His Majesty's thanks and particular satisfaction were communicated to His Grace the Duke of Kingston, for his zeal and affection for His Majesty's person and Government; and His Grace was desired to convey to the officers and soldiers His Majesty's high sense of their loyalty, activity, and gallant behaviour, at a period of national danger. The regiment was afterwards disbanded at Nottingham, and nearly every man engaged in the Regiment of Light Dragoons, of which, as a signal mark of honour and distinction, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland was appointed Colonel.
The Duke of Cumberland's Light Dragoons were mounted on active nag-tailed horses, from fourteen and a half to fifteen hands high. The men were from five feet eight to five feet nine inches in height; and their equipment was upon a new and light plan, but retaining the cocked hat of the Heavy Dragoon pattern. This regiment served in the Netherlands, with the Army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland: its general usefulness was fully established, and it distinguished itself at the battle of Val, in 1747. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle having put an end to the war, it returned to England, and was disbanded in 1749.
From this period the value of light horsemen was more appreciated in England than formerly; the general utility of this arm, on home and foreign service, had been fully proved; and at the commencement of hostilities with France, in 1755, King George II. resolved to possess the advantage of a body of Light Cavalry in the approaching contest. His Majesty accordingly commanded a troop of Light Dragoons to be added to the First, Second, and Third Regiments of Dragoon Guards, and First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Tenth, and Eleventh Regiments of Dragoons. The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Irish Horse (now Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Dragoon Guards), and the Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Dragoons, being on the Irish establishment, did not receive the same addition.
These troops of Light Dragoons were mounted, armed, equipped, and trained, according to specific instructions, calculated to render them available for the services for which they were designed. Several of them were reviewed in Hyde Park by His Majesty; and their neat appearance, celerity of movement, and the spirited and exact manner in which they performed their evolutions, were much admired.
Nine of these troops were formed into a brigade in 1758, under the command of one of the King's aides-de-camp, Colonel George Augustus Eliott, of the Horse Grenadier Guards; and they were employed in the expeditions to the coast of France under Charles Duke of Marlborough and Lieut.-General Bligh. They landed in France twice; skirmished with the French Cavalry; and throughout these enterprises they evinced activity, spirit, and general usefulness. After their return to England, they were augmented to 125 men per troop.
At this period, the war on the Continent had involved most of the European states; and the extended and active operations which were taking place in Germany rendered it necessary for a British force to join the Allied Army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. This gave rise to a further augmentation of the Army; and the increased estimation in which Light Cavalry was held induced the King to give directions for the raising of entire Regiments of Light Dragoons, in addition to the five Regiments of Horse, three of Dragoon Guards, and fourteen of Dragoons, already on the British and Irish establishments. The following corps were accordingly embodied:—
Light Dragoons.
Incorporated in 1759.
Fifteenth, in England, by Colonel George A. Eliott;—now the Fifteenth, or the King's Hussars.
Sixteenth, in England, by Lieut.-Colonel John Burgoyne;—now the Sixteenth, or the Queen's Lancers.