| 76th Regiment of Foot | |
|---|---|
.jpg){kind=icon} Cap badge of the 76th Regiment of Foot | |
| Active | 1787–1881 |
| Country |  Kingdom of Great Britain (1787–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1881) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Line Infantry |
| Size | 11 Companies |
| Garrison/HQ | Wellesley Barracks,Halifax |
| Nicknames | The Immortals The Pigs The Old Seven and Sixpennies |
| Motto | none |
| Colors | Red Facings |
| March | Quick: "Scotland the Brave" Slow: "Logie o'Buchan" |
| Mascot | Indian Elephant |
| Engagements | Third Anglo-Mysore War Second Anglo-Maratha War Napoleonic Wars War of 1812 |
| Commanders | |
| Last Commanding Officer | Lieutenant Colonel JMD Allardice (1880–1881) |
| Last Colonel of the Regiment | General Fredrick Darley George CB (1875–1881) |
The76th Regiment of Foot was aBritish Army regiment, raised in 1787. Under theChilders Reforms it amalgamated with the33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment to form theDuke of Wellington's Regiment in 1881.
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The regiment was raised bySir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet for service inIndia as the76th Regiment of Foot in October 1787.[1] In accordance with the Declaratory Act 1788 the cost of raising the regiment was recharged toEast India Company on the basis that the act required that expenses "should be defrayed out of the revenues" arising there.[1] The majority of recruits were raised fromNottingham andLeicestershire, but many of them also came from the Musgrave family estates around Hayton Castle, nearAspatria,Cumbria.[2]
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[3]
The regiment embarked for India in 1788 for service in theThird Anglo-Mysore War and saw action at theSiege of Bangalore in February 1791[4] and theSiege of Seringapatam in February 1792.[5][6] The regiment also saw service in theSecond Anglo-Maratha War and fought at theSiege of Aligarh in September 1803.[7] The regiment laid siege toAligarh Fort, a fort commanded by a French mercenary in Maratha servicePierre Cuillier-Perron, and captured it.[7] The Marathas prepared for the siege by lining 14 ditches around the fort with sword-blades and poisonedchevaux-de-frise.[7] The walls were reinforced with Maratha artillery, and the defenders also used tigers and lions ofScindia's menagerie.[7] The British suffered 900 casualties in capturing the fort.[7] The regiment went on to fight at theBattle of Delhi in September 1803, theBattle of Laswari in November 1803, and theBattle of Deeg in November 1804.[5] For their distinguished service in these actions,King George III authorized the regiment to have the word "Hindoostan" emblazoned upon theregimental colours, along with an elephant badge with ahowdah atop the elephant, also inscribed with the word "Hindoostan".[8] The regiment returned to England and became the76th (Hindoostan) Regiment of Foot in October 1806.[1]
In 1807, the regiment was deployed toJersey in theChannel Islands for garrison duty, remaining there until 1808, when it was deployed to Spain to take part in thePeninsular War.[5] The regiment took part in theBattle of Corunna in January 1809 and was evacuated from the Peninsula later that month.[5] The regiment took part in the disastrousWalcheren Campaign in autumn 1809 and, having reverted to the title of76th Regiment of Foot in 1812,[1] returned to the Peninsula in 1813 seeing action at theBattle of Nivelle in November 1813[9] and theBattle of the Nive in December 1813.[10] It then embarked for North America for service in theWar of 1812 and saw action at theBattle of Plattsburgh in September 1814.[11]
The regiment did not return from North America until 1827.[5] It was garrisoned inIreland until 1834 when it departed for theWest Indies.[12] The regiment was posted to theGarrison of theImperial fortresscolony ofBermuda, part ofBritish North America, from 20 May 1840,[13][14][15] until 9 November 1841,[16] and on toCanada in 1841 before returning home in 1842.[12] The regiment were deployed to South Wales later in the year to help suppress theRebecca Riots.[17] After that the regiment went toCorfu in 1848 and on toMalta in 1850 before sailing forSaint John, New Brunswick in March 1853.[18] It was garrisoned atFredericton inNew Brunswick[17] before embarking for home again in September 1857.[19] It embarked for India in September 1863[20] and was stationed inFort St. George, Madras[17] before moving on toBurma in January 1868, returning to India again in 1870 and sailing for England in 1876.[21]
As part of theCardwell Reforms 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 the33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment, and assigned to district no. 9 atWellesley Barracks inHalifax.[22] On 1 July 1881 theChilders Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment to form theDuke of Wellington's Regiment.[1]
The regiment's battle honours were:[1]
Colonels of the Regiments were:[1]
Arrived, on Thursday last, H. M. Steamer Pluto, Lt. Lunn, Commander, in 9 days from Barbados.-The Pluto brought up a detachment of 30 men of the seventy-sixth Regiment, under the command of Ensign H. Smith.-Passengers in the Pluto, Mrs. H. Smith and daughter, Quarter-Master and Mrs. Preston, and four children, Miss Whittaker, and A. G. Drinan, Esq.
H. M. S. Vestal, Captain Carter, in 17 days from Halifax and H. M. S. Racehorse Hon. E. A. J. Harris, in 11 days from Bermuda, had arrived at Barbados, and were to sail thence about the 8th inst., with the 76th regt. (410) men under the command of Colonel Clark, for Bermuda.-The Racehorse, will, we understand, return to Barbados. (The Vestal and Racehorse, were signalled to the southward last evening.)
Vaccine Lymph having, as our readers are already aware, been recently received in Bermuda, by the Army Medical Department in St. Georges, and by them kindly supplied to many, if not to all the civil practitioners of medicine throughout the Islands.---We know that apprehension is entertained that the Small Pox will he brought here from Barbados by the 76th Regt., now momently expected from that island; but we would observe that there is less likelihood of that disease being carried from place to place by those means than by many others, seemingly less probable. It is an invariable practice on receiving recruits into the Army, for them to undergo an inspection by a Medical Board, and should it be ascertained that the person has neither had the small or the kine pox, he is immediately vaccinated: and the same course is pursued with regard to women and children belonging to a regiment.)