Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Beaumont, Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, Peninsula, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Defence of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899–1902; France and Flanders 1914–18 [a][3]
The 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards was a British army cavalry regiment, officially raised in January 1686 as Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse or the Earl of Shrewsbury's Horse.
By 1687, it was known as Langsdale's Horse, from 1687 to 1688 as Hamilton's Horse, then from 1688 to 1691 as John Coy's Horse. In 1691, it was given a number and known as the 6th Horse. In 1697 the regiment was known as Arran's Horse and later became Cadogan's Horse.
As Coy's Horse, the regiment fought at the Battle of the Boyne. In 1804 it became the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards.
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.[5] It was first commanded by Lord Shrewsbury, with John Darcy, Lord Conyers, as his lieutenant-colonel.[6]
Renamed Second Irish Horse in 1746, it then became 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1788.[3] 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.[8] The unit returned to Ireland and helped suppress the 1798 Irish Rebellion, including the battles of Arklow, Vinegar Hill and Ballinamuck.[7] 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.[3]
Posted to Spain in 1810, it was part of 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.'[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 the Crimean War in 1853 and fought in the October 1854 Battle 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 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.[13]
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.'[23]
^ abBurnham, Robert; McGuigan, Ron (2010). The British Army against Napoleon. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books. p. 122. ISBN978-1-84832-562-3.
^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.
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.
England (1685–1697)
Ireland (1698–1800)
United Kingdom (1801–1922)
.JPG)
,_British_soldier.jpg)
