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{{For|other units with the same regimental number|76th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2012}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=76th Regiment of Foot
|image=DWR 76th Badge (RLH).jpg
|caption=Cap badge of the 76th Regiment of Foot
|dates=1787–1881
|country={{flag|Kingdom of Great Britain}} (1787–1800)<br>{{flag|United Kingdom}} (1801–1881)
|branch={{army|United Kingdom}}
|type=Line Infantry
|role=
|size= 11 Companies
|command_structure=
|current_commander= Lieutenant Colonel JMD Allardice (1880–1881)
|current_commander_label= Last Commanding Officer
|garrison=[[Wellesley Barracks]], [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]]
|ceremonial_chief= 
|ceremonial_chief_label= Last Colonel-in-Chief
|colonel_of_the_regiment= General Fredrick Darley George CB (1875–1881)
|colonel_of_the_regiment_label= Last Colonel of the Regiment
|nickname=''The Immortals''<br>''The Pigs''<br>''The Old Seven and Sixpennies''
|patron=
|motto= none
|colors= Red Facings
|march=''Quick: "Scotland the Brave"''<br>''Slow: "Logie o'Buchan"''
|mascot= Indian Elephant
|battles=[[Third Anglo-Mysore War]]<br>[[Second Anglo-Maratha War]]<br>[[Napoleonic Wars]]<br>[[War of 1812]]
|notable_commanders=
|anniversaries=
}}

The '''76th Regiment of Foot''' was a [[British Army]] regiment, raised in 1787. Under the [[Childers Reforms]] it amalgamated with the [[Duke of Wellington's Regiment|33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment]] to form the [[Duke of Wellington's Regiment]] in 1881.

==History==
[[File:Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Bt by Georg Siegmund Facius, after Lemuel Francis Abbott (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet]], founder of the regiment, by Georg Siegmund Facius after [[Lemuel Francis Abbott]].]]

===Formation===
The regiment was raised by [[Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet]] for service in [[India]] as the '''76th Regiment of Foot''' in October 1787.<ref name=regts>{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/076-787.htm |title=76th Regiment of Foot |publisher=regiments.org |access-date=30 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225110914/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/076-787.htm |archive-date=25 February 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref> In accordance with the Declaratory Act 1788 the cost of raising the regiment was recharged to [[East India Company]] on the basis that the act required that expenses "should be defrayed out of the revenues" arising there.<ref name=regts/> The majority of recruits were raised from [[Nottingham]] and [[Leicestershire]], but many of them also came from the Musgrave family estates around Hayton Castle, near [[Aspatria]], [[Cumbria]].<ref>Brereton & Savory, p. 79</ref>

The Royal Warrant for their raising was issued on 12 October 1787 and read:

'''GEORGE R.'''<br>
''Whereas We have thought fit to order a Regt of Foot to be''<br>
''forthwith raised under your Command, which is to consist of ten''<br>
''Companies, with 3 Sergts, 4 Corpls, 2 Drumrs & 71 private Men''<br>
''in each, with two Fifers to the Grenadier Compy and one''<br>
''Compy, of 8 Sergts, 8 Corpls, 4 Drumrs & 30 private Men with''<br>
''the usuals Comd. Officers, these are to authorise you by Beat of''<br>
''Drum or otherwise to raise so many Men in any Country or part''<br>
''of our Kingdom of Great Britain as shall be wanted to complete''<br>
''the said Regt, to the above mentioned numbers. And all above''<br>
''Given the 12th October. 1787 in the 27th Year of Our Reign.''<br>
''By H.M.'s Command (Sd.) Geo. Yonge''<ref>Hayden, p. 142</ref>

