Note 14 — HISTORICAL RECORD
Reading edition
The rank of the several regiments of the British Army was first regulated by a Board of General Officers assembled in the Netherlands, by command of King William III., on the 10th June, 1694.
Another Board of General Officers was assembled by order of Queen Anne in 1713, to decide on the rank and precedence of regiments raised subsequently to 1694.
A third Board was assembled, by command of King George I., in 1715, for the same purpose.
These Boards recommended that English regiments, raised in England, should take rank from the dates of their formation; and that English, Scots, and Irish regiments, raised for the service of a foreign power, should take rank from the dates of their being placed on the English establishment.
The numerical titles of regiments, as fixed on the principle laid down in the reports of the Boards of General Officers, above alluded to, were confirmed by the warrant issued by authority of King George II., dated 1st July, 1751,—and also by the warrant of King George III., dated 19th December, 1768.