1803
Before the following summer the ambitious policy of the French republic involved Great Britain in another war, and the first consul of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, assembled an army for the invasion of England. This vain project was met by formidable preparations on the part of the British government; an army of six hundred thousand men (including militia, yeomanry, volunteers, and troops on foreign stations) was embodied; and the establishment of the Inniskilling dragoons was again augmented.
1804
1805
In the summer of 1803 the regiment marched to Birmingham; in January, 1804, it proceeded to Brighton, and was stationed near the Sussex coast during the two following summers, while the French army lay at Boulogne, on the opposite side of the channel. In 1805 Napoleon withdrew his legions from the coast, and marched against the Russians and Austrians; and in October the Sixth dragoons proceeded to Lewes.
1806
1807
1808
1809
The danger of foreign invasion passed away, the arts, sciences, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce flourished throughout the British dominions; while the other countries of Europe became successively scenes of war, rapine, and spoliation. The Inniskilling dragoons proceeded, in March, 1806, to Ipswich; during the winter of 1807 to York, and in the summer of 1808 they marched to Scotland, and occupied Piershill barracks, Edinburgh. In June, 1809, they embarked at Portpatrick for Ireland; they landed at Donaghadee, and marched to Dundalk.
1810
1811
1813
1814
While the British troops were triumphant over the legions of Napoleon, in Portugal, Spain, and the south of France, the Inniskilling dragoons were detained on home service in Ireland. In the summer of 1810 they marched to Dublin; in November, 1811, to Ballinasloe; in March, 1813, to Belturbet; in May following, to Tullamore, and in April, 1814, to Dublin, from whence they embarked for Liverpool, where they arrived on the 3rd of May, and proceeding to York, halted there three months, and afterwards marched to Nottingham.
While the regiment was in Ireland, the cocked hats and feathers were replaced by brass helmets, and the high boots and breeches by cloth trousers and short boots.
Meanwhile the victories of the British army had been followed by the removal of Napoleon from the throne of France, and the re-establishment of tranquillity in Europe: the numbers of the regiment were consequently reduced from ten to eight troops.