Originally raised in 1800 as the 1st Battalion of the 17th Regiment of Madras Native infantry, in 1824

On being mobilised for the first world war the regiment was one of 8 infantry battalions dispatched to Egypt to help guard the Suez Canal. In September the regiment moved to France to join the 19th Dehra Dun Brigade in the 7th Meerut Division. The regiment was withdrawn from France in late 1915 and sent to Mesopotamia where it joined the 9th Indian Brigade in the 3rd Lahore Division.