"Given at our court at St. James', this 3rd day of February, 1714-15, in the first year of our reign.
"By His Majesty's Command, "WILLIAM PULTENEY."
_To our trusty and well-beloved Colonel William Kerr._
In compliance with this order, Captains Lewis Dollon's and Peter Renourds' troops from the royal dragoons, and Captains William Crawford's, George Dunbar's and James Levingtone's troops from the greys, (being augmentation troops raised when KERR'S regiment was disembodied,) with a sixth troop raised near London, were constituted a regiment, which now bears the designation of SEVENTH, OR QUEEN'S OWN HUSSARS; but was then styled "KERR'S DRAGOONS."
Soon after its second formation, the regiment marched into quarters in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the county of Durham; and in July His Majesty was pleased to confer upon it the distinguished title of "HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF WALES' OWN ROYAL REGIMENT OF DRAGOONS"[5] in honour of Wilhelmina Carolina, consort of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
The augmentation of the army, and other measures adopted by the government for the preservation of tranquillity, did not sufficiently intimidate the disaffected so as to prevent an appeal to arms. In the early part of September the Earl of Mar raised the standard of the Pretender in the Highlands, and summoned the friends of the Stuart dynasty to his aid. At the same time, the PRINCESS OF WALES'S dragoons were ordered to march to Scotland and join the troops commanded by Major-General Whetham, encamped at Stirling.
At this camp the regiment remained several weeks; additional forces arrived; the establishment was augmented, and the Duke of Argyle took the command of the army. The rebel forces, ten thousand strong, advancing with the view of penetrating southward, the King's troops, not four thousand men, proceeded to the vicinity of _Dumblain_, to oppose the progress of the clans. On the morning of Sunday, the 13th of November, the two armies confronted each other on Sheriff-muir, and the PRINCESS OF WALES', with Carpenter's (third), and a squadron of the Inniskilling (sixth) dragoons were on the left of the line, under Major-General Sabine and Brigadier-General Newton. The action commenced on the right, where the royal forces overthrew their opponents and chased them from the field. On the left the fortune of the day was in favour of the rebels; six hundred select Highlanders surprised the infantry in the act of forming, and put them into confusion. The gallant Colonel KERR led his regiment of dragoons (the SEVENTH) to the charge with signal intrepidity; his horse was killed under him; but he speedily mounted another, and his brave troopers, with some gentlemen volunteers and Carpenter's squadrons, drove the rebel horsemen before them, capturing a standard. Colonel KERR had a second horse killed under him, and a rebel trooper fired a pistol at his breast, which did him no harm, although his coat was torn. The royal infantry on the left were unable to recover from the disorder into which they had fallen; they retired before the clans; their communication with the remainder of the army was cut off; and mingling with the cavalry, both became confused, and fell back a short distance to gain an opportunity of re-forming their ranks. They retired beyond Dumblain, and took possession of the passes, to prevent the clans penetrating to Stirling. Meanwhile, the right wing of the king's army had returned from the pursuit of the left wing of the rebel forces: the Earl of Mar withdrew with the clans during the night, and the Duke of Argyle returned with the royal forces to Stirling.