The regiment had its antecedents in the old Madras Army of the British East India Company, which was largely responsible for the British conquest of south and central India. It was raised by Captain Thomas Lane at Trichonopoly on 16 December 1776, as the 16th Carnatic Battalion. The regiment's first action was in 1778, when it took part in the capture of the French enclave of Pondicherry. During the next twenty years, the regiment was engaged in constant warfare against the Sultans of Mysore, fighting in the Battles of Pollilur, Porto Novo, Sholinghur and Seringapatam. In the nineteenth century, it fought in the First and Third Anglo-Burmese Wars.