===India===
[[File:Aligarh fort, Aligarh.jpg|thumb|[[Moat]] at [[Aligarh Fort]] where the siege took place in September 1803]]
The regiment embarked for India in 1788 for service in the [[Third Anglo-Mysore War]] and saw action at the [[Siege of Bangalore]] in February 1791<ref>Hayden, p. 6–10</ref> and the [[Siege of Seringapatam (1792)|Siege of Seringapatam]] in February 1792.<ref name=locations>{{cite web|url=http://regiments.org/deploy/uk/reg-inf/076-1.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616043135/http://regiments.org/deploy/uk/reg-inf/076-1.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 June 2006|title=76th Regiment of Foot: Locations|publisher=Regiments.org|access-date=18 February 2017}}</ref><ref>Hayden, p. 8–12</ref> The regiment also saw service in the [[Second Anglo-Maratha War]] and fought at the [[Siege of Aligarh]] in September 1803.<ref name="Thackeray">Thackeray, chapter 2</ref> The regiment laid siege to [[Aligarh Fort]], a fort commanded by a French mercenary in Maratha service [[Pierre Cuillier-Perron]], and captured it.<ref name="Thackeray"/> The Marathas prepared for the siege by lining 14 ditches around the fort with sword-blades and poisoned [[Cheval de frise|chevaux-de-frise]].<ref name="Thackeray"/> The walls were reinforced with Maratha artillery, and the defenders also used tigers and lions of [[Scindia]]'s menagerie.<ref name="Thackeray"/> The British suffered 900 casualties in capturing the fort.<ref name="Thackeray"/> The regiment went on to fight at the [[Battle of Delhi (1803)|Battle of Delhi]] in September 1803, the [[Battle of Laswari]] in November 1803, and the [[Battle of Deeg]] in November 1804.<ref name=locations/> For their distinguished service in these actions, [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] authorized the regiment to have the word "[[Hindustan|Hindoostan]]" emblazoned upon the [[Colours, standards and guidons|regimental colour]]s, along with an elephant badge with a [[howdah]] atop the elephant, also inscribed with the word "Hindoostan".<ref>Hayden, p. 61</ref> The regiment returned to England and became the '''76th (Hindoostan) Regiment of Foot''' in October 1806.<ref name=regts/>

===Napoleonic Wars===
[[File:Battle of Plattsburgh II.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Plattsburgh]], September 1814]]
In 1807, the regiment was deployed to [[Jersey]] in the [[Channel Islands]] for garrison duty, remaining there until 1808, when it was deployed to Spain to take part in the [[Peninsular War]].<ref name=locations/> The regiment took part in the [[Battle of Corunna]] in January 1809 and was evacuated from the Peninsula later that month.<ref name=locations/> The regiment took part in the disastrous [[Walcheren Campaign]] in autumn 1809 and, having reverted to the title of '''76th Regiment of Foot''' in 1812,<ref name=regts/> returned to the Peninsula in 1813 seeing action at the [[Battle of Nivelle]] in November 1813<ref>Hayden, p. 87–89</ref> and the [[Battle of the Nive]] in December 1813.<ref>Hayden, p. 90–91</ref> It then embarked for North America for service in the [[War of 1812]] and saw action at the [[Battle of Plattsburgh]] in September 1814.<ref>Hayden, p. 104–106</ref>

===The Victorian era===
[[File:RebeccaRiots.gif|thumb|right|Depiction of the Rebecca Riots, ''Illustrated London News'' 1843]]
The regiment did not return from North America until 1827.<ref name=locations/> It was garrisoned in [[Ireland]] until 1834 when it departed for the [[West Indies]].<ref name="Hayden, p. 112">Hayden, p. 112</ref> The regiment was posted to the [[Bermuda Garrison|Garrison]] of the [[Imperial fortress]] [[British Overseas Territory|colony]] of [[Bermuda]], part of [[British North America]], from 20 May 1840,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=1840-05-19 |title=H. M. Steamer Pluto |at=Page 2, Column 1 |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |publisher=The Royal Gazette |quote=Arrived, on Thursday last, H. M. Steamer Pluto, Lt. Lunn, Commander, in 9 days from Barbados.-The Pluto brought up a detachment of 30 men of the seventy-sixth Regiment, under the command of Ensign H. Smith.-Passengers in the Pluto, Mrs. H. Smith and daughter, Quarter-Master and Mrs. Preston, and four children, Miss Whittaker, and A. G. Drinan, Esq.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=1840-05-19 |title=H. M. S. Vestal |at=Page 2, Column 1 |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |publisher=The Royal Gazette |quote=H. M. S. Vestal, Captain Carter, in 17 days from Halifax and H. M. S. Racehorse Hon. E. A. J. Harris, in 11 days from Bermuda, had arrived at Barbados, and were to sail thence about the 8th inst., with the 76th regt. (410) men under the command of Colonel Clark, for Bermuda.-The Racehorse, will, we understand, return to Barbados. (The Vestal and Racehorse, were signalled to the southward last evening.)}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=1840-05-19 |title=Vaccine Lymph |at=Page 2, Column 2 |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |publisher=The Royal Gazette |quote=Vaccine Lymph having, as our readers are already aware, been recently received in Bermuda, by the Army Medical Department in St. Georges, and by them kindly supplied to many, if not to all the civil practitioners of medicine throughout the Islands.---We know that apprehension is entertained that the Small Pox will he brought here from Barbados by the 76th Regt., now momently expected from that island; but we would observe that there is less likelihood of that disease being carried from place to place by those means than by many others, seemingly less probable. It is an invariable practice on receiving recruits into the Army, for them to undergo an inspection by a Medical Board, and should it be ascertained that the person has neither had the small or the kine pox, he is immediately vaccinated: and the same course is pursued with regard to women and children belonging to a regiment.)}}</ref> until 9 November 1841,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bermuda-online.org/britarmy.htm |title=Bermuda Online: British Army in Bermuda from 1701 to 1977 |access-date=18 May 2019 |archive-date=23 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723035420/http://www.bermuda-online.org/britarmy.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and on to [[Canada]] in 1841 before returning home in 1842.<ref name="Hayden, p. 112"/> The regiment were deployed to South Wales later in the year to help suppress the [[Rebecca Riots]].<ref name=capewell>{{cite web|url=http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/76foot.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313164125/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/76foot.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 March 2007|publisher=Family History in India|first=Roger|last= Capewell|title=76th Regiment of Foot|access-date=18 February 2017}}</ref> After that the regiment went to [[Corfu]] in 1848 and on to [[Malta]] in 1850 before sailing for [[Saint John, New Brunswick]] in March 1853.<ref>Hayden, p. 114</ref> It was garrisoned at [[Fredericton]] in [[New Brunswick]]<ref name=capewell/> before embarking for home again in September 1857.<ref>Hayden, p. 116</ref> It embarked for India in September 1863<ref>Hayden, p. 122</ref> and was stationed in [[Fort St. George, India|Fort St. George, Madras]]<ref name=capewell/> before moving on to [[Myanmar|Burma]] in January 1868, returning to India again in 1870 and sailing for England in 1876.<ref>Hayden, p. 130</ref>

