In 1827 took place the death of Field-Marshal H.R.H. the Duke of
York,[25] who had been Colonel-in-Chief for thirty years, and had given
his name to the Regiment. He was succeeded by his brother, Field-Marshal
H.R.H. Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.[26] In 1830 the title of the
Regiment, by order of William IV, was again changed to The King’s Royal
Rifle Corps.
A long peace followed the great wars of the Napoleonic period, and from
Toulouse in 1814 until the Sikh War in 1848 the Regiment was not engaged
on active service. But from 1848 onwards the British Army entered upon a
famous series of campaigns, in nearly all of which the Regiment has
taken a memorable share. Its success may be said to be largely due to
the excellence and the example of the 1st Battalion, which—directly
inheriting the Peninsular honours and traditions of the 5th Battalion as
Riflemen—had maintained, in spite of the long peace, its reputation for
smartness, discipline, and warlike efficiency.
[Illustration:
MAP II
SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SOUTH-WEST FRANCE.
Illustrating the area of Operations referred to in Part I, Section 3.
_Stanford’s Geog^l. Estab^t., London._
]
Fortunate at this period in many officers of great experience, the
Regiment owed much to Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Henry Richard
Molyneux,[27] who commanded the 1st Battalion (then quartered in the
Mediterranean) from 1836 until his untimely death in 1841. The high
efficiency of the Battalion and its strong _esprit de corps_ when it
sailed for India in 1845, under his successor Lieutenant-Colonel the
Hon. Henry Dundas,[28] were largely due to his strong personality and to
his powers of organisation. Dundas commanded the Battalion from 1845 to
1854 with conspicuous success. In the Sikh War, both as Colonel and as
Brigadier-General, he showed the highest qualities of leadership and
courage, and throughout the nine years of his command the Battalion held
a foremost place in the British Army in India.
[Sidenote: 1848–49, PUNJAUB.]
[Sidenote: Jan. 22nd, 1849, MOOLTAN.]
It was thus under these favourable circumstances that the Regiment began
its career in the East, and under Dundas played a prominent part in the
Sikh War. Employed in covering the advance, it rendered conspicuous
service at the storming of the city of MOOLTAN. “Nothing could exceed
the gallantry and discipline of the 60th Royal Rifles” are the words of
the _Gazette_, 7th of March, 1849.
[Sidenote: Feb. 21st, 1849, GOOJERAT.]
Subsequently, by forced marches, the Battalion joined the army under
Lord Gough[29] in time to share in the final battle of GOOJERAT, a
victory over a combined force of 60,000 Sikhs and Afghans. The result of
this triumph of British arms was the annexation of the Punjaub, and the
retreat of the Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan with the Afghan army beyond the
Khyber Pass.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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