Regiment de Meuron

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Régiment suisse 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 Neuchatel in 1738.

It served the Dutch East India Company in Ceylon and Cape Town. When the Dutch East India Company went bankrupt in 1795, and were unable to pay the regiment, they 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.