1796
In the beginning of 1796, the establishment was augmented to twelve companies,—the eleventh and twelfth being recruiting companies; and as the ships of war came into port, the officers and soldiers of the Eighty-sixth landed and joined the regiment; they had served in several engagements in which the ships they were embarked in had taken part, during that eventful period. In April, the regiment proceeded to Guildford, and in June it returned to the Isle of Wight.
Meanwhile, Flanders and Holland had embraced the republican principles of France, and the British government resolved to deprive the Dutch of the settlement of the Cape of Good Hope; the Eighty-sixth embarked for the Cape, where they landed on the 22nd of September, six days after the Dutch governor had surrendered the colony to the forces under General Sir Alured Clarke.
1797
1798
1799
The regiment was stationed at the Cape of Good Hope during the years 1797 and 1798, and received drafts from the 95th, and other corps. In February, 1799, it embarked for the East Indies, and landed, on the 10th of May, at Madras, upwards of thirteen hundred strong,—a splendid body of men, whose appearance excited much admiration.
The capture of Seringapatam had rendered the services of the regiment at this station unnecessary, and after a month’s repose at Madras, it embarked for Bombay, where it arrived on the 22nd of July, and sent detachments by sea, under Major Bell, and Captain James Richardson, to Tannah and Surat: these detachments returned to Bombay, in December following.
1800
1801
From Bombay, three companies sailed, towards the end of 1800, for Ceylon, in the expectation of taking part in the reduction of the Isle of France[3]; but orders had, in the meantime, arrived for an army from India, to co-operate with a body of troops from Europe, in the expulsion of the French “Army of the East” from Egypt, and the detachment returned, in January, 1801, to Bombay, where Major-General Baird assumed the command, and the expedition sailed for the Red Sea.
It was originally designed, that the army from India should land at Suez, a city of Egypt, situate at the head of the Red Sea, on the borders of Arabia; and a small squadron under Admiral Blanquett, having on board three companies of the Eighty-sixth (the grenadier, light, and colonel’s companies) under Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd, a detachment of Bombay artillery, a battalion of sepoys, with other detachments, sailed some time before the main body of the expedition, to attack Suez, and interrupt the formation of any establishment there by the French. This small force left Bombay in December 1800, arrived at Mocha in the middle of January 1801, where the fleet remained two days to procure provisions, when it sailed for Jedda, where one of the ships was lost on a bank. The navigation of the Red Sea, from Jedda to Suez, proved particularly difficult and tedious, on account of the want of a sufficient depth of water, the fleet having to anchor daily, and take advantage of the tides. On reaching Suez, the French had evacuated the place in consequence of the arrival of the army from Europe, under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, on the Mediterranean shores of Egypt, and the success of the British arms near Alexandria, where Sir Ralph Abercromby was killed.
The troops landed at Suez, and Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd, in reporting his arrival, solicited permission to cross the Desert and share in the dangers and honours of the army, which was advancing up the Nile, and approaching Cairo, the modern capital of Egypt, which it was expected the French would defend. Lieut.-General Hutchinson acquiesced in Lieut.-Colonel Lloyd’s wishes, and preparations were accordingly made to pass the Desert.