THE LIBRARY- 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS
 
 AUBREY DE ^VERE, XX EARL OF OXFORD. 
 The first Colonel of the Royal Re^r
 
 AN 
 
 OS THE 
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF HORSE GUARDS, 
 
 OB 
 
 ITS SERVICES, AND THE TRANSACTIONS IN WHICH IT 
 
 HAS BEEN ENGAGED, 
 FROM ITS FIRST ESTABLISHMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 BY EDMUM) PACKE, 
 
 LATE CAPTAIN B',' : 'vRDS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PARKER, FURN1VALL &. PARKER, 
 30, Charing Cross. 
 
 MDCCCXLVII

 
 GENERAL ORDERS. 
 
 HORSE-GUARDS, 
 
 1st January, 1836. 
 
 His MAJESTY has been pleased to com- 
 mand, that, with a view of doing the fullest justice 
 to Regiments, as well as to Individuals who have 
 distinguished themselves by their Bravery in 
 Action with the Enemy, an Account of the Services 
 of every Regiment in the British Army shall be 
 published under the superintendence and direction 
 of the Adjutant-General ; and that this Account 
 shall contain the following particulars, viz., 
 
 The Period and Circumstances of the 
 
 Original Formation of the Regiment; The Sta- 
 tions at which it has been from time to time em- 
 ployed ; The Battles, Sieges, and other Military 
 Operations, in which it has been engaged, par- 
 ticularly specifying any Achievement it may have 
 performed, and the Colours, Trophies, &c., it may 
 have captured from the Enemy. 
 
 The Names of the Officers and the 
 
 number of Non-Commissioned Officers and Pri- 
 vates, Killed or Wounded by the Enemy, spe- 
 cifying the Place and Date of the Action. 

 
 11 GENERAL ORDERS. 
 
 The Names of those Officers, who, in con- 
 sideration of their Gallant Services and Meri- 
 torious Conduct in Engagements with the Enemy, 
 have been distinguished with Titles, Medals, or 
 other Marks of His Majesty's gracious favour. 
 
 The Names of all such Officers, Non-Com- 
 
 missioned Officers, and Privates as may have 
 specially signalized themselves in Action. 
 
 And, 
 
 The Badges and Devices which the Re- 
 giment may have been permitted to bear, and the 
 Causes on account of which such Badges or De- 
 vices, or any other Marks of Distinction, have 
 been granted. 
 
 By Command of the Right Honourable 
 GENERAL LORD HILL, 
 
 Commanding -in- Chief. 
 
 JOHN MACDONALD, 
 
 Adjutant- General.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE ancient Armies of England were composed 
 of Horse and Foot ; but the feudal troops, esta- 
 blished by William the Conqueror in 1086, con- 
 sisted almost entirely of Horse. Under the feudal 
 system, every holder of land amounting to what 
 was termed a " knight's fee," was required to 
 provide a charger, a coat of mail, a helmet, a 
 shield, and a lance, and to serve the Crown a 
 period of forty days in each year at his own 
 expense ; and the great landholders had to pro- 
 vide armed men in proportion to the extent of 
 their estates ; consequently the ranks of the feudal 
 Cavalry were completed with men of property, 
 and the vassals and tenants of the great barons, 
 who led their dependents to the field in person. 
 
 In the succeeding reigns the Cavalry of the 
 Army was composed of Knights (or men at arms) 
 and Hobiliers (or horsemen of inferior degree) ; 
 and the Infantry of spear and battle-axe men, 
 cross-bowmen, and archers. The Knights wore
 
 IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 armour on every part of the body, and their 
 weapons were a lance, a sword, and a small 
 dagger. The Hobiliers were accoutred and armed 
 for the light and less important services of war, 
 and were not considered qualified for a charge in 
 line. Mounted Archers* were also introduced, 
 and the English nation eventually became pre- 
 eminent in the use of the bow. 
 
 About the time of Queen Mary the appellation 
 of " Men at Arms' was changed to that of" Spears 
 and Launces." The introduction of fire-arms ulti- 
 mately occasioned the lance to fall into disuse, 
 and the title of the Horsemen of the first degree 
 was changed to " Cuirassiers." The Cuirassiers 
 were armed cap-a-pie, and their weapons were a 
 sword with a straight narrow blade and sharp 
 point, and a pair of large pistols, called petronels ; 
 and the Hobiliers carried carbines. The Infantry 
 carried pikes, matchlocks, and swords. The 
 introduction of fire-arms occasioned the forma- 
 tion of Eegiments armed and equipped as infantry, 
 but mounted on small horses for the sake of 
 expedition of movement, and these were styled 
 " Dragoons-" a small portion of the military 
 
 * In the 14th year of the reign of Edward IV. a small 
 force was established in Ireland by Parliament, consisting of 120 
 Archers on horseback, 40 Horsemen, and 40 Pages.
 
 INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 force of the kingdom, however, consisted of this 
 description of troops. 
 
 The formation of the present Army commenced 
 after the Restoration in 1660, with the establish- 
 ment of regular corps of Horse and Foot ; the 
 Horsemen were cuirassiers, but only wore armour 
 on the head and, body ; and the Foot were pike- 
 men and musketeers. The arms which each 
 description of force carried, are described in the 
 following extract from the " Regulations of King 
 Charles II.," dated 5th May, 1663 : 
 
 " Each Horseman to have for his defensive 
 " armes, back, breast, and pot ; and for his offen- 
 " sive armes, a sword, and a case of pistolls, the 
 " barrels whereof are not to be nnd r . foorteen 
 " inches in length ; and each Trooper of Our 
 " Guards to have a carbine, besides the aforesaid 
 " armes. And the Foote to have each souldier a 
 " sword, and each pikeman a pike of 16 foote 
 " long and not und r . ; and each musqueteer a 
 " musquet, with a collar of bandaliers, the barrels 
 " of which musquet to be about foor foote long, 
 " and to conteine a bullet, foorteen of which shall 
 " weigh a pound weight*." 
 
 The ranks of the Troops of Horse were at this 
 period composed of men of some property gene- 
 
 * Military Papers, State Paper Office.
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rally the sons of substantial yeomen : the young 
 men received as recruits provided their own horses, 
 and they were placed on a rate of pay sufficient 
 to give them a respectable station in society. 
 
 On the breaking out of the war with Holland, 
 in the spring of 1672, a Regiment of Dragoons 
 was raised* ; the Dragoons were placed on a lower 
 rate of pay than the Horse ; and the Regiment 
 was armed similar to the Infantry, excepting that 
 a limited number of the men carried halberds 
 instead of pikes, and the others muskets and bay- 
 onets ; and a few men in each Troop had pistols ; 
 as appears by a warrant dated the 2nd of April, 
 1672, of which the following is an extract: 
 
 " CHARLES R. 
 
 " Our will and pleasure is, that a Regi- 
 " ment of Dragoones, which we have established 
 " and ordered to be raised, in twelve Troopes of 
 " fourscore in each beside officers, who are to be 
 " under the command of Our most deare and most 
 " intirely beloved Cousin Prince Rupert, shall 
 " be armed out of Our stoares remaining within 
 " Our office of the Ordinance, as followeth ; that 
 " is to say, three corporalls, two Serjeants, the 
 " gentlemen at armes, and. twelve souldiers of 
 
 * This Regiment was disbanded after the Peace in 1674.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 " each of the said twelve Troopes, are to have and 
 " carry each of them one halbard, and one case 
 " of pistolls with holsters ; and the rest of the 
 ' souldiers of the several Troopes aforesaid, are 
 " to have and to carry each of them one match- 
 " locke musquet, with a collar of bandaliers, and 
 " also to have and to carry one bayonet*, or great 
 " knife. That each lieutenant have and carry 
 " one partizan ; and that two drums be delivered 
 " out for each Troope of the said Regimentf." 
 
 Several regiments of Horse and Dragoons 
 were raised in the first year of the reign of King 
 James II. ; and the horsemen carried a short car- 
 bine;); in addition to the sword and pair of pistols : 
 and in a Regulation dated the 21st of February, 
 1687, the arms of the Dragoons at that period 
 are commanded to be as follows : 
 
 " The Dragoons to have sriaphanse musquets, 
 " strapt, with bright barrels of three foote eight 
 " inches long, cartouch-boxes, bayonetts, granado 
 " pouches, bucketts, and hammer-hatchetts." 
 
 After several years' experience, little advantage 
 
 * This appears to be the first introduction of bayonets into the 
 English Army. f State Paper Office. 
 
 J The first issue of carbines to the regular Horse appears to have 
 taken place in 1684; the Life Guards, however, carried carbines 
 from their formation in 1660. Vide the ' Historical Record of the 
 Life Guards.'
 
 Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 was found to accrue from having Cavalry Regi- 
 ments formed almost exclusively for engaging the 
 enemy on foot ; and, the Horse having laid aside 
 their armour, the arms and equipment of Horse 
 and Dragoons were so nearly assimilated, that 
 there remained little distinction besides the name 
 and rate of pay. The introduction of improve- 
 ments into the mounting, arming, and equipment 
 of Dragoons rendered them competent to the 
 performance of every description of service re- 
 quired of Cavalry ; and, while the long musket 
 and bayonet were retained, to enable them to act 
 as Infantry, if necessary, they were found to be 
 equally efficient, and of equal value to the nation, 
 as Cavalry, with the Regiments of Horse. 
 
 In the several augmentations made to the 
 regular Army after the early part of the reign of 
 Queen Anne, no new Regiments of Horse were 
 raised for permanent service ; and in 1746 King 
 George II. reduced three of the old Regiments 
 of Horse to the quality and pay of Dragoons ; at 
 the same time, His Majesty gave them the title of 
 First, Second, and Third Regiments of Dragoon 
 Guards : and in 1788 the same alteration was 
 made in the remaining four Regiments of Horse, 
 which then became the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and 
 Seventh Regiments of Dragoon Guards.
 
 INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 At present there are only three Regiments 
 which are styled Horse in the British Army, 
 namely, the two Regiments of Life Guards, and 
 the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, to whom 
 cuirasses have recently been restored. The other 
 Cavalry Regiments consist of Dragoon Guards, 
 Heavy and Light Dragoons, Hussars, and Lan- 
 cers ; and although the long musket and bayonet 
 have been laid aside by the whole of the Cavalry, 
 and the Regiments are armed and equipped on 
 the principle of the old Horse (excepting the 
 cuirass), they continue to be styled Dragoons. 
 
 The old Regiments of Horse formed a highly 
 respectable and efficient portion of the Army, 
 and it is found, on perusing the histories of the 
 various campaigns in which they have been en- 
 gaged, that they have, on all occasions, maintained 
 a high character for steadiness and discipline, as 
 well as for bravery in action. They were formerly 
 mounted on horses of superior weight and phy- 
 sical power, and few troops could withstand a 
 well-directed charge of the celebrated British 
 Horse. The records of these corps embrace a 
 period of 150 years a period eventful in history, 
 and abounding in instances of heroism displayed 
 by the British troops when danger has threatened 
 the nation, a period in which these Regiments
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 have numbered in their ranks men of loyalty, 
 valour, and good conduct, worthy of imitation. 
 
 Since the Regiments of Horse were formed 
 into Dragoon Guards, additional improvements 
 have been introduced into the constitution of the 
 several corps ; and the superior description of 
 horses now bred in the United Kingdom enables 
 the commanding officers to remount their regi- 
 ments with such excellent horses, that, whilst 
 sufficient weight has been retained for a powerful 
 charge in line, a lightness has been acquired which 
 renders them available for every description of 
 service incident to modern warfare. 
 
 The orderly conduct of these Regiments in 
 quarters has gained the confidence and esteem of 
 the respectable inhabitants of the various parts of 
 the United Kingdom in which they have been 
 stationed ; their promptitude and alacrity in at- 
 tending to the requisitions of the magistrates in 
 periods of excitement, and the temper, patience, 
 and forbearance which they have evinced when 
 subjected to great provocation, insult, and violence 
 from the misguided populace, prove the value of 
 these troops to the Crown, and to the Government 
 of the country, and justify the reliance which is 
 reposed on them.
 
 AN HISTORICAL RECORD 
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF HORSE GUARDS, 
 
 O.vfortr 
 
 ITS SERVICES, AND THE TRANSACTIONS IN WHICH IT 
 HAS BEEN ENGAGED, 
 
 FROM ITS FIRST ESTABLISHMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 EDMUND PACKE, 
 
 LATE CAPTAIN ROYAL HORSE GUARDS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PARKER, FURNIVALL, & PARKER 
 
 30, CHARING CROSS. 
 
 M DCCC XLVII.
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWKB A SONS, DUBK STRICT, STAN 
 FOB HRB MAJESTY'S STATIONKRY Orrici.
 
 TO THE 
 
 KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY, 
 
 ( WILLIAM THE FOURTH,) 
 THIS ATTEMPT 
 
 TO TRACE THE SERVICES OF A REGIMENT WHICH 
 
 HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY PLEASED TO DISTINGUISH BY 
 MARKS OF FAVOUR AND PROTECTION, 
 
 NOT INFERIOR TO ANY THAT HAVE BEEN CONFERRED 
 UPON IT BY 
 
 HIS KOYAL PREDECESSORS, 
 
 IS (BY PERMISSION), 
 
 WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF DUTY, GRATITUDE, AND 
 LOYALTY, 
 
 MOST HUMBLY INSCRIBED.

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE Author is fully aware that the following 
 pages, few though they be, afford " ample room 
 and verge enough" for severe criticism, and 
 would fain bespeak indulgence : but he is espe- 
 cially anxious to anticipate and reply to one 
 objection, which may possibly be raised against 
 him. It is this, that in giving an account of 
 the battles, &c. in which the Blues have been 
 engaged, he has not sufficiently regarded the 
 gallant deeds of other Regiments, to which, it 
 may be said, the success was attributable as much 
 as to those of the Blues. In answer to this sup- 
 posed objection he begs to state that it is very far 
 from his intention to exalt the merit of his late 
 Corps by omitting to notice the contemporaneous 
 gallantry of others ; but as this Work is intended 
 to form part of a series recording the services of 
 each Regiment in the British Army, it was 
 thought right to proceed upon a principle of as 
 strict non-interference as might be consistent with 
 an intelligible narrative.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Introduction Insurrection of the Millenarians First establish- 
 ment of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards Names of 
 the first Officers Biographical notices of some of the most 
 remarkable -.-.-..-- 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Movements of the Regiment It is quartered at York Fur- 
 nishes an escort for the Grand Duke of Tuscany His account 
 of its appearance Occurrences connected with the movements 
 of the Regiment An Adjutant appointed Reviewed upon 
 Putney Heath A description of its Colours and Appoint- 
 ments 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Death of King Charles the Second, and Accession of King James 
 the Second The Duke of Monmouth invades the Kingdom 
 the Blues join the Army under the Earl of Feversham Ad- 
 vance of the Duke of Monmouth He passes the Avon on 
 his march northward Retires to Bridgewater Battle of 
 Sedgmoor, and defeat of Monmouth Arbitrary measures of 
 the King The Earl of Oxford dismissed from the command 
 of the Regiment, which is given to the Duke of Berwick- 
 Prince of Orange lands at Torbay The Blues join the Army 
 assembled at Salisbury Defection of Lord Cornbury, who 
 attempts to carry over this with two other Regiments to the 
 
 b
 
 XV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOF. 
 
