While the regiment was stationed at Surat, four troops were detached against the followers of a Mahomedan fanatic, who called himself Jesus, the son of Mary, and had collected much treasure. The inhabitants of the village of Burding, having joined this fanatic, refused to pay tribute, and the detachment of the Seventeenth, under Major Supple, formed part of the force sent to reduce them to obedience to the law. As the dragoons approached the village, an immense crowd of these enthusiasts was discovered, and they were summoned to surrender, and to give up their leader; but they refused, with loud shouts in anticipation of victory. A feint attack was made to intimidate them, but they threw clouds of dust in the horses' faces, and dared the dragoons to the encounter. The soldiers then charged; the fanatics fought with spears, and with small hatchets, or javelins, fixed to the end of bamboos, twelve or fourteen feet in length, with which they inflicted severe wounds; but they were overpowered, and cut down or dispersed. Their leader, and four of his companions, escaped, with their treasure, on swift camels. On the arrival of some infantry and guns, the village was razed to the ground. One corporal and two private soldiers were killed; all the officers, several private soldiers, and many of the horses were wounded: Lieutenant Adams had his helmet cut to pieces from his head.

This year a detachment of the Seventeenth accompanied Sir John Malcolm to Persia; this party rejoined the regiment in December, when the following letter was forwarded to the commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Evan Lloyd:—

Leaving Surat, the regiment marched, in December, 1811, for its new cantonments at Ruttapore, near Kaira, in the northern division of Guzerat, where a commodious set of buildings had been erected on a beautiful site near the river, under the direction of Captain Goodfellow, of the Bombay Engineers, expressly for the use of the Seventeenth. Around the regimental cantonments the officers erected very handsome and substantial houses of stone.

On the 1st of January, 1812, Colonel Evan Lloyd was promoted to the rank of Major-general, and the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope was appointed Lieut.-Colonel in the regiment, in addition to Lieut.-Colonel Wm. Carden, who was appointed in 1811.

The regiment had not occupied its new cantonments many months before it was visited by the epidemical fever frequently so destructive in the fruitful province of Guzerat, and it carried off many thousands of the natives, and numbers of Europeans. In the months of October, November, and December, 1812, and January, 1813, four officers and seventy-three men of the regiment died, chiefly of this disease. This was followed by an equally destructive famine in Guzerat, and the provinces to the westward, where no rain had fallen during the two preceding years. Vegetation had nearly ceased altogether; the rivers were reduced to mere rills, and the nearly exhausted springs allowed a very limited irrigation around the villages. Under this affliction, hundreds of the natives died daily, and Guzerat, which is celebrated as one of the richest provinces of the Mogul empire, abounding in rice, corn, sugar, fruits of various kinds, cattle, and game, presented a barren and woful spectacle.

In the years 1813, 1814, and 1815, strong detachments of the regiment were employed in active service in the field, under the command of General Sir George Holmes, and Colonels Barclay and East. In December, 1815, the regiment formed part of the force which penetrated the barren and mountainous province of Cutch, a country abounding in lofty hills, extensive woods, and uncultivated plains, where the natives breed very fine horses. Into this country British troops had never before penetrated; and the army had to traverse a sandy tract of land, separating Cutch from Guzerat, called the Runn. This tract presented a wild and singular aspect; it appeared as an arm of the sea from which the ocean had receded, or the dry bed of an immense river, ten miles broad, and devoid of verdure or vegetation. The Seventeenth, being at the head of the army, entered this sandy waste between six and seven o'clock in the morning; in some places the ground was hard and safe; in others, insulated quicksands offered some obstruction, which would have proved serious impediments in the night; and broad streaks of saline incrustations giving to the ground the appearance of being covered with snow, were met with; also prawns and mullet dried in the sun; the tracts of large birds were also seen, and on approaching the opposite bank the traces of wild apes were perceptible. In three hours the Seventeenth reached the boundary of this sandy waste, without having met with hostile opposition, which had been expected. The European infantry crossed the Runn in three hours and a half, and the main body, with the cannon, which had to be dragged by ropes in some places, in four hours.

