Historical Record of the Thirty-first, or, the Huntingdonshire Regiment of Foot;: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1850Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Thirty-first, or, the Huntingdonshire Regiment of Foot;: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1850
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 31st
The force Runjeet Singh had brought with him encamped, on the
morning of the 25th of October, on the opposite bank of the river,
and consisted of ten thousand of his best horse and six thousand
disciplined infantry. A bridge of boats had been thrown across the
river, and on the morning of the 26th of October the meeting took
place; the Chief of the Punjaub, accompanied by a deputation of
British officers that had gone to meet him, with a detachment of
3800 horse, 800 being disciplined dragoons, under General Allard,
a French officer in Runjeet’s service, crossed the river. All the
Sikh chiefs were in attendance on their Sovereign, and the train
passed through a street to the Governor-General’s camp, formed
by the sixteenth Lancers and the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. This is
not the place in which to dwell on the splendour or chivalrous
appearance of the scene, on the glitter of the polished armour of
some, and the gaiety of the yellow silk in which all were dressed.
The British troops were infinitely greater objects of interest
and curiosity to the Sikhs, than even the variety of the arms,
and the figures of the men of the latter, were to the former.
Runjeet Singh inquired into every thing connected with the arming
and disciplining of the THIRTY-FIRST with the keenest eye. During
a review of the corps, on a second visit, he rode close into
the line, and examined every movement, pointing out with great
intelligence to the Sirdars, or leaders, about him the evolutions
that he thought useful, or sending them to observe particularly how
they were performed. The THIRTY-FIRST regiment was not under arms
on the return visit. The farewell interview took place on the last
day of the month, with the same ceremony as that observed at the
first meeting.
The next morning (November 1st) the camps broke up; the
THIRTY-FIRST regiment returned, by the route it had come, to
Kurnaul, and arrived there on the 16th of November.
[Sidenote: 1832]
In the spring of the year 1832, Lieut.-Colonel Cassidy returned
to England in ill health, after having commanded the regiment
seven years. He was succeeded by Major Eagar, who died in December
following, when for nearly three years the command of the regiment
devolved upon the two senior Captains alternately.
[Sidenote: 1834]
On the 10th of October, 1834, Lieut.-General Sir Edward Barnes,
G.C.B., was appointed from the seventy-eighth regiment to the
Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in succession to General
Sir Henry Warde, G.C.B., deceased.
[Sidenote: 1835]
In December, 1834, Major Bolton joined the regiment, and was
promoted, in November of the following year, to the rank of
Lieut.-Colonel, by purchase, Colonel Cassidy having been removed to
the charge of a recruiting district.
[Sidenote: 1836]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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