‘It is gratifying to me to forward the opinion of my second in command, Lieut.-Colonel Monteath, C.B., placed on record without solicitation, of the merits of the Thirteenth Light Infantry, of which corps I am proud of being a member. * * * I must express my gratitude to Providence for having placed so gallant and devoted a force under my command; in every way it has exceeded my most sanguine expectations, and I beg leave, in the strongest manner, to solicit the interposition of Major-General Pollock, C.B., who has nobly labored and fought to relieve it from its critical position in the midst of a hostile empire, in now committing it to the protection and favour of the Right Honorable the Governor General in Council, and through him to the Court of Directors, and of our Sovereign.’
Lieut.-Colonel Monteath stated in his report,—‘As doing but due justice on this occasion to Her Majesty’s Thirteenth Light Infantry might be looked upon as a highly-coloured record of the merits of your own regiment, and seeing that no such partial bias can possibly be supposed to guide my feelings in the estimate I have formed of their deserts, I have pleasure in sincerely declaring, that their conduct, throughout the painful and perilous position in which we have so long been placed, has been such as fully to deserve the applause and admiration of their country, and the confidence and best consideration of our well-beloved Sovereign.
‘On our throwing ourselves, on the 12th November last, into the old and ruined town of Jellalabad, without money, without food, and almost without protection, with a nation of highly excited and barbarous enemies in arms against us, our situation seemed as hopeless a one as British troops were ever called upon to confront; notwithstanding which, the enemy was twice attacked within twenty days, and on both occasions defeated with signal success.
‘You, yourself, will doubtless detail the works performed by the regiment; let it then be only my province, who have witnessed their exertions, almost hourly during a period of five months, to record, that their devoted perseverance and cheerfulness amidst all the gloom that surrounded them, after the destruction of their comrades of the Cabool force, could not have been surpassed by any troops in the world; and that after months of extreme toil, when an earthquake, such as man is not often in the habit of experiencing, in a moment left scarcely a vestige of their labour standing; their flying as they did with redoubled zeal to the work, and completing it in ten days, (so that on the arrival of the enemy before Jellalabad, they declared that the calamity which had befallen the valley arose from nothing but English witchcraft, it being the only place that had escaped uninjured) was what none but British soldiers could have performed, and what no price could have purchased, for it was the labour of the heart, work of all others most deserving of distinction and reward.’
The distinguished conduct of the regiment was appreciated, and Her Majesty thus alluded to it in her most gracious speech on proroguing Parliament on the 12th August, 1842:—‘Although I have had deeply to lament the reverses which have befallen a division of the army to the westward of the Indus, yet I have the satisfaction of reflecting that the gallant defence of the city of Jellalabad, crowned by a decisive victory in the field, has eminently proved the courage and discipline of the European and Native troops, and the skill and fortitude of their distinguished commander.’
On the 26th of August, the pleasure of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria, was officially announced in the London Gazette:—
‘War Office, 26th August, 1842.
‘In consideration of the distinguished gallantry displayed by the Thirteenth Light Infantry during the campaigns in the Burmese empire and in Affghanistan, Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve of that regiment assuming the title of the Thirteenth or Prince Albert’s Regiment of Light Infantry; and of its facings being changed from yellow to blue.
‘Her Majesty has also been pleased to authorize the Thirteenth Regiment of Light Infantry to bear on its colours and appointments a ‘Mural Crown,’ superscribed ‘Jellalabad,’ as a memorial of the fortitude, perseverance, and enterprise, evinced by that regiment, and the several corps which served during the blockade of Jellalabad.
‘Her Majesty has been likewise pleased to permit the Thirteenth regiment to receive and wear a silver medal, which has been directed by the Governor General of India to be distributed to every officer, non-commissioned officer, and private, European and Native,—who belonged to the garrison of Jellalabad on the 7th April, 1842;—such medals to bear on one side a ‘Mural Crown,’ superscribed ‘Jellalabad;’ and on the other side ‘April 7th, 1842.’’