 Prince of Orange The King arrives at Salisbury Harangues 
 his Army, and rewards those who had remained faithful Earl 
 of Arran appointed Colonel of the Regiment King retires 
 to London Advance of the Prince of Orange Earl of Ox- 
 ford restored to the Colonelcy of the Blues King quits the 
 Kingdom Quarters appointed for the Forces --- 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 King William and Queen Mary proclaimed The Blues embark 
 for Flanders Are recalled and sent to Ireland Battle of the 
 Boyne James retires to France William advances with his 
 Army to Limerick Operations before that City The Siege is 
 raised General de Ginckell takes the command of the Army 
 Campaign of 1691 Skirmish at the Mote of Grenogue Ath- 
 lone taken Battle of Aghrim Capitulation of Limerick, and 
 termination of the War The Blues return to England 
 Transactions during the Reign of William III.. - - 52 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Accession of Queen Anne and occurrences during her reign 
 The King of Spain, Mareschal Tallard, &c., attended by 
 escorts from the Blues Death of the Queen The Blues form 
 a Guard of Honour to receive her Successor Occurrences 
 during the Reigns of George the First and Second War with 
 France The Blues embark for the Continent An Army 
 formed in the Netherlands Battle of Dettingen The Army 
 retires into quarters in the Netherlands The Duke of 
 Cumberland assumes the command Battle of Fontenoy - 72 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Invasion of the Pretender, and recall of the Duke of Cumberland 
 The Blues return to England Quarters of the Regiment 
 War with France The Blues embark and join the Army in 
 Germany Battles of Minden and Warbourg The French 
 surprised and defeated at Groebenstein Affair near Hombourg
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 PAOK 
 
 Conclusion of the War, and return of the Regiment to 
 England Stationed in country quarters It embarks to join 
 the Army under the Duke of York, in Flanders French de- 
 feated at Villers en Couchie at Cateau and near Tournay 
 The Army retires through Germany, and returns to England 90 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Regiment encamped at Weymouth and Swinley Stationed 
 at Windsor Silver Kettle-Drums presented Marches into 
 Lancashire Two squadrons embark for Portugal Join the 
 Army under the Marquis of Wellington Subsequent opera- 
 tions The Blues stationed at Logrono Enter France, and 
 embark for England at the conclusion of the War Are sta- 
 tioned at Windsor Four troops again embark for Foreign 
 Service Land at Ostend, and join the Duke of Wellington's 
 Army Battle of Waterloo The army marches to Paris 
 The Blues return to England Various occurrences to the end 
 of the reign of George III. The Regiment stationed in 
 London Coronation of King George IV. Cuirasses worn ; 
 the colour of the Belts changed from Buff to White Reviews. 
 &c. during the Reign of George IV. Accession of King 
 William IV. He inspects the Regiment Coronation of 
 their Majesties The King presents a Standard to the Regi- 
 mentVisit of Queen Adelaide Conclusion - 109
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 Portrait of the Earl of Oxford - - - to face the Title. 
 
 Vignette Silver Kettle-Drums, &c. 
 
 Uniform of 1662 .... page 21 
 
 Uniform of 1742 77 
 
 Uniform of 1758 ,, 92 
 
 Uniform of 1806 - - 110 
 
 Uniform of 1828 127 
 
 Standard of King William the Fourth - ,,129 
 
 Uniform of 1846 ---.-- 134
 
 HISTORICAL RECORD 
 
 ROYAL HORSE GUARDS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introduction Insurrection of the Millcnarians First establish- 
 ment of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards Names of 
 the first Officers Biographical notices of some of the most 
 remarkable. 
 
 THE Royal Regiment of Horse Guards was raised 1661 
 in the year 1661, in the reign of King Charles 
 the Second. 
 
 Sensible of the advantage of retaining a mili- 
 tary force to support his recently restored autho- 
 rity, and of the means its patronage afforded him 
 to reward his faithful followers, it was not without 
 some reluctance that the King consented entirely 
 to disband the Army of the Commonwealth*. In 
 the first instance, therefore, immediately after the 
 Restoration, several regiments were re-organized, 
 by the appointment of known Royalists to fill the 
 subordinate commissions, as well as to command 
 them ; and the King himself was pleased to take 
 for his Own the regiment which had been com- 
 
 * Hume, chap. 63.
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 manded by Colonel Unton Crook, which was then 
 styled ' The Royal Regiment*.' 
 
 But anxious as Charles probably was to main- 
 tain a standing army as a necessary implement of 
 Royalty, he was compelled to yield his wishes to 
 the frugal jealousy of his Parliament and the ad- 
 vice of his Minister, Clarendon. The greater 
 part of the army was therefore disbanded in the 
 autumn of 1660, and, amongst the rest, 'The 
 Royal Regiment/ then commanded by Colonel 
 Daniel O'Neale, was disbanded at Bath, in the 
 beginning of December, 1660, by Quarter-Master 
 General Butlerf. At the very commencement, 
 however, of the following year, an event occurred 
 which furnished the King with the pretext for 
 maintaining at least a few regiments for the pro- 
 tection of his person. This was the fanatical in- 
 
 * ' That the Soldiers may see the affection that his sacred Majesty 
 ' hath for the Army, He hath been pleased to do them so much honour 
 ' as to take that regiment that was lately Colonel Unton Crook's for 
 ' his Own, which is now styled the Royal Regiment.' Mercurius 
 1 Publicus, 28th June to 5th July, 1 660 See Journals of the House 
 of Commons, Wed. llth January, 1652-60. 
 
 ' We shall now shew you how the Regiment of Horse that was 
 ' Unton Crook's is disposed of : viz., Daniel O'Neale, of His Ma- 
 ' jesty's Bedchamber, Colonel of the Regiment ; William Basset, 
 ' son of Sir Richard Basset, Governor of Cardiff Castle, Captain- 
 ' Lieutenant ; Sir John Stevens, Major ; Lord Mandeville, eldest 
 ' son of the Earl of Manchester, Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty's 
 ' Household, Captain of the Troop, late Captain Witham's : Lord 
 ' Windsor, Captain ; Nicholas Armorer, Captain ; one of His Ma- 
 ' jesty's Esquires commands the Troop late Captain Gascoyne's ; 
 ' Bertie, second son of the Earl of Lindsey, Captain of that which 
 ' was Colonel Upcott's Troop.' Mercurius Publicus, 26th July to 2nd 
 August, 1660. 
 
 f Parliamentary Intelligencer, 10th to 17th December, 1660.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 3 
 
 surrection of the Millenarians (or the Fifth Mo- 1661 
 narchy Men, as they were called), under Venner 
 (January 5, 1660-1). The insurrection was 
 speedily suppressed ; for it seems doubtful whether 
 the number of Vernier's followers ever exceeded 
 sixty*. But the Duke of York took this occasion 
 to propose * to the Council which was called in 
 ' time of the insurrection, that they should write 
 ' to His Majesty and desire him to stop the dis- 
 
 * banding of the Generall's Troop of Horse Guards, 
 ' and the Regiment of Foott, which were to have 
 ' been payd off that day, and that he would rather 
 
 * think of raising more men for the security of his 
 ' Person and Government. Daniel O'Neale was 
 ' accordingly sent with an account to the King,' 
 then at Portsmouth, ' who immediately gave or- 
 1 ders for raising a new Regiment of Guards of 
 ' twelve companys, to be commanded by Collonel 
 
 * John Russel, and a Regiment of Horse of eight 
 ' troops, of which the Earle of Oxforde was to be 
 
 * Collonel, and also a troop of Horse Guards to be 
 4 commanded by the Lord Gerrardf.' In confor- 
 mity with this advice, a Warrant was issued under 
 the Sign Manual for the establishment of these 
 Regiments from the 26th of January, 1660-1. 
 That to be commanded by the Earl of Oxford 
 consisting of eight troops; of which the first, 
 
 * Hume, chap. 63. 
 
 t Life of King James II., edited by Dr. E. S. Clarke, pp. 390, 
 391. 
 
 Extract, No. 2. A. D. 1661, from the Life of King James II. In 
 Macpherson's Original Papers, vol. i.
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 which His Majesty was pleased to designate ' as His 
 Own/ was to have eighty, and the remaining seven 
 sixty men in each, besides officers*. Efficient 
 and loyal men, it may well be supposed, were 
 selected from the disbanded corps without diffi- 
 culty : and the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards 
 was speedily completed, and mustered in Tuthill 
 Fields, Westminster, under the command of its 
 Colonel, February 16, 1661. 
 
 NAMBS OF THE OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF HORSE 
 GUARDS, AT ITS FIRST MUSTER, 16th February, 1661f. 
 
 Of His Majesty s Own Troop. 
 
 DANIEL O'NEALE .... Captain. 
 
 WILLIAM BASSET .... Lieutenant. 
 
 PEREGRINE BERTIE . . . Coronet. 
 
 ROBERT COOPER .... Quar. Master. 
 
 Of the Earl of Oxford's Troop. 
 
 AUBREY EARL OF OXFORD . Colonel. 
 
 THOMAS ARMSTRONG . . . Captain-Lieut. 
 
 EDWARD SHELDON . . Coronet. 
 
 WILLIAM MONTGOMERY . . Quar. Master. 
 
 * Establishment of the newly- raised forces, January 26, 1660-1. 
 In State-Paper Office. 
 
 f The list of the officers, as mustered in Tuthill Fields, is pub- 
 lished in the Kingdome's Intelligencer, February 18th, 1661, and 
 in Mercurius Publicus, February 21st, 1661. A similar list of these 
 officers is also contained in ' A Lyst of all the Officers in Commis- 
 sion,' &c., a MS. in the State-Paper Office. Whilst it continued 
 the only regiment in the service of the King, Lord Oxford's Re- 
 giment was generally styled ' the Royal Regiment of Horse ;' but 
 when other regiments were raised its original distinction was used 
 in the official orders, and it was always styled the Royal Regiment 
 of Horse Guards.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 5 
 
 Of Colonel Sir Francis Wyndharis Troop. 1661 
 
 FRANCIS WYNDHAM . . . Major. 
 GEORGE MARKHAM . . . Lieutenant. 
 CHARLES WYNDHAM . . . Coronet. 
 FRANCIS BYAM .... Quar.-Master. 
 
 Of the Lord Hawleys Troop. 
 
 FRANCIS LORD HAWLEY . . Captain. 
 
 SIR HENRY JONES .... Lieutenant. 
 
 WILLIAM JENKYNS . . . Coronet. 
 
 EDWARD HAWLEY. . . . Quar.-Master. 
 
 Of Sir Charles Comptoris Troop. 
 
 SIR CHARLES COMPTON . . Captain. 
 
 FRANCIS COMPTON . . . Lieutenant. 
 
 HENRY COMPTON .... Coronet. 
 
 FLAMOCK COLBORNE . . . Quar.-Master. 
 
 Of Colonel Sir Edward Bret's Troop. 
 
 SIR EDWARD BRET . . . Captain. 
 JOHN ARUNDEL .... Lieutenant 
 HENRY SLINGSBY .... Coronet. 
 Jo. YOUNG Qaar.- Master. 
 
 Of Colonel Sir Henry WrotKs Troop. 
 
 SIR HENRY WROTH . . . Captain. 
 THOMAS MORLEY .... Lieutenant. 
 
 JOHN ELVIS Coronet. 
 
 GYLES FORMAN .... Quar.-Master. 
 
 Of Colonel John Fretchvilles Troop. 
 
 JOHN FRETCHVILLE . . . Captain. 
 
 THOMAS CARNABY. . . . Lieutenant. 
 
 FERDINANDO LITTLETON . . Coronet. 
 
 GEORGE BLACKSTONE . . . Quar.-Master.
 
 6 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 As most of the officers in the foregoing list were 
 persons of considerable distinction amongst the 
 cavaliers, a short notice of some of the most re- 
 markable is here inserted. 
 
 Aubrey de Vere, the nobleman selected to com- 
 mand the First Regiment of Horse, which had 
 been raised under the restored Monarchy, was the 
 twentieth and last Earl of Oxford, of the illustrious 
 family of Vere. Being only five years of age at 
 the death of his father, who was killed at the siege 
 of Maestricht, in 1632, the young Earl became a 
 ward of the Crown, and upon the breaking out of 
 the Civil War was sent abroad to the Court of the 
 Princess of Orange, to complete his education*. 
 He had the command of a regiment of English 
 foot (the Holland Regiment), in the service of the 
 States General, in or before the year 16481". 
 Having returned to England, he was committed to 
 the Tower as a conspirator against Cromwell, on the 
 20th of June, 1654. He shortly afterwards obtained 
 his liberty, but continued ever constant to the royal 
 cause, and was engaged in all the eight attempts 
 made for the Restoration of the King, from 1652 to 
 1659. In the latter year he was again sent to prison 
 
 * Collins's Account of the Family of Vere, fol. 
 
 t ' For on the 10th of January that year, the famous Algernon 
 Sidney, in a letter to Robert Earl of Leicester, informs him, that 
 old Berington being dead, his brother, Robert Sydney, was made 
 Lieutenant -Colonel to the Earl of Oxford, then abroad. This 
 regiment, on the breaking out of the war with the Dutch, was sent 
 for to England ; and the said Robert Sydney was made Colonel 
 thereof by King Charles II., 31st of May, 1665, and is yet sub- 
 sisting, called the Holland Regiment. Collins's Account of the 
 Family of Vere.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 7 
 
 (August 13), on suspicion of being connected with 1661 
 the rising of Sir George Booth ; but was released 
 November 14th of the same year, by the Com- 
 mittee of Safety appointed by the army, on secu- 
 rity to live peaceably. In the following year, at 
 the Restoration, he was the first of the six lords 
 deputed by the House of Peers, with twelve of the 
 Commons, to present to the King at the Hague, 
 the humble petition of Parliament, ' That His 
 * Majesty would be pleased to return and take the 
 ' government of the kingdom into his hands.' 
 His Lordship returned to England with the King, 
 by whom he was invested with the Order of the 
 Garter, on the day after his arrival at Whitehall. 
 He was also in the same year constituted Chief 
 Justice in Eyre, and Lord-Lieutenant of the 
 County of Essex, and was appointed Colonel of 
 one of the re-organized regiments which were 
 afterwards disbanded*. Having been so great a 
 sufferer in the Royal cause, he had a fair claim to 
 reward from the Crown. But in that age promo- 
 tion was commonly obtained by intrigue. The 
 Earl was at this time paying his addresses to the 
 daughter of the Earl of Bristol, afterwards married 
 to the Earl of Sunderland. Bristol was then in 
 
 * 'Aubrey Vere, Earl of Oxford, Colonel of that regiment lately 
 Colonel George Smithson's ; his Captain-Lieutenant, Sir William 
 Blackstone ; George Smithson, late Colonel, now the Major ; 
 Thomas Lilburn, late Major, the eldest Captain ; Francis 
 Wilkinson ; Wm. Rhodes, Captain ; Wm. Wheatly, Captain ; 
 Thomas Fairfax, formerly Captain-Lieutenant, now Lieutenant 
 to Major Smithson.' The Parliamentary Intelligencer, I6tk July, 
 1660.
 
