'The Horse Guards', 1768

Engraving by E Rooker after M A Rooker, 1768. Published by E Rooker, 20 February 1768.

Whitehall street scene, with the view from a large arched gateway looking towards the east front of Horse Guards in London. A man begging leans against a wall, holding out a hat.

Horse Guards was named after the mounted troops who have formed the sovereign's Life Guard since the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660. It grew from a simple building that housed troops on duty as escorts to the King to become the headquarters of the British Army in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.