5th Dragoon Guards

History

On 1 January 1686, several independent troops of horse raised in response to the 1685 Monmouth Rebellion were formed into the Earl of Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse. It was first commanded by Lord Shrewsbury, with John Darcy, Lord Conyers, as his lieutenant-colonel.

After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the regiment served in the Williamite War in Ireland, including fighting at the Battle of the Boyne and the First Siege of Limerick. When the Nine Years' War ended in 1697, the regiment escaped disbandment by being made part of the Irish military establishment, where it remained until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, the unit was commanded by William Cadogan, close aide to the Duke of Marlborough. It was engaged in many of Marlborough's battles and sieges, including Blenheim, Ramillies and Malplaquet; after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, it resumed garrison duties in Ireland, where it spent most of the next 80 years.

Renamed Second Irish Horse in 1746, it then became 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1788. On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, it was posted to Flanders where it fought at the April 1794 Battle of Beaumont. The unit returned to Ireland and helped suppress the 1798 Irish Rebellion, including the battles of Arklow, Vinegar Hill and Ballinamuck. In 1804, it was retitled 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards after Princess Charlotte, later simplified to 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards.

Posted to Spain in 1810, it was part of John Le Marchant's brigade during the Peninsular campaign. The Battle of Salamanca in July 1812 is considered one of Wellington'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.' The regiment celebrated 'Salamanca Day' until its dissolution in 1922; the tradition continues among several units of the modern British army.

Redesignated heavy cavalry, it was sent to the Crimean War in 1853 and fought in the October 1854 Battle of Balaclava. A small detachment joined the 1885 Nile Expedition in 1885 but its next serious action was during the 1899–1902 Second Boer War, when it fought at the battles of Elandslaagte and Ladysmith.

During the First World War, it formed part of the British Expeditionary Force that landed in France in August 1914. Retitled 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) in 1921, the following year it was amalgamated with the Inniskillings (6th Dragoons), to form 5th/6th Dragoons.

Regimental museum

Enniskillen Cathedral of St. Macartin North Aisle Royal Inniskilling Dragoons Window Detail Insigna 1685-1922 2012 09 17.jpg|Memorial window at St Macartin's Cathedral, Enniskillen St Mary's Church Eccleston, Old Churchyard - GWGC grave of J Whiston (d 1918).JPG|J Whiston, 5th Dragoon Guards; gravestone, St Mary's Church, Eccleston The regimental collection is held in the Cheshire Military Museum at Chester Castle.

List of Colonels

The colonels of the regiment were as follows: Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg|Earl of Shrewsbury 1686-1687 File:William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan by Louis Laguerre.jpg|William Cadogan 1703-1712 Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham by Jean Baptiste van Loo.jpg|Viscount Cobham 1744-1745 cardigan.jpg|Earl of Cardigan 1859-1860 James Yorke Scarlett (1799-1871), British soldier.jpg|Sir James Scarlett 1860-1871 Tom Bridges 1918.jpg|Sir Tom Bridges 1920-1922

1686 Named after Colonel eg Shrewsbury's Horse

• 1686: Earl of Shrewsbury; resigned in 1687 and joined William III in the Dutch Republic;
• 1687: Marmaduke Langdale, 2nd Baron Langdale;
• 1687: Richard Hamilton; Irish Catholic, removed from command and jailed in the Tower of London 31 December 1688;
• 1688: John Coy; Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment since 1686, experienced veteran with service in France and the Tangier Garrison;
• 1697: Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran;
• 1703: William Cadogan, later Earl Cadogan; Marlborough's quartermaster-general and head of intelligence, succeeded him as Master-General of the Ordnance in 1722.
• 1712: George Kellum; in service with the regiment since its formation in 1686;
• 1717: Robert Napier
• 1740: Clement Neville
• 1744: Field Marshall Viscount Cobham;
• 1745: Thomas Wentworth (died November 1747);

1746 2nd Irish Horse

• 1747: Thomas Bligh
• 1758: John Waldegrave, 3rd Earl Waldegrave
• 1760: Hon. John Fitzwilliam

1788 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards

• 1789: John Douglas
• 1790: Thomas Bland; previously served 36 years with the 7th Dragoon Guards;

1804 5th (the Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards

• 1816: Prince Léopold Georg Christian Friedrich of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg

1823 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards

• 1831: Gen. Sir John Slade; died aged 97 in 1859 and served in the Peninsular War, where contemporaries described him as 'that damned stupid fellow.'
• 1859: Lt-Gen. James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan; commanded the Light Brigade in the Crimean War;
• 1860: Gen. Hon. Sir James Scarlett; acted as CO of the regiment from 1840, led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaclava;
• 1871: Gen. Richard Parker;
• 1885: Gen. Sir Thomas Westropp McMahon
• 1892: Lt-Gen. Somerset Gough-Calthorpe, 7th Baron Calthorpe
• 1912: Maj-Gen. Richard Temple Godman
• 1912: Maj-Gen. William Edward Marsland
• 1920: Lt-Gen. Sir George Tom Molesworth Bridges
• 1922: Regiment amalgamated with The Inniskillings (6th Dragoons) to form the 5th/6th Dragoons

Notes

References

Sources

References

1. (1916). "Regimental nicknames and traditions of the British army". Gale & Polden.
2. (2010). "The British Army against Napoleon". Frontline Books.
3. "The Royal Dragoon Guards; who we are".
4. (1839). "The Fifth, Princess Charlotte of Wales' Dragoons Guards". William Clowes & Sons.
5. "Darcy, Hon. John (1659–89) of Hornby Castle" in Basil Duke Henning, ed., ''The House of Commons, 1660–1690: Introductory survey'' (1983), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HW1_upECKUwC&pg=RA1-PA191 pp 191–192]
6. "5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)". National Army Museum.
7. "5th Dragoon Guards". British Empire.
8. Cannon, p. 34
9. Mills, T.F.. "5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)". regiments.org.
10. Fletcher, I.. (1999). "Galloping at Everything: The British Cavalry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo 1808–15". Spellmount, Staplehurst.
11. (19 July 2018). "Rifles Mark Salamanca Day With Families".
12. "Battle of Balaclava".
13. "5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards". Anglo-Boer War.
14. "The Dragoon Guards". The Long, Long Trail.
15. "Cheshire Military Museum". Army Museums Ogilby Trust.
16. "5th Dragoon Guards". British Empire.
17. (1990). "The British Army of William III, 1689–1702". Manchester University Press.
18. Child, p.16
19. (1904). "English army lists and commission registers, 1661–1714 Volume VI". Eyre & Spottiswood.
20. Cannon p. 6
21. Cannon p. 37
22. Cannon p. 79
23. (2004). "Slade, Sir John, first baronet".