[4][7][10] The regiment accompanied William to Ireland in the following year, fighting in the decisive Williamite victories at the Boyne and Cork.

[8][13] With the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, the Earl of Barrymore's Regiment of Foot saw action at the sieges or battles of Kaiserwerth, Venlo, Roermond, Huy, Limburg and Liège.

[4][8] In 1704, Barrymore's Regiment moved to the Iberian Peninsula taking part in the defence of the recently-captured Gibraltar (1704–05) and the Siege of Barcelona (1705).

[15] In 1742, Pulteney's Regiment sailed to Flanders, and in the following year was part of the joint British, Hanoverian and Austrian force that secured a victory over the French at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743.

The intention was to improve recruitment during the unpopular war, and the Secretary at War, Thomas Townshend issued a circular letter to the lieutenants of each county in England in the following terms: My Lord, The very great deficiency of men in the regiments of infantry being so very detrimental to the public service, the king has thought proper to give the names of the different counties to the old corps, in hopes that, by the zeal and activity of the principal nobility and gentry in the several counties, some considerable assistance may be given towards recruiting these regiments".

The regiment was brought up to full strength by an intake of volunteers from the Irish militia and sailed to Bermuda, arriving in March 1808.

War had again broken out with France, and the 13th Foot formed part of the force that invaded and occupied the French colony of Martinique in January and February 1809.

War was formally declared on 5 March 1824, and the 13th took part in the campaign that lasted until February 1826, when a treaty was signed, with the King of Ava agreeing to cede territory and pay compensation to the British East India Company.

The British, who feared Russian intervention in the area, decided to remove the emir of Afghanistan, Dost Muhammad, and to replace him with a pro-British monarch, Shuja Shah Durrani.

[28][29] The 13th formed part of the occupation force that attempted to enforce the rule of the new monarch; but, in October 1841, a popular uprising against Shuja broke out.

In April of the following year, the garrison, under the command of Sir Robert Sale of the 13th, broke the siege and defeated the Afghan forces under Akbar Khan.

[28][29] Although the war, which ended in October 1842 with the return of the Army of the Indus to India, was essentially a reverse for the British forces, battle honours and campaign medals were awarded.

[8][32] In 1854, the regiment was brought up to full strength and, in June of the following year, landed in the Crimea as part of the Anglo-French forces conducting a campaign against the Russians.

They took part in the Siege of Sevastopol, and remained in the area after the ending of hostilities in February 1856, subsequently sailing to South Africa.

The 2nd Battalion landed in the Cape in December 1899, and was part of the British forces defeated at the Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900.

[42][43] The 4th (2nd Somerset Militia) Battalion was embodied in December 1899, and 415 officers and men embarked in the SS Kildonan Castle in early March 1900 for service in South Africa.

[45] The Boer War had severely stretched the resources of the British Army and had exposed the weakness of the militia and volunteers as an effective reserve force.

In 1907–1908, Richard Haldane, Secretary of State for War reorganised these second-line units of the army as part of a larger series of reforms.

[49] The Regiment saw active service in the First World War, with battalions involved on the Western Front, Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and Palestine.

[8] On 1 January 1921, the regimental title was changed a final time, becoming The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's).

[8][54] The 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Harding, was stationed in British India at the outbreak of war and would remain in the Far East throughout the conflict.

[57] The 2nd Somersets, with the rest of the division, arrived in Italy in March 1944 and served in the Italian Campaign as part of the British Eighth Army in many battles such as that of Monte Cassino, one of the worst battles of the Italian Campaign, in 1944, where they played an important role alongside 2nd King's and fought in Operation Diadem and on the Gothic Line from August–September 1944.

In November, the 4th Division, with the rest of III Corps, was sent to Greece to help calm the Greek Civil War, which was caused after the German Army withdrew from the country.

The 7th Parachute Battalion would see its first combat during Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy, the night before 6 June 1944, D-Day.

[8][63] The SLI also had responsibility for defending local airfields, including RNAS Charlton Horethorne, where they prepared trenches, hardpoints and machine gun positions.

During the final ceremony, the battalion marched through Bombay (now Mumbai) and received a guard of honour from the newly formed Indian Army at the Gateway of India.

[7][66] In its final years, the battalion was involved in a number of conflicts: the anti-tank platoon formed part of the Anglo-French force that intervened in the Suez Crisis of 1956.

This commemorated the regiment's stand at Culloden, where the large number of officer casualties led to the sergeants taking command.

[3][7] This was authorised in 1865, although appears to have been worn earlier without authority; the origin is disputed, since the regiment did not report any casualties as a result of Culloden.

[80] When the 13th Foot were converted to light infantry in 1822, the badge adopted for the shako head-dress was a "bugle-horn with strings with the numerals 13 in the centre and surmounted by the Sphinx".