Having entered the territory of Cutch, the army marched towards Booge-booge, the capital, and besieged the town and fort of Anjar, which surrendered at discretion. In this service Lieutenant Oliver de Lancey, of the Seventeenth, was severely wounded in the arm. The capture of Anjar was followed by the surrender of the hill-fort and fortified city of Booge-booge, and a treaty of alliance was afterwards concluded with the State of Cutch.

The troops re-crossed the Runn at the Mattra-pass,—a headland between the gulfs of Cutch and Cambay, where the tide of the Indian ocean rushes in with a deafening noise, and a detachment from the army was employed in destroying the fastnesses of the banditti, whose depredations had been destructive to the neighbouring territories; also in reducing the power of a piratical tribe which infested the neighbouring seas. After the capture of the strong fort of Dwarka, and the capture and dispersion of a fleet of pirates, the field force broke up, and the Seventeenth Light Dragoons returned to their beautiful cantonments at Ruttapore in May, 1816.

The predatory incursions of the Pindarees occasioned the regiment again to take the field in the year 1817[8], and these bands of robbers being formidable in numbers, and all horsemen, the troops employed against them had to perform many forced marches, to pass rivers and thickets, and to be constantly endeavouring to surprise these hordes of marauders. While several corps were pursuing the Pindarees, a number of the native princes were preparing to engage in hostilities against the British. The Seventeenth formed part of the force under Major-General Sir William Grant Keir, assembled at Baroda, which force subsequently marched into the Malwar, and joined the army commanded by Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Hislop.

On the second day's march from Baroda, the rear-guard and baggage of the army were attacked by a formidable body of Bheels,—robbers of a daring and desperate character. A squadron of the Seventeenth, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, proceeded to the support of the infantry engaged, and, on coming up, soon decided the affair, by cutting down a number of the robbers, and driving the remainder into the jungle. Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, Captain Adams, Cornets Smith and Marriott, evinced signal spirit and bravery on this occasion: Cornet Marriott and his horse were severely wounded. Serjeant-Major Hampson, a brave soldier, received an arrow in his mouth, which pierced the spine; he pulled the arrow from the wound, threw it down, then drew his pistol and shot the Bheel archer from whom the arrow came; but he immediately fell from his horse to rise no more, the flow of blood from his wound having suffocated him. The regiment had several men and horses wounded in this affair, which occurred on the 8th of December. On the following day Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, the officers, and soldiers of the squadron, were thanked in field orders; the spirit and steadiness they evinced were particularly commended, and the prompt and active exertions of the officers were especially noticed.

Continuing to take an active part in the operations of the field, the Seventeenth were again engaged on the 19th of January, 1818, and on the 21st of that month the following division order was issued:—"The Major-General is happy to express his approbation of the conduct of Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, and His Majesty's Seventeenth Light Dragoons, in the affair of the 19th instant, and can only attribute the trifling loss they sustained to the gallantry and rapidity of the attack, which added to the complete surprise in incapacitating the enemy for preparing for resistance. The Major-General has not failed to bring to the notice of his Excellency, Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Hislop, and the Commander-in-Chief in Bombay, his sense of the spirit evinced by the regiment on that occasion."

The following account of an affair between a detachment of the Seventeenth and a party of Pindarees, was published in division orders, dated the 13th of March, 1818:—"The Major-General is happy to publish to the division the following particulars of an action between a detachment of His Majesty's Seventeenth Light Dragoons, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, and a body of Pindarees, commanded by Settoo in person, which has added much to the deserved reputation of that gallant corps, and reflects the highest credit on the officers and men employed on this occasion.

"Information having been communicated to Lieut.-Colonel Stanhope that a considerable party of Pindarees had appeared within a forced march of his camp, a detachment was immediately put in motion, and arrived in sight of the enemy after a march of thirty miles. The dragoons immediately formed and attacked the Pindarees, who, after a show of resistance, betook themselves to flight, closely pursued by the detachment, which cut down upwards of two hundred horsemen. Settoo, conspicuous by his dress and black charger, narrowly escaped falling into our hands; he was saved by the extraordinary speed of his horse. The Major-General begs to express his thanks to Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, for the promptitude and vigour with which the arrangements were made for the attack, and the spirit with which it was conducted; and he returns his acknowledgments to the whole of the detachment for the intrepidity and activity which it displayed during the attack and pursuit of the enemy. The conduct of Captain Adams and Cornet Marriott having been represented to the Major-General in the most favourable terms, he is happy to express his unqualified approbation of the gallantry of both these officers."

