Royal Irish.
South Staffords.
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
Royal Munster Fusiliers.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
54th Sikhs.
61st Pioneers.
69th Punjabis.
79th Carnatic Infantry.
86th Carnatic Infantry.
The continual infractions of the Treaty of 1826 by the King of Burmah, his arbitrary seizure of the persons and property of British merchants, and his insolent reply to communications addressed to him by the Governor-General of India, rendered it necessary for us to take steps to uphold the dignity of our flag. Early in 1852 a force, furnished by the armies of Madras and Bengal, was placed under the command of General Godwin, an officer who had served in the war of 1834, and who prior to that had taken part in almost every engagement of note in the Peninsular War, under Wellington. At the outset of the operations it was thought that a brigade from each presidency would prove sufficient, but before the end of 1852 the army under General Godwin's command was organized into no less than five brigades, as under:
Madras Brigade—Brigadier-General W. H. Elliott: 51st King's Own Light Infantry, 1st, 9th, and 35th Regiments of Madras Infantry (now the 61st Pioneers, 69th and 72nd Punjabis).
First Bengal Brigade—Brigadier-General T. S. Reignolds: 18th (Royal Irish), the 40th and 67th Regiments of Bengal Infantry.
Second Bengal Brigade—Brigadier-General T. Dickenson: 80th (North Staffords), 10th Bengal Infantry, and the 54th Sikhs.
Third Bengal Brigade—Brigadier-General H. Huishe: 1st Battalion Munster Fusiliers, and the 37th Bengal Infantry.
Of these five Bengal regiments, the 54th Sikhs alone remains to bear the honour.
The campaign calls for little remark. The General, whilst waiting for the Madras Brigade, seized Martaban, and on April 19 Rangoon was captured, with a loss to us of 149 officers and men killed and wounded, our trophies amounting to no less than ninety-two guns, mostly of large calibre. In the month of August the 1st Madras Fusiliers (now the 1st Battalion of the Dublin Fusiliers) arrived from Madras, and in October Pegu was captured. The war now resolved itself into a succession of attacks on dacoits, or petty chieftains, and is noticeable for the fact that in one of these, when matters were looking very serious for us, a young officer—Ensign Garnet Wolseley, of the 80th—showed himself possessed of determined gallantry and ready resource. He was badly wounded on this occasion, but it is not every Ensign that is fortunate enough to be mentioned in despatches in his first action.
The result of the campaign was a considerable addition to our Indian Empire—or, rather, to the dominions then administered by the East India Company—and the annexation of the maritime provinces of the Burmese kingdom. The casualties show the serious nature of the fighting which took place: