76th Regiment of Foot The 76th Regiment of Foot was originally raised as Lord Harcourt ' s Regiment on 17 November 1745 and disbanded in June 1746 . Following the loss of Minorca to the French , it was raised again in November 1756 as the 61st Regiment , but renumbered to 76th , by General Order in 1758 , and again disbanded in 1763 . A second battalion raised by that regiment in October 1758 , for service in Africa , was renumbered as the 86th Regiment and also disbanded in 1763 . On 25 December 1777 the 76th was again re - raised as the 76th Regiment of Foot ( Macdonald ' s Highlanders ) by Colonel John MacDonell of Lochgarry , in the West of Scotland and Western Isles , as a Scottish Light Infantry regiment . It was disbanded at Stirling Castle in March 1784 . The regiment was again raised for service in India by the Honorable East India Company in 1787 . In 1881 the 76th Regiment , which shared the same Depot in Halifax as the 33rd ( Duke of Wellington ' s ) Regiment , was linked to the 33rd , under the Childers Reforms , to become the regiment ' s 2nd Battalion . Although retitled as the Halifax Regiment ( Duke of Wellington ' s ) this title only lasted six months until it was changed on 30 June 1881 , in a revised appendix to General order 41 , to : The Duke of Wellington ' s ( West Riding Regiment ) , or ' W Rid R ' for short . In January 1921 it was again retitled The Duke of Wellington ' s Regiment ( West Riding ) , or ' DWR ' for short . On 6 June 2006 the ' Dukes ' were amalgamated with the Prince of Wales ' s Own Regiment of Yorkshire and The Green Howards , all Yorkshire - based regiments in the King ' s Division , to form the Yorkshire Regiment . Lineage . Lord Harcourt ' s Regiment . During 1745 13 provincial ' foot regiments and two horse regiments , the 67th to the 79th , were raised by the nobility of England for service in the Jacobite Rebellions in Scotland . Lord Harcourt raised the 76th and as was the custom at that time named it Lord Harcourt ' s Regiment . Despite initial resistance by senior regular officers he and the other members of the nobility who raised the regiments each received regular commissions as colonel s in the army . The 76th , along with 10 others , was disbanded on 10 June 1746 , when their services were no longer required . The soldiers were given a bounty of only six days pay , to encourage them to enlist into other regular regiments . 76th Regiment of Foot . The regiment was raised again in 1756 for service in the Seven Years ' War and disbanded in 1763 , although little is known about this period in the regiments ' history . MacDonalds Highlanders . The 76th Regiment of Foot ( MacDonald ' s Highlanders ) , sometimes referred to as ' MacDonnell ' s Highlanders ' after its colonel , John MacDonnell of Lochgarry , was a Scottish Light Infantry regiment raised in the west of Scotland and western isles of Scotland on 25 December 1777 , by the Clan MacDonald . It consisted of seven companies of Highlanders : two of Lowlander s and an Irish company . It was presented with its colours at Inverness in March 1778 and moved into barracks at Fort George . In March 1779 it moved to Perth where , following a dispute over their pay and bounty payment , soldiers from the regiment took part in the Burntisland mutiny of March 1779 , whilst under the command of Major John Sinclair , 11th Earl of Caithness ( Lord Berridale ) , after which it was transferred to Jersey in the Channel Islands and embarked for New York in August 1779 . The regiment campaigned from March 1781 , under the command of Major Francis Needham , 1st Earl of Kilmorey ( who was also the regimental Colonel of the 86th Foot ) in the American Revolutionary War at Petersburgh , Portsmouth and Osborne ' s Hill in the Battle of Brandywine . The regiment was captured in the Siege of Yorktown seven months later in October . It was split up and the troops were interned at various locations throughout Virginia . Following the end of the war , in 1783 , it returned to Scotland and was commanded by Sir Robert Stuart . The regiment was finally disbanded at Stirling Castle in March 1784 . 76th Foot - East India Company . The 76th Regiment of Foot was raised again , this time for service in India by the East India Company in 1787 , due to fears that war with France was imminent . The threat however , soon dissipated and the East India Company subsequently refused to support , or embark , the regiment . Because of this , Parliament passed the East India Declaratory Act which required that troops that were deemed necessary for the security of overseas territories be funded and supported by those territories . The Royal Warrant for their raising was issued on 12 October 1787 and read : GEORGE R . < br > " Whereas We have thought fit to order a Regt of Foot to be " < br > " forthwith raised under your Command , which is to consist of ten " < br > " Companies , with 3 Sergts , 4 Corpls , 2 Drumrs & 71 private Men " < br > " in each , with two Fifers to the Grenadier Compy and one " < br > " Compy , of 8 Sergts , 8 Corpls , 4 Drumrs & 30 private Men with " < br > " the usuals Comd . Officers , these are to authorise you by Beat of " < br > " Drum or otherwise to raise so many Men in any Country or part " < br > " of our Kingdom of Great Britain as shall be wanted to complete " < br > " the said Regt , to the above mentioned numbers . And all above " < br > " Given the 12th October . 