Having completed its recruiting, and attained a state of efficiency, the regiment embarked from Portsmouth, in January, 1782, for Jamaica; it was on board of transports in the harbour of St. Lucia, during Admiral Rodney's engagement with the French fleet under Count de Grasse, on the 12th of April, and afterwards mounted guard over the Count, when a prisoner on that island.
The regiment proceeded to Jamaica, and was formed to receive Prince William Henry, (afterwards King William IV.,) then a midshipman, on his landing at Spanish Town, and mounted guard at his quarters during his stay on the island.
Soon after its arrival at Jamaica, the regiment received orders, dated the 31st of August, 1782, to assume the title of the "Fourteenth, or Bedfordshire Regiment of Foot," and to cultivate a connection with that county, so as to create a mutual attachment between the inhabitants of Bedfordshire and the regiment, which might, at all times, be useful towards recruiting the corps.
1787
On the 4th of April, 1787, Lieutenant-General Robert Cunninghame was removed to the Fifth Royal Irish Dragoons, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot, by Lieutenant-General John Douglas, who had commanded the Twenty-first Light Dragoons, which corps was disbanded in 1783.
1788
The Fourteenth Regiment attended the funeral of the Honorable Captain Chetwynd, of His Majesty's ship "Europa," in November, 1788, at which the Governor of Jamaica,—His Royal Highness Prince William Henry (then a captain of the Royal Navy),—the officers of the squadron, and a number of gentlemen in carriages, were present. The regiment marched at the head of the procession in funeral order, the band playing the Dead March; and the remains of this distinguished officer were interred in the chancel of the church at Spanish Town.
1789
Lieutenant-General Douglas having been removed to the Fifth Dragoon Guards, His Majesty conferred the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot on Colonel George Earl Waldegrave, by commission, dated the 27th of August, 1789. Earl Waldegrave died about six weeks after his appointment, and was succeeded by Colonel George Hotham, from captain and lieutenant-colonel of the First Foot Guards.