1820
The two companies at Tobago suffered very severely from fever, and having lost four officers and eighty-four serjeants and rank and file, the remaining one officer, four serjeants, two drummers, and thirty-five rank and file were relieved in September 1820 by the twenty-first regiment, and sent to Barbadoes, from whence they were removed to Grenada.
1821
A general change of quarters took place among the troops stationed in the Windward and Leeward Islands in March 1821, when the King's Own proceeded to Barbadoes. On leaving Grenada Major-General Riall expressed in brigade orders his approbation of the conduct of the King's Own, and the satisfaction he experienced at hearing from the magistrates and principal inhabitants of the island their esteem for the corps, and their regret at its departure.
The loss from disease during the short period the regiment had been in the West Indies was great. Quarter-Master Thomas Richards and fifty-four men had died at Grenada; Lieutenant William Blagrave, Ensign Robert Gamble, and seven men at Trinidad, which had proved a comparatively healthy station, the two companies having occupied the barracks at St. Joseph's and the hospital had frequently been without a patient; at Tobago, Lieutenants John Westby, Frederick P. Robinson, and Isaac Beer, with Ensign Frederick Clarke, and eighty-four men, had fallen victims to the climate; Captain Charles James Edgell died on the passage, near Barbadoes: the total loss of life in one year and eleven months was eight officers and one hundred and forty-five soldiers.
The regiment was, however, still in an efficient state, and having been inspected by Lieut.-General Sir Henry Warde on the 27th of August, an order was issued on the same day, expressing "the great satisfaction felt by the lieut.-general at the appearance of that old and respectable corps under arms, as well as the steadiness of the regiment, the correct advance in line, and the close firing, which evince that great attention has been paid to its discipline, and is highly creditable to Lieut.-Colonel Piper and to the officers generally."
In October the establishment was reduced to eight companies, making a total of thirty-three officers and six hundred and seventeen men.
1822
1823
Lieut.-Colonel Piper died at Barbadoes soon afterwards, and was succeeded in January, 1822, by Brevet Lieut.-Colonel A. D. Faunce. In the following year this officer obtained permission to return to England for the benefit of his health, on which occasion Lieut.-General Sir Henry Warde observed in general orders—"He was aware that no encomium of his could add lustre to the already well-established and high military character of Lieut.-Colonel Faunce, yet the particularly exemplary state of discipline, in every respect, which the Fourth or King's Own regiment has attained since he assumed the command, calls loudly on the lieut.-general, as an imperious duty to the service, to express his warmest praise and thanks to Lieut.-Colonel Faunce, for the truly able and unremitted attention which he has daily and hourly paid to his regiment, the effect of which confers on him the highest credit and honour as its commander, and at the same time reflects them strongly on every individual, both officer and private, composing the corps under his command."
In December the regiment was withdrawn from Barbadoes, and proceeded,—four companies and head-quarters to the Ridge at Antigua, three to Brimstone-hill, St. Kitt's, and one to Montserrat and Nevis. Previous to its embarkation Lieut.-General Sir Henry Warde expressed in general orders his "high approbation of the conduct of the corps." During the two years and nine months it was stationed at Barbadoes, it was in a healthy state, excepting towards the end of 1821, when a fever carried off Lieut.-Colonel John Piper, Ensigns H. N. Shipton, and H. J. Loraine, with Quarter-Master Doran, and Assistant-Surgeon Morrow; its total loss in serjeants and rank and file was fifty-eight.