At this period the Spaniards had commenced the siege of _Gibraltar_, which fortress had been captured by a British and Dutch armament in 1704, and had been ceded to Great Britain at the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. The colonel of the FOURTEENTH, Jasper Clayton, was Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar; he proceeded thither in January, 1727, and took the command of the garrison, which opened its fire on the Spanish troops on the 21st of February; and in March the regiment embarked to take part in the defence of that important fortress, where it arrived on the 21st of April, together with a battalion of Foot Guards, and the Governor, General the Earl of Portmore. The regiment landed immediately, and it had the honor to take an active share in the successful defence of this valuable entrepôt to the Mediterranean. The Spaniards continued the siege until many men had perished in the attempt, and the tremendous fire of their artillery had produced little effect besides the bursting and damaging of their own cannon. In the early part of June the fire slackened, and on the 18th of that month hostilities ceased. [Sidenote: 1729] The regiment was afterwards selected to form part of the garrison of Gibraltar, where it was stationed during the following fifteen years. Previously to quitting England, two companies were added to its establishment; these companies remained on home service; they were stationed in the south of England until 1729, when they were disbanded. [Sidenote: 1739] [Sidenote: 1740] [Sidenote: 1742] War between Great Britain and Spain was resumed in 1739; and the claims of the Elector of Bavaria on the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, which were attempted to be enforced after the death of the Emperor, Charles VI., in 1740, involved Great Britain in hostilities with France and Bavaria. King George II. resolved to support the House of Austria; the garrison of Gibraltar was reinforced, and the FOURTEENTH Regiment, having been relieved from duty at that fortress, arrived at Portsmouth in September, 1742. After reposing a few days in barracks at Portsmouth, the regiment marched into quarters in Yorkshire, the head-quarters being at York. [Sidenote: 1743] In the summer of this year, His Majesty sent an army to Flanders to support the House of Austria, and on the 16th of June, 1743, the colonel of the FOURTEENTH Foot, Lieutenant-General JASPER CLAYTON, who was employed on the staff of the British army in Flanders, was killed at the battle of Dettingen; he was an officer of distinguished merit; his fall was regretted by the King and the whole army, and his remains were interred, with great solemnity, in the Chapel of Prince George of Hesse. The King conferred the command of the regiment on Colonel JOSEPH PRICE, from the Fifty-seventh, now Forty-sixth Foot, by commission dated the 22nd of June, 1743. [Sidenote: 1744]