1787 in the 27th Year of Our Reign . " < br > " By H . M . ' s Command ( Sd . ) Geo . Yonge " The majority of recruits were raised from Nottingham and Leicestershire , but many of them came from the Musgrave family estates around Hayton Castle , near Aspatria , Cumbria . The Colonel of the Regiment was General Sir Thomas Musgrave , 7th Baronet ( 1737 - 1812 ) of Hayton Castle . India . The regiment took part in a number of battles of the Second Anglo - Maratha War , including the Battle of Ally Ghur , when British forces besieged it . At the time it was one of the strongest forts in all of India , and was commanded by General Perron , a Frenchman . The 76th fought stoutly during that battle , against astonishing resistance by the enemy forces , receiving a number of dead and wounded , in no large part due to the fierce hand - to - hand fighting that took place during the action . The regiment also took part in the capture of Delhi and Agra , as well as the Battle of Leswaree , where they performed with great courage in one of the bloodiest of battles . For their distinguished service in these actions , King George III gave his authorisation to the 76th , allowing them to have the word " Hindoostan " emblazoned upon the regimental colour s , along with an elephant badge with a howdah atop the elephant , also inscribed with the word " Hindoostan " . It was also presented with a stand of honorary colours , making the regiment the only one to carry four colours on parade . The names inscribed upon the colours were " Ally Ghur " , " Delhi " , " Agra " and " Leswaree " . Europe . In 1806 the regiment returned to the United Kingdom . The following year , the regiment was deployed to Jersey in the Channel Islands for garrison duty . It was stationed there until 1808 , when the 76th were deployed to Spain to take part in the Peninsular War . In that campaign , the regiment fought at the Battle of La Corunna in January 1809 , as part of the 2nd Division , under the command of Lieutenant - General Sir John Hope . The 76th fought with distinction in a battle that caused 800 casualties for the British and 1 , 500 for the French . In that same year , the 76th were then involved in the disastrous expedition to the Low Countries . Some 39 , 000 troops landed at Walcheren , with the objectives of destroying the French fleet , believed to be at Flushing , and of assisting the Austrians who were now at war with France . Unfortunately , by the time the British forces had actually landed , the Austrians had been defeated . The British did capture their objective of Flushing , but the French fleet had already escaped , making their way to Antwerp . During the expedition , the 76th was part of the 3rd Division , which landed on Walcheren Island while other divisions landed on South Beveland Island . Over 4 , 000 men died in the expedition : only 106 of these in combat ; the rest were taken by Walcheren Fever . Many thousands who took part in the expedition were still weakened by the illness despite returning to Britain . It was a truly disastrous campaign . In 1813 the 76th returned to Spain , taking part in a number of actions in the closing months of the campaign . The Peninsular War was soon over though . The 76th were not to get any respite and were soon dispatched to take part in the British – American War : a war that had begun just a year before , in 1812 . Garrison Duties . The 76th , now in Canada , were part of the force that took part in the failed Battle of Plattsburgh at Lake Champlain in September 1814 . The regiment then served thirteen years in Canada , defending the border with the USA against any further aggression by Canada ' s neighbours . The regiment did this duty professionally , despite the boredom that was ever - present in doing these duties . The 76th finally returned home in 1827 , their job done . The 76th then , due to peace that would not be shattered until the 1850s , had garrison duties as their main role . It went to the West Indies and to the Mediterranean ; in 1834 it returned to Canada . It was then stationed in Bermuda for just a year , from 1840 – 1841 , before returning once again to Canada where it remained until 1843 . In 1850 it was deployed to Malta , the only British possession in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea ; and Corfu . In 1853 , the regiment was again sent to Canada , staying there until 1857 , performing numerous duties , including putting out the fires that occasionally occurred . In 1858 , the regiment was stationed in Dublin . In 1861 , the 76th arrived in Glasgow , with a few companies being dispatched to Ayr and Paisley . The following year , the regiment was moved to Aldershot : first by sea to Liverpool , then by rail to their final destination . In 1865 the 76th returned to the country they had been created for - India . It remained there until 1868 , being deployed to Burma and remaining there for a further three years . The 76th was linked in 1881 with the regiment at that time titled the 33rd ( Duke of Wellington ' s ) Regiment , whose training depot they shared in Halifax , in the West Riding of Yorkshire , due to the Childers Reforms ( a continuation of the Cardwell ' s Reforms of the armed forces ) to form the 2nd Battalion of the regiment . On 6 June 2006 The Duke of Wellington ' s Regiment ( West Riding ) amalgamated with the Prince of Wales ' s Own Regiment of Yorkshire and the Green Howards - all Yorkshire - based regiments in the King ' s Division - to form the Yorkshire Regiment . See also . Duke of Wellington ' s Regiment