The 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) was a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

raised by the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

in 1742. It transferred to the command of the

in 1862. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 103rd Regiment of Foot in 1881 to form the

Royal Dublin Fusiliers The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was an Irish infantry Regiment of the British Army created in 1881, one of eight Irish regiments raised and garrisoned in Ireland, with its home depot in Naas. The Regiment was created by the amalgamation of two Brit ...

History

Formation

The regiment was raised by the

as the Madras Europeans from independent companies in 1742 – "European" indicating it was composed of British soldiers, not Indian sepoys. It saw action at the

siege of Arcot The Siege of Arcot (23 September – 14 November 1751) took place at Arcot, India between forces of the British East India Company led by Robert Clive allied with Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah and forces of Nawab of the Carnatic, Chanda Sahib, alli ...

in autumn 1751 during the

Second Carnatic War The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1744 and 1763. The conflicts involved n ...

and went on to fight at the Battle of Plassey in June 1757, the Battle of Condore in December 1758 and the Battle of Wandiwash in January 1760 during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

. It also fought at the siege of Pondicherry in September 1760 during the

Third Carnatic War The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1744 and 1763. The conflicts involved ...

. It became the 1st Madras Europeans, on formation of the

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit, ...

and 3rd Madras Europeans, in 1766. It went on to become the 1st Madras European Regiment in 1774. After that it took part in the

siege of Nundydroog The siege of Nundydroog was conducted by British East India Company forces under the command of General Charles Cornwallis in October 1791, during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. The fortress of Nundydroog, was held by the forces of Tipu Sultan, th ...

in October 1791 and the siege of Seringapatam in February 1792 during the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Angl ...

Early nineteenth century

The regiment next took part in expedition to the Dutch East Indies seeing action at the capture of Amboyna in February 1796 and its recapture in February 1810, the capture of

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

in April 1801 and its recapture in August 1810 and the capture of Banda in March 1796 and its recapture in August 1810.

The Victorian era

The regiment returned to India in 1816 and took part in the

Battle of Mahidpur The Battle of Mahidpur was fought during the Third Anglo-Maratha War between the Holkar faction of the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company at Mahidpur, a town in the Malwa region, on 21 December 1817. On 21 December 1817, ...

in December 1817 during the

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha ter ...

. It was deployed to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

in 1824 for service in the

First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmes ...

: it formed part of an army which advanced up the River Irrawaddy to the

Kingdom of Ava The Kingdom of Ava ( my, အင်းဝခေတ်, ) was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1364 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsaing, Pinya and Sagaing t ...

. It returned to India arriving in Madras in 1826. It transferred to Malacca in 1835 and became the 1st Madras (European) Fusiliers in 1843. After returning to India in early 1852 it was deployed to the Province of

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon langua ...

in April 1852 during the

Second Anglo-Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( my, ဒုတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Em ...

. The regiment fought at the siege and relief of Lucknow in November 1857 during the

Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

. Three members of the regiment were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for their actions during the siege. After the Crown took control of the

Presidency armies The presidency armies were the armies of the three presidencies of the East India Company's rule in India, later the forces of the British Crown in India, composed primarily of Indian sepoys. The presidency armies were named after the presiden ...

in the aftermath of the Rebellion, the regiment became the 1st Madras Fusiliers in July 1858 and then the 1st Royal Madras Fusiliers in May 1861. It was then renumbered as the 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) on transfer to the

in September 1862. The regiment embarked for England in 1870 and was then deployed to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in April 1876 and to Ceylon in 1879. As part of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 102nd was linked with the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers), and assigned to district no. 66 at Naas Barracks in County Kildare. On 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) to form the

Plassey the tiger

The 102nd kept a tiger, named Plassey, during their deployments in India and the regiment's garrison at Dover. Named after the Battle of Plassey, the

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present in ...

cub was among a pair captured by Captain Frank Thackwell of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, and later gifted to the 102nd. Plassey was among the other mascots of the 102nd, that being a dog and an antelope. Plassey came to be such a symbol of the regiment that the cap badge showed him. After the regiment was shipped back to Europe, Plassey stayed with the Dover garrison, where he lived alongside a pair of

leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus ''Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

. However, after having "alarmed" residents, Plassey was sent to the London Zoo, where he died in 1877.

Battle honours

Battle honours won by the regiment were:

Victoria Crosses

*Private Thomas Duffy, Indian Mutiny (6 September 1857) *Private John Ryan, Indian Mutiny (26 September 1857) *Private John Smith, Indian Mutiny (16 November 1857)

Colonels of the Regiment

Colonels of the Regiment included: ;102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) *1862–1881: Gen. Sir

Robert John Hussey Vivian General Sir Robert John Hussey Vivian (1802 – 3 May 1887) was a British officer in the Madras infantry from the Vivian family. Life He was the natural son of Sir Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian. He was born in 1802. He was brought up as one o ...

, GCB

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:102nd Regiment Of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) Infantry regiments of the British Army Honourable East India Company regiments Military units and formations established in 1742 Military units and formations disestablished in 1881 1742 establishments in British India