Horse GUARDS, in England, were originally gentlemen chosen, for their bravery, to be intrusted with the guard of the king's person; and they were divided into four troops, called the first, second, third, and fourth troop of Horse Guards. The first troop was raised in the year 1660, and the command given to Lord Gerard; the second in 1661, and the command given to Sir Philip Howard; the third in 1693, and the command given to Earl Feversham; the fourth in 1702, and the command given to Earl Newburgh. Each troop had one colonel, two lieutenant-colonels, one cornet and major, one guidon and major, four exempts and captains, four brigadiers and lieutenants, one adjutant, four sub-brigadiers and cornets, and sixty private men. But the four troops were afterwards turned into two regiments of Life Guards.
The Horse Grenadier GUARDS were divided into two troops, called the first and second troops of Horse Grenadier Guards. The first troop was raised in 1693, and the command given to Lieutenant-general Cholmondeley; the second in 1702, and the command given to Lord Forbes. Each troop had a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, a guidon or major, three exempts and captains, three lieutenants, one adjutant, three cornets, and sixty private men.
The Yeomen of the GUARD were first raised by Henry VII. in the year 1485. They are a superior kind of foot guards to the king's person, and are generally called by the nickname of the Beef-Eaters. They were anciently two hundred and fifty men of the first rank under gentry, and of larger stature than ordinary, each being required to be six feet in height. Of this body there are about a hundred on duty, and seventy more not on duty; and when any one of the hundred dies, his place is supplied out of the seventy in non-activity. Their first commander or captain was the Earl of Oxford.
The Foot GUARDS are regiments of foot appointed for the guard of his majesty and his palace. They were raised in the year 1660, when the command of the first regiment was given to Thomas Lord Wentworth; that of the second to General Monk, then Duke of Albemarle; and that of the third to the Earl of Linlithgow. The second regiment is always called the Coldstream Guards, from a market-town in Berwickshire, where it was first embodied. This regiment is older than the first, having been raised sooner, and commanded by General Monk, from whom it derived its
name of Monk's regiment or corps, and in compliment to whom it was made one of the three royal regiments by Charles II.