The war being ended, the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment was ordered to return to England. It marched from Toulouse to Bourdeaux on the 3rd of June, and on the 12th of July embarked in the Rodney, disembarking on the 23rd at the Cove of Cork, whence it immediately marched to Middleton.
In commemoration of the services of the second battalion, the THIRTY-FIRST subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Peninsula,” on the Regimental Colour and Appointments, in addition to the names of the several actions in which the second battalion had taken a prominent part, during the war in Spain from 1808 to 1814, namely, “Talavera,” “Albuhera,” “Vittoria,” “Pyrenees,” “Nivelle,” “Nive,” and “Orthes.”
Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Leith was nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for his conduct in command of the second battalion during the Peninsular war.
Lieut.-Colonel George Guy Carleton L’Estrange, who was promoted from major in the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel in the twenty-sixth regiment on the 15th of December 1812, was nominated a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his conduct while serving with the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment.
On the 23rd of September, the second battalion proceeded to Portsmouth, where it was disbanded on the 24th of October 1814, the officers and men, fit for service, being transferred to the first battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, at that period stationed in Sicily.
1814
THE 31st REGt SUTLEJ TESTIMONIAL
ERECTED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
For Cannon’s Military Records