Name : 65th (2nd Yorkshire North Riding) Regiment of Foot Started : 1782 Ended : 1881 Previous Regiment Lineage(s) : ---------------------------------------- 2nd 12th Regiment of Foot (1756 - 1758) 65th Regiment of Foot (1758 - 1782)
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Subsequent Regiment Lineage : ---------------------------------------- York and Lancaster Regiment (1881 - 1968)
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In 1756 the 12th Foot had a 2nd battalion, which, two years later, became the 65th. It was called the "2nd Yorkshire North Riding Regiment" in 1782, a title it retained until the present territorialisation system was introduced. The new regiment first saw active service at Guadaloupe and Havannah, 1759 to 1762, and then embarked for America, to fight at Bunker's Hill, but going home afterwards; it returned to the West Indies in 1794, to take part in the attack on Martinique and Guadaloupe. A curious method of enlistment was adopted in the regiment when it came home: "Parish boys," from the Scottish poorhouse, who had been enlisted for the 16th, were posted to the 65th. After routine duty at the Cape in 1801, the regiment sailed for India, and fought under Lake at Guzert, Mawla, and Bhurtpore; after which, in 1809, it saw active service against the Wahabees, in the Persian Gulf, and assisted to destroy Ras-ul-Khynah and other piratical holds. Present at the reduction of Mauritius, it returned to India for the operations in Kattiwar, Guzerat, and Cutch; the Pindari War, and the capture of Poonah; in the Persian Gulf at Ras-ul-Khymah again; once more in Cutch at the taking of Dwarka; in the Persian Gulf, for the third time, on the destruction of the stronghold of the Beni-boo Ali tribe; finally to return home in 1822, with the reward, for continual and gallant service in the East, of bearing on the colours the Royal Tiger, with "India" and "Arabia." The 65th saw active service in the New Zealand campaign-during which Sergeant McKenna and Lance-Corporal J. Ryan won the Victoria Cross-after 1846; but after that saw no further fighting until the Suakim disturbances, when, on its way home, it was landed to fight at El Teb and Tamai.
