1754.
In the beginning of 1754, the Thirty-ninth proceeded from Ireland to the East Indies, being the first King’s regiment employed in that country.
1756.
The regiment remained at Madras until 1756, when events transpired which occasioned a portion of the Thirty-ninth to be embarked for Bengal. Upon the decease of Allaverdy Khan, in April 1756, Surajah Dowlah was proclaimed Soubah, or Nabob of Bengal. During nearly half a century the British at Calcutta had pursued a profitable commerce in peace; but the new ruler soon evinced his hostility to them, and taking the field shortly afterwards, with a numerous army, invested Calcutta, which was captured by him on the 20th of June. Then followed that awful sacrifice of life in the “Black Hole,” a dungeon at Calcutta only eighteen feet square, into which one hundred and forty-six of the prisoners were thrust, and on the following morning only twenty-three survived,—their unfortunate companions having perished from suffocation.
Dark was the cloud which hung over the affairs of the East India Company at this period; self-preservation made it imperative to adopt measures of retaliation, and it was a proud epoch in the career of the Thirty-ninth when a portion of the regiment was selected for service in Bengal, where the subsequent successes, obtained under Lieut.-Colonel Clive, dispersed the prevailing gloom, and paved the way for British ascendancy in India.
The intelligence of these events reached Madras in August 1756, and it was determined to send a force to Bengal, of which Colonel Adlercron, of the Thirty-ninth, claimed the command, but Lieut.-Colonel Robert (afterwards Lord) Clive, was eventually appointed to command the troops. The armament consisted of nine hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys: two hundred and fifty of the Europeans belonged to the Thirty-ninth regiment, and the remainder were the best men of the Company’s troops. The naval squadron comprised the Kent of 64 guns, Cumberland of 70, Tiger of 60, Salisbury of 50, Bridgewater of 20, and a fire-ship; to which were added, as transports, three of the Company’s ships, and two smaller vessels. The fleet under Rear-Admirals Watson and Pocock having the troops on board, sailed from Madras on the 16th of October 1756, and anchored in the river Hoogly, off Fulta, twenty miles from Calcutta, on the 15th of December, with the exception of the Cumberland, in which Admiral Pocock had hoisted his flag, which grounded on the sandheads off Saugur, but afterwards bore up to Vizagapatam. The fleet left Fulta on the 27th of December, and anchored in the afternoon of the day following at Mayapore, a town ten miles below the fort of Budge-Budge.
It was determined to attack this fort on the following day, and it was resolved to lay an ambuscade in order to intercept the retreat of the garrison towards Calcutta. All the men of the Thirty-ninth who had arrived, being one hundred and twenty, remained on board the ships of war; but five hundred Europeans, with the Sepoys, and two field-pieces, landed, and marched from Mayapore, at sunset, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Clive. Monickchund, the Governor of Calcutta, attempted to make a stand near the fort of Budge-Budge, but was defeated, and forced to return to Calcutta.
Meanwhile the Kent, having outsailed the other ships, anchored before Budge-Budge, and alone silenced the cannon of that fort, which was abandoned by the garrison during the night of the 30th of December.
1757.
The fleet left Budge-Budge on the 31st of December, and anchored, on the 1st of January 1757, between the forts of Tanna and Aligur, which were abandoned by the enemy without firing a shot. On the following morning Lieut.-Colonel Clive, with the greater portion of the Europeans and Sepoys, landed, and advanced towards Calcutta. At nine o’clock the Kent and Tiger anchored before the British fort, which, after a brisk cannonade, was deserted by the enemy, and also the town shortly afterwards, when a detachment from the ships under Captain Eyre Coote, of the Thirty-ninth, (afterwards Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B.), hoisted the British colours in the fort, as the troops under Lieut.-Colonel Clive had not then arrived.