The Regiment de Meuron was a regiment of infantry originally raised in Switzerland in 1781. The regiment was named for its commander, Colonel Charles-Daniel de Meuron

Charles-Daniel de Meuron

Charles-Daniel de Meuron was the founder of a Swiss mercenary regiment, Regiment de Meuron, which worked in the service of the Dutch East India Company in Cape Town and Ceylon. Charles-Daniel was born in Neuchatel and joined the Swiss Guard. He rose to become a colonel and was made a count in 1763...

, who was born in Neuchâtel in 1738.

It served the Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

 in Ceylon

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 and Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

. With the British eyes on Ceylon a delegation was sent to see Count de Meuron where a deal was struck to hand over control of the Regiment to the British.