55th Regiment of Foot

The Border Regiment

Chronology

1755 raised in Stirling by George Perry as the 57th Regiment of Foot
1757 re-ranked as the 55th Regiment of Foot
1782 became the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot
1881 amalgamated with the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot to become the 2nd 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 3rd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border)

Service in British India

1830 India
1834 Coorg Campaign
1840 1st China War
1863 India
1864 Bhutan
1864 Madras
1865 Lucknow
1869 Dum Dum
1869 Dewanghiri
1869 Chakratta
1873 Cherat
1874 Roorkee
1875 Delhi
1890 Multan
1897 Quetta
1899 Bareilly
1902 Burma
1929 Rawalpindi
1931 Landi Kotal
1934 Ferozepore
1938 Calcutta
1941 Poona
1942 Ceylon
1943 India/Burma

The Ogilby Trust website Book Search has details of the book 55th Regiment in India; or, a record of events during six years' service in India; 1863 to 1869 by Sergeant Major T H Vickers, published Chakrata: 55th Regimental Printing Press, 1871 second edition. 254 pages and 16 pages. "An excellent example of its type, this history was produced entirely by other ranks ('Printers: Privates J Hanrahan and B Flaherty; Book-Binder, Sergeant G Bremner') and published on a moveable press. The text has a full roll of the men who left for India in 1863, lists of casualties including women and children, notes on marches and a good 30 page account of the Bhootan campaign. The 16 pages added to the second edition reprint a prize essay on the dress of British infantry".

This book is available at the National Library of Scotland. It is not in the British Library catalogue.

Transfers from other regiments in India

Some men transferred from the 48th Regiment of Foot in 1834, when it returned to England.

External Links

Wikipedia

Other

55th (the Westmoreland) Regiment of Foot including deployments Regiments.org, an archived website.
The Border Regiment including deployments: 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived website.
55th Regiment of Foot www.britishempire.co.uk
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.
Black Soldiers in Northamptonshire Regiments of the British Army wellingboroughrec.org.uk. William Damerun, a Eurasian enlisted at age 7 and served in the 74th Foot 24/09/1800-27/09/1805 (under age), the 94th Foot, period not noted, but under age, the 69th Foot 25/09/1807-19/07/1824, the 48th Foot 20/07/1824-31/07/1834, and the 55th Foot, 01/07/1834-30/11/1837 when he was discharged on medical grounds. He was a musician by trade. His brother James joined the 69th Foot 01/08/1808 as a drummer, aged 7 or 8, served in the same regiments and was discharged from the 55th Foot on medical grounds 30/11/1842
2nd Battalion Border Regiment left Malta 21 Feb 1890 for Bombay maltaramc.com
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, now archived.
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 online

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 content is only given for first three and a bit chapters and the history of the two regiments is intertwined. The Regiment arrived in India in 1830 in Madras page 73, went to China in 1841 page 78, and left for Calcutta in 1863,page 143
Madras Quarterly Medical Journal Extensive reports by the Regimental Surgeon on the 55th's unhealthy stationing at Secunderabad in 1836/37 (Google Books)
"Monument to the Westmoreland Regiment The 55th Regiment of Foot in Dinghai City on Zhoushan Island" [1841-1844] by Keith Stevens and Jennifer Welch Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 38 (1998), page 383 (12 pages). From Hong Kong Journals online hkjo.lib.hku.hk. Archive.org version.
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