Historical Record of the Seventy-Third Regiment / Containing an account of the formation of the Regiment from the period of its being raised as the Second Battalion of the Forty-Second Royal Highlanders in 1780 and of its subsequent services to 1851

by Richard Cannon

Afterwards proceeding to Agra, General Lake speedily captured that place, and on the 1st of November, 1803, he gained an important victory at Leswaree, when the French-officered battalions of Dowlat Rao Scindia were annihilated, the Mahratta army overpowered, and its colours, artillery, and baggage captured. His services on this occasion were of a distinguished character; he led the charge of the cavalry in the morning;—conducted in person the attacks of the infantry, and in the midst of the storm of battle he displayed valour, professional ability, promptitude and decision; his magnanimous example inspired confidence and emulation in the troops, and they triumphed over very superior numbers. Two horses were killed under him on this occasion.

His important services were rewarded, in 1804, with the title of Lord Lake of Delhi and Leswaree.

Pursuing, the war with vigour, Lord Lake routed the power of Holkar at Furruckbad; but the war was protracted by the defection of the Rajah of Bhurtpore; and when his Lordship besieged the city of Bhurtpore, he failed in capturing the place from the want of a battering train. The Rajah of Bhurtpore was, however, brought to terms; and Lord Lake pursued the hostile Rajah of Berar from place to place until this chief was brought to submission. The British military power in the East was strengthened by these successes; and the extent and stability of the dominions in India augmented.

His Lordship returned to England, and in 1807 he was advanced to the dignity of Viscount Lake.

He caught cold while sitting on the general court-martial which tried Major-General Whitelocke; and died on the 30th of February, 1808.

George Lord Harris, G.C.B.

Appointed 14th February, 1800.

This distinguished officer entered the service in 1759 as a cadet in the Royal Artillery, and was appointed ensign in the fifth fusiliers on the 30th of July, 1762; he was promoted to be lieutenant on the 2nd of July, 1765, was appointed adjutant in 1767, and promoted to the rank of captain on the 25th of July, 1771. In May, 1774, Captain Harris embarked for America, and was present in the first action of the American war, namely, at Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775. At the battle of Bunker’s Hill on the 17th of June following, he was severely wounded in the head, and obliged to be trepanned, which caused him to be sent to England; but he returned in time to take the field previously to the landing of the British army on Long Island in August, 1776. Captain Harris was present at the affair of Flat Bush; in the skirmishes on York Island; in the engagement at White Plains; at Iron Hill (where he was shot through the leg), and in every action up to the 3rd of November, 1778, except that of Germantown. In 1778 he was promoted to the rank of major in the fifth fusiliers, and embarked with the regiment for the West Indies with the force under Major-General James Grant, by whom he was appointed to command the battalion of grenadiers, and landed with the reserve of the army under Brigadier-General Medows, at St. Lucia on the 25th of December. After the taking of Morne Fortunée, Major Harris was second in command under Brigadier-General Medows at the post of La Vigie, where the French were repulsed in their repeated attacks, and in consequence they retreated from the Island. Immediately after the departure of the French armament, the Governor surrendered the Island of St. Lucia to the British troops, the capitulation being signed on the 30th of December, 1778. In 1779, Major Harris embarked with the fifth fusiliers, which were ordered to serve as marines, and was present in the engagement off Grenada, under Admiral Byron, on the 6th of July, 1779. In 1780, Major Harris returned to England, and in December of that year succeeded to a lieut.-colonelcy in the fifth fusiliers, from which he exchanged into the seventy-sixth regiment, and accompanied to the East Indies, as secretary, Sir William Medows, who was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Madras. Lieut.-Colonel Harris served in the campaigns of 1790 and 1791 against Tippoo Sultan; in the action of the 15th of May, 1791, he was appointed by General the Earl Cornwallis to command the second line; he was also personally engaged in the attack of the Sultan’s camp and of the Island of Seringapatam, on the night of the 6th of February, 1792, the success of which terminated that war. Peace being re-established, Lieut.-Colonel Harris returned with Lieut.-General Sir William Medows to England. On the 18th of November, 1792, he was promoted colonel by brevet, and on the 3rd of October, 1794, he was advanced to the rank of major-general, when he re-embarked for India, and was placed on the Bengal Staff. On the 3rd of May, 1796, Major-General Harris received the local rank of lieut.-general, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Presidency of Fort St. George; in February, 1798, he succeeded to the military and civil government of the troops and territories of Madras.

In December, 1798, Lieut.-General Harris was selected, by the Marquis Wellesley to command the army assembled to repel the threatened hostility of Tippoo Sultan, to besiege his capital, and to reduce his power. The army under the command of Lieut.-General Harris exceeded fifty thousand men, and the object of the expedition was accomplished by the capture of Seringapatam, the death of Tippoo, and annexation of his dominions to the British Crown, as detailed in the Historical Record of the SEVENTY-THIRD, of which regiment he was appointed colonel on the 14th of February, 1800, as a reward for his important services:—on the 1st of January, 1801, he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general. On the 1st of January, 1812, Lieut.-General Harris was advanced to the rank of general. In August, 1815, General Harris was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Harris of Seringapatam and Mysore in the East Indies, and of Belmont in Kent, and was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on the 27th of May, 1820. His Lordship succeeded General Francis Dundas as Governor of Dumbarton Castle in January, 1824. During the latter years of his life his Lordship lived in retirement at his seat at Belmont, Feversham, in Kent, where his decease occurred on the 19th of May, 1829, at the advanced age of eighty-two years.

The Right Honorable Sir Frederick Adam, G.C.B., & G.C.M.G.