On the 14th of March the following statement appeared in division orders:—"Having made arrangements for the return of the force into cantonments, the Major-General cannot deny himself the satisfaction of expressing his sentiments on the exemplary conduct of the troops he has had the honour to command during the late service. Their cheerfulness in the performance of their duty, though unavoidably harassing and severe; the spirit and activity with which they have always encountered fatigues; and, above all, their strict adherence to discipline and subordination, reflects the highest credit on both officers and men, and merits the Major-General's warmest approbation. He only regrets that circumstances have not afforded the whole of the troops such an opportunity of displaying their most brilliant talents, as their companions in arms have so gallantly availed themselves of. To conclude, he can only say, that he has never been, in any part of the world, with troops whom he should be so happy to have the honour to command again, or with whom he would so willingly undertake the most arduous services. Where almost every officer has so much distinguished himself by zeal, alacrity, and good conduct, it is difficult to particularize any individual; but Sir William Grant Keir feels himself bound, both in gratitude and duty, to say, that he is, in an uncommon degree, indebted to Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, and to Captain Thompson, of the same corps, who has also done more than his duty in taking charge of the advanced-posts during the whole of the service: the Major-General requests the above officers will accept of his warmest thanks."

After reposing a short period in cantonments, the regiment again took the field towards the end of the year 1818; and, in the early part of 1819, it marched into the province of Candeish. In the same year a detachment of eighty-six officers and soldiers,—convalescents left at Kaira on the march of the regiment into Candeish,—joined the force assembled in the province of Cutch, under Major-General Sir William Grant Keir. The extirpation of the Pindarees, a community of robbers associated for the undisguised object of subsisting by plunder, and amounting to from twenty-five to thirty thousand horsemen, was become an imperative duty to the British subjects in India. At the same time several native princes considered that the preservation of the Pindarees might be of advantage to themselves in the event of a war with the British. The operations of the armies which took the field, therefore, embraced several objects, which were acomplished to the honour of the British arms. After the surrender of Nagpore, the capital of the Mahratta territories, the Seventeenth returned to their cantonments in the fruitful province of Guzerat.

In the month of May, 1820, the regiment marched once more to the hilly country of Cutch, and formed part of the force assembled in that province, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, and encamped at Keyrah, about half-way between the city of Booge-booge and Mandivie, the principal seaport in Cutch. This force consisted of between five and six thousand men; but the difference between the British authorities and the native chiefs, against whom it was designed to act, having been settled without an appeal to arms, the camp broke up in November, when the troops returned to their cantonments, excepting a detachment, which crossed the gulf of Cutch and captured, after an obstinate and desperate resistance, the strong pirate fort of Dwarka, where Lieutenant William Henry Marriott was mortally wounded. This distinguished officer was aide-de-camp to the Honourable the Governor in Council, and brigade-major to Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope; he was possessed of every quality that could make a young soldier the object of interest and of hope; he was admired, respected, and beloved in life, and he met with a death of glory without fear and without reproach.

The regiment marched back to its cantonments near Kaira, where it was stationed until 1822, when arrangements were made for its return to England. During the fourteen years it had been in India, it had received, at various times, nine hundred and twenty-nine officers and recruits from Great Britain; and its loss by deaths, from disease and climate, exclusive of men killed by the enemy and invalids, amounted to eight hundred and twenty-two officers and soldiers.

On the 20th of August, 1822, His Majesty King George IV. was pleased to approve of the regiment being equipped as a corps of "Lancers."

On the decease of General Oliver de Lancey, the colonelcy of the regiment was conferred on Major-General Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset, K.C.B., from the late Twenty-first Light Dragoons, by commission dated the 9th of September, 1822.

Leaving the men who had volunteered into other corps at Kaira, the regiment commenced its march for Cambay, in November, and embarked at that place in boats for Bombay, where it arrived in December.

