LIST OF PLATES.

HISTORICAL RECORD

OF

THE FIRST,

OR

THE ROYAL REGIMENT

OF

DRAGOONS.

The anarchy, devastation, and bloodshed which had prevailed in Britain during the rebellion and tyrannical usurpation of Cromwell, having been succeeded by the restoration of monarchy,—the despotic sway of sectarians and republicans put down by the establishment of a regular government on constitutional principles,—and the army of the commonwealth disbanded, King Charles II. directed his attention to domestic concerns, and engaged in a matrimonial alliance with Donna Catherina, Infanta of Portugal; and this event gave rise to the formation of a troop of Cuirassiers, which was the nucleus of the corps now bearing the distinguished title of The Royal Regiment of Dragoons.

By the marriage treaty the ancient and once magnificent city of Tangier, in Africa, and the island of Bombay in the East Indies, were ceded by the king of Portugal to the British crown; and, with a sum equal to three hundred thousand pounds, constituted the Infanta's dowry.

As the possession of the important fortress of Tangier, with its harbour and local advantages, appeared to open a new field for commercial pursuits, and was expected to be followed by the acquisition of extensive possessions in that part of the world, four regiments of foot and a troop of horse were appointed to garrison that fortress, and the Earl of Peterborough was constituted captain general, chief governor, and vice admiral of that part of his Majesty's dominions.

Three of the regiments of foot, commanded by Sir Robert Harley, and Colonels Fitzgerald and O'Farell, were withdrawn from the garrison of Dunkirk, and were composed of men who had fought in the royal cause during the civil war, and afterwards in the Netherlands. The other regiment of foot, (now the second, or Queen's royal,) and the troop of Horse (now Royal Dragoons) were raised in England by the Earl of Peterborough in the autumn of 1661, and were mustered, the former on Putney Heath, and the latter in St. George's Fields, Southwark, in October.[7]

The troop of Horse consisted of three officers, one quarter-master, four corporals, one trumpeter, and one hundred private men; the ranks were completed with veterans of the civil war, who were armed with cuirasses, iron head-pieces called potts, long swords, and a pair of large pistols, to which a short carbine was afterwards added: they were mounted on long-tailed horses of superior weight and power, wore high boots reaching to the middle of the thigh, and scarlet vests: the officers wore hats decorated with a profusion of feathers; and both officers and men ornamented their horses' heads and tails with large bunches of ribands. The officers of this troop were,—

The Earl of Peterborough, Captain and Colonel.

Robert Leech, Captain-Lieutenant.

James Mordaunt, Cornet.

The appearance and equipment of the officers and men were commended in the ephemeral publications of that period. They embarked in the middle of December, and in a letter to the Earl of Peterborough, dated the 21st of December, the King observed: 'I desire you to lett those honest men knowe who are along with you, y^t they shall allwayes be in my particular care and protection as persons y^t venture themselves in my service. And so, wishing you a good voyage, I remain, &c., Charles R.'[8]

The troops arrived at Tangier in January, 1662, and a war commencing soon afterwards between the British occupants of this part of Africa and the Moors, frequent encounters occurred between detachments of the garrison of Tangier and the barbarians, in which the former had a decided superiority, and the English horsemen became celebrated for gallant achievements.[9]

The veteran Earl of Teviot, who was appointed governor of Tangier in 1663, in succession to the Earl of Peterborough, occasionally penetrated into the adjacent country at the head of a detachment of horse, and many brilliant exploits were performed by the gallant English troopers, among the rocks, in the woods, and on the plains of this part of Africa, where they frequently surprised lurking parties of Moors, and captured cattle and other booty. The Africans were, however, expert horsemen, and fought with lance, sword, and short fusils.

In February, 1664, a Moorish army, commanded by Gaylan, usurper of Fez, appeared before Tangier to besiege the fortress. On the 1st of March the Earl of Teviot, observing a body of Moors, with a splendid scarlet standard, stationed on an eminence near the city, ordered the troop of Horse to sally and bring in the standard. The command was instantly obeyed; the brave troopers, led by Captain Witham, issued from the city, traversed the intervening space with signal intrepidity, routed the Moorish band, and captured the standard, with which they returned in triumph to the fortress, and erected it on the top of one of the towers, to the surprise and chagrin of the Moorish chiefs, who, being posted at a distance with the main body of their army, witnessed this brilliant exploit.

