Meanwhile Louis XVIII. had entered Paris, and was again reinstated on the throne of his ancestors. Napoleon Bonaparte had surrendered himself to Captain Maitland, commanding the “Bellerophon” British ship of war, and the island of St. Helena having been fixed for his residence, he was conveyed thither, with a few of his zealous adherents.
When the allied forces retired from Paris in December, 1815, with the exception of the “Army of Occupation” left in France, the second battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was ordered to return to England; it embarked at Calais on the 23rd of December, and landed on the same day at Ramsgate; from Ramsgate it marched to Colchester to join the depôt, which continued in that town during the absence of the battalion on foreign service.
1816
The battalion afterwards marched to Nottingham, where it arrived on the 12th of February, 1816.
1817
The battalion was stationed between Nottingham, Weedon, and Colchester, until May, 1817, when it was ordered to proceed to Chelmsford to be disbanded, which measure took place on the 4th of May, 1817, the most effective men, consisting of three hundred and ten non-commissioned officers and privates being embarked to join the first battalion of the regiment at Ceylon.
1817.