For other units with the same regimental number, see 78th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation)

78th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation)

78th Regiment of Foot may refer to:* 78th Fraser Highlanders - properly the 78th Regiment of Foot, also "Fraser's Highlanders" 1758 - 1763...

The 78th Regiment of Foot was a Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line

Scottish regiment

A Scottish regiment is any regiment that at some time in its history has or had a name that referred to Scotland or some part, thereof, and adopted items of Scottish dress...

 raised in late 18th Century Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 for service against the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 during the Napoleonic Wars.

History

The original 78th Foot was raised by the Earl of Seaforth

Earl of Seaforth

Earl of Seaforth was a title in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Great Britain. It was held by the family of Mackenzie from 1623 to 1716, and again from 1771 to 1781....

 in 1778. This unit served in India in the Mysore Campaigns and on 12 September 1786 its designation was changed to the 72nd Foot (Seaforth Highlanders). Later, on 7 March 1793, Francis Humberstone MacKenzie

Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth

Francis Humberston Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth FRS was a British politician and general and Chief of the Highland Clan Mackenzie....

 raised the "78th (Highland) Regiment of Foot". In 1795 it was renamed the 78th (Highland) Regiment of Foot, or "The Ross-shire Buffs". During the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

 the 2nd Battalion of the regiment served in the Mediterranean for the Sicilian Campaign of 1806, quartered at Syracuse, and the Alexandria expedition of 1807. The 78th fought under Wellington at Assaye

Battle of Assaye

The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company...

 in the Maharatta campaign

Second Anglo-Maratha War

The Second Anglo-Maratha War was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.-Background:...

 and were awarded an Assaye Colour. They saw garrison duty in Goa before joining the Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

 Campaign from August 1811 to the end of 1816, after which they returned to India and thence to Britain.

It fought in the Anglo-Persian War

Anglo-Persian War

The Anglo-Persian War lasted between November 1, 1856 and April 4, 1857, and was fought between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Persia . In the war, the British opposed an attempt by Persia to reacquire the city of Herat...

 of 1857 under the command of General Foster Stalker.
In April 1873 under the "Linked Regiments Depot System" the 78th Highlanders were linked with the 71st Highland Light Infantry at 55 Brigade Depot, Fort George

Fort George, Highland

Fort George , is a large 18th century fortress near Ardersier, to the north-east of Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. It was built to pacify the Scottish Highlands in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745, replacing an earlier Fort George built with the same aim after the...

.

In 1881 it was amalgamated with 72nd Highlanders

72nd Regiment of Foot

The 72nd Highlanders was a British Army Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line raised in the late 18th Century in Scotland for service against the French...

 forming the 2nd Battalion of The Seaforth Highlanders

Seaforth Highlanders

The Seaforth Highlanders was a historic regiment of the British Army associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Seaforth Highlanders have varied in size from two battalions to seventeen battalions during the Great War...

 (Ross-shire Buffs)

Fraser's Highlanders

In 1757, the 78th Fraser Highlanders

78th Fraser Highlanders

The 78th Regiment, Regiment of Foot otherwise known as the 78th Fraser Highlanders was a British infantry regiment of the line unit raised in Scotland in 1757, to fight in the French and Indian War.-History:...

 were raised by Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Simon Fraser of Lovat and sent to fight in the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

. At the end of the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

in 1763, the 78th was disbanded. Apart from the regimental number, the unit has no relation to the 78th Foot raised in 1778.

External links

• Queen's Own Highlanders Association