 8 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 high favour with the Duchess of Cleveland, and it 
 was, in some degree, to her influence that the Earl 
 of Oxford was indebted for his appointment to be 
 Colonel of the newly-raised regiment of Horse 
 Guards.* 
 
 The Captain- Lieutenant and Cornet of 'His 
 Majesty's Own Troop' had previously held com- 
 missions in * the Royal Regiment,' late Unton 
 Crook's, The Captain, Daniel O'Neale, was the 
 nephew of the celebrated Irish leader, Owen 
 O'Neale. In the Civil War he held the rank of 
 Lieutenant of the Horse under Prince Rupert, 
 and was Groom of the Bedchamber to the late 
 King, an office which he continued to hold under 
 his son. 
 
 Lord Clarendon gives the following sketch of 
 his character : ' He was in subtlety and under- 
 ' standing much superior to the whole nation of 
 ' the old Irish. He was well known in the Court 
 ' of King Charles the First, having spent many 
 * years between that and the Low Countries ; the 
 ' winter season in the one, and the summer always 
 ' in the army in the other : as good an education 
 ' towards advancement in the world as that age 
 
 * ' Bristol set up for himself, and paid his court to the Duchess 
 ' of Cleveland, then angry with the Chancellor's forbidding his 
 wife to visit her. The King shewed Bristol much countenance, 
 ' and he got the Regiment of Horse for the Earl of Oxford, then a 
 ' pretender to his daughter, since married to the Earl of Sunder- 
 ' land ; and had he not drove on too fast, he might have got more, 
 ' and might, by the help of his she friend, have ruined the Chan- 
 ' cellor as he designed.' Extract No. 2, A.D. 1661, from the Life 
 of King James II., in Macpherson's Oriyinal Papers, vol. i.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 
 
 * knew. He had a fair reputation in both cli- 1661 
 ' mates, having a competent fortune of his own to 
 
 ' support himself without dependence, and a uatu- 
 ' ral insinuation and address, which made him 
 
 * acceptable in the best company. He was a great. 
 ' observer and discerner of men's natures and 
 ' humours, and was very dexterous in compliance 
 
 * where he found it useful. 
 
 * As soon as the troubles began in Scotland, he 
 ' had with the first the command of a troop of 
 ' Horse; to which he was by all men held very 
 
 * equal, having had good experience in the most 
 ' active armies of that time, and of a courage very 
 ' notorious. And though his inclinations were 
 ' naturally to ease and luxury, his industry was 
 ' indefatigable when his honour required it, or 
 
 * his particular interest, which he was never 
 ' without, and to which he was very indulgent, 
 ' made it necessary or convenient. In the second 
 ' troubles in Scotland he had a greater command, 
 ' and some part in most of the intrigues of the 
 ' Court. 
 
 ' When the Civil War began, he, being then 
 ' in the Low Countries, having made an escape 
 ' out of the Tower, where he stood committed by 
 ' the Parliament on a charge of high treason*, 
 
 * chose rather to be Lieutenant-Colonel of Horse 
 ' to Prince Rupert than the name of a greater 
 
 * officer which he might well have pretended to ; 
 
 * presuming that by his dexterity, he should have 
 
 * ' He accomplished his escape very dexterously in a lady's 
 ' dress.' Clarendons History of the Rebellion, book viii.
 
 10 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 * such an interest in that young Prince as might 
 ' make his relation to him superior to those who 
 
 * had greater titles*.' After the execution of the 
 King, O'Neale proceeded to Ireland, to the Mar- 
 quis of Ormond, the Lord-Lieutenant ; to whom 
 he was of great service in forwarding his negocia- 
 tions with his uncle Owen O'Neale, then General 
 of the Irish. From Ireland he went to the King 
 in Holland, 'just as His Majesty was about to 
 ' embark for Scotland, and so waited upon him ; 
 ' but he was no sooner known to be with His 
 ' Majesty (in Scotland) (as he was a person very 
 ' generally known), but he was apprehended, by 
 1 order from the Council, for being an Irishman, 
 ' and having been in arms on the late King's 
 ' behalf, in the late war ; for which they were not 
 ' without some discourse of putting him to death ; 
 ' but they did immediately banish him the king- 
 ' dom, and obliged him to sign a paper, by which 
 ' he consented to be put to death, if he were ever 
 
 * after found in the kingdomf.' 
 
 After this O'Neale retired into Holland, and 
 remained in attendance upon the exiled Royal 
 Family, sometimes attending the King in his va- 
 rious movements, at others residing at the Hague, 
 at the court of the Princess Royal, with whom he 
 was a great favouritej, and whose governess, 
 
 * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, book viii., where see an 
 account of the intrigue to obtain for him the office of Groom of the 
 Bedchamber, which he obtained in 1643. 
 
 f Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, book xiii. 
 
 J Clarendon's Life and Continuation.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 1 1 
 
 created Countess of Chesterfield at the Restora- 1661 
 tion, he afterwards married*. 
 
 William Basset, the Captain-Lieutenant of the 
 King's Troop, was the son of Sir Richard Basset, 
 a gentleman of Glamorganshire, who, having 
 been compelled to fly the country on account of 
 his share in an insurrection in that country 
 against the usurpations of the Parliament, in 
 1647f, was now appointed Governor of Cardiff 
 CastleJ. 
 
 The Cornet, Peregrine Bertie, was the second 
 son of the Earl of Lindsey, whose gallant deeds in 
 the Civil Wars, and devoted loyalty, had raised 
 him to a high place in the King's favour. 
 
 Colonel Francis Wyndham, the Major of the 
 Regiment, was the fourth son of Sir Thomas 
 Wyndham, of Kentsford, in Somersetshire. He 
 had acquired a high military reputation by his 
 gallant defence of Dunstar Castle, against the 
 Parliamentary forces, which he surrendered upon 
 fair terms, at the conclusion of the war. But he 
 is chiefly memorable as the affectionate partizan of 
 the Royal Family, by whose instrumentality the 
 King was enabled to escape from his enemies 
 after the battle of Worcester. Upon that occasion 
 Wyndham received the fugitive Monarch into his 
 
 * Collins's Peerage, by Sir J. Bridges. 
 
 f A full Relation of the whole proceedings of the late Rising and 
 Commotion in Wales. Tract, 4to. London, July 2, 1647. 
 \ Parliamentary Intelligencer, July 9 to July 16, 1660. 
 Clarendon's History of the Rebellion.
 
 12 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 house, at Trent, in Somersetshire, having first re- 
 quested permission to communicate the secret to 
 his wife and his mother. That venerable lady, 
 upon receiving her Royal Guest, expressed great 
 joy that, having lost three sons and one grand- 
 child in the service of his father, she herself was 
 still spared to aid in the preservation of his son. 
 Colonel Wyndham told the King, that his father 
 in the year 1636, not long before his death, had 
 assembled his five sons, and addressed them in 
 these remarkable words. He said, 'he feared 
 
 * the beautiful garment of peace would shortly 
 ' be torn in pieces, through the neglect of magis- 
 ' trates, the general corruption of manners, and 
 ' the prevalence of a puritanical faction ; which, 
 ' if not prevented, would undermine the very 
 ' pillars of Government. My sons, we have 
 ' hitherto seen serene and quiet times ; but now 
 ' prepare yourselves for cloudy and troublesome. 
 
 * I command you to honour and obey our gra- 
 
 * cious Sovereign, and in all times to adhere to 
 
 * the Crown ; and though the Crown should hang 
 ' upon a Bush, I charge you, forsake it not.' 
 ' These words, Sir, (said the Colonel,) made so 
 
 * firm an impression in all our breasts, that the 
 
 * many afflictions of these sad times cannot raze 
 
 * out their indelible characters. Certainly these 
 ' are the days which my father pointed out in 
 ' that expression ; and I doubt not, God hath 
 ' brought me through so many dangers, that I 
 ' might show myself both a dutiful son, and a
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 13 
 
 * loyal subject, in faithfully endeavouring to serve 1661 
 
 * your Sacred Majesty, in this your greatest dis- 
 ' tress.'* 
 
 The King, accompanied by the Lord Wilmot, 
 remained many days in concealment at Trent ; 
 during which time Wyndham was indefatigable in 
 his exertions to procure a vessel, and to ascertain 
 from what place he might most securely embark. 
 In this, however, he was entirely unsuccessful, 
 and the King having made an attempt to embark- 
 at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, narrowly escaped being 
 betrayed, and was obliged to return to Wynd- 
 ham's house. At length after various perilous 
 adventures and disappointments, a vessel was 
 procured at Shoreham, in Sussex, and His 
 Majesty was conveyed in safety to Francef . 
 
 After the Restoration a pension of 600 per 
 annum was granted to Colonel Wyndham, for his 
 services to the CrownJ. He was also knighted, 
 and appointed one of the Colonels of Militia for 
 the County of Somerset. In the summer of 
 1660 he was elected Member of Parliament for 
 the Borough of Milburn Port[|, and subsequently, 
 in the year 1673, was created a Baronet. 
 
 * Narrative of concealment at Trent, at the end of Boscobel. 
 
 ( Narrative of concealment at Trent ; Clarendon's History of the 
 Rebellion. 
 
 J Case of Sir Francis Wyndham, folio tract, 1716. 
 
 Mercurius Publicus, August 2 to August 9, 1660. 
 
 || ' Colonel Sir Francis Wyndham, who so nobly held out Dunstar 
 ' Castle for His Majesty, being lately chosen Burgess for Milburn 
 ' Port, in the county of Somerset.' Parliamentary Intdliyencer , 
 AugustlQ to September 3, 1660.
 
 14 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 Charles Wyndham, the Cornet, who also was 
 afterwards knighted, was the younger brother of 
 Sir Francis. 
 
 The three Comptoms were sons of the Earl of 
 Northampton, who was slain in 1643, at the battle 
 of Hopton-Heath, near Stafford, after performing 
 acts of the greatest heroism. That nobleman left 
 six sons, who were all highly esteemed for their 
 eminent abilities. Five of them received the 
 -honour of knighthood, and the youngest was not 
 less conspicuous. Sir Charles Compton, the 
 second son, who was now apppointed to the com- 
 mand of a troop in the Royal Regiment of Horse 
 Guards, had long been distinguished for his 
 soldier-like conduct and activity in the field. He 
 was with his father in the engagements of Edge- 
 Hill, Hopton-Heath, and other actions. But the 
 most remarkable adventure of his life was the 
 surprise of Beeston Castle, in Cheshire*. This 
 he effected with six men in disguise, under pre- 
 tence of bringing in provision, of which an inter- 
 cepted letter had apprized him that the garrison 
 were in want. In this action he was in great 
 danger; two pistols were snapt in his face, but 
 both fortunately missed fire, and he immediately 
 killed those who held them. He likewise showed 
 the greatest bravery in the year 1644, in en- 
 deavouring to surprise Compton Housef, in War- 
 wickshire, which the Parliament had secured 
 and made a garrison of. He so far succeeded in 
 
 * Lloyd, 360. f Whitelock's Memorials.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 15 
 
 this, that he possessed himself of the outworks, 1661 
 cut down the drawbridge, seized the Governor's 
 troop horses, and took thirty of his soldiers in 
 their beds; but not being succoured, he was 
 compelled to retreat. Sir Charles was in great 
 favour with King Charles II., having shown an 
 ardent zeal for his Restoration. He was unfortu- 
 nately killed by a fall from his horse, at North- 
 ampton, in November, 1661*. 
 
 Francis Compton, afterwards Sir Francis, the 
 fifth son of the Earl of Northampton, had also 
 been exercised to arms from his youth, having 
 been engaged in the Civil Wars. He was chosen 
 to represent the borough of Warwick in the first 
 Parliament after the Restoration. 
 
 A yet more remarkable person was Henry 
 Compton, the sixth and youngest son of the Earl ; 
 he had been educated at Oxford, and possessed 
 considerable literary talents, which he afterwards 
 improved by travelling in France, Italy, and 
 other countriest. After the Restoration, fired 
 with the enthusiastic loyalty of the period, and 
 the gallant example of his brothers, he adopted 
 the profession of arms, and became a Cornet in 
 the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards ; but being 
 shortly afterwards persuaded by his friends that 
 it would be advantageous to the interests of the 
 Established Church to have one of his descent 
 and education enter into holy orders, he readily 
 
 * Wood's Athenae Oxoniensis ; Collins's Peerage, by Sir E. 
 Brydges. 
 
 t Wood's Fasti Oxoniensis, by Bliss, part 55. p. 293.
 
 16 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 adopted their advice, and after attaining succes- 
 sive dignities, became Bishop of London, in De- 
 cember, 1675*. 
 
 * From some expressions contained in his letter to Sir Robert 
 Southwell, Clerk of the Council (now extant), it may be inferred 
 that the difficulty of obtaining higher rank in the army had some 
 influence in inducing him to change his profession. He announces 
 to Sir Robert that ; he had procured a cornetcy in the King's Regi- 
 ' ment on Hobson's choice;' and adds ' I find that preferment, 
 ' like other things, is more easily imagined than compassed.' Upon 
 quitting the army he proceeded to Cambridge, where he took his 
 degree of Master of Arts. Afterwards obtaining a grant of the next 
 canonry of Christchurch in Oxford, he' visited that university, and, on 
 April 6, 1666, was incorporated Master of Arts there. In the year 
 following he was made master of the Hospital of St. Cross, near 
 Winchester. On May 24, 1669, he was installed Canon of Christ- 
 church, and in the same year took his degree of Doctor in Divinity. 
 In 1674 he was elected Bishop of Oxford ; in 1675 he was made 
 Dean of the Royal Chapel ; and in December of that year was 
 translated to the see of London, and sworn one of the Lords of the 
 Privy Council. Upon the accession of King James II., whose 
 measures he had strongly opposed, he was dismissed from the Coun- 
 cil Board, and also from the deanery of the Royal Chapel. On the 
 16th of September, 1686, he was suspended, ab officio Episcopi, for 
 refusing, when commanded by the King, to suspend Dr. John Sharp, 
 Minister of St. Giles's in the Fields, who had preached against His 
 Majesty's declaration for dispensing with the penal laws. Being 
 reinstated September 30, 1688, he exerted himself warmly in favour 
 of the succession of the Prince of Orange at the Revolution, when 
 he was again sworn of the Privy Council, and made Dean of the 
 Royal Chapel. In September, 1689, he was empowered to act as 
 Archbishop of Canterbury (the Archbishop, Doctor Bancroft, having 
 refused to take the oath of allegiance), and as such officiated at the 
 coronation of King William and Queen Mary, \\ith whom he was 
 in high favour, having been Tutor to Her Majesty and also to the 
 Princess Ann, her sister. He attended King William III. to the 
 Congress at the Hague in 1691, and from this time appears to 
 have devoted himself entirely to the duties of his diocese till his 
 death, which took place, at the advanced age of eighty, on the 7th 
 of July, 1713. From the noble stand he trade against Popery, 
 both in the reigns of Charles II. and James II., he has been pe-
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 17 
 
 Francis, Lord Hawley, in the year 1642, had 1661 
 raised a troop of Horse for the King's service in 
 Somersetshire, at his own expense*, and subse- 
 quently, during the Civil War, held a high com- 
 mand under Prince Rupertt. He was created a 
 Baronet in 1643, and Baron Hawley, 8th July, 
 1646J; and, at the Restoration, was appointed 
 to command one of the re-organized regiments, 
 which was afterwards disbanded. 
 
