The 92nd after remaining a year at Aldershot, during which nothing of note occurred, left for Portsmouth on the 1st of March 1866, and embarked on the same day for Ireland, Lt.-Col. Hamilton commanding. The regiment disembarked at Kingstown on the 5th, and proceeded to the Curragh Camp, where it remained till the 9th, when it removed to Dublin, with the exception of A and C companies, which were left at the Curragh to go through a course of musketry instruction. On the regiment leaving Aldershot, a most gratifying report concerning it was sent to headquarters; the 92nd Highlanders, the Brigade General reported,—
“Are well drilled, their conduct sober, orderly, and soldierlike; discipline good, and all one could desire in a well regulated corps.”
During its stay in Ireland the 92nd had a taste of the unpleasant duty of aiding the civil power. On the 31st of December 1867, two detachments were sent out for this purpose from the Curragh Camp, where the whole regiment was then stationed, one, under command of Major A. W. Cameron, to Cork; and the other, under command of Captain A. Forbes Mackay, to Tipperary. These detachments seem to have performed their duty effectively and without the sad necessity of resorting to extreme measures;[567] they did not return to Dublin, the former remaining at Cork and the latter proceeding to that place on the 18th of January 1868. Here these detachments were joined by the rest of the regiment on the 25th of January, on which day it embarked at Queenstown for India, sailing next day under command of Lt.-Col. Hamilton. The regiment proceeded by the overland route, and landed at Bombay Harbour on the 26th of February. Here the 92nd was transhipped into three vessels to be taken to Kurrachee, where headquarters arrived on the 8th of March. From Kurrachee this detachment made its way partly by river (the Indus), partly by rail, and partly by road, to Julinder, in the Punjaub, which it reached on the 30th of March, and was joined by the remaining portion of the regiment on the 7th of April. During its stay at Julinder the 92nd furnished detachments regularly to garrison Fort Govindghur, Umritsur, and had the honour, in February 1870, to take part in the reception at Meean Meer of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh; on this occasion the regiment was commanded by Lt.-Col. M’Bean, who had been promoted to the command of the 92nd in room of Lt.-Col. Hamilton. Detachments, consisting mostly of young and sickly men, were also sent occasionally to Dalhousie to be employed in road-making in the Chumba Hills.
The 92nd remained quartered at Julinder until the 18th of December 1871, on which day headquarters and three companies under command of Major G. H. Parker, proceeded by rail to Delhi to form part of the force collected there at the Camp of Exercise. Here it was posted to the 1st brigade (Col. N. Walker, C.B., 1st Buffs) of the 2nd division commanded by Major-General M’Murdo, C.B. The remaining three companies joined headquarters on the following day. The camp of exercise was broken up on the 1st of February 1872, and in the brigade order issued on the occasion by Col. Walker, he stated that—
“The last six weeks have added to the interest I have for many years taken in the career of my old friends the 92nd Highlanders;”
he also specially mentioned the name of Captain Chalmer of the 92nd, for the valuable services which the latter invariably rendered him.
On the 2nd of February the regiment set out on its march to Chukrata, which it reached on the 2nd of March.
We have much pleasure in referring our readers to the plate of [Colonels of the 91st, 92nd, and 93rd regiments], on which we give a portrait of the Marquis of Huntly, who raised the regiment, and was afterwards the last Duke of Gordon, from a painting by A. Robertson, miniature painter to H.R.H. the late Duke of Sussex, and kindly lent us by the Duke of Richmond for our engraving. The portrait was painted in 1806 A.D., and exhibited the same year at the Royal Academy.
The Duke of Gordon’s statue stands in Castle Street, Aberdeen, with the inscription “First Colonel 92nd Gordon Highlanders” at the foot of the granite pedestal. His familiar name in his own district was “The Cock of the North.”
The 92nd uniform is the full Highland costume of Gordon tartan. The officers have a black worm through their lace, as a token of mourning for Sir John Moore.