The 10th Regiment of Foot (or 10th North Lincoln Regiment) was raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. The regiment saw action during the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spanish Succession at the Battle of Blenheim, Battle of Ramillies and the Battle of Malplaquet.

In 1750 the regiment was sent to Ireland. In 1751 it was renamed the 10th Regiment of Foot as all British regiment were given numbers instead of the colonel's name for identification. The 10th took part in the 1759-60 action to repel Thurot at Carrickfergus during the Seven Years' War.

The regiment next saw action during the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, New York Campaign, Battle of Germantown, Battle of Monmouth and the Battle of Rhode Island. In 1778 the 10th returned home to England after 19 years service overseas. In 1781 the regiment was linked to the County of Lincolnshire for recruiting. During the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars the regiment served in Egypt and in Portugal and Spain in the Peninsular War. The 10th was in India for the First Anglo-Sikh War and the bloody Battle of Sobraon where they met "Our Cousins" the 29th Regiment of Foot in the captured trenches. The 10th would also fought in the Second Anglo-Sikh War and the Indian Mutiny.

This is a list of numbered Regiments of Foot of the British Army from the mid-18th century until 1881, when numbering was abandoned.

The rank of regiments of the British Army was first fixed during the Nine Years' War. Doubts as to the respective rank of regiments fighting in the Spanish Netherlands led William III to command a Board of General Officers meeting on 10 June 1694 to establish the order of precedence of the various units. Further boards were convened by Queen Anne and George I in 1713 and 1715 to decide the rank of regiments raised after 1694.

The rank or precedence of regiments was fixed by the following criteria:

This led to anomalies, such as the Royal Irish Regiment, raised in 1684, being ranked as the 18th of the line, junior to eleven regiments raised between 1685 and 1688.

While regiments were known by the name of their colonel, or by their royal title, the number of their rank was increasingly used. Thus, in the Cloathing Book of 1742, which illustrated the patterns of uniforms worn by the King's forces, the regiments of foot are designated simply by numbers.