On the 13th of March the English horsemen had a sharp encounter with some of the enemy's best cavalry; and on the 27th, the Earl of Teviot led them against a horde of Moorish lancers and foot who were concealed in ambush, and the barbarians were routed and pursued among the woods and broken grounds with great slaughter. The English horsemen, however, suffered severely on the 4th of May in the same year, when the governor, having been deceived by a false report, advanced too far into the country, and was surprised by a numerous band of Moors in ambush. A fearful slaughter followed, and the Earl of Teviot was numbered among the slain.

Frequent encounters took place in the subsequent years between detached parties of British and Moors, and in this desultory warfare the English horsemen preserved their high character. Hostilities were occasionally terminated, and renewed after short intervals of peace; and during the period of seventeen years the garrison resisted, with firmness and success, every attempt of the Moors against the city.

In 1679 a numerous army of Moors appeared before Tangier, and destroyed two forts situate at a distance from the town. They afterwards withdrew, but re-appeared in the spring of 1680, with augmented numbers, and swarms of expert Moorish lancers, on light and swift horses, hovered round the fortress and confined the Christians within narrow limits. King Charles II. sent a battalion of foot guards and sixteen companies of Dumbarton's (now first royal) regiment, to reinforce the garrison, and issued commissions for raising a regiment of foot (now the fourth, or the King's own) and six troops of Horse in England: at the same time arrangements were made for procuring the service of three troops of Spanish cavalry.

The six troops of English horse were raised by Major-General the Earl of Ossory, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Lanier,[10] Captains Robert Pulteney, John Coy,[11] Charles Nedby, and Thomas Langston:[12] the three last-named officers having been captains in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of horse, which was disbanded only a few months before, their troops were speedily completed with disciplined men who had served in that regiment; and the demand for cavalry at Tangier being urgent, they were furnished with horses and equipment from the life guards,[13] and arrived at Tangier in the early part of September: at the same time the three troops of Spanish horse arrived from Gibraltar.

The cavalry at Tangier now consisted of seven efficient troops of cuirassiers, who were engaged in a sally on the 12th of September, when the Moorish horsemen were driven from under the walls, and several outworks were recovered from the barbarians. Another sally was made on the 21st of the same month, and on the following day the English cuirassiers had a sharp skirmish with the Moorish lancers, and had eight men killed and twenty wounded. An attack was made on the enemy's lines on the 24th of September, when the governor, Sir Palmes Fairborne, was mortally wounded.

On the 27th of September, the garrison, amounting to about 4000 men, issued from the fortress and attacked the Moorish army of about 15,000 men in its intrenched camp with signal gallantry. So eager were the troopers to engage their adversaries that a dispute occurred between the English and Spanish horse, each claiming the honour of charging first: the subject was referred to the lieutenant-governor, Colonel Sackville, who gave the Spaniards the precedence on this occasion, because they fought as auxiliaries. The Moors, having a great superiority of numbers, stood their ground resolutely for some time; and the thunder of cannon, the roll of musketry, the clash of arms, the loud shouts of the British, the cries of the Africans, produced an awful scene of carnage and confusion. The English horse stood in column of troops until the first intrenchment was carried, and a space levelled for the cavalry to pass, when they filed through the aperture and rushed at speed upon the dark masses of barbarians, who were broken, trampled down, and pursued with a dreadful slaughter; while the musketeers, pikemen, and grenadiers followed, shouting as the dismayed Africans fell in succession beneath the sabres of the English and Spanish troopers. Many of the Moors faced about and confronted their pursuers; numerous single combats took place, and the vicinity of the camp was covered with slain. Captain Nedby's troop of English horse particularly distinguished itself, and captured a splendid Moorish colour of curious workmanship. The Spaniards also captured a colour, Dumbarton's Scots another, and a fourth was taken by a battalion of marines and seamen from the fleet.[14]

The Moorish legions, having been driven from before the town with severe loss, this victory was followed by a treaty of peace, and the troops of horse raised by the Earl of Ossory, Sir John Lanier, and Robert Pulteney, not having left England, were disbanded.

