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
On the 20th of January, 1836, the regiment left Kurnaul on its
march to Dinapore, and, halting a day near Delhi, crossed the
Jumna below the city; thence, continuing through the Doab (land
between two rivers), to Allahabad, crossed the Ganges by a bridge
of boats above the fort. Having halted at Benares and Ghazeepore,
it recrossed the Ganges at Buxar, and arriving on the 26th of
March at Dinapore, again took up its quarters in the barracks it
had occupied ten years before;--although the weather was very hot,
and the regiment had marched without a day’s halt from Cawnpore
(thirty-one marches), there were only fifteen sick. From Kurnaul to
Dinapore the change of climate is very great, while the confinement
of the latter place, with the close and crowded state of the
barracks, after the open scene, the comfortable thatched buildings,
and the cold bracing winter air of the former station, were
severely felt. In Kurnaul the hospital list never exceeded seventy,
while it occasionally continued, during the hot weather, so low as
thirty, and in the cold season eight or nine, for months together.
[Sidenote: 1837]
During the summer of the year 1837, the thermometer remained at 115
degrees in the barracks for several days, and many deaths occurred
from apoplexy, produced by the great heat.
[Sidenote: 1838]
Lieut.-General Sir Colin Halkett, K.C.B. and G.C.H., was
appointed from the seventy-first regiment to the Colonelcy of the
THIRTY-FIRST regiment, on the 28th of March, 1838, in succession to
General Sir Edward Barnes, G.C.B., deceased.
On the 16th of November the THIRTY-FIRST marched towards
Ghazeepore, to relieve the forty-fourth regiment, and occupied the
barracks at that station on the 27th of that month. Ghazeepore
stands at the edge of a fine plain on the left bank of the Ganges,
close to the river. It is one of the frontier posts towards Nepaul,
is forty-six miles from Benares, and four hundred and six miles
from Calcutta.
[Sidenote: 1839]
The strength of the regiment had been reduced to six hundred and
thirty-two rank and file; it had at this period been fourteen years
in India, during which time the casualties by death amounted to
fourteen officers, and six hundred and seventy-seven men.
During this year the regiment remained cantoned at Ghazeepore,
under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Bolton; and was constantly
on the alert in expectation to march towards Nepaul to repel the
incursions of the Nepaulese.
On the 3rd of April, 1839, the regiment was augmented to an
establishment of ten companies, consisting of one colonel, two
lieut.-colonels, two majors, ten captains, thirty subalterns, six
staff, fifty-seven serjeants, nineteen drummers, and nine hundred
and seventy-six rank and file.
On the 13th of May, 1839, the regiment was inspected by
Major-General Cocks, of the Honorable East India Company’s Service,
who expressed, in high terms, his approbation of its appearance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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