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5th Dragoon Guards

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5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)
Badge of the 5th Dragoon Guards
Active1685–1922
Disbanded1922
CountryEngland(1685–1697)
Ireland(1698–1800)
United Kingdom(1801–1922)
BranchArmy
TypeCavalry of the Line
RoleHeavy Cavalry
Size1 battalion
Nickname(s)The Green Horse[1]
The Green Dragoons[2]
The Old Farmers[2]
Motto(s)Vestigia nulla restorsum(Latin– We do not retreat)
March(Quick) The Gay Cavalier
(Slow) Soldier's chorus from Gounod's Faust
AnniversariesSalamanca Day
EngagementsThe Boyne 1690Blenheim 1704Ramillies 1706Malplaquet 1709Salamanca 1812Balaclava 1854
Battle honoursBlenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Beaumont, Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, Peninsula, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Defence of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899–1902; France and Flanders 1914–18[a][3]
Commanders
Notable
commanders		1st Earl Cadogan
7th Earl of Cardigan

The5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guardswas aBritish army cavalry regiment,officially raised in January 1686 asShrewsbury's Regiment of Horseor theEarl of Shrewsbury's Horse.

By 1687, it was known asLangsdale's Horse,from 1687 to 1688 asHamilton's Horse,then from 1688 to 1691 asJohn Coy's Horse.In 1691, it was given a number and known as the6th Horse.In 1697 the regiment was known asArran's Horseand later becameCadogan's Horse.

As Coy's Horse, the regiment fought at theBattle of the Boyne.In 1804 it became the5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards.

In 1922, the regiment was amalgamated with the6th (Inniskilling) Dragoonsto form the5th/6th Dragoons.Its history and traditions continue today in theRoyal Dragoon Guards,an armoured cavalry unit of the British Army.[4]

History

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5th Dragoon Guards atVinegar Hill,1798

On 1 January 1686, several independent troops of horse raised in response to the 1685Monmouth Rebellionwere formed into theEarl of Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse.[5]It was first commanded by Lord Shrewsbury, withJohn Darcy, Lord Conyers,as his lieutenant-colonel.[6]

After theGlorious Revolutionof 1688, the regiment served in theWilliamite War in Ireland,including fighting at theBattle of the Boyneand theFirst Siege of Limerick.[7]When theNine Years' Warended in 1697, the regiment escaped disbandment by being made part of the Irish military establishment, where it remained until the creation of theUnited Kingdomin 1801.[8]

During theWar of the Spanish Succession,the unit was commanded byWilliam Cadogan,close aide to theDuke of Marlborough.It was engaged in many of Marlborough's battles and sieges, includingBlenheim,RamilliesandMalplaquet;after thePeace of Utrechtin 1713, it resumed garrison duties in Ireland, where it spent most of the next 80 years.[9]

Le Marchant's charge atSalamanca,July 1812; 5th dragoons right foreground

Renamed Second Irish Horse in 1746, it then became 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1788.[3]On the outbreak of theFrench Revolutionary Warsin 1793, it was posted to Flanders where it fought at the April 1794Battle of Beaumont.[8]The unit returned to Ireland and helped suppress the1798 Irish Rebellion,including the battles ofArklow,Vinegar HillandBallinamuck.[7]In 1804, it was retitled 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards afterPrincess Charlotte,later simplified to 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards.[3]

Michael MacNamara, who took part in the1854 Charge of the Heavy Brigade;photographed ca 1856

Posted to Spain in 1810, it was part ofLe Marchant's brigade during thePeninsular campaign.TheBattle of Salamancain July 1812 is considered one ofWellington's greatest victories and Le Marchant's attack as the 'single most destructive charge made by a brigade of cavalry in the whole Napoleonic period.'[10]The regiment celebrated 'Salamanca Day' until its dissolution in 1922; the tradition continues among several units of the modern British army.[11]

Redesignated heavy cavalry, it was sent to theCrimean Warin 1853 and fought in the October 1854Battle of Balaclava.[7]The Charge of the Heavy Brigade was a famous action but casualties were relatively light; the Brigade as a whole lost 92 dead and wounded in total, 15 of whom came from the 5th Dragoon Guards.[12]A small detachment joined the1885 Nile Expeditionin 1885 but its next serious action was during the 1899–1902Second Boer War,when it fought at the battles ofElandslaagteandLadysmith.[13]

