“Major-General Sir Henry Torrens, K.C.B., Adjutant-General
of the Forces, Horse Guards.”
To which letter the following answer was returned:
“Horse Guards,
“6th July 1827.
“Sir,
“I have had the honor to lay before the King your letter of the 20th instant, requesting that the Eighty-seventh, or Prince of Wales’s Own Irish regiment, of which you are colonel, may be made a corps of Light Infantry.
“On this occasion His Majesty has commanded me to express to you the perfect sense he entertains of the high and meritorious character of the Eighty-seventh regiment, and of the long course of brilliant services which have distinguished its career,—services which, the King has condescended to observe, have been impressed upon his memory by the recollection of more than one trophy captured from the enemy, and by the interest His Majesty must always take in a regiment which possesses, from its title, an early and peculiar claim to his protection.
“But with every disposition to accede to your wishes, the King laments that it is out of his power to grant your request without inconvenience to the public service, as well as a deviation from the principle that has guided His Majesty’s refusal on similar occasions. I am at the same time instructed to accompany this expression of the King’s regret, with the assurance of the gracious sense which His Majesty entertains of the services of the Prince of Wales’s Own Irish regiment, and of the personal interest he must always take in its welfare and honor.
“I have, &c.,
(Signed) “H. Torrens,
“Adjutant-General.
“General Sir John Doyle, Bart., G.C.B., Colonel
of the Eighty-seventh Regiment.”
In his reply to the above communication, in a letter dated the 11th of July 1827, General Sir John Doyle preferred a request, that the Eighty-seventh might be styled the “Prince of Wales’s Own Irish Regiment of Fusiliers,” in the following terms:—