After service at Menorca the brothers returned to England in 1716, and Ligonier transferred to the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (the Blues) as a cornet.
The previous colonel of the 13th, James Gardiner, had been killed at the Battle of Prestonpans after being deserted by his men, and George II gave the regiment to Ligonier saying he "would give them an officer who should show them how to fight".
[1] Though previously confined to bed with a chest infection, Ligonier took over command of a brigade of Henry Hawley's dragoons for the Battle of Falkirk Muir on 16 January 1746.
The sculptor was Louis-François Roubiliac and the inscription reads: Sacred to FRANCIS LIGONIER Esq Colonel of Dragoons, a native of France, descended from a very ancient and very Honble.
[4]Ligonier left two illegitimate children from a relationship with a widow named Anne Murray (née Freeman): Edward and Frances.