After the decease of Field-Marshal Wade, in February, 1748, the Colonelcy was conferred on the Honourable Charles Howard.
In the succeeding year the regiment was stationed at York and Barnard Castle; and in 1750 at Loughborough, Norwich, and North Yarmouth.
In the spring of 1752 the THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS furnished a relay of escorts to attend the King to Harwich, where His Majesty embarked for the continent, on a visit to his German dominions. During the remainder of that year, and in the two succeeding years, detachments of the regiment were employed on coast duty in Suffolk, Essex, and Devonshire. Owing to an increase of duty on several articles of foreign produce, smuggling had become prevalent to a great extent in England, and it was found necessary to have parties of dragoons constantly stationed in the maritime towns and villages to assist the officers of the revenue in preventing the introduction of contraband goods. At the same time a laxity of morals prevailed amongst the labouring classes; and, in the absence of an efficient police in the kingdom, parties of dragoons were employed to patrole the public roads for the prevention of highway robberies, which had become alarmingly frequent, and were often attended with acts of cruelty and even murder. From the ephemeral publications of the day it appears that organized gangs of robbers infested many parts of the kingdom at this period.
In 1755 signs of an approaching war began to appear. The French committed several acts of violence against British settlements in America; retaliation was made by the English troops, and the French were driven from the possessions they had seized. The British Court was disposed to an amicable arrangement of the existing differences; but such difficulties were raised by France, that his Majesty deemed it prudent to augment the strength of the regular army, and an addition of 1 corporal and 15 men was made to the strength of each troop of the THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS: and subsequently a LIGHT TROOP, consisting of 3 officers, 1 quarter-master, 2 serjeants, 3 corporals, 2 drummers, and 60 private men, was added to the establishment.[45] The general utility of light dragoons had been manifest in continental warfare; a regiment of light horse raised by the Duke of Kingston in 1744 had been highly instrumental in the suppression of the rebellion in Scotland; and from the autumn of 1755 light cavalry have constituted a portion of the British land forces.