On the 9th of January, 1823, the regiment sailed for England; arriving at Gravesend, on the 18th of May, it landed and marched to Chatham, where it was joined by Lieut.-Colonel Stanhope and Captain Adams, who had returned to England over-land, via Egypt. At Chatham the Seventeenth returned their carbines into store, and were armed with Lances, and the officers and soldiers commenced wearing moustaches.

The regiment was recruited to 311 men by the 1st of January, 1824; in June it marched to London, and was stationed a short time in the Regent's Park barracks, during the absence of the Life Guards for the purpose of being reviewed. In July the head-quarters removed to Canterbury.

In the summer of 1825 the regiment again took the London duty, during the absence of the household cavalry, and was subsequently removed to Brighton and Chichester.

The regiment marched, in the spring of 1826, to Exeter and Topsham; in January, 1827, it was stationed at Hounslow and Hampton-Court, and on the 20th of that month it was on duty on the occasion of the funeral of His late Royal Highness the Duke of York.

From Hounslow the regiment marched to Liverpool, and embarking for Ireland, landed at Dublin in April, 1828, after an absence of upwards of twenty-three years from that part of the United Kingdom. On landing it marched to Dundalk and Belturbet; it returned to Dublin in May, 1829.

Lieut.-General Lord R. E. H. Somerset was appointed to the Royal Dragoons in November, 1829, and the command of the Seventeenth Lancers was conferred by His Majesty on Major-General Sir John Elley, K.C.B., K.C.H.

In May, 1830, the head-quarters proceeded to Newbridge; and soon after the accession of King William IV., on the 26th of June, the regiment was directed to wear scarlet clothing, with yellow lace, and blue trowsers; and to discontinue the moustaches.

On the 1st of April, 1831, the Seventeenth marched from Limerick; and it performed much harassing and severe duty in consequence of the disturbed state of the county of Clare.

The regiment proceeded to Dublin in April, 1832; it there lost three men from the cholera morbus; in June it embarked for Bristol, and it was designed to occupy quarters at Gloucester, but did not enter that city for several days for fear of communicating the cholera. The head-quarters proceeded thither on the 29th of June; but the cholera having broken out in Gloucester they were withdrawn to Wotton-under-Edge and Dursley. In November, the cholera having ceased, they returned to Gloucester.

In March, 1833, the regiment proceeded to Hounslow, Hampton-Court, and Kensington; and on the 10th of September it was reviewed at Windsor by His Majesty, who was graciously pleased to express to Major-General Sir John Elley, and to Lieut.-Colonel Lord Bingham, his royal approbation of its appearance, using the expression, "It is perfect." After the review the officers had the honour to dine with the King, in St. George's Hall, Windsor Castle, and His Majesty repeated the expressions of his high approbation of the appearance and movements of the Seventeenth Lancers, and added, that he had the gratification of reviewing this regiment half a century before, when it was stationed at New York.

From Hounslow, the head-quarters marched in May, 1834, to Leeds; in May, 1835, the regiment proceeded to Manchester; and in April, 1836, the head-quarters were removed to Ipswich, from whence they proceeded, in May, 1837, to Coventry.

The regiment embarked at Liverpool, in June, 1838, for Ireland, and was employed on duty at Dublin.

Lieut.-General Sir John Elley died in January, 1839, and was succeeded by Lieut.-General Sir Joseph Stratton, K.C.H., who was removed to the Eighth Dragoons in August, and the colonelcy was conferred on Major-General Sir Arthur Benjamin Clifton, K.C.B., K.C.H.

The regiment remained at Dublin until May, 1840, when it proceeded to Cahir.

In May, 1841, the regiment returned to Dublin, from whence it embarked for Scotland, and arrived at Glasgow at the end of that month. It was removed to Edinburgh in the month of August following.

The usefulness and efficiency of the Seventeenth Regiment of Lancers;—the steadiness, good conduct, and attention to the rules of discipline, evinced by the soldiers;—and the admirable quality and training of the horses, afford abundant proof of the zealous and constant superintendence of the officers, and their regard to the credit and honour of the corps. The expressions of approbation of the gallantry of the regiment when employed on active service, as announced, on several occasions, in public orders;—and the testimony borne by the general officers under whom it has, from time to time, been employed, to the excellence of its appearance, system, and conduct,—fully support the claim of the regiment to the favour of the crown, the confidence of the government, and the admiration of the country.

