HORSE GUARDS, in England, were originally gentlemen chosen for their bravery to be intrusted with the guard of the king's person. They were divided into four troops. The first 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 subbrigadiers and cornets, and sixty private men. The four troops were afterwards turned into two regiments of Life Guards.
The HORSE GRENADIER GUARDS were divided into two troops. 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 at the coronation of Henry VII., Oct. 30, 1485. They are a superior kind of Foot Guards to the royal person, and are generally called by the nickname of Beef-Eaters. (See APPELLATION.) They were originally fifty in number, and of larger stature than ordinary, each being required to be over six feet in height. This band was afterwards increased to a hundred, and seventy supernumeraries; and when one of the hundred died, his place was supplied out of the seventy. Their first captain was the Earl of Oxford, in 1486.
The FOOT GUARDS are regiments of foot appointed to guard the royal person and palace. They were raised in 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 town in Berwickshire, where it was first embodied. This regiment is older than the first, having been raised sooner; and, from being commanded by General Monk, was called Monk's regiment, in compliment to whom it was made one of the three royal regiments by Charles II.