1801
Commander-in-chief, to be laid before the King.” The Duke of York also communicated “thanks to the corps for their spirited and loyal offer to extend their service to any part of the world.”
1802This tender of service was, however, so speedily followed by the peace of Amiens, concluded in the early part of 1802, that no call was made, at this period, for the regiment to proceed on foreign service. In October it marched to Limerick.
1803Hostilities were resumed in 1803, and Bonaparte’s threat of invading England was answered by a sudden assumption of arms throughout the kingdom, which produced an array of military power, that proved how highly the British people prized their constitution and liberties, and deterred the French from quitting their own coast. The regiment proceeded to Galway in August, and was afterwards removed to Tuam, Loughrea, and Kinsale.
1804Among the measures adopted to repel the French invasion, an additional force act was passed in June, 1804; and four hundred of the men, raised under its provisions, in the county of Surrey, were constituted the second battalion of the Fifty-sixth Regiment; they were embodied at Farnham, and the battalion was placed on the establishment of the army on the 25th of December, 1804: it was augmented soon afterwards to six hundred and fifty-six non-commissioned officers and soldiers.
1805The first battalion remained in Ireland until January, 1805, when it embarked at Kinsale for the Isle of Wight, where its establishment was augmented to one thousand rank and file, which was speedily completed, and in April it embarked in three divisions for the East Indies: it landed at Bombay in August, and was stationed at that city several years.
In May the second battalion left Farnham, and was
