During the winter of 1807 the limited-service men of the second battalion were transferred to a garrison battalion, which greatly reduced its numbers; the few remaining men marched to Dublin in January, 1807, embarked from thence for Liverpool, and afterward proceeded to Shrewsbury.
1808
The second battalion proceeded from Shrewsbury to Weymouth, where it arrived in October, and was joined by a number of volunteers from the militia.
In the spring of 1808 the second battalion marched to Bletchington; in May was removed to Portsmouth, where it embarked for Ireland, and after landing at Cork, it proceeded from thence to Limerick, and in the autumn to Fermoy.
1809
At this period the second battalion received orders to proceed from Ireland, to take part in the deliverance of the Peninsula from the power of Napoleon, Emperor of France, whose attempts to subvert the liberties of Europe were strenuously opposed by Great Britain. The battalion embarked at Cork on the 12th of March, landed in Portugal, at a small town opposite Lisbon, on the 6th of April; and proceeded up the river Tagus in boats a few days afterwards to Villa Franca, from whence it marched to Rio Mayor. The seventh Royal fusiliers, and the FIFTY-THIRD, were formed in brigade under Brigadier-General A. Campbell; and the officers and soldiers were highly gratified by the arrival of Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley to assume the command of the army.
The FIFTY-THIRD had the honor of taking part in the operations by which the French army under Marshal Soult was driven from Oporto: they were not engaged in forcing the passage of the Douro on the 12th of May; they had completed a short march and were going into billets at Cavalhos, when the order to advance arrived, and the soldiers evinced their ardour by cheerfully performing a long march at double quick time, and they were speedily across the river; but the action had ceased, and they went into quarters in the city of Oporto, after a march of twenty-eight miles.
After taking part in the pursuit of the French army through mountainous districts to the confines of Portugal, the FIFTY-THIRD retired to Oporto, where they halted one day; they afterwards proceeded to Coimbra, and in the early part of June to Abrantes.
Advancing into Spain, the FIFTY-THIRD shared in the operations which preceded the battle of Talavera, and suffered, in common with other corps, great privation from the want of supplies, the soldiers having no food, on many occasions, excepting corn gathered from the fields. In the action on the 28th of July, two companies of the FIFTY-THIRD particularly distinguished themselves: the other companies of the battalion were in reserve in the first instance; but they were brought forward, and assailing one of the enemy's columns of attack in flank, they greatly contributed to its discomfiture and overthrow, when thirteen pieces of artillery were captured. Sir Arthur Wellesley saw, from a hill at a short distance, the fighting at this part of the field, and sent twice to testify his approbation of the conduct of the brigade. The French were repulsed at all points; and the word "Talavera," on the colours of the FIFTY-THIRD regiment, commemorates the gallantry of the second battalion on this occasion: its loss was six soldiers killed; Major Kingscote, Captain Stawell, and twenty-nine rank and file wounded.