1817.
The 2nd Battalion was inspected by Major-General Barnet on the 24th April, 1817, and disbanded the same day, having previously selected all the serviceable non-commissioned officers and men (consisting of 8 sergeants, 4 drummers, and 381 rank and file), to be held in readiness to join the 1st Battalion, supposed to be in the island of Ceylon, for which station it had been a considerable time under orders.
The major-general expressed his perfect approbation of the battalion during its stay in Armagh, in a district order, wishing the officers every success in future.
There were 15 sergeants, 7 drummers, and 164 rank and file (chiefly wounded men) discharged in consequence of the reduction of the 2nd Battalion.
The route for the march of the detachment was received on the 22nd May, 1817, for Fermoy in two divisions, where it arrived on the 11th and 12th of June. The detachment and depôt received a further route for Cork on the 26th June, from whence the former proceeded in steamboats to Cove, and embarked on board the transports Adamant and Eliza, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Cother, C.B.
The detachment sailed from the Cove on the 7th July, 1817, and arrived in Simon’s Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 22nd September following, and joined the head-quarters of the regiment, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Brunt in Simon’s Town.
During the services of the 1st Battalion at the Cape of Good Hope, five companies of the regiment, under the command of Brevet Major Summerfield, were ordered to proceed to the frontier of Africa, in consequence of a revolt of a great number of Boers and Hottentots, joined with the Caffres. This detachment landed at Algoa Bay, and on its disembarkation proceeded to Graaff Reinet, on the banks of Sunday’s River, being a march of 350 miles, through a barren country. This revolt having been amicably settled, the detachment returned to Algoa Bay in October, 1816, where it remained until September of the following year.
The head-quarters, etc., embarked, and the regiment sailed from Simon’s Bay on the 1st October, and arrived at Colombo, island of Ceylon, on the 16th November and 3rd December, 1817.
1817.
The insurrection in the “Kandyan”[6] provinces of Ceylon having commenced a few weeks previous to the arrival of the regiment in that colony, nearly the whole of the battalion, then consisting of 4 field officers, 10 captains, 32 subalterns, 48 sergeants, 22 drummers, and 969 rank and file, was marched into the interior, and was actively employed in the suppression of the rebellion. During this service the regiment suffered much from climate and privation of every description; the loss in killed and wounded only amounted to 12, but the regiment sustained a loss of 3 officers,[7] 3 sergeants, 3 drummers, and 112 rank and file by disease, and previous to the effects of this campaign being eradicated a further loss of 1 officer,[8] 4 sergeants, and 86 rank and file, making a total of 209 deaths within two years after the landing of the regiment in Ceylon.