Regiment de Meuron

The Regiment de Meuron was a regiment of infantry originally raised in Switzerland in 1781. The regiment was named for its commander, Colonel Charles-Daniel de Meuron, who was born in Neuchâtel in 1738.

It served the Dutch East India Company in Ceylon and Cape Town. With the British eyes on Ceylon a delegation was sent to see Count de Meuron where a deal was struck to hand over control of the Regiment to the British. The Regiment refused to fight the Dutch, and they greatly reduced the strength of Dutch forces in Ceylon and gave fortification details to the British. They subsequently entered British service, with the understanding that the British would enroll them at the same rate as regular British soldiers and give them the back pay owed by the Dutch East India Co.

By 1798, this had all been straightened out, and the Regiment de Meuron were fully entered into British service. They served in the Mysore Campaign of 1799, the Mediterranean and Peninsula Campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars 1806 to 1812, and finally went to Canada to serve in the War of 1812 and the Red River Colony. Rue des Meurons in the Winnipeg suburb of Saint Boniface is named after the regiment.