Major-General Sir Isaac Brock stated The chief object of the flank companies is to have constantly in readiness a force comprised of loyal, brave and respectable men.
[2]The grenadier company comprised the tallest soldiers in the regiment and when in combat were used as assault troops,[3] though by the end of the 18th Century the hand grenade had fallen out of use, the grenadiers still wore a special headgear such as a bearskin or mitre originally designed to facilitate the effective throwing of hand grenades.
[4] Frederick William I of Prussia was renowned for recruiting the tallest soldiers in Europe for his grenadier regiment with various European monarchs presenting their tallest young males as gifts for Frederick.
By opposing big men to small ones is an idea new that belongs to me...In convincing small men that they are worth the same as big ones, they are given the emulation to equal or surpass them.
With all troops being trained in assault and skirmishing tactics the flank companies were disbanded by the mid 1860s[8] though many regiments still use the titles of Grenadier or Light Infantry.