90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers)
| 90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers) (Light Infantry) | |
|---|---|
 The 90th Regiment on parade, 1866 | |
| Active | 1794–1881 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Light Infantry |
| Battle honours | Mandora; Egypt; Martinique; Guadaloupe; South Africa 1846-7; Sevastopol; Lucknow; South Africa 1877-9[1] |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch |
The 90th Perthshire Light Infantry was a Scottish light infantry regiment of the British Army, active from 1794 to 1881. It was originally raised for service in the French Revolutionary Wars by Thomas Graham who was commissioned in February 1794 to raise "Our 90th Regiment of Foot, or Perthshire Volunteers".[2] Its first deployment was as part of the 1795 Quiberon Expedition; the following year they were dispatched to support the French Royalist Lieutenant-general François de Charette in his struggle with the Republicans.[3]
At the time the 90th was first raised, unusual for the time, Lieutenant Colonel Graham was given permission to uniform and drill his regiment as a light infantry battalion [4] but it only received the title '90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers) (Light Infantry)' in 1815. The Regiment continued to serve throughout the 19th century before being amalgamated into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in 1881.
After its raising, the 90th served in various expeditions before being sent to Egypt in 1800. During the Napoleonic Wars it was posted to the West Indies. There it participated in the seizure of the Danish Virgin Islands (1807), the invasion of Martinique (1809), and the invasion of Guadeloupe (1810). The regiment then garrisoned Quebec during the War of 1812. It later spent periods on garrison duty in the Mediterranean and in Ceylon, and fought in the Seventh Xhosa War of 1846-47.
In the 1850s, the 90th served throughout the Crimean War, and then fought in the Indian Mutiny, where members of the regiment won six Victoria Crosses. Later in the century it served in South Africa, fighting in the Ninth Xhosa War and the Anglo-Zulu War. The regiment was amalgamated with the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot in 1881, as part of the Childers Reforms, and became the 2nd Battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1948, and the Cameronians themselves ceased to exist in 1968, having chosen to be disbanded rather than amalgamated. The regiment was finally expunged from the Army List and ceased to exist as a regiment of the British Army in 1995. Normal for a regiment not amalgamated to remain on the list or suspended animation until such time to be struck out.
References
- ↑ The two sets of South African honours were awarded to the successor regiment, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), in 1882
- ↑ A.M Delavoye (1880)'Life of Thomas Graham', p.84
- ↑ Shand, Alexander Innes (1902). Wellington's Lieutenants. Smith, Elder & Company. p. 300.
- ↑ A.M Delavoye (1880)'Records of the 90th Regiment (Perthshire Light Infantry)', p.3
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