The raising of the 97th Regiment was authorised by a royal warrant dated 25 March 1824: the colonelcy was given to Major General Sir James Lyon, with the headquarters to be established at Gosport.

[2][4] On 30 March the headquarters of the regiment were moved to Winchester, by which time recruiting parties were active throughout the United Kingdom.

[2][12][15] They moved to Malta in 1847 before departing for Halifax, Nova Scotia in the following year, relieving the 23rd (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot.

[12][17] By March 1854 it seemed inevitable that war would break out with the Russian Empire, and the 97th Foot were ordered to "hold themselves in readiness" to proceed to the Crimea.

[19] They found themselves diverted to Greece, where they formed part of an Anglo-French occupation force suppressing the Uprising in Epirus.

[26] The 97th Foot's time in England was to be short: in May 1857 a rebellion broke out among native soldiers of the East India Company.

[2][12][29] The regiment subsequently took part in minor operations at Fort Nusrutpore, Chanda, Umeerpore and Sultanpore before the ending of the conflict in June 1858.

It was originally proposed that the 97th be paired with the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) with a depot at Guildford in Surrey.

On 1 August 1881, under the Childers Reforms, the 50th and 97th Foot became the 1st and 2nd Battalions, Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment).