On two occasions—viz., in May and June, 1851, and again in September and October, 1852—the regiment was visited with cholera, fever, and dysentery, and suffered greatly, and on the last occasion it was considered necessary to remove the regiment from the barracks and encamp the men on Ghizree Heights, near the sea.[17]
1852.
It, however, soon recovered from these fell diseases, and numbered upwards of 950 efficient soldiers, men strong and stalwart in form, perfect in discipline, and influenced in no ordinary degree by an ardent esprit de corps, the prestige of the honourable name and high reputation won by the 83rd wherever it served.
1853.
On the 8th February, the right wing of the regiment (448 strength), under the command of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Swinburne, proceeded in river steamers by the Indus River to Hyderabad, there to be stationed.
On the 15th March, 1853, the establishment of the regiment was altered by Horse Guards’ letter, dated 24th March, 1853, to 12 captains, 20 lieutenants, 4 ensigns, and 1 adjutant.
Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Swinburne, after a long and distinguished service of forty-four years in the 83rd Regiment, retired from the service on the full pay of his rank of major. He served throughout the whole of the Peninsular campaign (the greater part of the time as adjutant), and received a medal and ten clasps for Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes d’Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse. He was engaged with the regiment in the Kandyan rebellion and in Canada, and, embarking with the regiment for India, left it on the 22nd May, 1853, with the esteem and veneration of every individual in it.
He was succeeded in the majority by Captain Henry Lloyd.
The head-quarters, consisting of 5 subalterns, 4 staff, 19 sergeants, 6 drummers, and 353 rank and file, embarked at Kurrachee on board the Hon. E.I.C. steam frigate Semiramis, for Gogo, en route for Deesa; landed at Gogo on the 22nd December, where they were halted and encamped awaiting further orders.
On the departure of head-quarters from Scinde, Major-General Sir Henry Somerset, K.C.B., issued a very complimentary order to the regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Law was then commanding, and Lieutenant E. H. M. Mainwaring was adjutant.