BATTLE HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN, 1802-1898
Egypt with the Sphinx—Mandora, 1802—Marabout, 1802—Egypt, 1882—Tel-el-Kebir, 1882—The Nile, 1884-85—Abu Klea, 1885—Kirbekan, 1885—Suakin, 1885—Tofrek, 1885—Hafir, 1896—Atbara, 1898—Khartoum, 1898.
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Egypt (with the Sphinx).
On July 6, 1802, this distinction was conferred by King George III. on the regiments named below, "as a distinguished mark of His Majesty's royal approbation, and as a lasting memorial of the glory acquired to His Majesty's arms by the zeal, discipline, and intrepidity of his troops in that arduous and important campaign." So ran the Gazette.
Five-and-forty years later, after much discussion and not a little opposition, the grant of the Peninsular medal was extended to the survivors of the campaign. The regiments that bear this battle honour are the
11th Hussars.
12th Lancers.
Coldstream Guards.
Scots Guards.
Royal Scots.
Queen's.
King's Liverpool Regiment.
Lincolns.
Somerset Light Infantry.
Royal Irish.
Lancashire Fusiliers.
Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
South Wales Borderers.
Cameronians.
Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Gloucesters.
East Lancashire.
Dorsets.
South Stafford.
Royal Highlanders.
South Lancashire.
Northamptons.
Essex.
Royal West Kent.
Manchesters.
Cameron Highlanders
Royal Irish Rifles.
Gordon Highlanders.
Connaught Rangers.
Royal Irish Fusiliers.
102nd King Edward's Own Grenadiers.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
113th Infantry.
The only regiments of the Indian Army now left which accompanied the army under Sir David Baird in that memorable march across the desert from Kosseir to the Nile are the 102nd King Edward's Own Grenadiers, the 113th Infantry, and the 2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners, a grand offshoot of the Royal Engineers. This distinguished corps, known in olden days as the Madras Sappers and Miners, has no less than thirty-one battle honours on its appointments, all won between the Nile and the Peiho Rivers.
The object of the expedition to Egypt was to drive the French out of the country, to restore it to its rightful owners, the Turks, and to safeguard our Indian possessions, which were then threatened by attempts on the part of Bonaparte to enter into alliances with the independent Princes in Hindoostan. The command of the army was entrusted to Sir Ralph Abercromby, an officer who possessed the confidence of the army and of the country. He had recently effected the conquest of the West India Islands, and was one of the few Generals who had emerged from the late campaign in Flanders with an enhanced reputation. His army of 17,000 men was brigaded as under: