In the meanwhile the FORTY-SIXTH regiment had returned to North America, where it remained for the four following years.
Colonel the Honorable William Howe was appointed by His Majesty King George III. from the fifty-eighth to the colonelcy of the FORTY-SIXTH regiment on the 21st of November, 1764, in succession to Lieut.-General the Honorable Thomas Murray, deceased.
1767
In the autumn of the year 1767 the FORTY-SIXTH regiment returned to Great Britain, and was stationed in Ireland for eight years.
Serious disputes had, in the meantime, arisen, on the subject of taxation, between the colonists in North America and the British Government. The passing of the Stamp Act, in 1764, was the first cause of irritation, but the spirit of discontent was partially allayed by its repeal in 1766. This feeling was again aroused, in the following year, by the Bill for levying duties on certain articles imported from England, which was repealed in 1770, with the exception of the duty on tea, which was retained as an assertion of the right of taxation inherent in the British Legislature. After the cargoes of tea sent to Boston in 1773 had been emptied into the sea, an Act of Parliament was passed in the year 1774 for closing that port.
The colonists adopted retaliatory measures, and subsequently made preparations for an appeal to arms.
1775
On the 19th of April, 1775, the first hostile collision took place at Lexington, between His Majesty's troops and the Colonists in the unhappy contest, which was soon to assume a most formidable character.
Upon Major-General the Honorable Sir William Howe, K.B., being removed to the colonelcy of the twenty-third Royal Welsh Fusiliers, on the 11th of May, 1775, Brevet Colonel the Honorable John Vaughan was appointed to the vacant colonelcy of the FORTY-SIXTH regiment.
The conflict at Lexington was followed by the battle of Bunker's Hill, which was fought on the 17th of June, 1775.