[9] In March 1743, the regiment was assembled at Perth in preparation for moving to London, then Flanders to join British forces fighting in the War of the Austrian Succession.

Scottish officials, including the Lord President of the Court of Session, Duncan Forbes warned the government this was contrary to a general understanding their service was restricted to Scotland.

Assured the move was only because George II wanted to inspect them, they arrived in London in May and were then ordered to Gravesend for shipment to Flanders.

Anger at the deception, allied to rumours they were going to the West Indies, a location notorious for high mortality rates, caused a mutiny; they set out for Scotland, led by Corporals Malcolm and Samuel MacPherson and Private Farquhar Shaw.

Two hundred other members of the regiment were distributed variously to garrisons in Jamaica, Gibraltar and Menorca, with the remainder shipped to Flanders.

[11][12] The regiment's first full combat was the disastrous Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745, where they surprised the French with their ferocity, and greatly impressed their commander, the Duke of Cumberland.

[13] Allowed "their own way of fighting", each time they received the French fire Colonel Sir Robert Munro ordered his men to "clap to the ground" while he himself, because of his corpulence, stood alone with the colours behind him.

[14] The rest of the regiment landed in England on 4 November and remained there in anticipation of a possible French invasion until after the rebellion ended.

In August 1763, the regiment fought in the Battle of Bushy Run while trying to relieve Fort Pitt, modern Pittsburgh, during Pontiac's Rebellion.

[26] In September 1778 a detachment from the regiment raided Fairhaven, Massachusetts, inflicting severe damage on the town's shipping industry.

[12] Following the end of the war in America, the 42nd were posted to Nova Scotia in 1783,[27] serving there until 1786 when they moved north to Cape Breton Island.

The lead troops of the 42nd reached the summit before the French could reload and launched a bayonet charge, hurling them back in confusion.

The now single battalion 42nd fought at the chaotic Battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815[42] under Lieutenant-colonel Sir Robert Macara, who was killed by French lancers.

[12] From 1847 to 1851 the regiment was posted to the garrison of the Imperial fortress of Bermuda, in British North America (Bermuda's garrison forming part of the Nova Scotia command until after the 1867 Confederation of Canada), arriving from Malta aboard HMS Vengeance (which had departed Malta on the 21 or 27, depending on the source) February with the 1st Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel D. A. Cameron) and HMS Resistance (the arrival of which at Malta had been delayed, resulting in its departing with the 2nd Battalion at a later date).

[46] The Vengeance and Deliverance then delivered the 20th (East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot from Bermuda to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 1849, convict James Cronin, on the hulk Medway at Ireland Island, was placed in solitary confinement from the 25th to the 29th for fighting.

For this, he was ordered to receive punishment (presumably flogging) on Tuesday, 3 July 1849, with the other convicts aboard the hulk assembled behind a rail to witness.

Thomas Cronin, his older brother, addressed him and, while brandishing a knife, rushed forward to the separating rail.

Three hundred men of the 42nd Regiment of Foot, in barracks on Ireland Island, responded to the scene under arms.

[58] The second line of Brian McNeill's song "The Baltic tae Byzantium" briefly references the 42nd as "The Gallant Forty Twa".

[59] The traditional Scots Language song "Twa Recruitin' Sergeants" refers to efforts by recruiters to lure Highlanders to the regiment.

[60] Gregory Burke's 2006 play Black Watch for the National Theatre of Scotland, based on interviews with soldiers and featuring as a recurring motif the songs The Gallant Forty Twa and Twa Recruitin' Sergeants, is a dramatised account of the regiment's part in Operation Telic.