Formation and Early Service
The regiment was first raised in 1815 as The Sirmoor Battalion. This was the first Gurkha unit in the service of the East India Company to see action, during the 3rd Mahratta War in 1817. The regiment, by now named the 8th (Sirmoor) Local Battalion, gained its first battle honour at Bhurtpore in 1825. During the First Sikh War, the regiment fought at Bhudaiwal and Sobraon, as well as the Battle of Aliwal. They carried colours at the time, and the flagpole was broken by cannon fire. The colour itself was seized by the Sikhs but reclaimed by a small party of Gurkhas led by a Havildar who chopped their way into the densely packed enemy lines.
During the Indian Mutiny, the Sirmoor Battalion was one of the Indian regiments that remained loyal to Britain. It was during this that the regiment took part in the defence of Hindu Rao's House, near Delhi. For their part in the action, the Sirmoor Battalion was presented with the Queen's Truncheon, which became a replacement for the colours that they relinquished when the regiment became a rifle regiment in 1858. With the decision to number the Gurkha regiments in 1861, the Sirmoor Rifles became the 2nd Gúrkha Regiment. In 1876, the regiment acquired a royal patron in the then Prince of Wales, becoming the 2nd (Prince of Wales's Own) Gúrkha Regiment (the Sirmoor Rifles).
Read more about this topic: 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles)
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