SUCCESSION OF COLONELS

OF

THE SEVENTEENTH

REGIMENT OF LIGHT DRAGOONS;—

LANCERS.

John Hale,

Appointed 27th April, 1763.

John Hale held a commission in the Forty-seventh Foot, and served in Scotland during the rebellion of 1745-6. He was promoted to Captain in 1752, and to the Majority of the regiment in 1755. On the breaking out of the seven years' war he proceeded with the Forty-seventh to North America, and was promoted to the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the regiment on the 19th of March, 1758. He commanded the Forty-seventh regiment in the expedition against Cape Breton, under Lieut.-General, afterwards Lord, Amherst; was distinguished for intrepidity at the landing on the 8th of June, 1758, and also served with credit at the siege of Louisburg, which surrendered on the 26th of July. On the 30th of August he embarked with his regiment from Louisburg, and proceeded to the support of Major-General Abercromby, who had been repulsed in an attack on the French fort of Ticonderago, on the west shore of Lake Champlain. In 1759 he commanded the Forty-seventh in the expedition against Quebec, under Major-General James Wolfe, and when appointed to this arduous enterprise, he was honoured with the local rank of Colonel in America. Sailing up the river St. Lawrence a landing was effected, and several actions took place, in which Colonel Hale was distinguished for the cool and steady manner in which he led the Forty-seventh into the fight. At the battle of Quebec, on the 13th of September, 1759, Major-General Wolfe fell, mortally wounded, while in the act of leading the Twenty-eighth Foot to the charge with bayonets; Colonel Hale brought the Forty-seventh into action in a very gallant manner, and the charge of the two regiments (Twenty-eighth and Forty-seventh) was irresistible. After the surrender of Quebec, Colonel Hale was selected to proceed to England with despatches, and he arrived in London on the evening of the 16th of October. He was well received at Court, and being a talented officer, well acquainted with the nature of the service of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, his merits procured him the favour of his Sovereign.

A few months previous to Colonel Hale's arrival in England, King George II. had resolved to add to his land forces entire regiments of light cavalry; soon after the victory at Quebec was made known, His Majesty reviewed the first of these regiments, "Eliott's Light Horse," in Hyde Park, and was so much pleased with its appearance and activity, that Colonel Hale was appointed to superintend the formation of an additional light regiment, now the Seventeenth Lancers, of which he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel Commandant on the 7th of November, 1759, and Colonel on the 27th of April, 1763. In 1770 he was appointed Governor of Limerick, when he was succeeded in the colonelcy of his regiment by Colonel Preston. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1772, to that of Lieut.-General in 1777; and to that of General on the 12th of October, 1793. He died on the 20th of March, 1806, at the Plantations, near Guisborough, Yorkshire, leaving behind him seventeen children.

George Preston,

Appointed 2nd November, 1770.

George Preston was many years an officer in the Scots' Greys, and served with his regiment in 1743 at the battle of Dettingen, where the Greys captured the white standard of the French household troops. The Greys also served at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745, at Roucoux in 1746, and in 1747 highly distinguished themselves at Val, where Captain George Preston was wounded. His meritorious conduct was rewarded, in 1757, with the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the Greys, at the head of which corps he served in Germany under Prince Ferdinand, of Brunswick, from 1758 to 1762. At the battle of Minden in 1759, Warbourg in 1760, Kirch Denkern in 1761, and Grobenstein in 1762, the Greys had the honour of serving, and they signalized themselves in numerous skirmishes, on which occasions Lieut.-Colonel Preston was distinguished for discretion and personal bravery; and he returned to England in 1763, with the reputation of being an excellent cavalry officer. In 1770 he was rewarded with the Colonelcy of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons; in 1772 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and to that of Lieut.-General in 1777: in 1782 he was appointed to the Colonelcy of the Scots' Greys. He died at Bath in 1785.

The Honourable Thomas Gage,

Appointed 18th April, 1782.

