1688 Sir John Edgeworth 83 1689 Edward, Earl of Meath -- 1692 Frederick Hamilton 84 1705 Richard Ingoldsby 85 1712 Richard Stearne -- 1717 William Cosby 87 1732 Sir Charles Hotham, Bart. -- 1735 John Armstrong -- 1742 Sir John Mordaunt, K.B. 88 1747 John Folliott 89 1762 Sir John Sebright, Bart. -- 1794 Sir James Murray, Bart., afterwards Pulteney -- 1811 John Hely, Lord Hutchinson, K.B., afterwards Earl of Donoughmore 90 1832 Matthew, Lord Aylmer 91 [Illustration: EIGHTEENTH. ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT. QUEEN'S COLOUR.] [Illustration: REGIMENTAL COLOUR. FOR CANNON'S MILITARY RECORDS _Madeley lith 3 Wellington S^t Strand_] HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE EIGHTEENTH, OR THE ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT OF FOOT. [Sidenote: 1684] THE ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT OF FOOT existed many years, as independent companies of pikemen and musketeers on the establishment of Ireland, previous to the formation of the regiment in 1684; several of these companies having been in the service of the Commonwealth in the time of Oliver Cromwell. At the Restoration in 1660, King Charles II. disbanded the army of the Commonwealth in England, and embodied several new corps. Little alteration was, however, made in the Irish forces, excepting the formation of a regiment of foot guards, called the "Royal Regiment of Ireland," which, with about twenty independent troops of horse and eighty companies of foot, constituted the military force of Ireland. Towards the close of his reign, King Charles II. took particular interest in improving the organization of the military establishments of his dominions, and the Irish independent troops of horse were embodied into three regiments of cavalry; at the same time the companies of foot were constituted seven regiments of infantry. The colonelcy of one of these corps was conferred on ARTHUR EARL OF GRANARD, by commission dated the 1st of April, 1684; it is the only one of these ten regiments which has continued in the service of the British crown; and it now bears the title of the EIGHTEENTH, or the ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT OF FOOT.[6] [Sidenote: 1685]