The improved military system introduced among the Moors by European renegades, having rendered it necessary to employ a much stronger garrison at Tangier than formerly, the subject was brought before parliament; but the question of a popish successor to the throne was agitating the people, and no grant was voted. The king, being unwilling to bear the expense of the fortifications and troops without pecuniary aid from parliament, resolved to destroy the works and mole, and to withdraw the garrison.

At this period the attention of King Charles II. was directed to the improvement of his army; and, resolving to retain the Tangier Horse in his service, he commissioned Colonel John Churchill (afterwards the great Duke of Marlborough) to raise a troop of dragoons at St. Alban's and its vicinity; and Viscount Cornbury (son of the Earl of Clarendon) to raise another troop of dragoons at Hertford; and His Majesty constituted these two troops, with the four troops of Tangier horse, a regiment, to which he gave the distinguished title of The King's Own Royal Regiment of Dragoons: the words "King's Own" were, however, discontinued soon afterwards, and the regiment was styled "The Royal Regiment of Dragoons."[15] The colonelcy was conferred on John Churchill, who was advanced to the peerage of Scotland by the title of Baron Churchill of Aymouth; and the lieutenant-colonelcy on Viscount Cornbury, by commission dated the 19th of November, 1683.

The establishment was fixed by a warrant bearing date the 1st of January, 1684, from which the following is an extract:—

The four troops at Tangier arrived in England in February, 1684;[16] and, having returned their armour into store, the whole were equipped as dragoons with long muskets and bayonets.[17]

The uniform of the regiment was scarlet lined with blue. The men wore hats bound with silver lace, and ornamented with blue ribands, having a metal headpiece fastened inside the crown; also high boots: their horse furniture was made of scarlet cloth trimmed with blue, with the King's cipher embroidered in yellow characters on the housings and holster-caps. The drummers and hautboys were clothed in splendid liveries, which (according to the War-Office Records) cost upwards of 10l. per suit; and each troop was furnished with a crimson standard or guidon, with the following devices embroidered thereon, namely:—

On the standard of the Colonel's Troop,—the King's cipher and crown.

The Lieutenant-Colonel's Troop,—the rays of the sun, proper, crowned, issuing out of a cloud, proper: a badge used by the Black Prince.

The First Troop,—the top of a beacon crowned, or, with flames of fire, proper: a badge of Henry V.

The Second Troop,—two ostrich feathers crowned, argent: a badge of Henry VI.

The Third Troop,—a rose and pomegranate impaled, leaves and stalk vert: a badge of Henry VII.

The Fourth Troop,—a phœnix in flames, proper: a badge of Queen Elizabeth's.[18]

The following officers were at this period holding commissions in the regiment:—

The Royal Regiment of Dragoons being constituted, generally, of men of military experience and approved valour, appears to have advanced, at once, into royal favour; and as soon as it was regularly organized, it marched into quarters in the borough of Southwark. On the 1st of October it was reviewed, with several other corps, by King Charles II., accompanied by the Queen, the Duke of York, and many distinguished personages, on Putney Heath; and on the 13th of that month marched into quarters at Newbury, Abingdon, and Hungerford. Shortly afterwards the following order was issued relative to the regiment:—

The decease of King Charles II. took place on the 6th of February, 1685; and on the evening of the same day, his successor (James II.) commanded the Royal Dragoons to march into quarters in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis. Previous to the coronation they were furnished with new standards, and the drummers and hautboys with new liveries.[21] The ceremonial of their Majesties' coronation was conducted with extraordinary magnificence: but the agitated state of the United Kingdom gave early indication of approaching contests; and, towards the end of April, two troops of the Royal Dragoons were despatched to Carlisle, and placed under the command of the governor, Sir Christopher Musgrave, for the purpose of assisting in the seizure of 'divers outlawed and seditious persons, who, for the avoiding of Justice, have fled from Scotland into the county of Cumberland and parts adjacent.'[22] These troops arrived at Carlisle on the 10th of May, and several persons were apprehended. In the middle of that month an insurrection, headed by the Earl of Argyle, broke out in Scotland; and in June, James Duke of Monmouth raised the standard of rebellion in the west of England and proclaimed himself king. The establishment of the Royal Dragoons was immediately augmented to sixty men per troop: an independent troop of dragoons, raised by Colonel Strother in 1683, was incorporated in the regiment; and five troops of dragoons were raised in the vicinity of London by Richard Leveson, John Williams, Edward Lea, Francis Russel, and Thomas Hussey, and added to the Royal Dragoons: the numbers were thus increased to twelve troops, amounting to about nine hundred officers and men.