 Sir Edward Brett was, in the year 1644, Cap- 
 tain of a troop of Horse under Sir Richard Green- 
 vill, in Cornwall. ' This troop ' (says Lord Cla- 
 rendon) ' was presently added to the King's 
 
 * Guards, under Lord Bernard Stuart ; and Cap- 
 ' tain Bret was made Major of that Regiment. 
 ' He had done very good service in that part of 
 
 * the country||.' His Cornet, Henry Slingsby, 
 was the second son of Sir Henry Slingsby, a 
 distinguished Royalist, who, after lying in prison 
 
 culiarly styled the Protestant Bishop ; and his industry and pas- 
 toral care of his flock, added to his learning, have acquired for him 
 the reputation of being one of the most exemplary prelates that 
 ever sat upon the bench. The Bishop, who was an excellent 
 botanist, introduced various species of the maple, cedar, walnut, pine, 
 oak, &c., which yet remain in the gardens of Fulham, the parent 
 stocks of their respective races in the kingdom. 
 
 * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, book vi. 
 
 f Whitelock's Memorials. 
 
 \ Peerage of Ireland, October, 1768, where he is stated to have 
 been appointed Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James, Duke of 
 York, in 1673. He died December 22, 1684. 
 
 ' His Excellency hath by commission given the command of 
 ' the Regiment which was lately Colonel Hacker's to Francis, Lord 
 ' Hawley, Viscount Duncannon.' Mercurius Publicus, June 28 
 to July 5, 1660. 
 
 || Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, book viii.
 
 18 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1661 for two years, was barbarously executed by Crom- 
 well, in the year 1658. 
 
 Colonel John Fretchville, or Fretzeville, had 
 also been a distinguished Royalist Commander, 
 and was engaged in most of the great actions of 
 the war. In reward for his services he was 
 subsequently created Baron Fretchville, March 6, 
 1664*. 
 
 Thomas Armstrong, the Lieutenant of the Earl 
 of Oxford's Troop, had been employed by the 
 Royalists as a trustworthy emissary to the King, 
 at Brussels, previous to the Restoration ; in con- 
 sequence of which he had suffered a rigorous im- 
 prisonment under the Government of Cromwellf. 
 This unfortunate gentleman (afterwards Sir Tho- 
 
 * Sir John Fretchville, who was a most active Royalist, garrisoned 
 his house at Stavely, in the Civil War. He distinguished himself on 
 various occasions, particularly in a skirmish with Captain Revel's and 
 two other troops, which he drove for shelter into Mr. Eyre's house, 
 at Hassop, and, having procured some reinforcements, took them all 
 prisoners. In the month of August, 1644, Stavely House was taken 
 by Major-General Crawford and a part of the Earl of Manchester's 
 army, by capitulation. It is said to have been strongly garrisoned 
 12 pieces of ordnance, 230 muskets, and 150 pikes were taken in the 
 house. Lyson's History of Derbyshire, p. 265. 
 
 t ' Armstrong, before his execution, in answer to the King's 
 reported assertion, " that he had been sent over by Cromwell to 
 assassinate him," said " I was told a very great person says I 
 was a spy of Cromwell's. I have been sent from England by 
 the best and most considerable friends the king then had, with 
 bills of exchange for His Majesty's use, and letters of very great 
 importance to His Majesty, then at Brussels. I appeal to His 
 Majesty if I delivered them not safe to him, and his answers 
 too when I returned, which I had not been above six days, 
 when 1 was clapt up ten weeks a close prisoner in the Gate- 
 House, and in no small hazard of my life for that journey. Before 
 this time I had been a whole year at least in Lambeth-House
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 19 
 
 mas), attaching himself to the fortunes of the 1661 
 Duke of Monmouth, was executed without trial, 
 in the year 1684, for his share in the Rye-House 
 Conspiracy. 
 
 a prisoner, and after both these times a prisoner in the Tower, 
 when the usurper died, and near starving in every one of them 
 very ill treatment for a spy and a pensioner. My Lord of Oxford 
 and many other persons of quality will, I think, testify my innocency 
 upon this point. '" Ralph's History of England, vol. i. p. 799.
 
 20 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Movements of the Regiment It is quartered at York Furnishes 
 an escort for the Grand Duke of Tuscany His account of its 
 appearance Occurrences connected with the movements of the 
 Regiment An Adjutant appointed Reviewed upon Putney 
 Heath A description of its Colours and Appointments. 
 
 1661 AT this distance of time, and in the absence of 
 official documents, we are unable to state with 
 accuracy what were the first stations of the regi- 
 ment. The different troops seem to have occu- 
 pied detached quarters, widely dispersed indeed, 
 but seldom at any great distance from the me- 
 tropolis; the entire regiment being rarely as- 
 sembled except for the purpose of review. It 
 is only occasionally that we are able to trace 
 the movements of the new corps, from meagre 
 notices contained in the ephemeral publications 
 of the day. From one of these, ' The Kingdom's 
 ' Intelligencer,' a newspaper published by au- 
 thority we learn that the King's Troop was sta- 
 tioned at Newbury ; on the 23rd of April, 1661. 
 ' Where' (it being the day of His Majesty's coro- 
 nation,) the Mayor, to express his loyalty and 
 ' joy, made a most gallant feast for the gentlemen 
 ' of His Majesty's Troop, under the command of 
 ' that noble Colonel O'Neale, of His Majesty's 
 ' Bedchamber*.' And this, added to the fact, that 
 
 * The Kingdom's Intelligencer, Monday, May 6, 1661.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 21 
 
 the Regiment, or the greater part of it, was re- 1G63 
 viewed by His Majesty, with the remainder of 
 his Guards, in Hyde Park, July 4, 1663*, is all 
 the trace we possess of its movements, till the 
 commencement of the Dutch war in 1665. 
 
 The principal cause of that war is undoubtedly 
 to be referred to the jealousy entertained by the 
 English towards a great commercial rival. But 
 there was another circumstance which tended 
 much to heighten the animosity of the English 
 restored Government against the Dutch ; this 
 was the discovery of an extensive conspiracy of 
 the old Puritan party in the neighbourhood of 
 York, the leaders of which, though no persons of 
 any note were concerned in it, were in active cor- 
 respndence with the Republican Government of 
 Holland, the character of whose institutions, civil 
 and religious, afforded them hopes of sympathy!. 
 
 * 4th of July, 1663, I saw His Majesty's Guards, being of 
 ' Horse and Foot, 4,000, led by the General the Duke of Albemarle, 
 ' in extraordinary equipage and gallantry.' Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. 
 p. 358. 
 
 t ' The conspiracy in Yorkshire was discovered also by false 
 ' brethren. No gentleman engaged it, but Mr. Stockdale, and he 
 ' only for misprision. He served after in parliament. In the war 
 ' they kept intelligence with the Dutch ; but the old General dis- 
 ' covered all their designs, else they had risen when the plague was 
 ' in London, and the King had left it.' Macpherson's Original 
 Papers, 1663, extract 10. 
 
 ' Some of the regicides had sought shelter in Holland, and it was 
 ' only by the uncommon alertness of Downes, the British Ambas- 
 ' sador, that they were seized and sent to England. Nay, De Witt, 
 ' and other leaders in the States, kept up a secret correspondence 
 ' with Ludlow, and the other banished Republican English, in 
 ' hopes that their party might yet find work for Charles in his own 
 ' kingdom.' Scott's Dry den's Works; Notes to Annus Mirabilis.
 
 22 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1664 In the winter of 1664, several of the conspira- 
 tors had been condemned by a Special Commis- 
 sion which was sent down to York to try them, 
 and they were afterwards executed*. But in 
 order still more to overawe the party, and to 
 place that part of his dominions in a posture of 
 
 1665 defence, the King resolved upon maintaining a 
 strong garrison at York ; of which Lord Haw- 
 leyf, who (O'Neale being now deadj) had suc- 
 ceeded to the command of the King's Troop, was 
 appointed Governor. The King's Troop, on its 
 
 * According to Ralph, who quotes several authorities, a rising was 
 certainly intended in the North about this time ; but the conspirators 
 were all persons of mean condition. By a letter he inserts from Mr. 
 Secretary Bennet to the Duke of Ormond, dated January 20, 1664, 
 it appears the judges there had found fifteen guilty. In a note he 
 quotes Ludlow, who acknowledges that about this time, the Repub- 
 licans had hopes of again succeeding ; and Colonel Algernon Sidney, 
 who had resided some time in Italy, removed into Flanders, so that 
 he should not be wanting to the public service in case an opportunity 
 should offer, and meeting with Ludlow and his friends in Switzer- 
 land, assured them of his affection and friendship, and no ways de- 
 clined to own them and the cause for which they suffered. Ralph's 
 History of England, vol. i. p. 98. 
 
 f This nobleman appears to have been a favourite Councillor of 
 the King and his brother James. In his Memoirs, after describing 
 the circumstances under which this Regiment and the other ' New 
 Forces' were raised, says, ' and in this I cannot but think my good 
 ' Lord Hawley a wiser statesman than they ; for upon this occasion 
 ' he told the King, that the better he was guarded, the more his 
 ' enemies would fear him, and his friends love him.' Life of James 
 II., by Clarke, vol. i. p. 391. 
 
 $ Mr. O'Neale of the Bedchamber dyed yesterday, very rich, 
 * and left his old lady all. Mr. James Hamilton, the Duke of Or- 
 ' mond's nephew, shall have his Groom of the Bedchamber's place, 
 ' and Sir William Blackstone his troop of Horse.' Letter to Dr. 
 Sandcroft, Dean of York, from Edward Savage, dated Cock-Pitt, 
 at Whitehall, Oct. 25, 1664. MS. Harleian, 3785.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 23 
 
 march to the North, took up its quarters at 1665 
 Leicester, on the 9th of February, 1664-5, upon 
 which occasion, 'Captain Bassett, the Officer in 
 
 * Chief with the troop, was solemnly invited by 
 
 * the Mayor and Aldermen of the town to a ban- 
 
 * quet, where they were not only treated with 
 
 * great freedome and generosity, but with many 
 ' particular demonstrations of loyalty and affec- 
 ' tion; the Mayor in the name of the rest, making 
 
 * ample professions to the said Captain how 
 1 great an honour they accounted it to have that 
 ' occasion of paying a respect to any that belong- 
 
 * ed to His Majesty, and the said Captain, on the 
 
 * other side, deeming himself with an answer- 
 ' able civility and kindness*.' 
 
 In the following May the great plague broke 
 out in London, upon which the King, with the 
 Duke of York, removed to Hampton Court, and 
 afterwards to Salisbury, from whence the King 
 thought fit to send his brother to York, that he 
 might have an eye upon the Northern partsf. 
 His Royal Highness, accompanied by his Duchess, 
 arrived in that city, August 3, 1665, and were 
 received with much ceremony, and every demon- 
 stration of respect. At a convenient place, a 
 little remote from the city were drawn up the 
 troops of His Majesty's Guards, under the com- 
 mand of Lord Hawley, the Governor, which (says 
 the account) added much to the splendour of His 
 
 * The Ncwes, published for satisfaction and information of the 
 People (with privilege). Thursday, February 16, 1664-5. 
 f Life of James, vol. i. p. 421, 422.
 
 24 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1665 Royal Highness' reception*. During the stay of 
 His Royal Highness at York, the King's Troop, 
 under the command of Lord Hawley, appears to 
 have returned to the South. That nobleman was 
 succeeded in his government by Colonel (now 
 Lord) Fretchville; the establishment of whose 
 troop was, upon this occasion, augmented to one 
 hundred private soldiers besides officers. On the 
 23rd of September, the Duke and Duchess of 
 York set out upon their progress southward, in 
 order to rejoin the King, at this time holding his 
 Court at Oxford, on account of the plague. 
 Their Royal Highnesses were attended by the 
 Sheriffs of York as far as Tadcaster, the extent of 
 their jurisdiction, and by the High Sheriff, Sir 
 Francis Cobbe, through the whole country- The 
 Lord Berckley, Sir Allin Apsley, with the chief 
 officers of his Court and Guard, conducted His 
 Royal Highness out of the town ; and within the 
 city, Major Waters and Captain Jefferyes, two 
 officers of His Majesty's Regiment of Foot 
 Guards, drew up their companies near the gate, 
 to form him a guard ; and in a convenient place 
 without the walls, the Troop of the Royal Regi- 
 ment of Horse Guards, under the command of 
 the Governor, Lord Fretchville, was drawn up, to 
 pay a farewell salute to the Duke, which was 
 answered by the cannon from Clifford's Towerf. 
 
 * The Newes, August 10, 1665. 
 f The Newes, Thursday, September 28, 1665. 
 ' Here (at York) was interred yesterday, the body of Sir Thomas 
 Carnaby, Lieutenant to the Lord Fretchville, at the Cathedral,
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 25 
 
 During the remainder of the Dutch war Lord 1669 
 Fretchville's Troop continued at York. The other 
 troops of the Regiment were quartered in or near 
 the metropolis, or in country towns in the south 
 and eastern parts of the kingdom. But for several 
 years from this time the Regiment does not appear 
 to have been engaged in any transaction of import- 
 ance : we are, however, indebted to the pen of a 
 foreigner for an interesting account of it during 
 this period. In the year 1669, Cosmo III., Duke 
 of Tuscany, after travelling through Spain, visited 
 this country. He landed at Plymouth at the 
 beginning of April in that year, and proceeded by 
 easy stages towards London. Having left Salis- 
 bury on the morning of the 13th of April, the 
 account of his travels thus proceeds : ' He dis- 
 ' covered, two miles from Basingstoke, a troop of 
 ' Horse, excellently mounted, of the Royal Regi- 
 ' ment of my Lord Aubrey De Vere, Earl of 
 ' Oxford, commanded by his Lieutenant*. They 
 
 * came, by the King's orders, to attend upon, and 
 ' be at the disposal of, His Highness as was 
 
 * intimated to him by the Commander, who, 
 ' dismounting, came up to the carriage. His 
 ' Highness, in reply, accepted only a small party, 
 
 * whom he sent to meet the baggage, and dis- 
 
 * missed the rest. He then alighted to examine 
 
 ' with a funeral pomp and solemnity that was but due to a person of 
 ' his quality, loyalty, and courage. He was unhappily slain on 
 ' Wednesday last, and his death is exceedingly lamented.' Ibidem. 
 * The Earl of Oxford's Troop was at that time quartered at 
 Reading. War Office Records.
 
 26 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1669* the military more closely, inspecting every file 
 ' of the company, the officers of which wore a red 
 ' sash with gold tassels. This Regiment of the 
 1 Earl of Oxford is composed of eight companies 
 
 * of seventy men each. They receive from the 
 ' King half a ducat a day : this is paid them 
 ' every two months, which being of twenty-eight 
 ' days each, they have seven payments annually. 
 ' In each of these companies the Colonel has the 
 f privilege of keeping two places vacant, and of 
 ' appropriating the emolument to himself; which 
 ' amounts to more than fourteen pounds sterling, 
 ' every week*.' After the Grand Duke had re- 
 mained a short time in London, the King gratified 
 him by a review of his Guards, &c., in Hyde Park 
 (May 21). We learn from his account that at 
 this review seven troops of the Earl of Oxford's 
 Regiment were present, consisting of sixty men 
 in each : and the following is his account of the 
 order in which the several regiments present 
 marched past the King : ' They marched by in 
 
 * files in sight of His Majesty and their High- 
 ' nesses. The vanguard consisted of the company 
 ' of the Duke of Monmouth, who marched at its 
 ' head in full dress. This was followed by the 
 ' General's Company and a troop of Cavalry of 
 
 * the Earl of Oxford's Regiment; the Infantry 
 
 * Travels of Cosmo the Third, Duke of Tuscany, in England, 
 translated from a MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence, 1821, 
 p. 157. 
 
