Originally raised in 1817 as part of the army of the British East India Company, the regiment has been known by a number of names throughout its history.

[1] This was a unit of Indian natives from the Cuttack City of Odisha area and initially it was used to maintain order in the region, before moving to Northern Bengal in 1823 when it became known as the Rungpoor Light Infantry.

[1] The regiment served in a number of theatres during the war, including Persia, the Middle East, Turkey and Greece.

[5] Their first major operation saw them attack an Ottoman position that was doing significant damage to Allied forces with machine guns—this involved them going up a 300-foot (91 metre) vertical slope which had defeated both the Royal Marine Light Infantry and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers—however, the Gurkhas gained the position with ease.

[14] Between the First and Second World Wars the regiment was reduced to two battalions once more and they returned to the North-West Frontier where they were employed on garrison duties.

[15] Over the course of the conflict, battalions of the regiment fought in Italy and Burma, and also in Waziristan on the North West Frontier (1940–41) where they served as garrison troops and saw action against Pathan tribesmen.

[1][16] In January 1943 the 2nd Battalion was attached to the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade which had just returned from the Western Desert after being almost destroyed at the Battle of Gazala.

Captain Michael Allmand and Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun[19] were awarded the VC for their actions during the fighting around the Pin Hmi Road Bridge at the Battle of Mogaung in Burma on 23 June 1944 while serving with the 3rd Battalion[20] who were taking part Operation Thursday, which was the second Chindit expedition.

[22] As well as the two previously mentioned VCs, members of the battalion also received the following awards: 2 DSOs, 3 IOMs, 6 MCs, 4 IDSMs, 12 MMs, 3 US Silver Stars.

[1] The single battalion continued to rotate with the other Gurkha regiments between Hong Kong, Brunei and Church Crookham until 1 July 1994.