During the summer of this year the regiment served with the army of Flanders under the Prince of Vaudemont, and was brigaded with the regiments of Eppinger and Miremont, commanded by its colonel. It was employed in defensive operations for the preservation of Ghent, Bruges, and the maritime towns of Flanders. It passed the winter in the villages behind the Bruges canal.
On the 1st of October, 1696, Brigadier-General Cunningham was succeeded in the colonelcy by WILLIAM, LORD JEDBURGH, eldest son of the Marquis of Lothian.
The regiment, bearing the title of JEDBURGH'S dragoons, served the campaign of 1697 in Flanders with the army commanded by the Elector of Bavaria, and was formed in brigade with the regiments of Nassau-Sarbruck, and Opdam, under the orders of Brigadier-General Pyper. It took part in several operations; and in May joined King William's army in Brabant, but, subsequently, returned to Flanders. In September tranquillity was restored in Europe by the treaty of Ryswick.
During the winter JEDBURGH'S dragoons embarked from Flanders, and after landing at Harwich in December, proceeded to London, where they occupied quarters for several weeks; at the same time their numbers were reduced to a peace establishment.
The regiment left its cantonments in Southwark, in February, 1698, on route for Scotland, where it arrived towards the end of March.
The accession of Queen Anne, in 1702, was followed by another war on the continent; but the exertions made by the friends of the Pretender to effect his elevation to the throne, rendered it necessary to detain an efficient force at home, and Jedburgh's was one of the corps selected to remain in Scotland, where it was stationed, while the army under the renowned Marlborough was gaining laurels in Germany and the Netherlands[3], the fields of Blenheim, Ramilies, &c., giving dreadful proof of British valour.
In April, 1707, Patrick Lord Polwarth was appointed colonel of the regiment, in succession to the Marquis of Lothian, who was removed to the colonelcy of the Scots foot guards.
The king of France having fitted out a fleet and embarked troops in the early part of 1708, for the invasion of Britain by the Pretender, Lord Polwarth's regiment was held in readiness to take the field at a moment's notice, and the establishment was augmented to fifty-four men per troop; but the French fleet was driven from the Scottish coast, and the country was preserved from the horrors of civil war.