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 76th was linked with the [[Duke of Wellington's Regiment|33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment]], and assigned to district no. 9 at [[Wellesley Barracks]] in [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]].<ref name=training>{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/depot/1873.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060210172841/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/depot/1873.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 February 2006|title=Training Depots|publisher=Regiments.org|access-date=16 October 2016}}</ref> On 1 July 1881 the [[Childers Reforms]] came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment to form the [[Duke of Wellington's Regiment]].<ref name=regts/>

==Battle honours==
The regiment's battle honours were:<ref name=regts/>

*Hindoostan
*Peninsular War: [[Battle of Nive|Nive]], Peninsula

==Colonels==
Colonels of the Regiments were:<ref name= regts/>
;76th Regiment of Foot (1787) ;76th (Hindoostan) Regiment of Foot (1806)
*1787–1812: Gen. [[Sir Thomas Musgrave, 7th Baronet]]
;76th Regiment of Foot (1812)
*1813–1814: Lt.-Gen. Sir [[George Prévost]]
*1814–1834: Lt-Gen [[Christopher Chowne]]
*1834–1836: Gen. Sir [[Peregrine Maitland]], GCB 
*1843: Lt-Gen. [[George Middlemore]], CB 
*1843–1853: Lt-Gen. Sir [[Robert Arbuthnot (British Army officer)|Robert Arbuthnot]], KCB
*1853–1862: Gen. [[William Jervois (British Army officer)|William Jervois]], KH
*1862–1871: Lt-Gen. Joseph Clarke
*1871–1875: Lt-Gen. Matthew Smith
*1875–1881: Gen. Frederick Darley George, CB
*''1881: Regiment amalgamated with [[33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment of Foot]] as the second battalion''

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|title=History of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment|first1= J.M.|last1=Brereton|first2=A.C.S.|last2=Savory|year=1993|publisher=Duke of Wellington's Regiment|isbn=0-9521552-0-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Hayden|first=Frederick Arthur|title=Historical Record of the 76th "Hindoostan" Regiment from Its Formation in 1787 to 30th June 1881|series=Spine title:Historical records Seventy-sixth "Hindoostan" Regiment |publisher=Johnson's Head|year=1908|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012177494}}
*{{cite book|url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/t/thackeray/william_makepeace/gahagan/chapter2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623054041/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/t/thackeray/william_makepeace/gahagan/chapter2.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-06-23 |title=The Tremendous Adventures of Major Gahagan Chapter 2|first= William Makepeace |last=Thackeray|publisher=CreateSpace|year=2013|isbn=978-1490979120}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=The British Army in the West Indies: Society and the Military in the Revolutionary Age |first=Roger Norman |last=Buckley| publisher=University Press of Florida |year= 1998 |isbn=9780813016047 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htVbIKtEisEC&pg=PA136}}

{{Yorkshire Regiment}}
{{Regiments of Foot}}

[[Category:Infantry regiments of the British Army|76 Regiment of Foot]]
[[Category:Regiments of the British Army in the American Revolutionary War]]
[[Category:British military units and formations of the War of 1812]]
[[Category:The Duke of Wellington's Regiment]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1787]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1881]]
[[Category:1787 establishments in Great Britain]]
[[Category:1881 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]