INTRODUCTION
During the wars
waged with France and Spain, prior to the establishment of the
French Republic, it was the custom in England to raise regiments
in cases of emergency, disbanding them when their services were
no longer required.
On two occasions a 90th Regiment was so embodied, the first time
being in 1760, the Corps appearing in the army-list of the
following year as the 90th Regiment of Light Infantry. This
battalion served with credit in the West Indies, where, in 1762,
it took part in the successful assault on the Castle of Moro, in
the island of Cuba, on the 30th of July. The storming party was
commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, of the 90th Regiment.
Lieutenant Holroyd, of the 90th, was killed on this occasion.
The Regiment was disbanded in March, 1763, on its return home.
In 1779, when Spain joined France in the war which was being
carried on by the latter country against England, a 90th
Regiment was again raised, and remained embodied, under the
command of Colonel Loftus Anthony Tottenham, until peace was
concluded at Versailles in 1783.