34th Regiment of Foot

Also known as The Border Regiment.

Chronology

• 1702 raised in East Anglia as Lord Lucas's Regiment of Foot
• 1712 disbanded
• 1715 reformed
• 1751 numbered the 34th Regiment of Foot
• 1782 became the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot
• 1881 amalgamated with the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot to become the 1st Battalion The Border Regiment
• 1959 amalgamated with The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) to become 2nd Battalion, King's Own Royal Border Regiment as part of the King's Division
• 2006 merged with the other regiments of North West England to become The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment

Service in India

• 1801 Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (Kaffir War)
• 1802 India
• 1805 Wallajabad
• 1806-10 Bellary
• 1812-14 Secunderabad
• 1816 Vellore
• 1817-18 3rd Maratha War (Pindari Campaign)
• 1819 Bangalore
• 1820 Madras
• 1822 Wallajabad
• 1823 Madras then to England
• 1857 Indian Mutiny - see below
• 1861-62 Fyzabad
• 1865-67 Moorar then to England
• 1876-78 Ferozepore
• 1879-80 Bengal/Afghanistan
• 1881 Agra
• 1885 Sialkot
• 1889 Burma then to England

Indian Mutiny

The 34th Foot landed in India during the Indian Mutiny after having spent approximately one year back in England following their involvement in the Crimean War (where they served in the siege of Sebastopol and the attack upon the Redan). The 34th saw significant service during the Mutiny following their arrival in Calcutta in October of 1857, serving at Cawnpore, at the final siege and reduction of the city of Lucknow and finally in the Trans-Gogra Campaign against the fleeing rebels in Nepal in early 1859. See the 88th Regiment of Foot for details on some of these actions.

Bibliography

John Kitzmiller, In Search of the Forlorn Hope: A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and their Records (1640 to WWI), 2 vols (Salt Lake City: Manuscript Publishing Foundation, 1988), ISBN 0961926031

Philip Haythornthwaite, The Colonial Wars Source Book (London: Arms & Armour, 1996), ISBN 1854091964; (London: Caxton, 2000) ISBN 185409436X

Norman K Crowder, British Army Pensioners Abroad (Baltimore: Genealogical Pub Co, 1995), ISBN 0806314605

Death by duel at Vellore June 1805

Murder by pistol duel of Captain James Bull by Lieutenant Richard Sandys (Sands) 5 June 1805 at Vellore, Madras Presidency

• Memoirs of George Elers, Captain in the 12th Regiment of Foot (1777-1842) 1903, page 171 Archive.org
• A collection of the charges, opinions, and sentences of general courts martial: as published by authority; from the year 1795 to the present time by Charles James 1820, page 231 Google Books

External Links

• 34th Regiment of Foot www.britishempire.co.uk
  
• 34th Regiment of Foot Wikipedia
  
• The Border Regiment Wikipedia
  
• King's Own Royal Border Regiment Wikipedia
  
• 34th (the Cumberland) Regiment of Foot including deployments Regiments.org, an archived website.
• The Border Regiment including deployments: 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived website.
• Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life. It houses the collections of Cumbria’s County Infantry Regiment – the 34th Cumberland and 55th Westmorland Regiments 1702-1881, which became The Border Regiment 1881-1959.
• Irregular Correspondence is a collection of letters by the three eldest sons of John and Eliza Laurie, to their parents. Includes the letters, enroute to India in 1857 and from India 1858-1861, of Julius Laurie of the 34th Foot. He arrived in India as a Lieutenant and became a Captain by purchase in 1861. (Website by William Dyson-Laurie)
• Border Regiment longlongtrail.co.uk. Territorial Force !/4 and 2/4 (Cumberland and Westmoreland) Battalion, Border Regiment sailed for India 29 September 1914 and 4 March 1915, and were in Burma and in India throughout the First World War.
• 2/4 Border Regiment in India 1916-1919 includes photographs taken at Gharial, (Murree Hills), and the Mohmand Blockade Line. king-emperor.com
• 9th Battalion, The Border Regiment in Assam and Burma by tikhaiall BBC WW2 People’s War
  • (Untitled) 9th Battalion, The Border Regiment (undated)
  • 9th Border 16 January 2004
  • 9th Border: In Assam 16 January 2004
  • 9 Border and "Pots and Pans" 12 March 2004
  • More from "Pots and Pans": 9th Borders in Burma 14 March 2004
• “The Regimental History of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment” army.mod.uk, now an archived webpage.

The constituent regiments are the 4th, 8th, 30th, 34th, 40th, 47th, 55th, 59th, 63rd, 81st, 82nd and 96th Regiments of Foot.

Historical books on-line

• A historical account of the services of the 34th & 55th regiments, the linked line battalions in the 2nd or Cumberland & Westmorland subdistrict brigade, from the periods of their formation until the present time by George Noakes 1875 (Archive.org) Note: the history of the two regiments is intertwined.
  

The 34th landed at Madras in 1803, page 50

The following pages are also relevant:

page 58, page 61, page 131 for service from 1857

Page 72 advises that the practice of providing an evening meal was started in the 34th Regiment and was later adopted generally in the Army.

• Sketches of India by 'An Officer for Fire-Side Travellers At-Home' [Captain Moyle Sherer] 2nd edition, with additions 1824 Archive.org. The author arrived in Madras in July 1818, and left a year later for Calcutta. The author's Wikipedia page indicates he was with the 34th Regiment of Foot.
• A fly on the wheel; or, How I helped to govern India by Lieut.-Col. Thomas H Lewin 1912. 1885 edition with illustrations. Archive.org. He arrived in India 1857, expecting to join the Bengal Army, but was appointed as an officer in the 34th Regiment. 1861 onwards he was with a battalion of military police, and then became a District Superintendent of Police.
• Diary of 2/4th Battalion the Border Regiment, 1914-19 in India and Afghanistan. This Battalion was formed during the First World War and was part of the Territorial Force. Archive.org
  • Includes a list of those who died