 The privilege alluded to by the Duke seems to have been shortly 
 afterwards abolished. War Office Records.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 27 
 
 ' Regiment of the King came next, with six pieces 1669 
 
 * of cannon ; that of General Monk following, 
 
 * which was succeeded by the Regiment of Caval- 
 ' ry of Oxford*.' 
 
 The military events of this reign were few, 
 and not very interesting, and, as far as this indi- 
 vidual Regiment is concerned, perhaps still less 
 so. But, in order to render the narrative more 
 continuous and intelligible, it seems necessary to 
 refer slightly to transactions more properly belong- 
 ing to a general history, but which, in their effect, 
 had a sensible influence upon the military affairs 
 of that period. By his secret treaty with France, 
 in ] 670, the King had bound himself to raise a 
 certain number of troops, and in case Parliament, 
 as had been foreseen, should refuse to grant the 
 necessary supplies for their maintenance, the 
 French King, on his part, had promised to furnish 
 a large subsidy. Accordingly, several regiments 
 were raised about this time, the greater part of 
 which were sent abroad under the command of 
 the Duke of Monmouth, as a contingent force to 
 co-operate with the French in their attempts to 
 subjugate the United Provinces. These troops, 1672 
 which are said to have amounted to near ten 
 thousand men, had acquired honour in every 
 action, and highly contributed to the successes of 
 Louis: but upon the meeting of Parliament, in 
 1674, that body, alarmed by the evident tendency 1674 
 of the King's measures to render himself absolute, 
 strongly remonstrated against these newly-raised 
 
 * Travels of Cosmo, p. 306, 307.
 
 28 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1674 forces ; and. chiefly for want of resources to 
 enable him to carry on the war, Charles was 
 compelled to conclude a separate peace with the 
 Dutch. He could not, however, be induced to 
 withdraw Ins troops from the French service, 
 though strongly pressed both by the States and his 
 own Parliament. But he obliged himself, by an 
 article in the treaty, not to allow them to be re- 
 cruited : his partiality to France prevented a strict 
 execution of this engagement*. The newly-raised 
 regiments in England were, however, disbanded, 
 and the establishment of those before existing 
 reduced. Ten men were disbanded out of each 
 troop of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, 
 April the 6th, 1674. 
 
 1676 On the 23rd of May, 1676, a grand review of 
 the King's Guards and other forces took place 
 in Hyde Parkf. The whole of Lord Oxford's 
 Regiment was present, with the exception of 
 Lord Fretchville's and Captain Henry Slingsby's 
 Troops, which are described as ' lying remote J.' 
 
 1677 At length the King seems to have felt sensible 
 of the necessity of restraining the ambition of the 
 French Monarch, and, for this purpose, entered 
 into an alliance with the Prince of Orange, who 
 had recently married his niece. 
 
 1678 At the commencement of the year 1678, the 
 supplies having been voted, so eager was the 
 nation for a war with France, that an army of 
 
 * Hume's History of England, chap. 65. 
 
 t Four troops of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards were re- 
 viewed in Hyde Park in the previous year, May 13. 
 J War Office Records.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 29 
 
 near twenty thousand men was raised in a few 1678 
 weeks*. The regiments in the French service 
 were recalled, and three thousand men, under the 
 Duke of Monmouth, were sent over to secure 
 Ostend. A troop of Horse of sixty men, under 
 Captain Wynd, was sent to Jersey ;f thirty of 
 these being raised by draught out of the Royal 
 Regiment of Horse Guards : the establishment of 
 that Regiment was again raised to sixty men in 
 each troop, three of which were under orders to 
 embark for Flanders, under the command of Sir 
 Francis ComptonJ. The Peace of Nimeguen, 
 however, put an end to these preparations, and 
 the Parliament, finding that there was to be no 
 war with France, eagerly pressed the disbanding 
 the army. Charles, therefore, was obliged to 
 
 * Hume's History of England, chap. 56. Amongst the regiments 
 now raised were the Duke of York's Regiment of Horse, under the 
 Earl of Peterborough ; the Queen's Regiment of Horse, under the 
 Duke of Albermarle ; His Majesty's Regiment of Dragoons, com- 
 manded by the Earl of Feversham ; a Regiment of Dragoons, com- 
 manded by Prince Rupert ; The Duchess of York's Regiment of 
 Foot; Colonel Henry Sydney's Regiment of Foot ; the Lord Gerard's 
 Regiment of Horse, &c. The Duke of Monmouth's Regiment of 
 Horse, under its Lieutenant-Colonel, Sir J. Lanier, returned from 
 France in the spring of 1673, also his Regiment of Foot. Most of 
 these were afterwards disbanded. 
 
 t See Appendix. Captain Wynd's Troop returned to England, 
 and were ordered to be disbanded in July 1679. This officer's 
 name appears in the list of 1688, as Lieutenant of the King's Troop, 
 then commanded by Sir John Parsons. The King's Troop, under 
 Captain Legg, attended the King to Portsmouth, where he then 
 held his court, August 9, 1678. War Office Records. 
 
 J War Office Records. 
 
 The Duke of Monmouth being recalled from Scotland, the Duke 
 of York proceeded thither in great state, being escorted by the King's
 
 30 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1678 disband the greater part of these forces in this and 
 the following year*, with the exception of some 
 few regiments, which were sent over to Holland, 
 and remained in the service of the States. 
 
 1680 Tangier being, in the year 1680, threatened by 
 the Moors, a considerable force was embarked to 
 place that fortress in a state of defencef . A troop 
 
 Troop, under Captain Legg, as far as Grantham, and from thence to 
 York by the Lord Oxford's Troop, from which last city Lord 
 Fretchville's Troop formed the escort, till relieved by troops sent 
 from Scotland to meet him. 
 
 * That the precarious existence of the military establishments of 
 this reign were productive of irregularity and crime may be gathered 
 from the records in the War Office. The order for paying off and 
 disbanding a regiment is pretty regularly followed by an order to 
 the Commanding Officers of the several troops of the Earl of Ox- 
 ford's Regiment to patrole the roads carefully. 
 
 f An order was issued to the Commissary- General of Musters on 
 the 21st of September, 1680, to pass Lieut-Col. Piercy Kirke and 
 his servant, as Capt.-Lieut. of Lord Oxford's Troop, during his 
 absence as Lieut.-Colonel of Lord Plymouth's Regiment at Tangier. 
 A similar order had been issued in the year 1674 (State Paper 
 Office), to pass the same officer during his absence with the Duke 
 of Monmouth, in France. This gentleman, probably a relation of 
 the Countess of Oxford (whose name was Kirke ), has been held up 
 to execration by historians, for atrocities said to have been perpe- 
 trated by him, upon the suppression of the Duke of Monmouth 's 
 rebellion, in the West of England, for which, however, if they ever 
 took place, there is strong ground for supposing he ought not to be 
 held responsible, inasmuch as after the battle of Sedgemoor, when 
 some of these enormities are said to have taken place, he was infe- 
 rior in rank not only to Lord Feversham, the Commander, but also 
 to Lord Churchill, and surely dared not have put one of the King's 
 subjects to death without higher authority (well-disciplined as James's 
 army notoriously was). And in the latter case, at Taunton, when 
 attending the Chief Justice Jefferies, his power was equally super- 
 seded. For that infamous Magistrate, when proceeding upon his 
 bloody circuit, to enable him to control the escort which attended 
 him, and to order military execution in case the law should be in-
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 31 
 
 of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, under 1680 
 Captain Sandys, was ordered to form part of this 
 expedition, but was afterwards countermanded*. 
 
 In the summer of 1681 the King summoned 
 his Parliament at Oxford ; and, apprehensive of 
 violence, proceeded thither surrounded by his 
 Guards. The greater part of Lord Oxford's Regi- 
 ment being quartered upon the roadf. From this 
 time the King seems to have depended upon his 
 army as the basis of his authority, and he devoted 
 much of his attention to place it in an efficient 
 state. An adjutant was appointed to the Royal 
 Regiment of Horse Guards in 1684J. The want 1684 
 
 sufficient, was invested with the temporary rank of Lieutenant- 
 General of the forces ; and it was from this circumstance that King 
 James always spoke of this circuit as ' Jefferyes' campaign.' 
 
 * ' The Parliament, enraged at the rejection of the Exclusion 
 ' Bill, refused to vote any supplies for the deliverance of Tangier, 
 ' which they denominated a nursery for popish soldiers.' Life of 
 King James. 
 
 Captain Lucy's Troop attended the King at Newmarket, 12th 
 April, 1680. War Office Records. 
 
 f ' The King, to prepare for the Oxford Parliament, had some 
 ' Guards with him, and quartered the best part of Oxford's Regiment 
 ' on the road to secure his return. He left a body to secure the 
 ' city. In doubt of Colonel Russel, he would have had Earl 
 1 Thanet buy his regiment, who agreed, but afterwards declined it, 
 ' on pretence that the King went not on for reform at Court, which 
 ' disheartened honest men.' Extract No. 1, A. D. 1681, from the 
 Life of King James II. ; Macphersori 's Original Papers, vol. i. 
 
 t See Appendix. ' It had been usual to allow the non-commis- 
 ' sioned officers and soldiers eight-pence a day above their regular 
 ' pay to defray the additional expense of their quarters, when 
 ' quartered in Southwark ; and it being represented that other 
 ' places in the suburbs of London were not less expensive, the same 
 ' allowance was granted to the troops when quartered in Holborn.' 
 War Office Records, 3rd Nov. 1683.
 
 32 
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1684 of such an officer had hardly been felt before, for 
 the different troops had hitherto been so widely 
 detached, that they seem to have been considered 
 almost, or wholly, independent. On the 1st of 
 October, in this year, the King reviewed his troops 
 on Putney Heath. There were present the three 
 troops of Horse Guards, the Royal Regiment of 
 Horse Guards, the Royal Regiment of Dragoons, 
 two battalions of the first Regiment of Foot Guards, 
 one battalion of the Coldstream Regiment, one of 
 his Royal Highness' Regiment, and one of Dum- 
 barton's or the Royals. From a list of the troops 
 reviewed, as published at the time, we gather the 
 following particulars relative to this Regiment : 
 
 * The private men are distinguished by their car- 
 ' bine belts, laced with gold upon buff with a red 
 ' edging ; hooses and holster-caps with the royal 
 ' cypher embroidered upon blew, coated and 
 ' cloaked blew, lined red. The King's Troop has 
 
 * only a kettledrum, which none of the other 
 ' troops have, with a standard crimson and the 
 ' imperial crown embroidered. The Colonel's 
 ' colours, the royal cypher, crimson The Major's, 
 ' gold streams, crimson. The First Troop, the 
 ' rose, crowned. The Second, a thistle, crowned. 
 ' The Third, the fleur-de-lis, crowned. The 
 ' Fourth, the harp, crowned. The Fifth, the royal 
 ' oak, embroidered upon their crimson colours*. 
 
 * A General and Complete List Military of every Commission 
 Officer of Horse and Foot now Commanding His Majesty's Land 
 Forces of England, as established at the time of the Review upon 
 Putney Heath, October 1, 1684.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Death of King Charles the Second, and Accession of King James 
 the Second The Duke of Monmouth invades the Kingdom 
 The Blues join the army under the Earl of Feversham Advance 
 of the Duke of Monmouth He passes the Avon on his march 
 northward Retires to Bridgewater Battle of Sedgmoor, and 
 defeat of Monmouth Arbitrary measures of the K ing The 
 Earl of Oxford dismissed from the command of the Regiment, 
 which is given to the Duke of Berwick Prince of Orange lands 
 at Torbay The Blues join the Army assembled at Salisbury 
 Defection of Lord Cornbury, who attempts to carry over this with 
 two other Regiments to the Prince of Orange The King arrives 
 at Salisbury Harangues his Army, and rewards those who 
 had remained faithful Earl of Arran appointed Colonel of the 
 Regiment King retires to London Advance of the Prince of 
 Orange Earl of Oxford restored to the Colonelcy of the Blues 
 King quits the Kingdom Quarters appointed for the Forces. 
 
 THE King died on the 6th of February, 1685, 1685 
 and was succeeded by his brother, King James 
 the Second. The coronation of this Prince was 
 celebrated with much solemnity on the 23rd of 
 the following April. But the rejoicings conse- 
 quent upon that event were scarcely concluded, 
 when the nation was alarmed by the invasion of 
 the Duke of Monmouth, who, with a few fol- 
 lowers, had landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire (June 
 llth). The King immediately took energetic 
 measures to suppress the rebellion : the militias 
 of Dorset and Somerset were called out ; but, 
 not altogether trusting to these, he assembled
 
 34 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1685 his regular forces from all parts of the king- 
 dom, gave orders for raising new regiments, and 
 recalled those which were in the service of the 
 States*. The troops of the Royal Regiment of 
 Horse Guards marched from their quarters at 
 Portsmouth, Chichester, and the vicinity of Lon- 
 don, to join the army, which was now assembled 
 in the West, under the Earl of Feversham. In 
 the mean time, Monmouth, whose followers at 
 his landing are said to have scarcely exceeded 
 eighty, was now at the head of above two thou- 
 sand menf : with these he advanced to Taunton, 
 where he was proclaimed King, on the 20th of 
 June. Having declared the Duke of Albemarle 
 a traitor, who, with the militia of Somersetshire 
 lay within six miles of Taunton ready to attack 
 him, he marched forward to Bridgewater ; and 
 from thence, proceeding northward, with the in- 
 tention of penetrating into Cheshire, (where it 
 was supposed he had many friends,) he crossed 
 the Avon at Keynsham Bridge ; but hearing of 
 the defeat of his confederate, the Duke of Argyle, 
 in the North, and being assured that great num- 
 bers of the country people in the marshes of 
 Somersetshire^ were ready to join him, he deter- 
 mined to fall back to Bridgewater. On his 
 retreat he had a sharp skirmish with a party of 
 the King's troops at Philips Norton, in which 
 
 * Rapin's History of England. 
 Rapin. 
 
 Evelyn says that his army was principally composed of Mendip 
 miners. Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 601.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 35 
 
 the latter was repulsed with considerable loss. 1685 
 Upon arriving at Bridgewater the Duke seems 
 to have been much dispirited ; his troops were 
 badly armed, and he was in want of good officers, 
 none but the meanest of the people having joined 
 him. He now decided upon again attempting to 
 penetrate northwards with his army ; according- 
 ly, on the evening of the 4th of July, he marched 
 out of Bridgewater, hoping, by a night march, to 
 elude the vigilance of the King's army. As, 
 however, he was passing over the bridge, he was 
 informed by a spy, that the Royal army had left 
 its previous quarters at Somerton, with the ap- 
 parent intention of preventing his march to the 
 northward, and had halted at a village called 
 Weston, near to which they had encamped that 
 very afternoon. Upon inquiring of the spy, 
 whether they had begun to intrench, and being 
 assured that they had not, which was also cor- 
 roborated by a second spy, the Duke resolved 
 upon an attempt to surprise Feversham in his 
 camp. 
 
