In August, 1842, two companies, under the command of Major Burnside, were called upon by the civil authorities of Halifax, to suppress a formidable and organised riot which broke out in that town: numbers of the rioters had assembled from the adjacent towns, and were so confident in their strength and numbers as to attack a party of the Eleventh Hussars, several of whom were severely injured. The detachment of the Sixty-first Regiment was fired on by the mob, and Captain Hoey and five men were wounded with slugs. The order was then given to the Military to fire, when the peace of the town was speedily restored. The owners and occupiers of the mills and other property at Halifax, and in the neighbourhood, conveyed a vote of thanks to Major Burnside for his services on this occasion.
1843
In March, 1843, the regiment was directed to furnish, by volunteers, two hundred men to the Ninety-eighth Regiment, in China: the required number were immediately produced; and the detachment embarked on the 1st of April, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, for Winchester, to join the depôt of the Ninety-eighth Regiment.
In the spring of 1843, the regiment proceeded by railway to Carlisle, where it embarked for Ireland, and landed at Dublin on the 6th of April; and was shortly afterwards inspected by Lieutenant-General the Right Honorable Sir Edward Blakeney, Commander of the Forces in Ireland, who was pleased to express his approbation of the appearance of the regiment in the field, and of its conduct in quarters.
On the 3rd June, five companies, under the command of Major McLeod, embarked on board of Her Majesty’s steamer “Rhadamanthus” for Waterford, on a particular service: the detachment landed on the following day, and re-inforced the garrison in barracks until the 6th June, when it re-embarked and returned to Dublin.
During the stay of the regiment in the garrison of Dublin, Lieutenant-Colonel Forbes died after a protracted illness. This distinguished officer had commanded the Sixty-first Regiment five years, and by his impartial and temperate exercise of authority, he had rendered himself respected and beloved by all who had the good fortune to serve under his command. Upon his decease, Major Henry Burnside was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy on the 9th May, 1843.
In July, 1843, the regiment proceeded from Dublin to Limerick, where it is stationed at the commencement of the year 1844, to which period this record of its services is brought.
1844
On the 20th January, 1844, Her Majesty was pleased to remove Lieutenant-General Sir John Gardiner from the Sixty-first to the Fiftieth Regiment, in succession to Lieutenant-General Sir Hudson Lowe, deceased, and to appoint Major-General Sir Jeremiah Dickson, K.C.B., to the colonelcy of the Sixty-first Regiment.