Lieut.-General Sir George Howard, C.B., was removed in April, 1779, to the first dragoon guards, and King George III. conferred the command of the QUEEN'S OWN dragoons on Major-general Sir Henry Clinton, K.B. An augmentation had, in the mean time, been made to the strength of the regiment, in consequence of the American war; and in April, 1779, the men, equipped as light dragoons, were incorporated, with detachments from the second, third, fifteenth, and sixteenth, into a regiment, which was numbered the twenty-first light dragoons. [Sidenote: 1780] [Sidenote: 1781] [Sidenote: 1782] [Sidenote: 1783] Soon after this event the SEVENTH dragoons marched to Scotland, where they remained two years, and on their arrival in England, in May, 1781, they were quartered at Durham. In the summer of 1782 they were removed to Salisbury, and in 1783 to Newbury. The great usefulness of light cavalry had been fully proved during the reign of King George II., and also during the American war; and after the conclusion of a treaty of peace in 1783, the QUEEN'S OWN dragoons underwent a change of clothing and equipment;--the cocked hats were replaced by helmets; boots, saddles, belts, and other articles of equipment, of a light construction, were adopted; carbines of a smaller size than those before used, were received; the standard height for men and horses was reduced; and the regiment was constituted a corps of LIGHT DRAGOONS. [Sidenote: 1784] The change of equipment having taken place, the regiment was employed in the travelling escort duty for the royal family; it was quartered at Hounslow, and other villages, on the road from London to Windsor; and during the summer of 1784 it was reviewed, on Hounslow heath, by His Majesty, when its appearance and discipline procured the expression of his royal approbation. REGULATIONS FOR THE CLOTHING OF THE LIGHT DRAGOONS.--_April, 1784._ The clothing of a private light dragoon to consist of a jacket and shell, under-waistcoat, and leather breeches. The jacket and shell to be of _blue_ cloth, the collars and cuffs of the royal regiments to be red, and those of the other regiments to be of the colour of the facing of the regiment, looped upon the breast, and edged with white _thread_ cord, and to be lined with white, the Eleventh and Thirteenth regiments excepted, which are to be lined with buff. The under-waistcoat to be of flannel, with sleeves, and made so as to be buttoned within the waistband of the breeches. The breeches to be of buckskin. N.B.--The make of the dress, and method of placing the cord upon the breast of the jacket, to be exactly conformable to the pattern approved of by His Majesty.