77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot

The 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot (The Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line regiment of the British Army from 1787 to 1881.

In 1787 the Honourable East India Company decided to raise four regiments in Great Britain for service in India in response to the threat of French military intervention there. The regiments were raised by the Crown with a number of officers nominated by the company. Colonel James Marsh was authorised to raise a new unit, the 77th (Hindoostan) Regiment of Foot, on 12 October 1787. Members were recruited throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and the 77th Foot was first embodied at Dover in early 1788. They arrived in India in August 1788, remaining there until 1807.

On arriving in England in 1807, the 77th was given a county designation, becoming the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot. In February 1810 they were granted permission to bear the plumes and motto of the Prince of Wales as a badge, in commemoration of twenty years service in India. They returned to Europe, taking part in the Walcheren Campaign of 1809 and then embarked for the Iberian Peninsula in 1811. They spent three years there participating in a number of major engagements in the Peninsular War including the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and the First Siege of Badajoz and the Battle of Bayonne.

The regiment spent several years in England, Scotland and Ireland before sailing to Jamaica in 1824, returning in 1834. In 1837 they left the United Kingdom, spending three years in Malta and Corfu. They returned to Jamaica in 1843 but moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1846. They arrived back in England in 1848. They remained at various stations in the United Kingdom until 1854.

In 1854 the Crimean War broke out and the 77th Regiment arrived in Scutari on 15 April. They took part in the Battles of Sevastopol, Balaklava, The Alma, and Inkerman. Sergeant John Park was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the war.

After time in the United Kingdom, the 77th sailed to New South Wales in 1857. In the following year they moved to India where the Sepoy Rebellion had broken out. They remained there until 1870 when they returned to Britain. In May 1876 the 77th Foot were granted the additional title "Duke of Cambridge's Own" and were permitted to bear the coronet and cypher of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge on its colours and badges. In 1880 they returned to India.

On 1 July 1881 the Childers reforms came into effect. Regimental numbers were abolished and all single-battalion regiments of foot were linked in pairs to form regiments with a "territorial" title. The 77th was linked with the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot, becoming the 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment). Following a series of amalgamations, the regiment's lineage is continued today by the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.