Name : 84th Regiment of Foot Started : 1793 Ended : 1809 Subsequent Regiment Lineage : ---------------------------------------- 85th (York and Lancaster) Regiment of Foot (1809 - 1881) York and Lancaster Regiment (1881 - 1968)
----------------------------------------
The 84th regiment first appears from 1759 to 1764; then as the "Royal Highland Emigrants" in 1775, which became the 84th in 1778, and was disbanded in 1784, when its uniform was similar to the 42nd; and finally in 1893, when the present regiment came into being, and incorporated with a 2nd battalion, raised in 1794, received the title "York and Lancaster Regiment" in 1809. Its early history was uneventful. It served abroad in Madras, Flanders, the capture of Cape Town, Perim, Aden, India (seeing active service at Surat and Guzerat and Goa), the capture of Mauritius, the operations in Kattiwar and Cutch, the Pindari disturbances, and at Kandeish and Cutch again before it returned home in 1819. These services were rendered between 1800 and 1819; after which date it saw no further active service until 1842, when it was in Burmah, and was stationed at Moulmein; but it returned to India in time to share in the suppression of the Mutiny in 1857. Detachments were sent to assist Wheeler at Cawnpore (where most of them were massacred) and Lawrence at Lucknow; the latter serving in the defence of the Residency. The keeper of the cemetery at Cawnpore when the Mutiny was suppressed was private Murphy of the 84th, who was one of the two soldiers, other than officers, who escaped from the massacre. The rest of the regiment was also in the first relief of Lucknow, and its defence; at the battle of Alumbagh and the capture of Lucknow, and finally with the Azimghur column. Its last active service was in the Tel-el-Kebir campaign, where it did good work at Kassassin and throughout the campaign. A 2nd battalion, raised in 1808, served at Wacheren and the siege of Flushing in 1809, and for its services in the Peninsula from 1813 to 1814 added "Nive" and "Peninsula" to the colours, though it was also present at the Bidaddoa and the investment of Bayonne.
