Mysore.
This honour is now borne by the following regiments:
19th Hussars.
Worcester.
West Riding.
Oxford Light Infantry.
Middlesex.
Highland Light Infantry.
Seaforth Highlanders.
Gordon Highlanders.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
26th Light Cavalry.
27th Light Cavalry.
28th Light Cavalry.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
61st P.W.O. Pioneers.
62nd Punjabis.
63rd Light Infantry.
64th Pioneers.
66th Punjabis.
67th Punjabis.
68th Punjabis.
73rd Carnatic Infantry.
74th Punjabis.
75th Carnatic Infantry.
76th Punjabis.
79th Carnatic Infantry.
80th Carnatic Infantry.
81st Pioneers.
82nd Punjabis.
101st Grenadiers.
103rd Light Infantry.
104th Rifles.
105th Light Infantry.
107th Pioneers.
108th Infantry.
109th Infantry.
The aggressive action of Tippoo Sultan, who had been recognized as ruler of Mysore on the death of Hyder Ali, and the cruelties perpetrated on the English prisoners in Seringapatam, rendered fresh hostilities with Mysore inevitable. The Home Government therefore agreed to raise four more regiments, to be paid by, and held at the disposal of the East India Company. These were numbered 74th and 75th Highlanders, and 76th and 77th of the line. All four arrived in India in the course of the year 1788. It was known that Tippoo Sultan had sent emissaries to France in the hope of securing French aid in his efforts to drive us out of India, and in 1789 he threw down the glove by invading the territory of our ally, the Maharajah of Travancore. The Commander-in-Chief at Madras, General Meadows, was a most gallant officer, who had distinguished himself in the West Indies, but who was new to the East, and, brave man that he was, was quite prepared to recognize that as yet he had not sufficient experience of Eastern life to warrant his assuming command of a large army operating under entirely novel conditions. Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-General in India, therefore determined to come down from Calcutta and take command of the army destined for the subjugation of Tippoo Sultan. The task was no easy one. Circumstances arose which delayed the Governor-General, and the year 1790 was wasted in an abortive campaign under Meadows.
The year 1791 opened more auspiciously. The Commander-in-Chief at Bombay, General Robert Abercromby, who was to co-operate with the Governor-General, had by a well-executed movement seized Cannanore, and made himself master of the province of Malabar.
Tippoo was now threatened from both sea-coasts, and seems to have been utterly unprepared for the daring stroke so brilliantly carried out by Cornwallis, who, leaving Madras early in February, and passing through the famous Colar Goldfields, arrived before Bangalore on March 5, and two days later had carried the fortifications of that city by assault, and so secured a base of operations for his projected advance on Seringapatam.
In May, after an unsuccessful attempt to carry that fortress by storm, Cornwallis was compelled to fall back on Bangalore, where he passed the hot weather.
Casualties at the Capture of Bangalore, March, 1791.
| Regiments. | Officers. | Men. | ||
| K. | W. | K. | W. | |
| 19th Hussars | - | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 36th Worcester | 1 | 4 | 9 | 54 |
| 52nd Oxfd. L.I. | 1 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| 71st Highl. L.I. | - | 1 | 6 | 14 |
| 72nd Seaforths | - | - | 5 | 18 |
| 74th Highl. L.I. | - | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 76th W. Riding Regiment | - | 1 | 8 | 45 |
| 2nd Q.O. Sappers | - | 3 | 24 | 25 |