The Honourable Thomas Gage, second son of Thomas, first Viscount Gage, of Castle Island, in Ireland, having served some time in the subordinate commissions, was appointed Major of the Forty-fourth Foot in February, 1747, and he was further promoted to the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the regiment on the 2nd of March, 1751. He was serving with his regiment in America, when a dispute occurred between Great Britain and France respecting the territory on the banks of the Ohio, and he commanded the advance-guard of the forces sent against Fort Du Quesne, which the French had built to command the entrance into the country on the Ohio and Mississippi. In the disastrous action on the 9th of July, 1755, Major-General Braddock was killed and Lieut.-Colonel Honourable Thomas Gage was wounded. He continued to serve in America, where he raised a provincial regiment, which was numbered the Eightieth, Light-armed, Foot, of which he was appointed Colonel in May, 1758: he was also appointed Brigadier-General in North America, and the efforts of the army effected the conquest of Canada, which has continued to form part of the British dominions from that period. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1761, and in the same year he performed the duty of Commander-in-Chief in North America, and also succeeded Sir Jeffrey Amherst as Colonel-in-Chief of the Sixteenth regiment, which he held two months, when Lieut.-General Amherst was re-appointed. In March, 1762, he was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-second Foot; and in April, 1770, he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General. When the misunderstanding between Great Britain and her North American colonies began to assume a serious aspect, he was appointed Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay, and he arrived at Boston in May, 1774. Hostilities commenced in the following year, and his active exertions to suppress the rebellion were rewarded in August, 1775, with the appointment of Commander-in-Chief in North America, which he resigned in a few months afterwards. In April, 1782, he was appointed Colonel of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons; he was promoted to the rank of General in November following, and in 1785 he was removed to the Eleventh Dragoons. He died in 1787.

Thomas Earl of Lincoln,

Appointed 4th February, 1785.

Lord Thomas Pelham Clinton, second son of Henry, ninth Earl of Lincoln, and first Duke of Newcastle, chusing the profession of arms, was appointed Captain and Lieut.-Colonel in the First Foot Guards on the 5th of April, 1775, and, on the decease of his brother, in 1778, he obtained the title of Earl of Lincoln. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel in 1780, and in 1782 he obtained the Colonelcy of the Seventy-fifth, or the Prince of Wales's Regiment of Foot, which was disbanded at the termination of the American war, in 1783. In 1785 he obtained the Colonelcy of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons; in 1787 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and he succeeded to the dignity of Duke of Newcastle on the decease of his father, in 1794. He died in 1795.

Oliver de Lancey,

Appointed 20th May, 1795.

Oliver de Lancey descended from a respectable family settled in North America. When a disposition to make themselves independent appeared in the Colonies, he wrote a pamphlet entitled, "Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes on the British Colonies," which was first printed in America, and afterwards went through the press several times in London. Proceeding to Great Britain, he procured the commission of Cornet in the Fourteenth Dragoons, in 1766, and in May, 1773, he was appointed Captain in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, in which corps he remained forty-nine years. In 1774 he was sent with despatches for the Commander-in-Chief, and was directed to provide accommodation for his regiment, which was then under orders for America; also to provide remount horses for his corps and for the artillery and other departments of the army. On arriving at Boston he was sent to New York, to accomplish the objects of his mission; but, hostilities commencing, he returned to Boston, where his regiment arrived about the same time, and he remained at this place during the blockade and bombardment, until it was evacuated in 1776, when he proceeded to Halifax, and afterwards to Staten Island. He commanded a squadron of the Seventeenth on Long Island, distinguished himself in the driving back of the American piquets, and also at the battle of Brooklyn. Crossing the river to New York he had further opportunities of signalizing himself, and in the spring of 1777 he served in the Jerseys, where the squadron under his orders had several rencounters with detachments of the enemy. In the following winter he proceeded to Philadelphia, was actively employed in the spring of 1778 in various services in Pennsylvania, and was engaged in covering the march of the army from thence to New York. On the 3rd of June, 1778, he was promoted to the Majority of his regiment, which he commanded while it was stationed on Long Island, and afterwards in the lines in front of New York, where skirmishes occurred almost daily. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Quarter-Master-General to the expedition to South Carolina, where he served at the siege of Charlestown, and in several expeditions under Earl Cornwallis; and in 1781 he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel, and appointed Adjutant-General in America, in succession to Major John André, who was made prisoner by the Americans and executed as a spy. At the termination of the war he was appointed to arrange the military claims made by persons who had served in America; and he was placed at the head of a commission for settling the accounts of the army during the war. In 1790 he was appointed Deputy Adjutant-General, with the rank of Colonel in the army; in 1794 he obtained the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, and was appointed Barrack-Master-General, which he held ten years; he was also promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 3rd of October, 1794. On the 20th of May, 1795, he was farther rewarded with the Colonelcy of his regiment. He was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General in 1801, and to that of General in 1812. He was many years a Member of Parliament. He died in September, 1822, after serving the crown fifty-six years.

Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset, K.C.B.,

Appointed 9th September, 1822.

Removed to the Royal Dragoons in 1829, and to the Fourth, or Queen's Own, Light Dragoons in 1836.

Sir John Elley, K.C.B., K.C.H.,

Appointed 23rd November, 1829.

This officer was a native of Leeds, and, being intended for the law, was articled to a solicitor in London; but preferring the profession of arms, he enlisted at Leeds, on the 5th of November, 1789, as a private trooper in the Royal Horse Guards (Blues). His conduct was generally approved of by his officers, and his attachment to the army remaining undiminished, his father enabled him to purchase the appointment of Quartermaster of a troop in the following year, namely, on the 4th of June, 1790; he was promoted to a Cornetcy, by purchase, on the 6th of June, 1794. He accompanied the four troops of the Blues to Flanders in 1793, as Acting Adjutant; and serving under His Royal Highness the Duke of York, he was present at several engagements, where the Blues distinguished themselves, particularly at Cateau on the 26th of April, 1794, where Acting Adjutant Elley evinced signal gallantry. He served with his regiment in the retreat through Holland to Germany, and, returning to England in November, 1795, he was promoted to a Lieutenantcy, by purchase, on the 26th of January, 1796. The rank of Captain-Lieutenant was conferred on this meritorious officer on the 24th of October, 1799, and he was promoted to Captain of a troop, by purchase, on the 26th of February, 1801. He was employed as Aide-de-camp to Major-General Staveley on the Staff of Great Britain, when the country was threatened with invasion by Buonaparte. He was promoted, by purchase, to Major of the Royal Horse Guards on the 29th of November, 1804, and to Lieut.-Colonel, by purchase, on the 6th of March, 1808. In 1808 he served as Assistant Adjutant-General to the cavalry of the army, which advanced into Spain under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, and was at the cavalry action at Sahagun, where the Fifteenth Hussars highly distinguished themselves; also at Benevente, where the French Imperial Guards were driven across the Esla with severe loss. Lieut.-Colonel Elley was also present at several other skirmishes, and at the battle of Corunna. The appointment of Assistant Adjutant-General to the cavalry of the British army in Portugal and Spain was held by Lieut.-Colonel Elley from 1809 to 1814; he proved a most valuable officer, and performed the duties of his situation with great ability during those arduous campaigns, in which the British troops gained many honours. He was present at most of the battles in Portugal, Spain, and France, until the power of Buonaparte was subdued and the Bourbon dynasty was restored to the throne of France. He received several severe wounds, particularly at Salamanca, where he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner; he was promoted to the rank of Colonel on the 7th of March, 1813: in 1815 he was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General to the cavalry of the army in Flanders, under His Grace the Duke of Wellington, and served at the battle of Waterloo[9]. He was rewarded with a silver medal for the battle of Waterloo; a cross and three clasps for the battles of Sahagun, Benevente, Talavera, Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, Orthes, and Toulouse. He was also constituted Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath; Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order; Knight of Maria Theresa of Austria; Knight of St. George of Russia (fourth class). He was promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 12th of August, 1819; in 1821 he was appointed Governor of Galway, and in 1829 he was rewarded with the Colonelcy of the Seventeenth Lancers: in 1837 he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General. He died on the 28th of January, 1839, at his residence, near Andover, and was interred at the Chapel Royal, at Windsor.

Sir Joseph Stratton, K.C.H.,

Appointed 28th January, 1839.

Removed to the Eighth, or the King's Royal Irish, Regiment of Light Dragoons, Hussars, on the 24th of August, 1839.

Sir Arthur Benjamin Clifton, K.C.B., K.C.H.,

Appointed 24th August, 1839.

LONDON: HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.