The 76th Regiment of Foot was a

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 ...

regiment, raised in 1787. 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 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment to form the

Duke of Wellington's Regiment The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division. In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...

in 1881.

History

Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Bt by Georg Siegmund Facius, after Lemuel Francis Abbott

Formation

The regiment was raised by Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet for service in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

as the 76th Regiment of Foot in October 1787. In accordance with the Declaratory Act 1788 the cost of raising the regiment was recharged to

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 Sou ...

on the basis that the act required that expenses "should be defrayed out of the revenues" arising there. The majority of recruits were raised from

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

, but many of them also came from the Musgrave family estates around Hayton Castle, near

Aspatria Aspatria is a town and civil parish in the non-metropolitan district of Allerdale, and is currently embraced in the Parliamentary constituency of Workington, Cumbria, England. Historically within Cumberland the town rests on the north side of ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

. The Royal Warrant for their raising was issued on 12 October 1787 and read: GEORGE R.
''Whereas We have thought fit to order a Regt of Foot to be''
''forthwith raised under your Command, which is to consist of ten''
''Companies, with 3 Sergts, 4 Corpls, 2 Drumrs & 71 private Men''
''in each, with two Fifers to the Grenadier Compy and one''
''Compy, of 8 Sergts, 8 Corpls, 4 Drumrs & 30 private Men with''
''the usuals Comd. Officers, these are to authorise you by Beat of''
''Drum or otherwise to raise so many Men in any Country or part''
''of our Kingdom of Great Britain as shall be wanted to complete''
''the said Regt, to the above mentioned numbers. And all above''
''Given the 12th October. 1787 in the 27th Year of Our Reign.''
''By H.M.'s Command (Sd.) Geo. Yonge''

India

The regiment embarked for India in 1788 for service in the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Angl ...

and saw action at the Siege of Bangalore in February 1791 and the Siege of Seringapatam in February 1792. The regiment also saw service in the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War ...

and fought at the

Siege of Aligarh The siege of Aligarh also known as the Battle of Aligarh was fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company during the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) at Aligarh, India. Aligarh Fort, one of the strongest forts ...

in September 1803.Thackeray, chapter 2 The regiment laid siege to

Aligarh Fort Aligarh Fort (''Aligarh Qila'') is located in the patwari nagla city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. It is also called "Aligarh Qila". Most part of it is damaged and only ruins remain. The fort is situated near the Grand Trunk Road and consists of ...

, a fort commanded by a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

mercenary officer Pierre Perron and captured it from the

Maratha The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed a ...

s. The French prepared for the siege by lining 14 ditches around the fort with sword-blades and poisoned

chevaux-de-frise The ''cheval de frise'' (plural: ''chevaux de frise'' , "Frisian horses") is a defensive obstacle, which existed in a number of forms and were employed in various applications. These included underwater constructions used to prevent the passa ...

. The walls were reinforced with French artillery, and the French also used tigers and lions of

Scindia The Scindia dynasty (anglicized from Shinde) is a Hindu Maratha dynasty of maratha origin that ruled the erstwhile State of Gwalior. It had the Patil-ship of Kumberkerrab in Wai. It was founded by Ranoji Scindia, who started as a personal serva ...

's menagerie. During the battle, the British lost as many as 900 soldiers. The regiment went on to fight at the Battle of Delhi in September 1803, the

Battle of Laswari The Battle of Laswari took place on 1 November 1803 near Laswari village, Alwar. It was part of the Second Anglo-Maratha War. The British under Gerard Lake were anxious to finish the war by neutralizing the last substantial force that the Marat ...

in November 1803, and the

Battle of Deeg The Battle of Deeg, fought on 13 November 1804, took place outside Deeg, now in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, India. A force of the British East India Company led by Major General Fraser defeated a Maratha force under Yashwantrao Holkar a ...

in November 1804. For their distinguished service in these actions,

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

authorized the regiment to have the word " Hindoostan" emblazoned upon the regimental colours, along with an elephant badge with a

howdah A howdah, or houdah (Hindi: हौदा ''haudā''), derived from the Arabic (hawdaj), which means "bed carried by a camel", also known as ''hathi howdah'' (''hāthī haudā'', हाथी हौदा), is a carriage which is positioned on ...

atop the elephant, also inscribed with the word "Hindoostan". The regiment returned to England and became the 76th (Hindoostan) Regiment of Foot in October 1806.

