1715
On the 20th of January, 1715, King George I. proceeded in state to St. Paul's Cathedral, to return thanks for his peaceful accession to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland; but in a short time afterwards the tranquillity of the kingdom was disturbed by the rash proceedings of the adherents of the Stuart dynasty, who were conspiring to elevate the Pretender to the throne, in which they were abetted by the courts of Louis XIV. of France and of other foreign potentates. These proceedings occasioned the army to be augmented, and in July, 1715, Brigadier-General Phineas Bowles,—a warm-hearted loyalist, distinguished for his attachment to the house of Hanover,—who had acquired a reputation at the head of a regiment in the war of the Spanish succession, was commissioned to raise a corps of cavalry in the counties of Berks, Bucks, and Hants, having his general rendezvous at Reading.
His Majesty's appeal to his subjects was cheerfully responded to, and a number of loyalists coming forward to hazard their lives in defence of their King and constitution, Brigadier-General Bowles was soon at the head of a regiment of six troops, which, having been continued in the service to the present time, now bears the title of The Twelfth, or the Prince of Wales's, Royal Regiment of Lancers.
The following officers were appointed to commissions in the regiment:—
| Captains. | Lieutenants. | Cornets. |
| Phineas Bowles, Col. | W. Wills, Capt.Lt. | William Pomfret |
| T. Strickland, Lt.Col. | William Bourden | Thomas Johnson |
| J. Orfeur, Major | Christopher Bland | Richard Hull |
| John Pierson | James Baker | William Pierce |
| Giles Stevens | John Johnson | Bret. Norton |
| John Prideaux | Hugh Hilton | —— Forfar. |
While the regiment was in quarters in Berkshire, the Pretender's standard was raised in Scotland by the Earl of Mar; but this rebellion was suppressed without Brigadier-General Bowles's dragoons being required to proceed to the north; in October they escorted a number of state prisoners to London, who were tried, and several of them executed for endeavouring to excite the people to rebellion, and for enlisting men for the Pretender's service.
1716
1717
1718
In 1716 the regiment was stationed in Gloucestershire; in 1717 in Wiltshire; and in October, 1718, it marched to Bristol, where it embarked for Ireland, to replace a regiment of dragoons ordered to be disbanded in that country.
The Twelfth Dragoons were placed upon the Irish establishment, and they remained in that part of the United Kingdom during the following seventy-five years.
1719
1735
1739
1740