Each party normally consisted of an Officer (Captain, Lieutenant, or Ensign), a Serjeant, a Corporal, and a Drummer. One or two Private Soldiers may have accompanied the party, as acting Corporal, or Servant to the Officer.
The map (below) shows the distribution of recruiting parties of the 64th Regiment, as seen on a Weekly Return and State of the Recruits Raised dated November 29th, 1759. [PRO WO17/184]
They were located in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Wakefield, York, St. Ives, Lincoln, Stroud, Froome, Peterborough, Beccles, Nottingham, Leicester, Norwich, Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds, and Manchester.
As you can see, quite a geographical distribution. It wasn't until 1782 that regiments in the British Army became associated with particular areas. At that time, the 64th Regiment received the county title of "The 2nd Staffordshire Regiment", and a recruiting depot was set up at Lichfield - the location of the Headquarters of the Staffordshire Regiment today.
According to the Weekly Return, the recruiting party in London was the most effective, followed by Froome, Norwich, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Stroud, Lincoln and Nottingham.
48 recruits had been sent to the Regiment from London, and another 83 were currently in quarters at the various recruiting locations. The sole recruit from Leicester had promptly deserted after collecting his bounty!
In a hand-written note at the bottom of the Return, Major Alexander Leslie indicated that he had to detain one of the two London recruiting parties, "as we want non-Comd Officers much at Quarters".
The Recruiting Officer's Speech | Instructions to the Recruiting Officer | The Attestation