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.

All single-battalion regiments of foot were to be paired, sharing a permanent depot and a geographical recruiting area.

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.