39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot

The 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1719 and amalgamated into The Dorsetshire Regiment in 1881.

The regiment was raised by Colonel Richard Coote in Ireland in August 1702. This was in fact a reforming of Richard Coote's Regiment of Foot, which he had in turn inherited in 1692 from Viscount Lisburne's Regiment of Foot which was originally formed in 1689.

In 1751, they were numbered the 39th Regiment of Foot, and in 1782 took a county title as the 39th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot. In 1794 the regiment was captured, and reformed in Ireland the following year by absorbing the short-lived 104th Regiment of Foot (Royal Manchester Volunteers).

In 1805 a number of regiments had their territorial affiliations shuffled, with the East Middlesex title passing to the 77th Foot and the 39th taking the Dorsetshire title previously held by the 35th (Sussex) Regiment of Foot to become the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot. The 39th arrived in the British colony of New South Wales toward the end of 1825. The regiment saw service in Hobart, Sydney, Swan River colony and Bathurst, leaving on July 5, 1832 to see service in India.