“Having felt it my duty to lay your communication before the King, and to solicit His Majesty’s attention to the terms in which you speak of the conduct of Colonel Lindesay, of His Majesty’s Thirty-ninth Regiment, to whom you confided the command of the Field Force, I have the honor to acquaint you, that the King has remarked with much satisfaction, that the ability and judgment of Colonel Lindesay in the performance of his important service, have been eminently conspicuous; and in testimony of His Royal approbation His Majesty has been pleased to nominate him a Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order, the decoration of which will be duly transmitted to him by the Hanoverian minister at this court.
“By order of His Excellency Lieut.-General the Hon.
Sir Robert William O’Callaghan,
Commanding His Majesty’s Forces in India.
(Signed) “R. Torrens,
“Colonel, Adjutant-General H. M.’s Forces in India.”
Colonel Lindesay had, previously to the receipt of this communication, been removed from the command of the cantonment of Bangalore, and appointed on the 3rd of January to that of the southern division of the Madras army, with the temporary rank of Brigadier-General. He accordingly proceeded to Trichinopoly, the head-quarters of that division. From this place he made application that the Thirty-ninth might be permitted to resume the following distinctions, which had been borne on the regimental colour and appointments for many years, but which had been discontinued about the year 1807, namely the motto “Primus in Indis,” and the word “Plassey;” also the device of the “Castle and Key,” in addition to the word Gibraltar and the motto “Montis Insignia Calpé.” His Majesty King William the Fourth was graciously pleased to approve of these distinctions being resumed by the Thirty-ninth, and the result was communicated by the Adjutant-General on the 24th of November 1835, to Lieut.-Colonel Sir Robert William O’Callaghan, Colonel of the regiment.
On the 14th of December 1835, the regiment was reviewed at Bangalore by Major-General Hawker, commanding the Mysore division of the army, who after a minute inspection expressed to Major Poole his perfect approbation of its appearance, movements, and discipline.
1836.
In February 1836, Colonel Lindesay embarked for Europe, having been relieved in the command of the southern division of the Madras army by Major-General Sir John Forster Fitzgerald, K.C.B., in the preceding October.
Colonel Lindesay, on his departure, was presented by the officers with a gold snuff-box, value nine hundred rupees, bearing the distinctions of the regiment, in which he had served for upwards of forty years.
1837.
A gold snuff-box, value five hundred rupees, was also presented, in January 1837, to Arthur Hamilton, Esq., surgeon of the regiment, on his return to Europe.
A detachment, consisting of two captains, seven subalterns, nine serjeants, four drummers, and two hundred rank and file, marched from Bangalore on the 10th of April 1837, under the command of Captain Walpole, to assist in quelling an insurrection which had taken place in Canara and Malabar.