The Regular Infantry of the British Army

The Regiments until 1751

Up to 1751 all regiments were named after their colonels. From already around 1690 the order of precedence of the regiments was fixed by giving them a ranking. In 1751 using the names of colonels was aborted and all regiments were henceforth known by their erstwhile ranking. In this table the ranking is used as if it were the title of the regiments before 1751.

For the War of the Austrian succession the infantry was expanded in 1739-1743. The 1^st - 10^th Regiment of Marines were ranked as the 44^th - 53^rd in the infantry line. The Jacobite raising saw the creation of the 67^th - 79^th Regiment of Foot. They where in fact Provincial units for the duration and shortly after the battle of Culloden they were disbanded. After the war the Regiments of Marines were disbanded as well as six others. The period thus ended with 49 Regiments of Foot. All regiments had one battalion except the Foot Guards and the 1^st Foot, which had two.