After remaining at St. Vincent during the years 1798 and 1799, the regiment was removed to St. Lucia in 1800.
1802
At the peace of Amiens, in 1802, the island of St. Lucia was restored to France, when the regiment returned to England, much reduced in numbers by the climate of the West Indies.
1803
On the arrival of the regiment in England, the men enlisted for limited service were discharged at Hilsea barracks, and in January, 1803, it marched, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Lightburne, for Shrewsbury.
1805
The first battalion, having been completed to eight hundred rank and file, embarked at Portsmouth, on the 20th of April, 1805, for the East Indies, under the orders of Lieut.-Colonel Sebright Mawby. The fleet sailed under the convoy of His Majesty's ship "Blenheim," on the 24th of April: in the early part of August it encountered a French line-of-battle ship and a frigate, when some firing took place, but nothing serious occurred; and on the 23rd of that month it arrived in Madras roads, when the FIFTY-THIRD landed, and marched into Fort St. George, where they lost a very promising officer, Captain Henry Knight Erskine, whose death was much regretted. In October they proceeded in boats to the fertile district of Dinapore, on the right bank of the Ganges, and occupied that station, in the midst of a country abounding with grain, cattle, and sheep.
1806
In consequence of the unhealthy state of the battalion, it was withdrawn from Dinapore, when Major-General Clarke expressed, in orders, his approbation of its conduct while under his command, and the high sense he entertained of the zeal and abilities of Lieut.-Colonel Mawby and of the officers generally. It arrived at Berhampore, a considerable station on the left bank of the Hoogly river, on the 6th of July.
1807