In 1804 a second battalion was added to the regiment, and was embodied at Liverpool, under the superintendence of the colonel, His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. It was formed of men raised in the county of Lancaster for limited service, under the additional force act, passed on the 29th of June, 1804; and was placed on the establishment of the army from the 25th of December, 1804. In the same year the first battalion returned to Quebec, from whence it embarked, in 1806, for England: it landed at Portsmouth on the 7th of September, and marched to Deal barracks, where it was joined by the second battalion.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester was removed in May, 1806, to the third foot-guards; and the colonelcy of the Sixth was conferred on Major-General Sir George Nugent, Baronet, from the sixty-second regiment.
1807
The first battalion having been completed to the war-establishment by drafts from the second, marched, in October, to Dover Castle; and in January, 1807, returned to Deal. In April following it embarked for Gibraltar, where it arrived on the 2nd of June, in a very complete and efficient state, and it passed the succeeding twelve months at that important fortress.
1808
While the Sixth were in garrison at Gibraltar, the tyrannical proceedings of Bonaparte in Portugal and Spain, and the resistance which he met with in those countries, induced the British Government to aid the patriots in their endeavours to shake off the French yoke; and in June, 1808, this regiment, mustering upwards of eleven hundred men, was placed under the orders of Major-General Brent Spencer, with the view of being employed in this service. For some time, however, the point at which a landing should take place was not decided, and the troops appeared first off Ceuta, then proceeded to Cadiz, subsequently to Lisbon, and back to Cadiz. At length circumstances occurred which induced Major-General Spencer once more to proceed to the vicinity of Lisbon, where he learnt that Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley had arrived, with eight thousand men from Ireland, in the Mondego river, and immediately proceeded thither to join him.
Having landed on the shores of Portugal, the Sixth were formed in brigade with the thirty-second regiment, under Brigadier-General Bowes; the advanced guard quitted the banks of the Mondego river, on the 9th of August, and on the 17th attacked the French under General Laborde in their position at Roleia.
On the morning of this day, which is memorable for being the first of a series of victories gained by the British troops in the Peninsula, the Sixth issued from Obidos, a town with a Moorish castle, built on a gentle eminence in the middle of a valley, and, directing their march to the left, gained the ridge of heights on the enemy's right. They formed part of the left column of attack under Major-General Ferguson, destined to turn all the enemy's posts on the left of the valley, and the right of his post at Roleia; also to oppose the efforts of a body of French troops under General Loison, should they arrive from Rio Major during the action. The heights were cleared, the column descended from the higher grounds in the rear of the centre, and joining Brigadier-General Fane's brigade, were directed through the mountains to outflank the French right. Meanwhile the troops which attacked the enemy's centre were triumphant; the Sixth and other corps in the left column turned his right flank, and he fell back fighting to the Quinta de Bugaliera, and soon after four o'clock the action had ceased. The Sixth were not seriously engaged: their only loss was Captain John Currey and two men wounded, and one man missing; but their gallant bearing, and eagerness to engage their adversaries were conspicuous, and they were rewarded with the honour of bearing the word "Roleia" inscribed on their colours.
On the 19th of August the Sixth marched into position at Vimiera, a village near the sea-coast, and situate in a valley through which runs the little river Maceira; and the regiment was one of the corps posted on a large mountain which commenced at the coast. At seven o'clock on the morning of the 21st of August a cloud of dust was observed beyond the nearest hills, and soon afterwards the French army, commanded by Marshal Junot, was seen advancing in order of battle.