The "74th" refers to the 74th
Highlanders. In the year 1787 four new regiments were
ordered to be raised for the service of the state, to be
numbered the 74th, 75th, 76th, and 77th. The first two
were directed to be raised in the north of Scotland, and
were to be Highland regiments. The regimental
establishment of each was to consist of ten companies of
75 men each, with the customary number of commissioned
and non-commissioned officers.
The regiment was raised in Glasgow by
Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell for service in
India as the 74th (Highland) 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 on the basis that the act required
that expenses "should be defrayed out of the revenues"
arising there. The regiment
embarked for India in February 1789
and took part in the Siege of Bangalore in
February 1791 and the Siege
of Seringapatam in February 1792 during the Third Anglo-Mysore
War.
The regiment also saw action at the
Battle of Mallavelly in March 1799 and went on to form
part of the storming party at the Siege of Seringapatam
in April 1799 during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
It subsequently saw action at skirmishes in
spring 1803 during the First Anglo-Maratha War
and went on to fight at the Battle of Assaye in
April 1803 during the Second Anglo-Maratha War: at
Assaye the regiment suffered terrible losses under a
hail of cannon fire. From
strength of about 500, the 74th lost ten officers killed
and seven wounded, and 124 other ranks killed and 270
wounded. The regiment went to fight at the Battle of
Argaon in November 1803 and the Capture of Gawilghur in
December 1803. It returned to England in February
1806and then lost its Highland status due to recruiting
difficulties, becoming the 74th Regiment of Foot in
April 1809.
The
regiment saw action in the Napoleonic Wars before
embarking for Ireland in June 1814. The regiment
embarked from Ireland for Halifax, Nova Scotia in May
1818: on arrival units were detached for service in St.
John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saint John, New
Brunswick. The regiment moved on to Bermuda in August
1828 and then returned home in December 1829. The
regiment embarked for Barbados in September 1834 and,
after arrival there, moved on to Grenada in December
1834. The regiment transferred to Antigua in November
1835: it was then split into two formations which were
deployed to Dominica and to Saint Lucia in February
1837. The regiment moved on to Quebec in Canada in May
1841before embarking for home and landing at Deal in
March 1845. Later that year it reverted to its earlier
name as the 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot. The
commanding officer, Colonel Eyre Crabbe, was able to
assure the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, the Duke of
Wellington, "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."
The
regiment then sailed to the Cape Colony in 1851 to take
part in the Eighth Xhosa War. In 1852 a detachment from
the regiment departed Simon's Town aboard the troopship
HMS Birkenhead bound for Port Elizabeth. At two
o'clock in the morning on 28 February 1852, the ship
struck rocks at Danger Point, just off Gansbaai. The
troops assembled on deck, and allowed the women and
children to board the lifeboats first, but then stood
firm as the ship sank when told by officers that jumping
overboard and swimming to the lifeboats would mostly
likely upset those boats and endanger the civilian
passengers. 357 men drowned. The regiment's commanding
officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Seaton, together
with one his ensigns and 48 of his other ranks, were
among those that perished.
The
regiment embarked for India in 1854 and helped to
suppress the Indian Rebellion in 1857 before returning
home in 1864. It was deployed to Gibraltar in 1868, to
Malta in 1872 and to the Straits Settlements in 1876. It
went on to Hong Kong in 1878 before returning to the
Straits Settlements in 1879 and returning home in 1880.
As part
of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where
single-battalion regiments were linked together to share
a single depot and recruiting district in the United
Kingdom, the 74th was linked with the 26th (Cameronian)
Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 59 at
Hamilton Barracks. On 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms
came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the
71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot to become the 2nd
battalion, Highland Light Infantry.
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