On the same day the THIRTY-FIRST occupied the lines vacated by the fourteenth regiment. Meerut was the head-quarters of a division of the Bengal Army, commanded by Major-General Reynell; and a considerable force was assembled, as a check upon Delhi, thirty-six miles from Meerut, as well as upon the province of Rohilcund, on the opposite shore of the Ganges.
The THIRTY-FIRST had been without colours since the destruction of the “Kent,” but a new stand, which, for want of an opportunity, had not yet been presented, was in possession of the regiment; and the Governor-General of India, the Right Honorable Lord Amherst, being at Delhi, in the course of a tour of the upper provinces, his Lady was solicited to present the new colours to the regiment. They were presented by her Ladyship on the 7th of March, 1827, and the Governor-General addressed the following speech to Lieut.-Colonel Cassidy on the occasion:—
“I am persuaded that Lady Amherst will consider herself fortunate in having been selected to bear so distinguished a part in the ceremony of this day. It will be her earnest prayer that so dire a calamity as that which befell your former colours may never occur to these which she has had the honor to present to you. From the ordinary perils of war they are safe in your hands, and she confidently trusts that Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST will ever march to victory under the colours now consigned to your charge.”
To celebrate the event, the officers of the regiment entertained a large party at a ball and supper in their Mess-house.
1828
During the years 1828 and 1829 the regiment continued at Meerut.
1829
In 1829 orders were received to reduce the establishment of the regiment to 736 rank and file.
The THIRTY-FIRST regiment was at this time stronger than it had ever been; its effective strength amounted to 1086. The men were young and in high health; the climate good, and the barracks excellent, different from those at Dinapore; they consisted of a certain number of detached buildings, each calculated for a subdivision only: they were thatched, and had at the angles good rooms for non-commissioned officers. New buildings were erected of even a superior description, each company having four houses allotted to it, with its proportion of non-commissioned officers’ rooms at the angles, as in the old buildings.
1831