1685 Raised, at the request of James II, by Theophilus, 7th Earl of Huntingdon.
1689 Now known as Hastings' Regiment of Foot, distinguished itself at Killiekrankie. Regiment went to Ireland until 1701.
1694 The Regiment's Grenadier Company was lost to a man at the disasterous amphibious operation at Camaret Bay, near Brest.
1695 Colonel Hastings cashiered for peculation.
1701-03 Holland - In the Lowlands with Marlborough. The siege of Venloo on the Meuse.
1704-05 Lisbon. Then to first siege in the newly-captured fortress of Gibraltar and the Regiment's first Battle Honour.
1705-10 With Lord Peterborough and the Earl of Galway in Spain.
1705 Capture of Barcelona. Tortosa. San Mateo.
1706 'Barrymore's Foot' were mounted and became Pearce's Dragoons; but Lord Barrymore himself, with 5 Officers, 10 Sergeants and 10 Corporals formed the nucleus of the new Foot Regiment; so it was never disbanded.
1708 Portugal.
1709 River Caya.
1711-28 Garrison duty at Gibraltar.
1743 Battle of Dettingen. (Pulteney's Foot).
1745 Battles of Fontenoy and Culloden.
1745-90 Battle of Val. Kent, England. Gibralter. Minorca.
1751 The 13th Regiment of Foot.
1782 13th (or the 1st Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot.
1792-94 During the Revolutinary Wars against France, employed to aid French planters in Santo Domingo against rebel slaves. Sickness reduced the regiment to 60 men.
1801 Defeat of Napoleon's "Armee de l'Orient" at Aboukir Bay and Alexandria. 'Egypt' and 'The Sphinx' added to Colours.
1803 Gibralter. England.
1808 Martinique captured in three weeks.
1809 Guadeloupe captured in ten days. In both these campaigns, as at Barcelona, Dettingen, Fontenoy and Santo Domingo, the XIIIth fought alongside the 32nd Foot - the D.C.L.I.
1813-15 The American War. Colonel William Williams trains the 13th as Light Troops. Plattsburg, Burton Ville, Battle of Lacolle Mills, 1814. Then to England, Scotland and Ireland.
1822 13th (1st Somersetshire Light Infantry) Regiment. Regiment formed into a 'Corps of Light Infantry': sail for India
1824-26 First Burma War. Battle Honour - 'Ava'.
1826-45 Calcutta, India. 'Fighting Bob' Sale becomes Colonel. Dinajpur. Agra.
1838-42 Left Kurnaul for Ferozepore. First Afghan War. Kandahar. Ghuznee. Khoord Kabul Pass.
1842 13th (1st Somersetshire) (Prince Albert's Regiment of Light Infantry). 13th besieged in Jellalabad. On 7 April 1842 they sallied out and routed the forces of Akhbar Khan. For their conduct during the siege, "The Illustrious Garrison' were given the title 'Prince Albert's Regiment of Light Infantry', and their facings changed from yellow to royal blue, making it the only non-Royal regiment to hold this honour.
1845 Heights of Truckee.
1855 With Lord Mark Kerr as Colonel, briefly at Sevastopol. In 1st Division (Lord Rokeby), 2nd Bde. (Ridley) with 9th, 31st, 2nd Bn. Rifle Bde.
1857 Indian Mutiny. Calcutta. Battle of Azimghur. Nugger. Hurrya.
1858 2nd Battalion raised in England.
1875 1st Battalion in S. Africa.
1877-1878 Battle Honour awarded for 'The 9th Kaffir War, 1877-1878'.
1878-1879 Battle Honour awarded for the Zulu Campaign. First Zulu War. Major W. Knox-Leet won the V.C. Khambula.
1879-1880 Campaigns against the Basutos. Then to England.
1881 Prince Albert's (Somersetshire Light Infantry)
1884 Relief of General Gordon at Khartoum - 1 officer and 27 men of the 13th.
1885-7 Burma War, 2nd Bn. commanded by Lt. Col. William Knox Leet VC. 144 men lost their lives and are listed on the Burma Memorial in Taunton, Somersetshire. This was the 2nd Battalions first operations.