Napoleonic Wars

In 1807, the regiment was deployed to

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

for garrison duty, remaining there until 1808, when it was deployed to Spain to take part in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...

. The regiment took part in the

Battle of Corunna The Battle of Corunna (or ''A Coruña'', ''La Corunna'', ''La Coruña'' or ''La Corogne''), in Spain known as Battle of Elviña, took place on 16 January 1809, when a French corps under Marshal of the Empire Jean de Dieu Soult attacked a Bri ...

in January 1809 and was evacuated from the Peninsula later that month. The regiment took part in the disastrous

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign ( ) was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Sir John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chath ...

in autumn 1809 and, having reverted to the title of 76th Regiment of Foot in 1812, returned to the Peninsula in 1813 seeing action at the

Battle of Nivelle The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War (1808–1814). After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops (20, ...

in November 1813 and the

Battle of the Nive The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult's French army on French soil ...

in December 1813. It then embarked for North America for service in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

and saw action at the

Battle of Plattsburgh The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final British invasion of the northern states of the United States during the War of 1812. An army under Lieutenant General Sir George Prévost and a naval squadr ...

in September 1814.

The Victorian era

The regiment did not return from North America until 1827. It was garrisoned in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

until 1834 when it departed for the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

.Hayden, p. 112 It went to the

Bermuda Garrison The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory and Imperial fortress of Bermuda by the regular British Army and its local militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The garrison evolved f ...

(part of the Nova Scotia Command until 1868, when Bermuda was made an independent command), and on to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

in 1841 before returning home in 1842. The regiment were deployed to South Wales later in the year to help suppress the

Rebecca Riots The Rebecca Riots (Welsh: ''Terfysgoedd Beca'') took place between 1839 and 1843 in West and Mid Wales. They were a series of protests undertaken by local farmers and agricultural workers in response to levels of taxation. The rioters, often me ...

. After that the regiment went to

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

in 1848 and on to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in 1850 before sailing for

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of ...

in March 1853. It was garrisoned at

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

before embarking for home again in September 1857. It embarked for India in September 1863 and was stationed in

Fort St. George, Madras Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further s ...

before moving on 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 January 1868, returning to India again in 1870 and sailing for England in 1876.Hayden, p. 130 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 76th was linked with the 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment, and assigned to district no. 9 at

Wellesley Barracks Wellesley Barracks is a military installation in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. History The barracks was built in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style as a depot for the 33rd and 76th Regiment's. On 1 April 1873 the depot was established, wi ...

in Halifax. On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment to form the

Battle honours

The regiment's battle honours were: *Hindoostan *Peninsular War:

Nive The Nive (; eu, Errobi; oc, Niva) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by ...

, Peninsula

Colonels

Colonels of the Regiments were: ;76th Regiment of Foot (1787) ;76th (Hindoostan) Regiment of Foot (1806) *1787–1812: Gen. Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet ;76th Regiment of Foot (1812) *1813–1814: Lt.-Gen. Sir

George Prévost Sir George Prévost, 1st Baronet (19 May 1767 – 5 January 1816) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who is most well known as the "Defender of Canada" during the War of 1812. Born in New Jersey, the eldest son of Genevan A ...

*1814–1834: Lt-Gen Christopher Chowne *1834–1836: Gen. Sir

Peregrine Maitland General Sir Peregrine Maitland, GCB (6 July 1777 – 30 May 1854) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He also was a first-class cricketer from 1798 to 1808 and an early advocate for the establishment of what would become the Canad ...

, GCB *1843: Lt-Gen. George Middlemore, CB *1843–1853: Lt-Gen. Sir Robert Arbuthnot, KCB *1853–1862: Gen.

William Jervois Lieutenant General Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois (10 September 1821 – 17 August 1897) was a British military engineer and diplomat. After joining the British Army in 1839, he saw service, as a second captain, in South Africa. In 18 ...

, KH *1862–1871: Lt-Gen. Joseph Clarke *1871–1875: Lt-Gen. Matthew Smith *1875–1881: Gen. Frederick Darley George, CB *''1881: Regiment amalgamated with 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment of Foot as the second battalion''

References

Sources

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