 That General, though his military reputation 
 was by no means worthy of his relationship to 
 Turenne, whose nephew he was, does not appear 
 upon this occasion to have been wanting in vigi- 
 lance. His infantry, amounting to about eighteen 
 hundred men, were encamped upon Sedgmoor, 
 having the village of Weston in their rear ; their 
 front was protected by a ditch, which serves as a 
 drain to the Moor, and though it was then a dry 
 season, was not to be passed by horse but in one 
 
 D2
 
 36 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1635 or two places. It was this drain deceived the 
 Duke of Monmouth ; for he, not knowing of it, 
 thought the foot lay exposed, and consequently 
 the whole quarter : the horse amounted to about 
 seven hundred, the main body of which were 
 posted in the village. A party of the Horse 
 Guards, under Major Oglethorpe, were sent to 
 patrole the roads in the direction of Bristol 
 and Keynsham, whilst a squadron of the Royal 
 Regiment of Horse Guards, and about fifty Dra- 
 goons, under the command of Sir Francis Comp- 
 ton, were posted as an advanced guard upon the 
 Moor, in front of the infantry. The artillery, 
 consisting of sixteen guns, was drawn up upon 
 the high road leading from Weston to Bridge- 
 water, and in front of them a small party of dra- 
 goons were stationed as a guard. 
 
 In order to avoid the fire of the artillery, and to 
 attack, what he deemed to be the weakest part of 
 Feversham's position, the Duke of Monmouth 
 commenced his march, at eleven o'clock at night, 
 along the road leading from Bridge water to Bris- 
 tol, until he came to a lane that leads on to the 
 Moor ; by which, after ordering his baggage and 
 carriages to turn off upon the Axbridge road, 
 there to await his further order, he advanced to 
 attack the King's army. His horse, consisting of 
 some eight squadrons, marched first, ; his can- 
 non, which were but three small iron guns, 
 followed at the head of the foot, which were 
 formed in five battalions, each of which had one 
 company rudely armed with scythes, instead of
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 37 
 
 grenadiers. The horse were commanded by Lord 1685 
 Grey, and the five regiments of foot by Lieut.- 
 Colonel Wade. After passing through two de- 
 files, the last of which was about a mile from the 
 camp, their march was discovered by the ad- 
 vanced sentries of the Royal Regiment of Horse 
 Guards ; and Compton, after exchanging a few 
 shots with them, withdrew his party to the camp, 
 and, having given the alarm, formed his men on 
 the right of the infantry. Immediately the alarm 
 was given in the camp (continues the King's 
 account) * the foot stood to their arms, and were 
 
 * drawn up in battle at the head of their tents, in 
 ' very good order ; and the horse were drawing 
 
 * out of the village as fast as they could. The 
 ' foot were in six battalions : the first on the 
 
 * right was composed of five companies of Dum- 
 
 * barton's, one of which were grenadiers, com- 
 ' manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas ; next 
 ' to which were two battalions of the first regi- 
 
 * ment of guards, of six companies in each, besides 
 
 * one company of grenadiers of that regiment, at 
 1 the head of the first of which, was the Duke of 
 ' Grafton, their Colonel, and Eaton, the Major of 
 4 it, was at the head of the other ; next to them 
 
 * was a battalion of the second regiment of guards, 
 ' of six companies, and another of grenadiers, 
 ' at whose head was Lord Sackfield ; then five 
 
 * companies of Trelawney's, one of which were 
 1 grenadiers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel 
 ' Churchill. On the left of all was another small 
 
 * battalion, composed as the former, commanded 
 ' by Colonel Kirke. As for the horse, there
 
 38 
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1685 * were one hundred and fifty commanded out of 
 ' the three troops of guards, and sixty grenadiers 
 ' on horseback, commanded by Villiers, seven 
 
 * troops of the King's Regiment of Horse*, and 
 ' four of dragoons : the horse commanded by 
 ' Sir Francis Compton, and the dragoons by 
 
 * Lord Corn bury, one of which last was at Lam- 
 
 * port, commanded by Captain Coy, to secure 
 ' that pass, and so get intelligence in case the 
 
 * rebels should march westward : the train of 
 
 * artillery consisted of sixteen field pieces, under 
 
 * the conduct of Mr. Sheers.' 
 
 Oglethorpe's party in the meantime, though 
 he crossed both the roads leading northwards, 
 saw nothing of the rebels, they not coming so 
 far : he therefore returned to the Moor, passing 
 through Chedsey, and crossed to the other road 
 leading from Bridgewater to Weston. Here he 
 halted, and sent four horsemen as far as the 
 bridge, to bring him certain news. Being chal- 
 lenged by a centiriel near the bridge, they pre- 
 tended to belong to his party, and were informed 
 that Monmouth had marched with all the army, 
 leaving only a small guard there. Upon re- 
 ceiving this information Oglethorpe made what 
 haste he could back to the camp. 
 
 The advanced guard under Compton having 
 
 * From the War Office books it appears that the troops of the 
 six following Captains were certainly present at the battle, viz., 
 Parsons, Littleton, Windham, Sandys, Adderly, and Compton. 
 The King's account, however, says, that seven troops were present 
 the seventh was either Lloyd's or Cornwall's. Slingsby's was 
 detained at Egham, upon the arrival of the account of the Duke's 
 defeat.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 39 
 
 retreated, the Duke of Monmouth immediately 1685 
 ordered Lord Grey with his horse to dash forward 
 into the camp ; and, mixing with the King's foot, 
 endeavour to keep them from coming together, 
 that the cannon should follow the horse, and the 
 foot the cannon ; and so finish what the horse had 
 begun, before the King's horse or cannon could get 
 in order. The horse accordingly advanced ; but 
 finding the ditch, of whose existence they were till 
 then ignorant, and having received the fire of one 
 or two battalions, which were already formed on 
 the other side, a panic seems to have seized them, 
 and, headed by their pusillanimous commander, 
 they fled from the field in disorder. Meanwhile, 
 Monmouth was advancing rapidly with the main 
 body, directing his march by the matches of 
 Dumbarton's (which was the only one of the 
 King's regiments that had matchlocks). But 
 finding his horse all gone, and the King's troops 
 already formed, he halted within thirty or forty 
 paces of the ditch, and attempted to form his 
 battalions (for he had advanced in such haste that 
 they were in great confusion). But before this 
 could be done, one of his battalions rashly be- 
 ginning to fire, the whole army followed the ex- 
 ample ; and being for the most part untrained 
 men, their fire was ill-directed, and did but little 
 execution upon the King's troops. His three 
 guns, however, which were formed in the front, 
 being exceedingly well plied by a Dutch gunner, 
 which he had brought over with him, were very 
 destructive. The battle had become general, when
 
 40 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1685 Feversham, having brought up his artillery, or- 
 dered Villiers, with a party of the horse and grena- 
 diers on horseback, Captain Adderly's Troop of 
 the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, and one 
 troop of dragoons, to pass over the ditch on the 
 left of the foot, to threaten the right flank of the 
 rebels ; and, meeting Oglethorpe, who had now 
 returned with his patroling party, also Captain 
 Upcot's guard of fifty horse, he ordered them to 
 join Sir F. Compton with the remainder of the 
 horse, on the right of the foot. Day now began 
 to break, and the Royalist foot advancing across 
 the ditch, while the horse upon the right fell upon 
 the flank of the rebels, they fled in confusion, and 
 were pursued with great slaughter till they got oflP 
 the Moor into the inclosures ; which they soon did, 
 the Moor, in that place, being not above eight hun- 
 dred yards broad from ditch to ditch. There was 
 the greatest slaughter of the rebels in that ditch, 
 which was deep and boggy, and in the corn-field on 
 the other side of it. About one thousand four hun- 
 dred of the rebels were killed in the battle and pur- 
 suit, and about an equal number made prisoners. 
 The loss on the King's side is supposed not to 
 have exceeded three hundred. Monmouth fled 
 from the field with a single attendant, and, two 
 days afterwards, being taken in disguise near 
 Ringwood, in Hampshire, was carried to London, 
 and met his fate upon the scaffold within ten days 
 after his defeat. The services of the Royal army 
 were liberally rewarded ; considerable sums of 
 money being granted to the officers, non-commis-
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 4 1 
 
 sioned officers, and soldiers wounded during the 1686 
 campaign in the west*. Upon the assembling of 
 his Parliament in the autumn of this year, the 
 King told them that having found the militia in- 
 sufficient for the security of the Government 
 during the late insurrection, he had increased the 
 regular forces to near double their former numberf ; 
 and, in fact, from this time he seems to have pro- 
 ceeded systematically in his attempt to render the 
 army the instrument by which he hoped to make 
 his government absolute, and to subvert the esta- 
 blished religion of the kingdom]:. To convince the 
 people that he was determined to support his 
 authority by force of arms if necessary, and to 
 overawe them by a display of his power, a large 
 encampment was formed upon Hounslow Heath 
 during the summer of the three following years ; 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
 ( Hume's History of England, chap. 70. 
 
 J There is, in the books of the War Office, an order, dated 
 February 19, 1685-6, to pay Robert Burk, Chaplain of the Royal 
 Regiment of Horse Guards, six months' pay, due to him, amounting 
 to 201. 6s. 8d. It seems within the verge of probability that this 
 person (bearing a name almost peculiarly Irish) was a_Roman Catholic. 
 
 $ During these encampments the King spent much of his time 
 in disciplining his army, which, says Dr. Lingard (History of 
 England, chap. 8, vol. viii), ' was, in the general opinion, the best 
 ' paid, the best appointed, and the best disciplined in Europe.' 
 The number of the troops encamped, however, at any one time, did 
 not probably exceed ten thousand men. The Duke of Berwick, in 
 his Memoirs, says that, ' in the year 1688, we had in the camp upon 
 ' Hounslow Heath about four thousand men.' Out of compliment 
 to that young commander, who returned to England in 1687, having 
 highly distinguished himself by his gallantry when serving with the 
 Austrian army, at the siege of Buda, the particular operations of that 
 siege were represented by the troops encamped under his direction.
 
 42 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1686 and no pains were omitted to induce commanding 
 officers to suffer their regiment to be recruited 
 with Catholics. He personally solicited the chief 
 of his nobility and others who possessed influence, 
 civil or military, to exert that influence in favour 
 of the changes he contemplated. Nor did he hesi- 
 tate, where persuasion failed, to employ menaces, 
 and to visit with his highest displeasure those 
 who dared to evince the least resistance to his 
 
 1688 designs. Amongst the rest, in the spring of 
 1688, the Earl of Oxford, as Lord Lieutenant of 
 the county of Essex, having been pressed to use 
 his influence in his Lieutenancy to procure peti- 
 tions in favour of the repeal of the penal laws and. 
 test, boldly answered ' That he could not per- 
 ' suade others to do that which in his own con- 
 ' science he disapproved.' In consequence of this 
 the command of the Royal Regiment of Horse 
 Guards was taken from him and given to the 
 Duke of Berwick, the King's natural son*. 
 
 The transactions of this memorable year are 
 detailed in the general histories of the period, to 
 which they properly belong. Confining this nar- 
 rative, therefore, to such of them as are purely 
 military, and, as far as possible, to those in which 
 this Regiment was engaged, the next event to be 
 recorded is the landing of the Prince of Orange. 
 Though aware of the contemplated invasion, the 
 King was for some time uncertain in what part of 
 his dominions the invader would land : but when 
 
 * Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, p. 256.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 43 
 
 certain tidings arrived that the Prince of Orange 1688 
 had landed at Torbay (November 5), he proceeded 
 to assemble his forces. This Regiment marched, 
 on the 8th of November, from its previous quar- 
 ters at Winchester, to Salisbury*, the rendezvous 
 of the army, which its Colonel, the Duke of Ber- 
 wick, was appointed to command. But James 
 seems to have been now sensible that his tyran- 
 nical government during the last three years had 
 alienated the affection of his subjects, and that 
 energy which had marked his measures in sup- 
 pressing the insurrection of the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth was no longer apparent. The disaffection 
 was indeed universal, and, as Hume justly re- 
 marks, * even those who took not the field against 
 ' him were able to embarrass and confound his 
 ' counsels.' The Duke of Berwick was still at 
 Portsmouth, of which place he was Governor : his 
 orders to proceed to Salisbury to take the com- 
 mand of the army having been purposely delayed 
 for some days by Mr. Blathwayte, the Secretary at 
 War, in order to favour the designs of the disaf- 
 fected officers^. In the mean time Lord Corn- 
 
 * There is apparent treachery in the Order (see Appendix). It 
 would seem to have been the intention of the Secretary at War to 
 disarm the Regiment, in order that it might be more easily deli- 
 vered into the hands of the Prince of Orange ; whilst the circum- 
 stance of leaving their ' armour' (probably only ' backs and breasts' 
 are included in this term) behind them would prepare the soldiers 
 to expect a long forced march. The disaffected officers foresaw, 
 that, in order to enable the horses to bear the fatigues of the long 
 and rapid march they projected, it would be desirable that they 
 should turn out in what we should now call Light Marching Order. 
 
 f The Duke of Berwick, in his Memoirs, says J'etois alors h,
 
 44 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1688 bury, Colonel of the Royal Dragoons, who, in the 
 absence of the Duke, was the senior officer with 
 the army, had entered into a design with Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Langston, commanding the Duke 
 of St. Alban's Regiment, and some of the officers 
 of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, to carry 
 over these three regiments to the Prince of 
 Orange ; which design was carried into effect in 
 the following manner*: Orders were given at the 
 setting of the watch at ten o'clock at night, on the 
 llth of November, that the Adjutants and Quar- 
 ter-Masters should hold themselves in readiness 
 for the coming of the post, as marching orders 
 were expected. At twelve o'clock the post arrived ; 
 and Colonel Langston, having broken open the 
 bag before the officers, the orders, apparently from 
 Mr. Blathwayte, were produced, and carried to 
 Lord Cornbury, who then gave directions for the 
 regiments to march at five o'clock towards the 
 
 ' Portsmouth mon Gouvernement, et j'y re9us ordre d'allcr k Sa~ 
 ' lisbury prendre le commandement des troupes qui s'y assembloient.' 
 A little further on the Duke continues ' Le Sieur de Blathwayt, 
 4 Secretaire de la Guerre, pour favoriser ce projet, avoit expres 
 ' diffre pendant plusieurs jours de_ m'envoyer 1'ordre du Roi.' 
 Memoires du Berwick, torn i. p. 29. 
 
 The Earl of Feversham had the general command of the army 
 under the King. 
 
