The service companies arrived at Montreal on the 19th of May, and detachments from them were stationed at Isle-aux-Noix, St. John’s, William Henry, La Chine, Coteau-du-Lac, and Rideau.
On the 8th of May 1828, the SEVENTY-FIRST embarked for Kingston in batteaux, and arrived there on the 16th of that month.
The SEVENTY-FIRST remained stationed here for twelve months. During the summer and part of the autumn they suffered much from fever and ague, having had at one period nearly a third of the men in hospital.
Upon the 1st of June 1829, the head-quarters embarked in a steam-boat for York, now called Toronto, the capital of the Upper Province, and arrived there on the following morning.[33]
One company was detached to Niagara, another to Amherstburg, and a third to Penetanguishene on Lake Huron. A small number of men occupied the naval post at Grand River on Lake Erie. The SEVENTY-FIRST occupied these posts for a period of two years.
On the 10th of August 1829, the depôt companies embarked at Gravesend for Berwick-on-Tweed.
Major-General Sir Colin Halkett, K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the ninety-fifth to that of the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment, on the 21st of September 1829, in succession to General Sir Gordon Drummond, G.C.B., who was appointed to the forty-ninth regiment.
In June, 1830, the depôt companies were removed from Berwick-on-Tweed to Edinburgh Castle.
In May 1831, the service companies moved down to Quebec, where the whole were assembled on the 16th of June. After a stay of nearly five months in that city, orders arrived for the SEVENTY-FIRST to proceed to Bermuda. The service companies embarked on the 20th of October 1831 in the transports Layton and Manlius, and arrived off St. George’s, Bermuda, upon the 11th of November, when they immediately disembarked, sending a detachment of one captain, two subalterns, and a hundred and twenty men to Ireland Island.
The head-quarters were subsequently moved to Hamilton, and small parties were detached to the signal posts at Gibbs Hill and Mount Langton.
During the years 1832 and 1833, the service companies continued at Bermuda, and the depôt remained in North Britain.
On the 30th of August 1833, Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Charles Grey exchanged from the half-pay to the SEVENTY-FIRST Regiment with Lieut.-Colonel Joseph Thomas Pidgeon.
