Brigadier Parke returned from field service on the 16th of June, and took over the command of the regiment from Lieutenant-Colonel Thellusson.
Major-General William Parke, C.B.
From a Photograph by Mayall.
The following promotions and appointments were made in the regiment in 1858–9. Lieutenant-Colonel Parke was nominated a Companion of the Bath on March 22, 1859, and was appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen, with the rank of colonel in the army, on April 26, of the same year. Major Thellusson was promoted to the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army on July 20, 1858. Captain Norman was promoted to the rank of Brevet-Major on July 20, 1858. Sergeant-major James Thomson was promoted to the rank of ensign on October 15, and appointed adjutant to the regiment on December 31, 1858.
The Victoria Cross was conferred on Lieutenant A. S. Cameron of the 72nd, on November 11, 1859, for conspicuous bravery at Kotah on March 30, 1858.
The field force under Major Rocke returned to Mhow on January 5, 1860, having marched through India to the confines of the Bengal Presidency, a distance of 400 miles, and ensured the peace of the territories of Sindiah, Holkar, and other minor chiefs, and prevented the outbreak which had been expected to take place during the late cold season.
Brigadier Horner, C.B., concluded the half-yearly inspection of the regiment on May 3, and found the state of discipline so admirable, that he was pleased to remit the unexpired term of imprisonment of men under sentence of court-martial.
In December 1863, His Excellency Sir William Mansfield, K.C.B., Commander-in-Chief, Bombay Presidency, inspected the regiment, and addressed it in nearly the following words:—“Seventy-second, I have long wished to see you. Before I came to this Presidency, I had often heard from one who was a great friend of yours, as well as of my own, Sir Colin Campbell, now Lord Clyde, that of all the regiments he had known in the course of his long service, he had not met with one in which discipline and steadiness in the field, as well as the most minute matters of interior economy, all the qualities, in fact, which contribute to make a good regiment, were united in so eminent a degree as in the 72nd Highlanders, when serving in his division in the Crimea, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Parke. I have never met Colonel Parke, but I have heard of the reputation he made at your head. It will afford me very great satisfaction to report to His Royal Highness Commanding-in-Chief, and to write as I shall do to Lord Clyde, that from the reports of all the general officers you have served under in India, and now, from my own personal observation, the 72nd Highlanders have in no way deteriorated during their service in India, but are now under my old friend and brother officer, Colonel Payn, in every respect, on the plains of Hindoostan, the same regiment that, when serving under Sir Colin Campbell on the shores of the Crimea, was considered by him a pattern to the British army.” After the inspection, his Excellency requested Lieutenant-Colonel Payn, C.B., to express to Lieutenant and Adjutant J. Thomson, and Quarter-master D. Munro, his sense of the zeal and ability which they had displayed in assisting their commanding officer to carry out the institutions that were now in full working order in the regiment.
By a General Order, dated 3d September 1863, the Queen, in commemoration of the services of the 72nd Highlanders in Her Majesty’s Indian dominions, was graciously pleased to command that the words “Central India” be worn on the colours, &c., of the regiment.