Strength of the Army

Household Troops

The King possessed a small personal army in the form of his Household Troops which was composed of:

  • Horse Guards (1st, or His Majesty's Own Troop, and 2nd, or The Queen's Troop)
  • Horse Grenadier Guards (2 troops)
  • Royal Horse Guards (Blue)
  • Foot Guards (1st, Coldstream Regiments, and 3rd)

Stength and Organization of the Regiments of Foot Guards

Each battalion of the Foot Guards had nine companies, except the 1st battalion of the 1st Foot Guards

  • First Foot Guards, 3 battalions of 9 companies, plus an extra grenadier company
  • Coldstream Guards, 2 battalions of 9 companies
  • Third Foot Guards, 2 battalions of 9 companies
  • Brigade on American Service, whose organization varied widely. For service in the war in America, the King ordered the formation of a special detachment of the Foot Guards to be drawn from the existing regiments who would recruit new men to replace those sent to America.

Cavalry

The army's cavalry arm consisted of regiments of:

  • Horse, 4 Regiments
  • Dragoon Guards, 3 Regiments
  • Dragoons, 14 Regiments (numbered 1-14)
  • Light Dragoons, 4 Regiments (numbered 15-18)
During the war, 5 more regiments of Light Dragoons (numbers 19-23) were raised.

Infantry

In 1775, the army's infantry arm consisted of:

  • 70 Regiments of Foot
  • Some independent Companies in garrisons
During the war, a large number of new regiments were raised. The highest number of a regiment placed on the British Establishment was 105.

Strength and Organization of a Regiment of Foot

The size of a regiment and its organization are generally referred to by the term: Establishment. This was set in broad terms by the Mutiny Act and given more details from time to time by Royal Warrants and directives from the Secretary at War or Adjutant General.

Ordnance

The Board of Ordnancewas responsible for providing all the arms and ammunition for both the Army and the Navy. It also controlled the personnel of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, the Corps of Engineers, and the new Company of Military Artificers. In parallel with the organization of the Army into an English and an Irish Establishment, there was also the Irish Board of Ordnance which was located at Dublin Castle. The Irish Board of Ordnance provided arms and ammunition to the army on the Irish Establishment as well as controlling the personnel of the Royal Irish Artillery and Corps of Irish Engineers.