[Sidenote: 1725] [Sidenote: 1726] [Sidenote: 1727] [Sidenote: 1729] In 1723 the establishment was augmented to 333 men, at which number it remained, with an alteration only of six men, until 1727, when the regiment was ordered to hold itself in readiness to embark for Holland, as part of the complement of 10,000 men which England had engaged to furnish the States; at the same time its establishment was augmented to 552 men. No embarkation, however, took place; and in 1729, the numbers of the regiment were reduced to 309. [Sidenote: 1732] After the decease of General Lord Carpenter in 1732, King George II. conferred the colonelcy on Major-General PHILIP HONEYWOOD, from the eleventh dragoons. [Sidenote: 1738] [Sidenote: 1739] An augmentation was made to the establishment in 1738; in 1739, the breaking out of a war with Spain occasioned general orders for recruiting to be issued:--the establishment of the KING'S OWN dragoons was raised to 435 men, and in the summer they were encamped on Hounslow Heath, where they were several times reviewed by the Duke of Cumberland. [Sidenote: 1740] [Sidenote: 1741] During the summer of 1740, the KING'S OWN were encamped in Windsor Forest; and in 1741, they were ordered, with several other regiments and a train of artillery, amounting nearly to 10,000 men, to prepare for embarkation for foreign service. This force encamped in July, on ground cleared for the purpose, on Lexdon heath, near Colchester: no embarkation, however, took place, and after a few weeks, the troops went into quarters in the various towns in the neighbourhood. [Sidenote: 1742] In the meantime war was raging on the continent; the King of France and the Elector of Bavaria had united to deprive the Archduchess Maria Theresa of her hereditary dominions; and in 1742, His Britannic Majesty sent sixteen thousand British troops to Flanders to make a diversion in favour of the Austrians. The KING'S OWN Regiment of dragoons was one of the corps selected for this service, and having been reviewed on Blackheath by King George II., accompanied by the Duke of Cumberland, it embarked shortly afterwards at Woolwich and Deptford; their colonel, Lieutenant-General Honeywood, taking the command of the expedition until the arrival of Field Marshal the Earl of Stair. After landing at Ostend the KING'S OWN dragoons advanced a few leagues up the country, but all active operations were prevented by the tardiness of the Dutch. [Sidenote: 1743]