Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover, one of ten children. His father was of Jewish descent, and an oboist in the Hannover Military Band. In 1755 the Hannoverian Guards regiment, in whose band Wilhelm and his brother Jakob were engaged as oboists, was ordered to England. At the time the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were united under George II. The next year the brothers resigned from the Guards band, and moved to London to avoid the Seven Years' War. Wilhelm, nineteen years old at this time, learnt the English language quickly. In England he went by the English version of his name, Frederick William Herschel.