The regiment was raised at Perth as Keith's Highlanders by Robert Murray Keith who regimented three companies detached from the 42nd Regiment of Foot in August 1759. It was numbered as the 87th Regiment of Foot in 1760. The regiment was immediately dispatched to Germany, where it fought at the Battle of Warburg in July 1760 and the Battle of Villinghausen later that month. It returned home later in the year but was deployed to Holland in November 1762. It returned to Scotland in December 1762 and was disbanded at Perth in July 1763.