During theFirst World War,it formed part of theBritish Expeditionary Forcethat landed in France in August 1914.[14]Retitled 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) in 1921, the following year it was amalgamated with theInniskillings (6th Dragoons),to form5th/6th Dragoons.[3]

Regimental museum

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The regimental collection is held in theCheshire Military MuseumatChester Castle.[15][16]

List of Colonels

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The colonels of the regiment were as follows:[3]

1686Named after Colonel eg Shrewsbury's Horse

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1746 2nd Irish Horse

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17885th Regiment of Dragoon Guards

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18045th (the Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards

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18235th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Messines 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Rosières, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Baurevoir, Pursuit to Mons

References

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  1. ^Regimental nicknames and traditions of the British army.London: Gale & Polden. 1916. p. 9.Retrieved2010-03-10.
  2. ^abBurnham, Robert; McGuigan, Ron (2010).The British Army against Napoleon.Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books. p. 122.ISBN978-1-84832-562-3.
  3. ^abcdeMills, T.F."5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)".regiments.org.Archived fromthe originalon February 4, 2005.RetrievedDecember 28,2015.
  4. ^"The Royal Dragoon Guards; who we are".Army.Retrieved21 March2019.
  5. ^Cannon, Richard (1839).The Fifth, Princess Charlotte of Wales' Dragoons Guards.William Clowes & Sons. pp. 4–5.
  6. ^"Darcy, Hon. John (1659–89) of Hornby Castle" in Basil Duke Henning, ed.,The House of Commons, 1660–1690: Introductory survey(1983),pp 191–192
  7. ^abc"5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)".National Army Museum.Retrieved5 August2016.
  8. ^ab"5th Dragoon Guards".British Empire.Retrieved5 August2016.
  9. ^Cannon, p. 34
  10. ^Fletcher, I. (1999).Galloping at Everything: The British Cavalry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo 1808–15.Spellmount, Staplehurst. pp. 184–186.ISBN1-86227-016-3.
  11. ^"Rifles Mark Salamanca Day With Families".Forces.net.19 July 2018.Retrieved12 April2019.
  12. ^"Battle of Balaclava".British Battles.Retrieved12 April2019.
  13. ^"5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards".Anglo-Boer War.Retrieved5 August2016.
  14. ^"The Dragoon Guards".The Long, Long Trail.Retrieved5 August2016.
  15. ^Cheshire Military Museum,Army Museums Ogilby Trust, archived fromthe originalon 17 June 2011,retrieved18 February2011
  16. ^"5th Dragoon Guards".British Empire.Retrieved12 June2018.
  17. ^Child, John (1990).The British Army of William III, 1689–1702.Manchester University Press. p. 16.ISBN978-0719025525.
  18. ^Child, p.16
  19. ^Dalton, Charles (1904).English army lists and commission registers, 1661–1714 Volume VI.Eyre & Spottiswood. p. 30.
  20. ^Cannon p. 6
  21. ^abcCannon p. 37
  22. ^Cannon p. 79
  23. ^Lloyd, E. M.(2004). "Slade, Sir John, first baronet".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(Online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25706.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)

Sources

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  • Cannon, Richard (1839).The Fifth, Princess Charlotte of Wales' Dragoons Guards.William Clowes & Sons.
  • Child, John (1990).The British Army of William III, 1689–1702.Manchester University Press.ISBN978-0719025525.
  • Dalton, Charles (1904).English army lists and commission registers, 1661-1714 Volume VI.Eyre & Spottiswood.
  • Fletcher, I. (1999).Galloping at Everything: The British Cavalry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo 1808–15.Spellmount, Staplehurst.ISBN1-86227-016-3.
  • Gore, St. John (1901).The Green Horse in Ladysmith.Sampson, Low, Marston and Co.
  • Pomeroy, Ralph Legge (1924).The Story of a Regiment of Horse (5th Princess of Wales's Dragoon Guards) 1685–1922.Blackwood.
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