British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 73rd Regiment of Foot

By Steve Brown

Secondary Titles:

(Highland) from 1786 to 1809

Regimental History

1786:

Formed from 2nd Battalion 42nd Foot

1808:

2nd Battalion raised (24 December)

1817:

2nd Battalion disbanded (4 May)

Colonels

1786:

11 August

Maj. Gen. Sir William Medows, K.B.

1796:

2 November

Maj. Gen. Gerard, later Viscount Lake

1800:

14 February

Maj. Gen. George, Lord Harris, G.C.B.

Stations and Combats – 1st Battalion

1793:

India – siege of Pondicherry (in India since 1786)

1794:

India

1795:

To Ceylon (disembark 3 August) - capture of Ceylon

1796:

Ceylon

1797:

To India (April) - Madras

1798:

India - Poonamalee

1799:

India - Mallavelly, SERINGAPATAM

1800:

India

1801:

India - Gooty

1802:

India - Bellary

1803:

India - Gooty, Pondicherry

1804:

India - Madras

1805:

To England (depart 8 September)

1806:

England (disembark July), Scotland, Stirling Castle

1807:

Glasgow, Perth

1808:

To England (December)

1809:

To New South Wales (embark 13 January); stop at Isle of Wight; arrive 28 December

1810:

New South Wales (disembark 1 January)

1811:

New South Wales

1812:

New South Wales

1813:

New South Wales

1814:

To Ceylon (embark 24 January; arrive 17 August)

1815:

Ceylon

Stations and Combats – 2nd Battalion

1808:

2nd Battalion formed in Nottingham

1809:

England

1810:

England – Derby, Ashford

1811:

Ashford

1812:

England - Deal, Tower of London

1813:

Colchester, To Europe (embarked 25 May); Swedish Pomerania, Hanover, Gohrde, Holland

1814:

Netherlands - Antwerp, Merxem, Tournai

1815:

Netherlands - QUATRE BRAS, WATERLOO, Paris

Careers of Senior Officers (shown as highest rank attained in regiment in the period)

Col. Norman McLeod

Lieutenant-Colonel in 42nd Foot 2 September 1780; Founding commanding officer of the 73rd ; Colonel 22 November 1780; died in 1801.

Lt. Col. Alexander Trotter

Major on half-pay of 73rd Foot 9 February 1785; Lieutenant-Colonel 1 March 1794; Brevet Colonel 1 March 1798; Major-General a January 1805; Lieutenant-General 4 June 1811. Was on half-pay from 1785 to 1820. His son Lieutenant Thomas Trotter of the Scots Greys was killed at waterloo.

Lt. Col. James Spens

Major in 73rd Foot 5 April 1791; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 21 April 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel 3 October 1795; Major-General March 1798; Retired in 1799.

Major Sir William James Cockburne, Bart.

Major in 73rd Foot September 1794 (on transfer from 1st Foot); Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 9 January 1798; exchanged to 4th Foot 27 April 1802.

Lt. Col. Michael Monypenny

Major in 78th Foot May 1796; Lieutenant-Colonel in 73rd Foot 23 July 1799; commanded the 73rd at Seringapatam; retired January 1807.

Col. The Hon. George St John

Major in 73rd Foot 3 October 1795; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 4 April 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel 5 September 1801; Colonel 11 May 1802; died 1806.

Col. Lachlan MacQuarie

Born in Mull; Major, 86th Foot 3 May 1796; Lieutenant-Colonel 73rd Foot 7 November 1801; to New South Wales as Governor & Commander-in-Chief from 1809 until 1821; Colonel 25 July 1810; Major-General 4 June 1813; returned to England 1821; died 1824.

Lt. Col. William George Harris, K.C.H.

Born 1782, son of General Harris, 1st Baron Harris. Major in 73rd Foot 15 October 1806; Lieutenant-Colonel 29 December 1806; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 4 June 1814; commanded 2/73rd Foot in Germany at and at Waterloo; Major-General 19 July 1821; succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Harris May 1829; died in May 1845.

Lt. Col. Maurice Charles O’Connell

Born 1766 in Ireland; Major in 5th West India Regiment 23 May 1805; transferred to 73rd Foot 15 October 1806; Lieutenant-Colonel 4 May 1809; married 8 May 1810 to Mary, daughter of Captain William Bligh of Bounty fame; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 12 August 1819; Major-General 22 July 1830; knighted in 1834; Lieutenant-General 23 November 1841; Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales; commanded the forces in Australia 1838-47; died 1848.

Lt. Col. Robert Crawford

Major in North Cork Militia 25 October 1803; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 25 July 1810; ADC to the Irish staff 1812; Captain in 73rd Foot 15 March 1814; commanded a brigade at Bergen-op-Zoom; commandant of the citadel of Antwerp 2 September 1814; Lieutenant-Colonel on the half-pay of the 73rd, June 1817.

Lt. Col. Andrew Geils

Major in 73rd Foot 7 July 1808; Lieutenant-Colonel 4 June 1813; exchanged to half-pay 30 April 1818 due to ill-health.

Lt. Col. George Alexander Gordon

Major in 73rd Foot 1809; Lieutenant-Colonel 7 June 1814; retired 24 June 1817.

Major Dawson Kelly, C.B.

Served in the Peninsula on staff from November 1808 to March 1812 as DAQMG (to November 1811) and AQMG; Major in 73rd Foot 31 October 1811 (on transfer from 27th Foot); Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 18 June 1815; on half-pay in 1820; died 1837.

Sources:

Cannon, Richard. Historical Record of the Seventy-third Regiment: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment from the Period of its Being Raised as the Second Battalion of the Forty-second Royal Highlanders in 1780, and of its Subsequent Services to 1851. London: Parker, Furnivall & Parker, 1851.

Philippart, John. The Royal Military Calendar, or Army Service and Commission Book. London: A.J. Valpy, 1820.

London Gazette Website. March 2009.

The Napoleon Series – Peninsula Roll Call. March 2009.

A History of the British Army in Malta. April 2009.

 

Placed on the Napoleon Series: May 2009

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