New South Wales Corps
infantry regiment of the British Army
The New South Wales Corps, later known as the 102d Regiment of Foot, and lastly as the 100th Regiment of Foot, was a formation of the British Army organised in 1789 in England to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied the First Fleet to New South Wales. In Australia, the New South Wales Corps gained notoriety for its trade in rum and mutinous behaviour.
Reconstituted as the 102d Regiment of Foot, it was transferred to Bermuda and Nova Scotia, before taking part in the Chesapeake campaign of the War of 1812. Reconstituted for the second time after the war as the 100th Regiment of Foot, it was disbanded in 1818.
History
Formation
In June 1789, the regiment was formed in England as a permanent unit to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. The regiment began arriving as guards on the Second Fleet in 1790. The regiment, led by Major Francis Grose, consisted of three companies, numbering about 300 men. Although drafts were sent from Britain to reinforce the regiment throughout its time in Australia, its full strength never exceeded 500.
A fourth company was raised from those Marines wishing to remain in New South Wales under Captain George Johnston, who had been Governor Arthur Phillip's aide-de-camp.
In December 1792, when Phillip returned to England for respite, Grose was left in charge.
The public source identifies “New South Wales Corps” as infantry regiment of the British Army. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around South, Wales and Corps.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q847247. VIAF identifies the subject as 129459155. The Library of Congress control number is nr94027678. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1789, 1812, 1818 and 1790.
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This entry incorporates text from “New South Wales Corps” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.