the Battle of Aughrim in July 1691 and the siege of Limerick in August 1691. In 1701, over the objections of General William Selwyn, the threat of war led the English government to post an Independent Company of regular soldiers, detached from the 2nd Regiment of Foot, to Bermuda, where the militia continued to function as a standby in case of war or insurrection. The company was composed of Captain Lancelot Sandys, Lieutenant Robert Henly, two sergeants, two corporals, fifty private soldiers, and a drummer, and arrived in Bermuda along with the new Governor, Captain Benjamin Bennett, aboard , in May 1701. The regiment embarked for Holland in June 1701 and took part in the sieges of Kaiserswerth and of Venlo in spring 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. In March 1704, the regiment embarked for Lisbon and took part in the Battle of Almansa in April 1707 before returning to England in summer 1708. The regiment was then based in Menorca from summer 1718 to 1746. The regiment was renamed the 9th Regiment of Foot in 1751 when all British regiments were given numbers for identification instead of using their Colonel's name. During the Seven Years' War the Regiment won its first formal battle honour as part of the expedition that captured Belle Île from the French in 1761. It sailed for Cuba with George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle in March 1762 and took part in the siege and subsequent capture of Havana in summer 1762. Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and the end of the war, the regiment moved to a posting at St Augustine, Florida, where it remained until 1769. In April 1776, the regiment embarked for Canada as part of an expedition under Major-General John Burgoyne and took part in the siege of Fort Ticonderoga and the Battle of Fort Anne in July 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. It surrendered at the Battle of Saratoga in autumn 1777 and its men then spent three years as prisoners of war as part of the Convention Army. On 31 August 1782, the regiment was linked with Norfolk as part of attempts to improve recruitment to the army as a whole and it became the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot. In January 1788, the regiment embarked for the West Indies and took part in the capture of the island