The 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) was a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

raised by the

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

in 1742. It transferred to the command of the

in 1862. 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 w ...

it amalgamated with the 103rd Regiment of Foot in 1881 to form the

Royal Dublin Fusiliers The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army created in 1881 and disbanded in 1922. It was one of eight 'Irish' regiments of the army which were raised and garrisoned in Ireland, with the regiment's home depot being l ...

History

Formation

The regiment was raised by the

as the Madras Europeans from independent companies in 1742 – "European" indicating it was composed of British soldiers, not Indian

sepoy ''Sepoy'' () is a term related to ''sipahi'', denoting professional Indian infantrymen, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire and the Maratha. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its Euro ...

s. It saw action at the

siege of Arcot The siege of Arcot (23 September – 14 November 1751) took place at Arcot, India between forces of the British East India Company led by Robert Clive allied with Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah and forces of Nawab of the Carnatic, Chanda Sahib, ...

in autumn 1751 during the Second Carnatic War and went on to fight at the

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company, under the leadership of Robert Clive, over the Nawab of Bengal and his French Indies Company, French allies on 23 June 1757. The victory was made possible by the de ...

in June 1757, the Battle of Condore in December 1758 and the

Battle of Wandiwash The Battle of Wandiwash was a battle in India between the French and the British in 1760. The battle was part of the Third Carnatic War fought between the French and British colonial empires, which itself was a part of the global Seven Years' ...

in January 1760 during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. It also fought at the siege of Pondicherry in September 1760 during the Third Carnatic War. It became the 1st Madras Europeans, on formation of the

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

and 3rd Madras Europeans, in 1766. It went on to become the 1st Madras European Regiment in 1774. After that it took part in the siege of Nundydroog in October 1791 and the siege of Seringapatam in February 1792 during 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 Travancore, Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, Maratha Confederacy, and the Nizam of Hyderabad ...

Early nineteenth century

The regiment next took part in expedition to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

seeing action at the capture of Amboyna in February 1796 and its recapture in February 1810, the capture of

Ternate Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...

in April 1801 and its recapture in August 1810 and the capture of

Banda Banda may refer to: People * Banda (surname) * Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician * Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor * Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician *Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh ...

in March 1796 and its recapture in August 1810.

The Victorian era

The regiment returned to India in 1816 and took part in the

Battle of Mahidpur The Battle of Mahidpur was fought during the Third Anglo-Maratha War between the Indore State of the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company at Mahidpur, a town in the Malwa region, on 21 December 1817. On 21 December 1817, t ...

in December 1817 during the

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire, Maratha Confederacy in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an in ...

. It was deployed to

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

in 1824 for service in the

First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War (; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War in English language accounts and First English Invasion War () in Burmese language accounts, was the first of three wars fought between the ...

: it formed part of an army which advanced up the River Irrawaddy to the

Kingdom of Ava The Ava Kingdom (, ; INN-wa pyi) also known as Inwa Kingdom or Kingdom of Ava was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1365 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsa ...

. It returned to India arriving in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

in 1826. It transferred to

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

in 1835 and became the 1st Madras (European) Fusiliers in 1843. After returning to India in early 1852 it was deployed to the Province of

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

in April 1852 during the

Second Anglo-Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Empire during the 19th century. The war resulted in a British victory with more ...

. The regiment fought at the siege and relief of Lucknow in November 1857 during the

Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

. Three members of the regiment were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

for their actions during the siege. After the Crown took control of the

Presidency armies The presidency armies were the armies of the three Presidencies of British India, presidencies of the East India Company's Company rule in India, rule in India, later the forces of the the Crown, British Crown in British Raj, India, composed pr ...

in the aftermath of the Rebellion, the regiment became the 1st Madras Fusiliers in July 1858 and then the 1st Royal Madras Fusiliers in May 1861. It was then renumbered as the 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) on transfer to the

in September 1862. The regiment embarked for England in 1870 and was then deployed to

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in April 1876 and to

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in 1879. 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 attentio ...

of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 102nd was linked with the

103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) The 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) was a regiment raised in 1662. It transferred to the command of the East India Company, Honourable East India Company in 1668 and to the command of the British Army in 1862. Under the Childers ...

, and assigned to district no. 66 at Naas Barracks in

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

. On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) to form the

Plassey the tiger

The 102nd kept a tiger, named Plassey, during their deployments in India and the regiment's garrison at

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

. Named after the Battle of Plassey, the

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the largest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late ...

cub was among a pair captured by Captain Frank Thackwell of the

5th Royal Irish Lancers The 5th Royal Irish Lancers was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army. It saw service for three centuries, including the World War I, First World War. It amalgamated with the 16th The Queen's Lancers to be ...

, and later gifted to the 102nd. Plassey was among the other mascots of the 102nd, that being a dog and an antelope. Plassey came to be such a symbol of the regiment that the

cap badge A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as ...

showed him. After the regiment was shipped back to Europe, Plassey stayed with the Dover garrison, where he lived alongside a pair of

leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

. However, after having "alarmed" residents, Plassey was sent to the

London Zoo London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828 and was originally intended to be used as a colle ...

, where he died in 1877.

Battle honours

Battle honours won by the regiment were:

Victoria Crosses

*Private Thomas Duffy,

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

(6 September 1857) *Private John Ryan, Indian Mutiny (26 September 1857) *Private John Smith, Indian Mutiny (16 November 1857)

Colonels of the Regiment

Colonels of the Regiment included: ;102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) *1862–1881: Gen. Sir

Robert Vivian General Sir Robert John Hussey Vivian (1802 – 3 May 1887) was a British officer in the Madras infantry from the Vivian family. Life He was the natural son of Sir Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian. He was born in 1802 and was brought up as one ...

, GCB

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:102nd Regiment Of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) Royal Dublin Fusiliers Infantry regiments of the British Army Honourable East India Company regiments Military units and formations established in 1742 Military units and formations disestablished in 1881 1742 establishments in British India Fusilier regiments