Two troops of the regiment, with some other forces, were despatched under Brigadier-General Lord Churchill against the rebels in the west; and on the 19th of June two other troops marched for the same destination under the orders of Lieutenant-General the Earl of Feversham, who was appointed to the chief command of the King's army. The royal forces having been united, the four troops of dragoons were placed under the orders of Viscount Cornbury; and the whole marched in pursuit of the rebels.

After several marches and skirmishes the Duke of Monmouth took post at Bridgewater; and the Earl of Feversham, having sent a troop of the Royal Dragoons, commanded by Captain Coy, to Lamport, to secure that pass, and to gain intelligence in the event of the rebels marching westward, advanced with the royal army to Weston (about three miles from Bridgewater), where he arrived on Sunday, the 5th of July. Having quartered the cavalry in the village, and ordered the infantry to encamp on a plain fronting Sedgemoor, he sent a party of life guards to patrole in the direction of Bristol, and posted a piquet of fifty of the Royal Dragoons with a squadron of the blues supported by one hundred men of the royal regiment of foot, on the moor, in front of the camp. A guard of the Royal Dragoons was also posted over the artillery, which consisted of sixteen pieces, and was drawn up on the high road from Weston to Bridgewater.

During the night the Duke of Monmouth marched out of Bridgewater with the view of surprising the royal army; but the piquet in advance gave the alarm, and after exchanging a few shots with the rebels, retreated to the camp, and formed on the right of the infantry; at the same time the remainder of the Royal Dragoons, being aroused in their quarters in the village of Weston, turned out in the dark in good order, and formed on the left of the foot. The rebels commenced the attack with loud shouts,—the contest became general along the whole line,—and the moor sparkled with fire. The rebel horse soon gave way and fled in disorder; but their infantry stood firm and fought with great resolution. Day at length began to break; and the King's foot advancing to the charge, whilst the Royal Dragoons and other cavalry attacked the flanks of the rebels and put them in disorder, their whole line then gave way and fled in confusion, and were pursued across the moor and adjoining corn-fields with great slaughter. Two troops of the Royal Dragoons continued the pursuit as far as Bridgewater, where they were ordered to halt by the Earl of Feversham.

In the mean time Captain Russel's troop of the Royal Dragoons had been attached to three Scots regiments of foot, which had recently arrived from Holland under the command of Major-General Mackay, and ordered to join the army in the west; but, on the news of Monmouth's defeat at Sedgemoor, these forces were directed to halt at Bagshot; the Royal Dragoons were subsequently dispersed in small parties into the adjoining counties to seize suspected persons; the Scots regiments returned to Hounslow, and, after encamping a short time on the heath, re-embarked for Holland.

One troop of the Royal Dragoons was ordered to Winchester to escort the Duke of Monmouth and other prisoners to London; on its arrival this troop was quartered in the Borough of Southwark, and it was under arms when the Duke was beheaded on Tower Hill on the 15th of July. Two other troops were ordered to Salisbury to mount guard over the prisoners there, and were subsequently directed to attend Judge Jeffries during the trial and execution of the captured rebels; in which painful service the troopers were spectators of numerous acts of barbarity perpetrated by the remorseless Judge, who sacrificed the lives of upwards of two hundred persons in these "bloody assizes," as historians have denominated them.

After the suppression of this rebellion the establishment of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons was reduced to eight troops, of forty private men per troop; and the supernumerary troops were embodied into a regiment of dragoons, which was commanded by the Duke of Somerset, and is now the third light dragoons.