 * This account of the defection of the three regiments has 
 been taken partly from a letter of Lieutenant-Colonel Ambrose 
 Norton, of St. Alban's Regiment (who was made prisoner by the 
 Prince of Orange's troops, but afterwards returned to the King), 
 given in Macpherson's Original Papers ; partly from the Life of 
 King James, edited by Dr. E. S. Clarke ; and partly from the Me- 
 moires du Berwick. These three accounts, for the most part, very 
 closely agree.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 45 
 
 enemy, which they accordingly did, Lord Corn- 
 bury himself accompanying them ; and, fearing 
 lest upon the arrival of the Duke of Berwick he 
 should be pursued, he continued his march day 
 and night, making only such occasional short halts 
 as were necessary to refresh his men and horses. 
 Upon arriving at Axminster, within six miles of 
 the Prince of Orange's quarters, on the afternoon 
 of the 13th, they were joined by the Earl of 
 Abingdon, Sir Walter Clerges, and about thirty or 
 forty other gentlemen, who pretended to be volun- 
 teers. It was now given out that a design of the 
 enemy to beat up their quarters had been disco- 
 vered, and, to prevent it, orders were given that 
 they should be ready in the evening to beat up 
 those of the enemy. Acordingly, late at night, 
 the three regiments were again in motion towards a 
 large body of cavalry, which the Prince of Orange 
 (apprized of their approach by Lord Cornbury) 
 had sent to meet them. When, at length, finding 
 themselves betrayed*, the greater part of them 
 galloped back as fast as they could, being pursued 
 
 * The treachery, it appears, was thus discovered : Lord Corn- 
 bury was now requested by Clifford, the Major of his own regi- 
 ment, and Littleton, Major of the Royal Regiment of Horse 
 Guards, to exhibit his orders, ' and was so terrified by the threats 
 of the loyal officers, that he stole away and made his escape, 
 whilst his regiment, with that of the Duke of Berwick, with the 
 exception of thirty troopers, marched back to Salisbury. The 
 third regiment, belonging to the Duke of St. Alban's, had mus- 
 tered at a distance, and the men, ignorant of the transaction, fol- 
 lowed Colonel Langston to Honiton, where they were received as 
 friends by General Talmash.' Lingard's History of England, 
 vol. viii. chap. 8.
 
 46 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1688 for some distance by the horse of the Prince of 
 Orange. But, meeting in their flight with the 
 Duke of Berwick (who, upon his arrival at Salis- 
 bury finding the regiments gone, had immediately 
 set out in pursuit of Lord Cornbury), he was 
 speedily enabled to rally the fugitives, and con- 
 ducted them back to Salisbury. Besides the few 
 officers who went over, the number of private sol- 
 diers who embraced the Prince of Orange's service, 
 or were detained at his quarters, are stated to 
 have been of the Duke of Berwick's twenty-five 
 mounted, and two foot ; of St. Alban's, one hun- 
 dred and one mounted, and fifty dragoons*. 
 
 * These numbers are taken from the letter of Colonel Ambrose 
 Norton. King James says, ' Only Cornet Compton, with two or 
 ' three subalterns and about ten troopers of the King's Regiment 
 ' of Horse, deserted. It was believed the Lieutenant-Colonel would 
 ' have done so too, but that he was stunned and apprehended the 
 ' Major would have secured him so he returned to the King, and 
 ' Clifford, the Major of Dragoons, brought off the body of the Re- 
 ' giment. Nay, most of the troopers of St. Alban's returned as 
 1 they found opportunity, which shewed a greater honour and 
 ' fidelity in the common men than in the generality of the officers, 
 ' who usually value themselves so much for those qualifications.' 
 Life of King James II., vol. ii. p. 217. The Cornet Compton here 
 mentioned was the son of Sir Spencer, and nephew of Sir Francis 
 Compton. 
 
 In an old Jacobite song, published about the year 1692, called 
 The Belgick Boar,' to the old tune of Chevy Chase, and preserved 
 in ' Ritson's Collection of Ancient Songs, from Henry III. to the 
 Revolution,' is the following passage, to which the editor of the 
 collection has subjoined an explanatory note : 
 
 ' O how my very heart doth bleed 
 
 To think how basely they 
 Who long had eaten Royal bread 
 
 Their master did betray.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 47 
 
 In the mean time the councils of the King were 1688 
 much divided ; his Popish councillors, probably 
 in order to protect themselves, were anxious that 
 he should remain in the capital. His Protestant 
 advisers, on the other hand, as has been asserted 
 with the intention of betraying him, strongly 
 pressed his taking the field. The King of France, 
 by his ambassador, Barillon, seems to have given 
 him sincere advice to put himself at the head of 
 his army, and to strike a decisive blow before the 
 disaffection should have time to spread. Accord- 
 ingly, leaving a small force to maintain tranquillity 
 in the capital, the King, accompanied by Prince 
 George of Denmark, the Earl of Dumbarton, 
 Lord Churchill, the Duke of Grafton, and a nu- 
 merous staff, left London for the head-quarters of 
 his army at Salisbury, on the 17th of Novemberf. 
 On the 21st, having reviewed his troops stationed 
 
 ' And those to whom he'd been most kind, 
 
 And greatest favours shown, 
 Appeared to be the very first 
 Who sought him to dethrone. 
 
 ' O Compton, Langston*, and the rest 
 
 Who basely from him ran, 
 Your names for ever be accurs'd 
 By every Englishman.' 
 
 * ' Lieutenant-Colonel Langston was the first officer who deserted 
 ' with his regiment from the King's army at Salisbury : Lieutenant- 
 ' Colonel Sir Francis Compton was of the same party, but had not 
 ' the courage to go forward ; it should seem, however, that he after- 
 ' wards made a more successful attempt.' 
 
 t The King set out for Salisbury on the 17th of November, 
 where he arrived in three days, being conducted thither by a de- 
 tachment of the Horse Guards and the Irish Dragoons. Life of 
 King James //., vol. ii. p. 220.
 
 48 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1688 in and near that city, who were drawn out to 
 receive him, he addressed them in a gracious 
 speech*, and, particularly noticing the conduct of 
 the Duke of Berwick's and the two other regi- 
 ments who were decoyed away, he ordered a gra- 
 tuity to be given to each of the private soldiers 
 who had returned to their duty, and to the officers 
 proportionate, and gave public liberty to all who 
 were unwilling to serve him, that they might de- 
 part the army without molestation*]*. This appeal 
 to their loyalty was answered with such flattering 
 shouts and assurances of attachment that the 
 King's confidence was in great measure restored. 
 On the following day it was intended that he 
 should proceed to Warminster, to inspect the divi- 
 sion of the army which was posted near that town, 
 under General Kirk. But he was prevented by a 
 violent bleeding at the nose J, to which he is said 
 to have been constitutionally subject. In the 
 evening a Council of War was held, at which it 
 was proposed that the army should retire, in order 
 to take up a stronger position, beyond the Thames. 
 Upon this occasion Lord Churchill is said to have 
 given his opinion in favour of remaining at Salis- 
 bury : it seems, however, certain that, at the 
 breaking up of the Council at midnight, he, with 
 the Duke of Grafton, Colonel Berkeley, and 
 about twenty troopers, went over to the camp 
 of the Prince of Orange . The unfortunate 
 
 * Muddiman and Randall's Letters MS. Sloane, 3929. 
 f Ibidem, Letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Ambrose Norton. 
 J Lingard, vol. viii. chap. 8. Lingard Hume.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 49 
 
 Monarch, finding himself thus deserted by his 1688 
 officers, and not knowing whom to trust, deter- 
 mined to retire, and to withdraw his army towards 
 London. Before leaving Salisbury he bestowed 
 the Colonelcy of the second troop of Horse Guards, 
 now vacant by the desertion of Lord Churchill, 
 upon the Duke of Berwick; and the Earl of 
 Arran, eldest son of the Duke of Hamilton, a noble- 
 man who, though a firm Protestant, was de- 
 votedly attached to his sovereign, was promoted 
 from the command of the Fifth Horse to be Colo- 
 nel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards*. 
 
 Returning towards London, the King reached 
 Andover on the evening of the 25th, from which 
 place Prince George of Denmark, the Duke of 
 Ormond, and some other persons of distinction, 
 abandoning the falling fortunes of their sovereign, 
 retired to the quarters of the Prince of Orange ; 
 and, at the same time, the Princess Anne, accom- 
 panied by Lady Churchill, fled from Whitehall, 
 where she resided, putting herself under the 
 guidance of her old preceptor, Henry Compton, 
 
 * The Earl of Arran attended King James on his flight to the 
 moment of his embarkation at Rochester ; and at the meeting of 
 the Scottish nobility and gentry in London, January, 1689, at which 
 the Duke, his father, presided, he expressed himself, in reply to the 
 request of the Prince of Orange for advice, ' That the surest way 
 ' to heal the breach was to address his Majesty to return from France 
 ' and call a free Parliament.' ' I can distinguish," said he, ' between 
 ' his popery and his person ; I dislike the one, but have sworn and 
 ' do owe allegiance to the other.' The end of this nobleman was 
 tragical (having become Duke of Hamilton) ; he was slain in a duel 
 with Lord Mohun, having also killed his antagonist, 1 5th November, 
 1712.
 
 50 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1688 Bishop of London, by whom she was conducted to 
 Northampton, and afterwards to Nottingham*. 
 
 Meanwhile the army of the Prince of Orange, 
 daily increasing in numbers, had advanced to 
 Oxford, and the scattered regiments which still 
 remained faithful to the King, were withdrawn to 
 the neighbourhood of the metropolis. But almost 
 all trace of their movements is now lost, for the 
 
 * A guard of gentlemen was formed for the Princess, who, it is 
 said, insisted upon being commanded by the Bishop. The follow- 
 ing account is given of her entrance into Oxford, whither she pro- 
 ceeded to meet her husband, Prince George of Denmark, December 
 15, 1688: 
 
 ' The Princess of Denmark made a splendid entrance into Ox- 
 ' ford on Saturday last ; Sir John Lanicr, with his Regiment, meet- 
 ' ing her Royal Highness some miles out of the town. The Earl 
 ' of Northampton, with five hundred horse, led the van ; her Royal 
 ' Highness was preceded by the Bishop of London at the head of a 
 ' noble troop of gentlemen, his Lordship riding in a purple cloak, 
 ' martial habit, pistols before him, and his sword drawn, and his cornet t 
 ' had the inscription in golden letters on his standard, " Nolunms 
 ' " Leges Angliae Mutari." The rear was brought up by some 
 ' Militia troops.' Ellis s Correspondence, 1827, vol. iv. pp. 177, 
 178. 
 
 Granger, in his account of Bishop Compton, alludes to this same 
 
 appearance in arms, but at Nottingham, before the Bishop came to 
 
 Oxford. He gives the following as a remarkable instance of Bishop 
 
 Compton's spirit: ' King James, discoursing with him upon some 
 
 tender point, was so little pleased with his answers, that he told 
 
 him he talked more like a Colonel than a Bishop. To which he 
 
 replied, that His Majesty did him honour in taking notice of his 
 
 having formerly drawn his sword in defence of the constitution, and 
 
 that he should do the same again if he lived to see it ncccssaiy. 
 
 Accordingly, when matters were come to extremity, he carried olF 
 
 the Princess Anne to Nottingham, and marched into that town at 
 
 the head of a fine troop of gentlemen and their attendants, who had 
 
 formed a guard for her Highness.' Biographical History of 
 
 England, vol. iv. p. 283.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 51 
 
 unhappy King, driven to despair by the universal 1688 
 treachery which surrounded him, and having de- 
 termined to fly from the capital, seems to have 
 considered it his most advantageous policy to pro- 
 mote confusion ; and, with this view, after order- 
 ing the Great Seal to be thrown into the Thames, 
 he commanded the Earl of Feversham to disband 
 the army. It is probable, that in this emergency 
 this Regiment was kept together, and preserved 
 for the service of the succeeding Monarch, by its 
 officers* ; as, on the 17th of December, the Earl 
 of Oxford was again appointed its Colonel ; this 
 being one of the first acts of sovereignty performed 
 by the Prince of Orange. And the King having 
 now quitted the kingdom, the Prince issued a 
 proclamation, appointing ' certain quarters for the 
 * English, Scots, and Irish forces, to which all 
 ' officers and soldiers were commanded forthwith 
 ' to repairf (December 20). The station appointed 
 for the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards was 
 Northampton. 
 
 * Littleton, the Major of the Regiment, who had shown his at- 
 tachment to King James by his exertions to prevent its falling 
 into the hands of the Prince of Orange at Axminster, was about 
 this time killed in a duel by a brother officer, Captain Adderley. 
 Ellis's Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 177. 
 
 f London Gazette, December 20, 1688.
 
 52 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 King William and Queen Mary proclaimed The Blues embark 
 for Flanders- Are recalled and sent to Ireland Battle of the 
 Boyne James retires to France William advances with his Army 
 to Limerick Operations before that City The Siege is raised 
 General de Ginckell takes the command of the Army Campaign 
 of 1691 Skirmish at the Mote of Grenogue Athlone taken 
 Battle of Aghrim Capitulation of Limerick, and termination of 
 the War The Blues return to England Transactions during the 
 Reign of William III. 
 
 1689 ON the 18th of February, 1689, King William and 
 Queen Mary were, with much solemnity, pro- 
 claimed at Northampton, by the High Sheriff of 
 the county, William Hastings, Esq., accompanied 
 by several troops of the Earl of Oxford's Regiment 
 of Horse, and a great number of the gentry and 
 freeholders, together with the Mayor and Alder- 
 men in their formalities. In the evening there 
 were bonfires, and other expressions of general 
 joy*. But the throne of King William III. was as 
 yet scarcely secure, and the Regiment was soon 
 called upon more active service. The new Monarch 
 distrusted his English forces : he could not help 
 remarking that, though a majority of the officers 
 had unhesitatingly declared themselves in his fa- 
 vour, yet the great mass of the common soldiers 
 
 * London Gazette, February 23, 1689.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 53 
 
 had shewn much reluctance to abandon the service 1639 
 of King James. It was this circumstance that 
 prompted the gallant Viscount of Dundee to coun- 
 sel his master to remain in the kingdom. ' Your 
 ' army,' said he, ' though disbanded, is not dis- 
 ' persed. Give me your commission to raise ten 
 ' thousand men I will bear your standard through 
 ' England, and drive before it the Dutch and their 
 ' Prince*.' King William, from a similar convic- 
 tion, was prompted to depend rather upon his 
 Dutch than his English Guards, and quartered the 
 latter in towns at a distance from the capital. His 
 distrust was strengthened by the actual mutiny of 
 one regiment (the Royals) about this time ; and 
 now, relying entirely upon his foreign troops for 
 security in his newly-acquired kingdom, he deter- 
 mined to employ the greater number of the British 
 regiments on the Continent or in Ireland. The 
 Royal Regiment of Horse Guards was accordingly 
 shipped for Flanders, upon the declaration of war 
 against France, in the beginning of May, 1689, 
 and continued there during the remainder of the 
 year ; but it does not seem to have been engaged 
 iu any operations of importance. 
 
 In the mean time, the whole of Ireland, with the 
 exception of Londonderry (which had been gal- 
 lantly defended till relieved), and the country ad- 
 jacent to it, acknowledged the authority of King 
 James, who, accompanied by the Duke of Berwick, 
 and some other officers who remained faithful to 
 
 * Macpherson.
 
 54 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1680 him, also by a considerable number of French 
 troops which the King of France had sent to his 
 aid, had proceeded thither, and was now at the 
 head of a numerous and well-appointed army. It 
 was evident that this position of affairs, whilst it 
 gave increasing strength and courage to the dis- 
 affected subjects of King William at home, utterly 
 paralyzed his efforts in prosecuting the war on the 
 Continent. Withdrawing, therefore, some regi- 
 ments from Flanders, and some from Scotland 
 (which he was the better able to do, this latter 
 country being now entirely reduced), he placed 
 himself at the head of nearly the whole disposable 
 force of the empire, and proceeded to Ireland, in 
 order to terminate the war. The Royal Regiment 
 of Horse Guards, on its return from Flanders, dis- 
 embarked at Portsmouth, on the 22d of April, 
 
 1690 1690, and on the 15th of May following set out on 
 its march for Highlake*, in Cheshire, from whence 
 it embarked for Ireland, on the 19th and 20th of 
 June f , and shortly afterwards joined the army 
 which was assembled at Loughbrickland, in the 
 county of Down J. King William, who, accom- 
 
 * Marching Orders, War Office. 
 
 t London Gazette, June 23, 1690. 
 
