The 86th Regiment of Foot was an infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 regiment of the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

, formed in 1793 and amalgamated into The Royal Irish Rifles following the Childers Reforms

Childers Reforms

The Childers Reforms restructured the infantry regiments of the British army. The reforms were undertaken by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell reforms....

 in 1881.

The regiment was raised in 1793 as a volunteer corps in Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, and taken into the British Army the following year as the 86th (Shropshire Volunteers). In 1795, after the Battle of Groix

Battle of Groix

The Second Battle of Groix was a naval engagement that took place on 23 June 1795 during the French Revolutionary War off the west coast of France....

 it absorbed the remnants of the disbanded 118th Regiment of Foot (Fingall's Regiment)

118th Regiment of Foot

Three regiments of the British Army have been numbered the 118th Regiment of Foot:*Originally an infantry regiment of the British Army was formed in 1761 by the regimentation of independent companies and disbanded in 1762....

, which had been raised in 1794 for service as marines.

In 1806 it became the 86th (Leinster) Regiment of Foot, and then in 1812 it was renamed as the 86th (Royal County Down) Regiment of Foot.

Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

 recipients

• Captain Henry Edward Jerome
  Henry Edward Jerome
  Major General Henry Edward Jerome was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Career:...
  
   - 1858, Jhansi
  Jhansi
  Jhansi Hindi:झाँसी, , Marathi: झाशी, is a historical city of India. Jhansi is the administrative headquarters of Jhansi District and Jhansi Division. The original walled city grew up around its stone fort, which crowns a neighboring rock. This district is on the bank of river Betwa.The National...
  
   (Indian Rebellion of 1857
  Indian Rebellion of 1857
  The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
  
  ).
• Lieutenant Hugh Stewart Cochrane
  Hugh Stewart Cochrane
  Colonel Hugh Stewart Cochrane VC was a recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions, as a 28 year old lieutenant, during the Indian Mutiny. He later achieved the rank of Colonel and commanded the 43rd Foot and its successor, the 1st Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry...
  
   - 1858, Jhansi (Indian Rebellion of 1857).
• Private James Byrne
  James Byrne (VC)
  James Byrne VC , born at Newtown, Co Wicklow, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
  
   - 1858, Jhansi (Indian Rebellion of 1857).
• Private James Pearson - 1858, Jhansi (Indian Rebellion of 1857).