On the 1st of August Lord Churchill was appointed colonel of the third troop of life guards, and the colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons was conferred on Lieutenant-Colonel Viscount Cornbury. The two troops of the regiment having returned from Carlisle, the whole were stationed in London in October, and subsequently marched into quarters in Devonshire.

King James II., being a Roman Catholic, adopted measures calculated to effect the subversion of the Protestant church; and, with the view of overawing his subjects, he doubled the numbers of the regular army, and had large bodies of troops encamped, from time to time, on Hounslow Heath, where he frequently attended in person and witnessed the exercise of the troops. The Royal Regiment of Dragoons formed part of the force at these encampments in the summer of 1686, again in 1687, and in 1688. At this period many noblemen and gentlemen, resolving to preserve the nation from papal domination, solicited the Prince of Orange to come to England with a Dutch force to assist them in opposing the proceedings of the King, and the Prince provided an armament for that purpose.

The colonel of the Royal Dragoons appears to have been a zealous Protestant, and to have entered warmly into the measures taken to resist the proceedings of the Papists who surrounded the court. In November, 1688, when the Prince of Orange had landed, Viscount Cornbury, having marched with his regiment to Salisbury,[23] where the King's army was ordered to assemble, and where the blues and eighth horse had already arrived, resolved, in connexion with Lieut.-Colonel Langston, of the eighth horse, and several officers of the blues, to endeavour to take these three regiments over to the Prince, in the following manner:—

On the night of the 11th of November, directions were given for the adjutants and quarter-masters to await the arrival of the post, as orders to march were expected. At twelve o'clock the post arrived, when Colonel Langston opened the bag before the officers, and the orders, apparently from the Secretary-at-War, were produced, and carried to Viscount Cornbury, who gave directions for the regiments to proceed, at five o'clock, towards the enemy. The regiments were accordingly on the march before daylight on the 12th; continuing their progress throughout that day and the following night (excepting a few short halts to refresh the men and horses[24]), on the afternoon of the 13th, they arrived at Axminster, within six miles of the Prince of Orange's quarters, where they were joined by the Earl of Abingdon, Sir Walter Clerges, and about thirty other gentlemen, who pretended to be volunteers. It was now asserted that a design of the Dutch to surprise the quarters of the King's forces had been discovered, and orders were issued for beating up the quarters of the enemy that night. Accordingly, after dark, the three regiments were again in motion, and the Prince of Orange, apprized of their approach by Lord Cornbury, sent a large body of cavalry to meet them. The greater part of the men, however, resolved not to join the Prince of Orange, and, when they observed what was taking place, they galloped back. Major Robert Clifford, of the Royal Dragoons, marched back that regiment, with the exception of a few officers and about fifty dragoons, who accompanied Viscount Cornbury. The blues also returned, excepting about twenty-seven. But the Duke of St. Alban's regiment (eighth horse) having mustered at a distance, the men, ignorant of the transaction, followed Colonel Langston to Honiton, where they were received as friends by the Dutch general.[25] Many of the men, however, returned to the King's service; and the Duke of Berwick, having collected the remains of the three regiments, marched them back to Salisbury.

The king arrived at Salisbury on the 20th of November, and his Majesty rewarded the loyalty of Major Clifford by promoting him to the colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons. The King, however, soon discovered that the defection among the officers was general, and that the soldiers, although they were reluctant to desert his service, were not disposed to fight in the cause of Papacy. The superior officers of the army, with the nobility and gentry, continued to flock to the Prince's standard, and King James, alarmed for his personal safety, returned in haste to London; at the same time the Royal Dragoons marched into garrison at Portsmouth. The Prince of Orange advanced to the capital without experiencing serious opposition; King James fled to France; and the Prince, having assumed the reins of government, restored Viscount Cornbury to the colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons, and ordered them to occupy quarters at Farnham and Alton.[26]

After the flight of the King to France, the crown was conferred on William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange. Their Majesties' accession, however, met with opposition; and Viscount Dundee having induced several of the Highland clans to take arms in favour of King James, the Royal Dragoons were immediately ordered to the north.[27] At the same time, the Earl of Clarendon refusing to act with the new government, his son, Viscount Cornbury, was superseded in the command of the regiment by the lieutenant-colonel, Anthony Hayford, whose commission as colonel was dated the 1st of July, 1689.

