74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot
Encyclopedia
The 74th Regiment of Foot was a British Army
line infantry
regiment
. During the Childers Reforms
it was united with the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot
to form the Highland Light Infantry
.
They first saw action during in India during the Mysore campaign of 1789, fighting at Bangalore and Seringapatam
. Later, under Wellesley
they saw action in the Mahratta War of 1802, fighting at Assaye
in 1803.
Returning to Europe they served again under Wellington in the Peninsular campaign
, and fought at Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor, both sieges of Badajoz
, the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo
, Salamanca
, Vittoria
, Nivelles
, Tarbes
, Orthe
, and Toulouse
. They were then sent to garrison Ireland, and so missed the Battle of Waterloo
, although they were on their way to embark for Belgium when news of the battle arrived.
They remained in Ireland until 1818, were then in Canada
and New Brunswick
until 1828, Bermuda
for a year, and in Ireland again from 1830 to 1834. Later in the 1830s and into the 1840s the 74th were stationed in St. Lucia, Barbados
and other islands in the West Indies, keeping remarkably healthy apart from one outbreak of fever and dysentery. Then, without coming home again, they went to Quebec
in Canada.
The 74th came back to Britain from Canada in March 1845 with a dreadful disembarkation from the open roadstead at Deal
. Later that year they became the 74th (Highland) Regiment. They had served for their first fifteen years in India, where the kilt was considered too heavy, and although they resumed it on returning to Scotland in 1806, they had lost their Highland dress in 1809, and even the name “Highland” in 1816. However the commanding officer, Colonel Eyre J. Crabbe, who was about to retire after 38 years continuous service with the regiment, was able to assure the Commander-in-Chief
, the Duke of Wellington
, that "that throughout the varied services and changes of so many years, a strong national feeling, and a connection with Scotland by recruiting, had been constantly maintained.”
Later the regiment served in the Kaffir War and in the Sepoy Rebellion
.
In 1852 the regiment was involved in the Birkenhead
disaster; under their commander, Lt.Col Seaton and with men of the 73rd regiment, followed what became known as the "Birkenhead" Drill, enabling women and children on board to be saved.
In 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms
the 74th amalgamated with the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot
to become the 2nd battalion, Highland Light Infantry
.
series of historical fiction novels, the protagonist, Richard Sharpe
, serves in the 74th during the end of the Mahratta War after being promoted to the rank of Ensign
.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
line infantry
Line infantry
Line infantry is a type of infantry which composed the basis of European land armies from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century....
regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
. During the Childers Reforms
Childers Reforms
The Childers Reforms restructured the infantry regiments of the British army. The reforms were undertaken by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell reforms....
it was united with the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot
71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot
The 71st Regiment of Foot was a Highland regiment in the British Army, which in 1881 became the 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry .- First formation :...
to form the Highland Light Infantry
Highland Light Infantry
The Highland Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. In 1923 the regimental title was expanded to the Highland Light Infantry ...
.
Service history
The 74th was raised in 1787 by Archibald Campbell, their first colonel, and were known as Campbell's Highlanders.They first saw action during in India during the Mysore campaign of 1789, fighting at Bangalore and Seringapatam
Battle of Seringapatam
The Siege of Seringapatam was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's...
. Later, under Wellesley
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
they saw action in the Mahratta War of 1802, fighting at Assaye
Battle of Assaye
The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company...
in 1803.
Returning to Europe they served again under Wellington in the Peninsular campaign
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, and fought at Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor, both sieges of Badajoz
Badajoz
Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain, situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid–Lisbon railway. The population in 2007 was 145,257....
, the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo
Ciudad Rodrigo
Ciudad Rodrigo is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population of about 14,000. It is the seat of a judicial district as well....
, Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, Vittoria
Vittoria
Vittoria may refer to:* Vittoria Coffee, Australia's largest coffee company, founded in 1947* Vittoria, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada* Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain* Vitória, Brazil* Battle of Vitoria, an 1813 battle in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars...
, Nivelles
Nivelles
Nivelles is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the old communes of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux....
, Tarbes
Tarbes
Tarbes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.It is part of the historical region of Gascony. It is the second largest metropolitan area of Midi-Pyrénées, with 110,000 inhabitants....
, Orthe
Orthe
Orthe is a series of science-fiction novels by Mary Gentle.The Orthe series consists of the books Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light and the short story The Crystal Sunlight, the Bright Air...
, and Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. They were then sent to garrison Ireland, and so missed the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, although they were on their way to embark for Belgium when news of the battle arrived.
They remained in Ireland until 1818, were then in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
until 1828, Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
for a year, and in Ireland again from 1830 to 1834. Later in the 1830s and into the 1840s the 74th were stationed in St. Lucia, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
and other islands in the West Indies, keeping remarkably healthy apart from one outbreak of fever and dysentery. Then, without coming home again, they went to Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in Canada.
The 74th came back to Britain from Canada in March 1845 with a dreadful disembarkation from the open roadstead at Deal
Deal
Deal may refer to:Places* Deal, Kent, a town in Kent, England* Deal, New Jersey, a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States* Deal Island * Deal, a village in Câlnic Commune, Alba County, RomaniaAs a surname...
. Later that year they became the 74th (Highland) Regiment. They had served for their first fifteen years in India, where the kilt was considered too heavy, and although they resumed it on returning to Scotland in 1806, they had lost their Highland dress in 1809, and even the name “Highland” in 1816. However the commanding officer, Colonel Eyre J. Crabbe, who was about to retire after 38 years continuous service with the regiment, was able to assure the Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
, the Duke of Wellington
Duke of Wellington
The Dukedom of Wellington, derived from Wellington in Somerset, is a hereditary title in the senior rank of the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first holder of the title was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , the noted Irish-born career British Army officer and statesman, and...
, that "that throughout the varied services and changes of so many years, a strong national feeling, and a connection with Scotland by recruiting, had been constantly maintained.”
Later the regiment served in the Kaffir War and in the Sepoy Rebellion
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
.
In 1852 the regiment was involved in the Birkenhead
HMS Birkenhead (1845)
HMS Birkenhead, also referred to as HM Troopship Birkenhead or steam frigate Birkenhead, was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy...
disaster; under their commander, Lt.Col Seaton and with men of the 73rd regiment, followed what became known as the "Birkenhead" Drill, enabling women and children on board to be saved.
In 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms
Childers Reforms
The Childers Reforms restructured the infantry regiments of the British army. The reforms were undertaken by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell reforms....
the 74th amalgamated with the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot
71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot
The 71st Regiment of Foot was a Highland regiment in the British Army, which in 1881 became the 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry .- First formation :...
to become the 2nd battalion, Highland Light Infantry
Highland Light Infantry
The Highland Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. In 1923 the regimental title was expanded to the Highland Light Infantry ...
.
In Popular Media
In Bernard Cornwell'sBernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
series of historical fiction novels, the protagonist, Richard Sharpe
Richard Sharpe (fictional character)
Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of Richard Sharpe. The stories formed the basis for an ITV television series wherein the eponymous character was played by Sean Bean....
, serves in the 74th during the end of the Mahratta War after being promoted to the rank of Ensign
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
.