De Meuron Regiment

Known as HM Regiment de Meuron

Flag of de Meuron regiment

Chronology

• 1781 raised in Neuchatel, Switzerland (100% Protestant and two thirds Swiss personnel), as the Le Régiment de Meuron after its commander, Comte Charles de Meuron. The regiment was a private regiment with Charles de Meuron the proprietor. At the time of its establishment, Neuchatel was ruled by the King of Prussia. The regiment was to serve the Dutch East India Company protecting the Dutch colonies.
• 1795 transferred allegiance to the British Army as Meuron's Regiment after the British took Ceylon from the Dutch
• 1816 disbanded in England at Harwich (with free passage to the continent)

de Meuron Regiment at Seringapatam

Service in British India

• 1782 Ceylon
• 1783 helped the French defend Cuddalore
• 1788 Ceylon
• 1795 two companies taken prisoner by the British at Trincomalee
• 1799 4th Mysore War under Arthur Wellesley
• 1806 left India for Malta

Records

National Archives, Kew

• II. War Department In-Letters And Papers: 1. Of the French Wars period: e. India, Ceylon and East Indies: Mission of Cleghorn to detach the De Meuron regiment from the service of the Dutch East India Company in Ceylon WO 1/361
• Commissary General of Musters Office and successors: General Muster Books and Pay Lists De Meuron's (Swiss) Regiment WO 12 /11960-11972

British Library

The British Library has the books

• Le Régiment Meuron, 1781-1816 by Guy de Meuron 1982, also available as a Preview Google Book, see below
• The Swiss Regiment Meuron at the Cape and afterwards, 1781-1816 by Adolphe Linder, published 2000 at Cape Town by the Castle Military Museum

Switzerland

• The archives in Switzerland consulted while researching the book Le Régiment Meuron, 1781-1816 by Guy de Meuron may be seen in this link (Google Books), including a mention of records at the Archives de l’Etat in Neuchatel “Fonds Registres Rgt Meuron, 28 cartons, inventaire une page.”
• This link is about records in Neuchâtel. Page 167 mentions Pièces Annexes, in the Archives de l’Etat with the dossier title Militaire (Service à l’Étranger), and page 172 refers to articles about the Regiment de Meuron

Fibis

• German

External Links

• Regiment de Meuron Wikipedia. More detailed French version Wikipedia
• HM Regiment de Meuron ccv.northwestcompany.com
• de Meuron Regiment www.library.mq.edu.au
• Le Régiment de Meuron www.regiments.org, an archived site.
• "His Majesty's Regiment de Meuron" by Julian James Cotton. Originally published in the Calcutta Review Vol. 117 October 1903, republished in the Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon Vol. LIV January-December 1964.
• "New Light on an Old Controversy: How the Regiment de Meuron became part of the British Army" by R L Brohier Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon Volume XLIII no.2, April 1953.
• Chapter 5 "Capitulation avec la Compagnie hollandaise des Indes orientales (1781)" Le Régiment Meuron, 1781-1816 by Guy de Meuron. ( French language ) 1982 Google Books (Preview). This book is available at the British Library
• "The Meuron Regiment at the Cape, 1783-1788" by Nigel Penn, now an archived webpage. Download a document to your computer which then must be opened. Presented at a conference in October, 2003. unibas.ch
• "Lodge "La Réunion Neuchâteloise", Colombo Sri Lanka 1790-1796" html version, original pdf MasonicLib
• De Meuron Regiment International Ceylon Database: Military, part of Kyle Joustra’s website. Includes some names of soldiers.
• Der letzte Schweizer NZZ Online 29 November 2009 (German language)

Historical books online

• Narrative of the sufferings and adventures of Henderick Portenger, a Private Soldier of the late Swiss Regiment De Mueron, who was wrecked on the shores of Abyssinia in the Red Sea by R De May, as told by Henderick Portenger 1819 Google Books