1887-1894 2nd Battalion in India.
1894 1st Battalion arrived in India to relieve 2nd. 2nd Battalion to England. Lahore, Umballa, Dalhousie.
1896 1st to Peshawar.
1899-1902 2nd Somersetshire Light Infantry despatched to South Africa in Oct.-Nov. Relief of Ladysmith. Battle Honour for 'South Africa 1899-1902' awarded. Battle Honour of 'South Africa 1900-1901' awarded to 4th Bn. The Somerset Light Infantry and 5th Bn. The Somerset Light Infantry. 2nd at Spion Kop. Tugela. 4th Militia arrive April 1900.
1903 2nd in England.
1908 1st & 2nd meet in Malta. 2nd to stay until 1911.
1911 2nd in North China. To India in 1913. Quetta.1st in South Wales during great coal strike.
1912 Prince Albert's (Somerset Light Infantry)
1914 1st at Colchester.
1914-18 World War 1 - 19 battalions raised. Fought in France, Palestine and Mesopotamia. Five thousand men were killed. British Expeditionary Force, August-September 1914. Commander in Chief: Field Marshal Sir John French. Chief of Staff: Lt. General Sir Archibald Murray. III Corps (Pulteney) Formed in France, 31 August 1914. 4th Division (Snow) Reached la Cateau, 24 August 1914. 11th Infantry Brigade: 1/Somerset Light Infantry, 1/East lancs., 1/Hampshires, 1/Rifle Brigade.
1919 2nd Battalion Somerset Hill, Afghanistan. Back to India until 1925.
1920 The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's)
1926 1st Battalion in Egypt.
1927 2nd Battalion to England.
1939-45 World War 2 - The 1st Battalion was in India. Firstly fighting tribesmen on the North-West Frontier, then acting as riot squads in Delhi during the Quit India movement in 1942 and finally serving with the 7th Indian Division during the fierce fighting against the Japanese in the Arakan. 10 battalions were raised. Fought in Burma, Italy, Greece, and from Normandy to the Baltic. The 10th became 7th Battalion (L.I.), 6th Airborne, and were among the first Allied troops to land in Normandy on D-Day.
28 February 1948 Last troops to leave India on the Empress of Australia. The arrived in Liverpool on 17 March. After Taunton the regiment went into a training role at Bordon in Hampshire. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were amalgamated in 1948. 2nd Battalion had been in Thrace and Macedonia, then Karawanken Mountains and Austria.
1951 1st Battalion in Munster, Germany. 4th Battaion was reformed in 1947.
1952-55 1st Battalion in Malaya during the 'Emergency'. Then to England.
1959 Named Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry. The Somerset Light Infantry (13th Foot, Prince Albert's) and The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry amalgamated on 6 October 1959 to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry (SCLI). This took place at Osnabruck.
1968 Light Infantry. The Light Infantry (LI), was formed on Vesting Day 10 July 1968 from the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (51st Foot & 105th Foot), the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (53rd Foot & 85th Foot), the Durham Light Infantry (68th Foot & 106th Foot) and the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry to form the Light Infantry in the Light Division.
1997 Still the largest infantry regiment in the Order of Battle, there are six Light Infantry Battalions today.
Regular Army
1st Battalion The Light Infantry - Airmobile role in 24 - Airmobile Brigade - Colchester.
2nd Battalion The Light Infantry - Armoured Infantry - (Warrior) in 20 - Armoured Brigade - Paderborn, Germany.
Territorial Army
5th Battalion The (Shropshire & Herefordshire) Light Infantry - Headquarters in Shrewsbury
6th Battalion The (Somerset & Cornwall) Light Infantry - Headquarters in Taunton
7th Battalion The (Durham) Light Infantry - Headquarters in Durham
8th Battalion The (Yorkshire) Light Infantry - Headquarters in Wakefield
The Regimental
Headquarters is in Winchester.