[27] The regiment was originally mounted on long-tailed horses; the fashion of the short dock was introduced a few years after the Revolution in 1688, but the practice did not become general until about 1709.
[28] On his appointment his Lady presented to the regiment a silver collar engraved with military devices to be worn by the kettle drummer. This ornament is still preserved.
'To the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Barrington His
Majesty's Secretary at War, &c. &c. &c.
'The memorial of Lieut.-General Charles
Fitzroy, Colonel of the Third, King's Own,
Regiment of Dragoons.
'Represents
'That the sixth trumpeter, being a kettle drummer, is a great inconveniency, one troop always remaining without a trumpeter: the kettle drums being a mark of distinction allowed by royal favour, as it is reported, for having taken them from the enemy at the battle of Aghrim; your memorialist humbly prays that you will represent it to His Majesty, that an additional trumpeter may be allowed, as in the Royal Irish Regiment of Dragoons, and other regiments having kettle drums.'
N.B. Notwithstanding this document, there is every reason for believing that the kettle drums were taken at Dettingen, and not at Aghrim. Every endeavour has been made to discover positive information on the subject, without success. It appears from official documents that four pair of kettle drums were captured at Dettingen: but there is no mention of any kettle drums at Aghrim taken.
[30] This officer entered the service July 26th, 1768.
[31] Lieut.-Colonel (now General) Godfrey Basil Mundy, who had been promoted in 1795, to a lieutenancy in the Third Dragoons, was advanced to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the regiment on the 2nd July, 1803, and continued in the command of it until the 2nd July, 1812, when ill-health obliged him to relinquish the cavalry service, and to exchange to the infantry. In the year 1804 a collection of standing orders for the Third King's Own Dragoons was compiled and issued by Lieutenant Colonel Mundy, in which the duties of every rank of officer, and non-commissioned officer, as well as private soldier, in all situations of service, whether at home or abroad, are ably and minutely defined, and in which the officers and soldiers are urgently recommended to devote their hours of leisure to the study of the duties of their profession. This code of discipline was uniformly acted upon until the departure of the regiment for India in the year 1837, and is probably maintained in this gallant corps at the present time.