Page:Historical Record of the Fifty-Sixth, Or the West Essex Regiment of Foot.djvu/63

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autumn the regiment proceeded to Birr, with detachments to Kilkenny, Banagher, Carlow, and Shannonbridge.

On the 17th of November, Lieut.-General Sir Hudson Lowe was removed to the Fiftieth Regiment, and the colonelcy of the was conferred on Lieut.-General the Earl of Westmorland.

In March, 1843, the several detachments were ordered to head quarters at Birr; but the regiment had been collected little more than a week, when it was again found necessary to detach four companies to Cashel, Tipperary, Bansha, and Dungarvon. In April, the head-quarters marched to Fermoy, and from thence to Cork, where the regiment was concentrated, in expectation of being removed to England. The public service, however, required that it should remain in Ireland, and it has since furnished detachments to Ballincollig, Bandon, Buttevant, Mallow, Dummanway, Skibbereen, Millstreet, &c., in order to be in readiness to aid the civil power, if its services should be required, in consequence of meetings of large masses of the people, to agitate the repeal of the union between Great Britain and Ireland.

At the close of 1843, to which this Record is brought, the head-quarters were at Cork, with four companies, under the command of Major Norman, detached to Clonmel, and one company at Millstreet.

Regiment is distinguished for its career of valuable service to the crown and kingdom; and it was conspicuous for its pre-eminent efficiency in point of numbers and discipline during the war from 1803 to 1815, during which period it was augmented to three battalions, which were all employed on foreign service. It was a favourite corps in England, particularly in the county of Surrey; and although many men were lost by casualties abroad, yet its effectives