The regiment was raised in the south of England by Brigadier-General James Dormer as James Dormer's Regiment of Dragoons, and ranked as the 14th Dragoons, in 1715 as part of the response to the Jacobite rebellion. It took part in the Battle of Preston in November 1715 after which it escorted some of the rebels to Lancaster Gaol. The regiment was sent to Ireland in 1717 and remained there until 1742. It fought but was completely outflanked at the Battle of Prestonpans in September 1745 and then took part in the equally disastrous Battle of Falkirk Muir in January 1746 during the Jacobite rising of 1745. The regiment returned to Ireland in 1747 and it was formally renamed as the 14th Regiment of Dragoons in 1751. It became a light dragoon regiment in 1776, as the 14th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, and two troops were detached and joined 8th Light Dragoons in the Low Countries in 1794 for service in the Flanders Campaign. Then seven troops were detached and deployed to the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1795 during the Haitian Revolution; they took part in an action at Mirebalais in June 1797 in which they helped defeat 1,200 ex-slaves who were sympathetic to new regime in France.