The 2nd Battalion of the 83rd Regiment of Foot, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Cother CB, was inspected at Armagh, Ireland by Major General Barnet and then disbanded on that same day. Some 186 wounded men from the Peninsula campaigns were discharged and the remaining 392 were held in Armagh ready to join the 1st Battalion. It was the 2nd Battalion who had, for the 83rd Regiment, earned the Battle Honour PENINSULA to commemorate its long and glorious campaign under Wellington’s command through Portugal and Spain.

Under Cother’s command, the men of the old 2/83rd embarked at Cove, County Cork for South Africa, boarding the transport ships Adamant and Eliza, and sailed on 7 July. The ships arrived in Simon’s Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on 22 September 1817, where they joined the 1st Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Brunt.