On the 27th of July, six battalions of infantry and two newly-raised troops of Scots horse, commanded by Lieut.-General Mackay, were defeated at Killicrankie by the Highlanders and a few Irish, under Viscount Dundee and Brigadier-General Cannon. Immediately after the action, the Royal Dragoons were directed to march to the assistance of Lieut.-General Mackay, and they arrived at Perth in the early part of August. The object of the Commander-in-Chief being the prevention of the descent of the mountaineers into the lowlands, the regiment was posted a short time at Forfar, under the command of Major-General Sir John Lanier, and subsequently proceeded by forced marches to Aberdeen. The Highlanders eventually retired over the mountains by paths inaccessible to cavalry, and separated to their homes.

In the mean time, the lord-lieutenant of Ireland (Earl Tyrconnel) had retained the greater part of that kingdom in the interest of King James. King William sent an army to that country under the veteran Duke Schomberg; and, immediately after the dispersion of the rebel Highlanders, the Royal Dragoons were ordered to proceed to Ireland. They embarked for this service in the early part of October, landed at Carlingford on the 9th of that month,[28] and were ordered to take post at Armagh and Clownish, from whence they were removed to the isle of Maghee.

Several skirmishes occurred during the winter; and in the spring of 1690 the Royal Dragoons were before Charlemont, which place was blockaded by the King's forces. Charlemont was defended by a garrison of 500 men, commanded by Sir Teague O'Regan, a humorist, who returned the following laconic answer to the summons to surrender:—"Tell the General, from Teague O'Regan, that he's an old knave; and, by St. Patrick, he shall not have the town at all." He, however, surrendered on the 14th of May, and a detachment of the Royal Dragoons escorted the garrison towards Armagh.[29] Soon after the surrender of Charlemont Lieut.-Colonel Edward Matthews, from Leveson's (now third) dragoons, was appointed colonel of the regiment. In June it was encamped near Loughbritland, where it was joined by a remount from England. On the 22nd of June King William arrived at the camp, and "His Majesty was no sooner come than he was in amongst the throng of the troops, and observed every regiment very critically. This pleased the soldiers mightily, and every one was ready to give what demonstrations it was possible both of his courage and duty."[30]

The French and Irish, commanded by King James, took post on the banks of the Boyne, to dispute the passage of that river. King William marched to the opposite bank on the 30th of June, and, on the morning of the 1st of July, the army forded the river and drove the enemy from his position with great slaughter. The Royal Dragoons and other British troops engaged in forcing the passage of the Boyne are reported to have "acquitted themselves well." King James fled from the field and proceeded to France; and the British army advanced on Dublin. A few days after the battle King William reviewed the Royal Dragoons at Finglass, on which occasion they brought 406 private troopers into the field.

On the 21st of July Major-General Kirke proceeded with the Royal Dragoons and Queen Dowager's and Colonel Cambron's regiments of foot to Waterford, and summoned the place, and on the 25th the governor capitulated.

At the moment when success attended the operations of the army in Ireland, the English and Dutch fleets, commanded by Lord Torrington and Admiral Evertsen, were defeated by the French fleet under the Count de Tourville, and the enemy afterwards menaced the descent of a formidable force on the British coast. King William commanded a troop of life guards, with Count Schomberg's horse (now seventh dragoon guards), the Royal Dragoons, and Trelawny's and Hastings' (fourth and thirteenth) foot to be immediately embarked for England.

The Royal Dragoons landed at Highlake, in Cheshire, in the early part of August. The alarm of invasion, however, soon subsided; and they were ordered to return to Ireland, in which country they again landed on the 20th of October, and proceeded into extended cantonments in the county of Cork. Many thousands of the Roman Catholic peasantry of Ireland were, at this period, in arms in behalf of King James: they were called rapparees, and being formed into bands they made frequent incursions into the cantonments of the English regiments. Several men of the Royal Dragoons were murdered in their quarters by these rapparees; and detachments of the regiment were frequently sent out to scour the country and chase these bands of marauders from the English cantonments.