

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers) Honourable East India Company regiments Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1854 Military units and formations disestablished in 1881 1839 establishments in British India