TO THE

HISTORICAL RECORD

OF THE

SEVENTY-FIRST REGIMENT,

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY.

During the last century several corps, at successive periods, have been borne on the establishment of the army, and numbered the SEVENTY-FIRST; the following details are therefore prefixed to the historical record of the services of the regiment which now bears that number, in order to prevent its being connected with those corps which have been designated by the same numerical title, but whose services have been totally distinct.

1. In the spring of 1758 the second battalions of fifteen regiments of infantry, from the 3d to the 37th, were directed to be formed into distinct regiments, and to be numbered from the 61st to the 75th successively, as follows:—

Second Battalions.

The 71st, 72d, 73d, 74th, and 75th regiments, thus formed, were disbanded in 1763, after the peace of Fontainebleau.

2. Several other corps were likewise disbanded in 1763, which occasioned a change in the numerical titles of the following regiments of Invalids, viz.:—

The 71st, 72d, 73d, 74th, and 75th regiments, thus numbered, were formed into independent companies of Invalids in the year 1769, which increased the number of Invalid companies from eight to twenty; they were appropriated to the following Garrisons, namely, four companies at Guernsey, four at Jersey, three at Hull, two at Chester, two at Tilbury Fort, two at Sheerness, one at Landguard Fort, one at Pendennis, and one in the Scilly Islands.

3. These numerical titles became thus extinct until October 1775, when another SEVENTY-FIRST regiment was raised for service in America by Major-General the Honorable Simon Fraser, which consisted of two battalions, and which performed eminent service during the war with the colonists. In December 1777, further augmentations were made to the army, and the regiments, which were directed to be raised, were numbered from the seventy-second to the eighty-third regiment.

The army was subsequently increased to one hundred and five regular regiments of infantry, exclusive of eleven unnumbered regiments, and thirty-six independent companies of Invalids.

The conclusion of the general peace in 1783 occasioned the disbandment of several regiments, commencing with the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment; the second battalion of which was disbanded on the 5th April 1783, and the first battalion on the 4th June 1784.

4. In 1786 the numerical titles of certain regiments, retained on the reduced establishment of the army, were changed, viz.:—

The seventy-third, which had been authorised to be raised by John Lord Macleod in 1777, was directed to be numbered the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment.

The seventy-eighth, which had been authorised to be raised by the Earl of Seaforth in 1777, was directed to be numbered the SEVENTY-SECOND regiment.

The second battalion of the forty-second, which had been authorised to be raised in 1779, was directed to be constituted the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment.

These corps were denominated Highland regiments, and have since continued to form part of the regular army.

The details of the services of the present SEVENTY-FIRST regiment are contained in the following pages; the histories of the seventy-second and seventy-third regiments are given in distinct numbers.