The depôt companies remained in Ireland from the embarkation of the service companies for Gibraltar until November, 1841, when they proceeded from Cork to Dover, and remained in England until June, 1845, when they returned to Ireland, where they have remained to the present year, 1846.
7th Fusiliers, 1846.
1846
The service companies at the end of the year 1846, when this Record concludes, were in the West Indies, the head-quarters at St. Vincent.
The foregoing pages contain a faithful history of the Royal Fusiliers from the period of their formation in the year 1685, and of the peculiar service for which this Regiment was originally established. The introduction of artillery, and the expert and proper management of field-guns, rendered it necessary that a suitable description of officers and men should be selected for such an important and scientific branch of the service, in order to ensure its usefulness; hence it may be inferred, that as qualifications of a superior kind were requisite, the Subaltern Officers in the Royal Fusiliers obtained, on their first appointment, the rank of Lieutenant, a distinction which is continued to the present time.
During a period exceeding one hundred and sixty years, the Royal Fusiliers have proved themselves to be a faithful and zealous Regiment in the cause of Royalty, and in the interests of their country. Their services in various parts of Europe and America, when war has required their presence and exertions, have, on all occasions, been conspicuous; and their conduct on home-service, when relieved from their tour of duty abroad, has been marked by a strict adherence to the rules of order and discipline: these qualities have rendered them a valuable corps to the Government of the country, and have obtained for them a continuance of the approbation of their Sovereign.