The reserve battalion marched from Montreal to Chambly on the 5th of May 1843, and arrived there on the same day.
The first battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel England, embarked at Quebec for the West Indies in the “Java” transport, on the 20th of October 1843. The headquarters disembarked at Grenada on the 15th of December following.
The headquarters of the first battalion embarked on the 25th of December 1844, at Grenada, for Antigua,[416] where it remained till April 1846. It proceeded to Barbadoes, leaving that in December for England, arriving at Spithead, January 25th 1847. The first battalion, on landing, proceeded to Winchester, where it remained till July, when it was removed to Glasgow, and in December left the latter place for Edinburgh. Here it remained till April 1848, when it was removed to Ireland.
In February 1848, on the death of Sir Thos. Reynell, Lieutenant-General Sir Thos. Arbuthnot succeeded to the colonelcy of the 71st, and on his death, in January 1849, it was conferred on Lieutenant-General Sir James Macdonell.
In compliance with instructions received upon the occasion of Her Majesty’s visit to Dublin, the headquarters of the first battalion, with the effectives of three companies, proceeded from Naas to that garrison on the 28th of July, and were encamped in the Phœnix Park. The three detached companies also joined at the encampment on the same day. On the 13th of August the head-quarters and three companies returned to Naas.
The headquarters and two companies of the reserve battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart., proceeded from St John’s to Montreal in aid of the civil power, on the 28th of April 1849. The headquarters and three companies quitted Montreal and encamped on the Island of St Helen’s on the 30th of June, but returned to St John’s on the 16th of July. On the 17th of August 1849, the headquarters and two companies proceeded from St John’s to Montreal in aid of the civil power, and returned to St John’s on the 6th of September.
In April 1850 the first battalion proceeded from Naas to Dublin.
The headquarters and two companies of the reserve battalion quitted St John’s and Chambly on the 21st of May 1850, and arrived at Toronto on the 23rd of that month, where the battalion was joined by the other companies, and it continued there during the remainder of the year.
In May 1852 the reserve battalion proceeded from Toronto to Kingston. On the 8th of June following, Lieutenant-Colonel Hew Dalrymple, Bart., retired from the service by the sale of his commission, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Nathaniel Massey Stack.[417]
On the 18th of February 1848, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., from the 9th Foot, was appointed colonel of the regiment in room of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart., who had died; and on the death of the new colonel, about a year after, Lieutenant-General Sir James Macdonell, K.C.B., from the 79th Foot, was appointed to the colonelcy of the regiment.