to recognize James III as legitimate, and therefore individual Jacobites amongst the Irish regiments in France continued to hope for decades that their cause would eventually succeed. After its early years however the Brigade increasingly became a professional force made up of Irish soldiers who enlisted for reasons of family tradition or in search of opportunities denied them at home, rather than for directly political motives. Irish regiments served in the War of the Austrian Succession, Seven Years' War, both in Europe and India, and during the American War of Independence, though by the 1740s the number of Irishmen serving in the regiments had begun to markedly decline. The five regiments were increased to six during the War of the Austrian Succession, the sixth being Lally's, initially created by the Comte de Lally -Tollendal through drafts from the original five. Each regiment had a strength of one battalion of 685 men and Fitzjames's cavalry regiment counted 240 men. The Brigade played a crucial role at Fontenoy attacking the right flank of the British column suffering 656 casualties and, according to O'Callaghan captured the colours of the Coldstream Guards and fifteen cannon. McGarry, in a recently published book entitled Irish Brigades Abroad, identifies the flag concerned coming from Sempill's Regiment of Foot, the forerunner of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. The Irish suffered even higher casualties of around 1400 men, at the Battle of Lauffeld when they led the assault which drove the British from Lauffeld village and secured victory. During the Seven Years' War the Irish Regiments in French service were: Bulkeley, Clare, Dillon, Rooth, Berwick and Lally as well as one regiment of cavalry (Fitzjames's). From January 1766 the Papacy formally recognised George III of the Hanoverian dynasty as the lawful monarch of Britain and Ireland, and refused to recognise Bonnie Prince Charlie, who was now styled as King Charles III by the Jacobites. The rise of George III also saw the Tories come back to power with John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute forming a ministry – the Tories had previously included high placed, financially powerful Jacobites. There were always a number of English and Scots serving in the Brigade, though their numbers fluctuated markedly over the years. A database being compiled by the Centre for Irish-Scottish Studies at Trinity College suggests that for every ten Irishmen there were on average two Englishmen and one Scot. Walsh's regiment