73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot

73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot
Regimental colours
Active	1780–1881
Country	Kingdom of Great Britain (1780–1800)  United Kingdom (1801–1881)
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	One battalion (two battalions 1809–1817)
Garrison/HQ	Hamilton Barracks
Engagements	Second Anglo-Mysore War Third Anglo-Mysore War French Revolutionary Wars Fourth Anglo-Mysore War Napoleonic Wars Second Kandyan War Uva Rebellion Seventh Xhosa War Indian Rebellion

The 73rd Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1780. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 42nd Regiment of Foot to form the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) in 1881.

The regiment was raised as the 2nd Battalion, 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot in March 1780, with eight officers from the 1st Battalion being detached to help raise the new battalion. The battalion was sent to India in January 1781 and took part in the Siege of Mangalore in autumn 1783 during the Second Anglo-Mysore War. It was still in India when the battalion received regimental status in 1786 as the 73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot. The new regiment remained in India and saw action at the Siege of Seringapatam in 1792 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War, the Siege of Pondicherry in August 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars and the capture of the Dutch settlements in Ceylon in 1795. It went on to form part of the storming party at the Siege of Seringapatam in April 1799 during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War before returning to England in July 1806.

In April 1809 the regiment raised a second battalion in Nottingham from local militia companies and lost its Highland status due to recruiting difficulties, becoming the 73rd Regiment of Foot. The 1st Battalion embarked at Yarmouth for a seven-month journey to New South Wales, Australia in May 1809. The battalion's role was to ensure the newly appointed New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie was able to govern after the previously appointed governor William Bligh was deposed by leading members of the New South Wales Corps (102nd Regiment of Foot) in the Rum Rebellion. There in 1810 they received a draft of men from the New South Wales Corps. The 73rd Regiment was under the command of Maurice Charles O'Connell who married Mary Putland, the widowed daughter of William Bligh in May 1810, which created ongoing tension with the leaders of the Rum Rebellion (such as John Macarthur) who were highly influential members of society within New South Wales. To reduce these tensions, the main body of the battalion left New South Wales in April 1814 on the General Hewitt for Ceylon. During the tour in Ceylon the battalion was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Giels, whose children, along with hundreds of wounded men of the regiment, perished in May 1815 in the wreck of the Arniston after visiting him there.