[2] On 23 January 1788, Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, joined the regiment as a young lieutenant.

[3] The regiment embarked for the West Indies in 1793 for service in the French Revolutionary Wars; it took part in the capture of Martinique in March 1794 and the attack on Guadeloupe in April 1794 before returning to England in October 1796.

It fought under Major General Isaac Brock at the siege of Detroit in August 1812[5] and the Battle of Queenston Heights in October 1812.

[13] It formed part of an army which advanced up the River Irrawaddy to the Kingdom of Ava and then captured Bagan in February 1826.

[14] Patrick Cleburne, a private in the regiment from 1846 to 1849, subsequently moved to United States and rose to major general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.