A General Order was issued permitting the soldiers of the sixteenth lancers and the THIRTY-FIRST regiment to volunteer into other corps; the volunteering of the THIRTY-FIRST to commence on the 26th and to close on the 28th of February.
The regiment now mustered only 420 bayonets fit for duty out of 844 which left Umballa, and during these three days 103 men volunteered to other corps; at Umballa, on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of March, it again volunteered 214 men; and at Chinsurah, on the 10th of July, 12 men, in all 329, who remained in India. Within the last few years, the regiment had gained a considerable accession to its strength by volunteers from corps leaving India: these men, whose object in volunteering was to remain in India, again availed themselves of the General Order granting them a bounty, of thirty rupees, and volunteered into other corps with which they had served during the late campaign.
After the authority for volunteering had taken effect the strength of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment was much reduced: all the young soldiers who were desirous of serving in India volunteered into other regiments. Several of the officers exchanged into corps remaining in India: Lieut.-Colonel Byrne into the fifty-third regiment; Major Young into the tenth; and Brevet Major Lugard into the twenty-ninth.
On the publication of the General Order for the return of the regiment to Europe,—the following Division Order was issued by Major-General Sir Henry Smith, K.C.B., commanding the first division:—
“Camp, Lahore, 3rd March, 1846.
“Comrades,—Officers and Soldiers of the gallant THIRTY-FIRST regiment,—you and I have been so associated in the recent conflicts, where your services have been distinguished, that I cannot lose you from under my command without an expression of the deepest regret; that regret is however mitigated, when I know that you are about to return to your native country, from which the regiment has been absent twenty-one years,—much diminished in numbers,—caused by your valiant conduct and recent glorious victories; but the former renown of your distinguished corps has acquired additional fame, by the valour of Lieut.-Colonel Spence, the officers, and soldiers; and the long list of triumphant victories now recorded on your colours, has been much increased by your services in India. Farewell, my gallant comrades, for the present; may every success, happiness, honor, and prosperity attend you, the gallant THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in peace, as it has so gloriously done in war! and, believe me, one of the most happy and proud recollections of my life will be that I have witnessed the indomitable valour of the corps.”
On the same occasion the following Brigade Orders were issued by Brigadier Monteath, who commanded the brigade in which the THIRTY-FIRST regiment served in the Cabool campaign:—
Brigade Orders by Brigadier Monteath, C.B.
“Camp, Lahore, 3rd March, 1846.
“Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment being now about to quit the army, Brigadier Monteath cannot allow it to depart without expressing the deep regret he feels at the approaching separation from those to whom he has been bound by so many ties of friendly feeling for their private good qualities, and high admiration for their public services. On a former occasion, when associated with them under the most difficult and trying circumstances, he had the gratification of recording, that the regiment had exhibited, in a high degree, the best qualities of the best British soldiers; and he has now the proud pleasure of telling them, that by their gallant conduct during the late sanguinary conflicts with the enemy, they have encircled themselves with every honor, nobly maintained the former character of the regiment, and placed its number amongst the foremost of those whose military achievements are most conspicuously engraved upon the records of their country; and he sincerely prays, on their arrival in England, that their beloved Sovereign may be induced to confer such marks of distinction upon the regiment as its gallant deeds so eminently deserve.