 J A Regiment of Horse Guards, under the command of the Earl 
 of Portland, had accompanied King William from Holland ; and 
 embarked from Highlake, for Ireland, at the same time with Lord 
 Oxford's Regiment. The two regiments arrived in the camp at 
 Loughbrickland, within a few days of each other, when, by way of 
 distinction from its Dutch rival, whose uniform was also blue, the 
 name " Oxford Blues," was given to the Royal Regiment of Horse 
 Guards, and the Regiment has as yet hardly lost the appellation
 
 HORSE GUARDS. O-J 
 
 panied by Prince George, the Duke of Ormond, 1690 
 the Earl of Oxford, and his chief officers, had 
 landed a few days before, was now at the head of 
 an army amounting to about thirty-six thousand 
 men, with which he immediately advanced against 
 James, who, upon the approach of his opponent, 
 withdrew his forces from their encampment near 
 Dundalk, and retired across the Boyne, with the 
 apparent intention of disputing the passage of 
 that river. On the 30th of June, the English 
 army, marching in three lines, passed Ardee, 
 where the enemy had left a garrison; and in 
 the afternoon the advanced guard of horse, 
 under Sir John Lanier, halted on the bank of 
 the river Boyne. The King, placing himself 
 in front of them, proceeded to reconnoitre the 
 position of James's army, which was strongly 
 posted on the opposite side, extending in two 
 lines along the river to the westward of the town 
 of Drogheda. As the King approached the ford 
 at the pass of the Old Bridge, where he intended 
 to force the passage, the enemy opened their fire 
 from a battery of six-pounders, and killed some 
 few troopers and horses, upon which the horse 
 were ordered to fall a little backward, to have 
 the advantage of a rising ground, which pro- 
 tected them from the cannon*. At this instant, 
 a spent cannon-ball grazed the King's right 
 shoulder, which it considerably bruised, and, at 
 
 thus given to it. The Earl of Portland's Horse Guards shortly 
 afterwards returned to Holland. 
 
 * An Impartial History of the most material Occurrences in the 
 Kingdom of Ireland, by George Story. London, 1691, p. 76.
 
 56 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1690 the same time, tore his coat ; the rumour was 
 immediately spread that he was killed, but was 
 soon dissipated, by the appearance of William, 
 who rode publicly through the ranks of his army 
 to assure them of his safety. At a Council of 
 War, held that night, it was resolved that the 
 army should attempt the passage of the river in 
 the following order. The right wing of the foot 
 under Lieu tenant- General Douglas, and the right 
 wing of the horse under Count Schornberg, were 
 to march to the right, and passing the river at or 
 near Slane Bridge, to fall upon the left flank of 
 James's army. The left wing of the horse were 
 to cross and place themselves between the enemy's 
 camp and Drogheda, whilst the main body of 
 foot, consisting principally of the Dutch and 
 French Protestant regiments, forced their way by 
 the ford, at the pass of the Old Bridge. Accord- 
 ingly, at break of day, on the 1st of July, the 
 whole army was in motion, every man having a 
 green bough or sprig fastened in his hat* to dis- 
 tinguish him from the enemy, who wore bits of 
 white paper. The right wing, having discovered 
 a practicable ford below Slane Bridge, passed the 
 river at that point. James, however, perceiving 
 this movement, had strengthened his left flank, 
 and his army was drawn up in two lines to receive 
 them ; added to which, the ground being much 
 broken, and intersected with ditches, they were 
 able to advance but slowlyf- But King William 
 having now ordered his foot to pass at the Old 
 
 * Story, p. 78. t Story, p. 84.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 57 
 
 Bridge, which they did very gallantly, the Dutch 1690 
 guards leading the way through the water, though 
 opposed to a sharp fire of musketry ; and the left 
 wing at the same time passing the river between 
 the enemy's camp and Drogheda, the Irish army 
 at once gave way, and fled in confusion. William, 
 however, satisfied with his victory, declined pur- 
 suing them, though strongly pressed to do so by 
 some of his Generals*. 
 
 On the Irish side, the loss is said to have 
 amounted to near one thousand five hundred 
 men, whilst that of the English was about four 
 hundred. The chief persons of note who were 
 killed on the English side were the Duke of 
 Sch om berg, Colonel Caill emote, (a French Pro- 
 testant), and Walker, the clergyman, who had so 
 gallantly defended Londonderry in the preceding 
 year. 
 
 There is no account of this famous passage of 
 the Boyne from which we can ascertain with 
 accuracy how and where the several British regi- 
 ments engaged were posted. The truth seems to 
 be, that few of them were much exposed f : 
 King William had as yet hardly acquired suffi- 
 cient confidence in his English forces to trust to 
 
 * We learn from Story, that Lord Oxford and my Lord Portland 
 were for sending three thousand horsemen, with each a musketeer 
 behind him, to fall upon them in the rear as they retreated, ' which,' 
 says he, ' might have done great matters, for the enemy were in such 
 ' consternation that they marched all night.' p. 86. 
 
 t As to our English forces, there were few of them that had an 
 opportunity at this place to show themselves, hut those who had 
 acquitted themselves very well. Story, p. 89.
 
 58 
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1690 their efforts for the overthrow of their late Sove- 
 reign. Probably, also, it was on this account that 
 he rejected the counsel of those who advised a 
 vigorous pursuit. Drogheda surrendered on the 
 following day, and the victorious army moved 
 forward towards Dublin, from which city King 
 James retired in despair to Waterford, and from 
 thence re-embarked for France. In the mean 
 time, King William, having sent forward a de- 
 tachment to take possession of Dublin, encamped 
 his army at Finglass, about five miles from that 
 city. Here, on the 7th and 8th of July, he re- 
 viewed his troops*; and on the 9th, having des- 
 patched a strong body of men, under Lieutenant- 
 General Douglas, to reduce Athlone, he himself 
 marched westward, with the main body, towards 
 Limerick, about which city the Irish were now 
 concentrating their forces. Sending off detach- 
 ments from his line of march, he reduced in 
 succession, Kilkenny, Clonmel, and Waterford, 
 but on the 27th of July, having received accounts 
 of the unsettled state of affairs in England, he 
 suddenly left his camp at Carrick, and proceeded 
 to Dublin on his return to that country. Having 
 received more favourable intelligence, he rejoined 
 the army on the 2d of August, which now moved 
 forward to Carri Gallis, within five miles of 
 Limerick, in the front of which city the Irish 
 forces had intrenched themselves in their camp, 
 
 * At this review there were present of the Lord Oxford's Regi- 
 ment 368 men. Story, p. 99.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 59 
 
 and by cutting down timber, &c. had materially 1690 
 added to the difficulties of the approach, which 
 did not exceed one hundred and fifty yards in 
 breadth, being bounded on each side by impassable 
 bogs, and closely intersected by hedges*. Early 
 on the following morning, a strong force was sent 
 against them, detached out of the regiments of Ox- 
 ford, Trelawney, Cutts, Lanier, Lloyd, and some 
 Danes under the command of the Earl of Portland 
 and Brigadier Stuart, amounting in all to about 
 one thousand one hundred men, who advanced 
 within cannon-shot of the town, driving from 
 their intrenchments three regiments of the enemy's 
 foot, one of horse, and one of dragoons, who stood 
 but one fire before they retreated, though pro- 
 tected by several thick hedges from behind which 
 they were enabled to fire upon their assailants. 
 On the return of this party, the King, attended by 
 Prince George, the Herr Overkirk, Major-Gene- 
 ral de Ginckell, and some other officers ; and 
 taking with him a guard of about two hundred 
 horse, proceeded to reconnoitre. Upon approach- 
 ing the enemy's encampment, a party of their 
 horse advanced to meet them. But Captain 
 Selby, of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, 
 whose troop formed the advanced guard, having 
 drawn forward his men in order to charge them, 
 they quickly retired. 
 
 On the following day (the 9th of June), the di- 
 vision under Lieutenant-General Douglas having 
 
 * Journal of the Siege of Limerick. Story, p. 112.
 
 60 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1690 returned from its unsuccessful expedition against 
 Athlone, the whole army, thus reinforced, moved 
 forward towards the city, under the guns of which 
 the Irish were speedily compelled to retire, and 
 in the evening the place was formally summoned. 
 Limerick was at this time defended by M. Boisse- 
 leau, a French officer of reputation, under whom 
 the Duke of Berwick and Colonel Sarsfield acted 
 as Lieutenants. The siege proceeded but slowly ; 
 for the King's army was badly supplied with artil- 
 lery, and a field-train of six twenty-four and two 
 eighteen-pounders, and a great quantity of ammu- 
 nition had fallen into the hands of the Irish, under 
 Colonel Sarsfield, who had suddenly passed the 
 Shannon to intercept them ; and William, being 
 only able to invest the place on the south side of 
 the river, it was in no danger of being distressed 
 for provisions. 
 
 On the 20th of August, a fort which com- 
 manded the approach having been taken, the 
 Irish made a sortie from St. John's gate, and 
 advanced very nearly to the fort, which had that 
 morning been taken from them. But the Eng- 
 lish, under the eye of their Sovereign, speedily 
 repelled this attack. Major Wood, of Colonel 
 Byerley's Regiment, commanding an advanced 
 party of twenty-five French and twenty-seven 
 English horse, leaping a ditch, engaged a squad- 
 ron of Irish horse, and broke them ; and was 
 well supported by Lieutenant-Colonel Windham 
 and Captain Lucy of the Royal Regiment of 
 Horse Guards, with some Dutch and Danish
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 61 
 
 horse, who charged the enemy and beat them 1690 
 back almost to the very gate* ; but on retiring, 
 being much exposed to the enemy's fire from the 
 walls, they lost several men, and, amongst the 
 rest, Captain Lucy of the Royal Regiment of 
 Horse Guards, a gentleman much lamented by all 
 who knew him. On the 27th, a breach having 
 been made, King William attempted to carry the 
 place by assault ; but the defence was desperate, 
 and the British troops were compelled to retire. 
 Chagrined at this failure, William raised the siege 
 in disgust (August 30), and shortly afterwards 
 returned to England. The regiments of English 
 horse, under Sir John Lanier, now retired to quar- 
 ters appointed for them in the King's and the 
 Queen's countiest, where they seem to have been 
 engaged in continual skirmishes with the Irish 
 Rapparees (as the independent armed peasantry 
 were called) throughout the ensuing autumn and 
 winter. In the mean time Lord Churchill (now 
 created Earl of Marlborough) had landed with an 
 army of five thousand men, and having reduced 
 Cork and Kinsale, returned to England. The 
 command of the army then devolved upon Gene- 
 ral de Ginckell, who, in the beginning of the year 
 1691, having heard that a considerable number of 1691 
 the enemy's troops had assembled at Ballymore, 
 with the intention of fortifying that town, which 
 covered the approach to Athlone, had drawn 
 together a body of the King's troops, and on 
 
 * Story, p. 124. Journal of the Siege of Limerick. f Story.
 
 62 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1691 the 26th of February he, with Sir John Lanier, 
 advanced from Streamstown with some foot, 
 horse, and dragoons. As soon as they began 
 their march, the enemy's sentinels on the hills 
 gave notice of their approach, and, by the time 
 the English troops had arrived at a pass four 
 miles from Streamstown, they saw the enemy on 
 the other side regularly drawn up, and (as the 
 prisoners afterwards reported) in number about 
 two thousand three hundred, commanded by 
 Clifford*. The pass was secured by a palisadoed 
 work. As soon as the English foot advanced, 
 the Irish ran from the other end of the pass, and 
 were followed by the English horse and dragoons 
 towards the mote of Grenogue, which, some 
 hours before, had been the head-quarters of the 
 enemy's horse, and to a hill on that side, where 
 the main body was drawn up in good order, but, 
 on the approach of the English, retired into 
 the town, at the entrance of which they had 
 thrown up a trench, which was very defensible, 
 but they not thinking it so, quitted the place. 
 The advanced party, which consisted of ten of 
 the Lord Oxford's Horse, twelve of Sir John 
 Lanier'sf, and Cornet Lisle, seconded by some of 
 Levison's Dragoons^, Major-General Kirke's gre- 
 nadiers on horseback, and a detachment of St. 
 
 * This seems to have been the same officer by whose exertions, 
 when Major of the Royal Dragoons, that regiment was recovered for 
 the service of King James, in 1688, at Salisbury. 
 
 t The present First Dragoon Guards. 
 
 J The present Third Light Dragoons.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 63 
 
 John's Regiment, commanded by Captain Kirke, J691 
 overtook the enemy's foot before they were got 
 out of the town, dispersing them into the woods 
 and bogs, and killing a great many of them. 
 The before-mentioned advanced party of twenty- 
 two men, with Lord Lisburn at their head as a 
 volunteer, pursued the enemy's horse, who fled 
 on the causeway towards Athlone so fast, that 
 General de Ginckell, Sir John Lanier, and Colo- 
 nel Wolsley, with the remainder of the horse, 
 could not keep pace with them, though they 
 galloped hard, and many of the Irish were obliged 
 to quit both horses and boots to save themselves 
 in the woods and bogs thereabouts. Thus it 
 continued for about six miles, till they came 
 within half a mile of Athlone, when it was not 
 thought safe to follow them any further with so 
 small a number of horse and dragoons, so they 
 came back to the foot, which staid behind. 
 
 In this action one trooper of the Lord Oxford's 
 Regiment was killed, and four others slightly 
 wounded. The Irish, according to the most mo- 
 dest computation (says the Gazette from which 
 this account is taken), lost above two hundred*. 
 After this, the bad weather not permitting the 
 English forces to keep the field, they retired to 
 their previous quarters, and General de Ginckell 
 returned to Dublin. 
 
 During the winter the French King had sent a 
 large supply of provisions, clothes, and ammu- 
 
 * London Gazette, March 9, 1690.
 
 64 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1691 nition for the use of the Irish at Limerick, under 
 the conduct of General St. Ruth, an officer en- 
 joying high military reputation, who was accom- 
 panied by a great number of French officers 
 bearing commissions from King James, and un- 
 der their direction the Irish army had been re- 
 organized and recruited. 
 
 At length, after concerting his plan of opera- 
 tions, and having received instructions from the 
 King to put an end to the war at all hazards, 
 General de Ginckell took the field at the end of 
 May, 1691*. Having assembled his army near 
 Mullingar, he advanced towards Ballymore, which 
 place surrendered at discretion on the 8th of June. 
 On the 16th he commenced the siege of Athlone, 
 and on the 30th that place was carried by storm ; 
 the assailants charging through the rapid stream 
 of the Shannon breast high, though their passage 
 was impeded by the ruins of the breach which 
 their own batteries had made, forced their way 
 through water, fire and smoke, and in less than 
 half an hour became masters of the townf. 
 
 St. Ruth, whose army lay at a short distance off, 
 received the tidings of the fall of Athlone with 
 surprise and chagrin ; but he was too prudent to 
 commit his army, so recently organized, in an 
 attempt to recover the place, whose fortifications 
 were now turned against him, and he retired to a 
 strong position near Aghrim, in the county of Gal- 
 
 * Life of King William III. London, 1702. 
 t London Gazette. Life of King William III.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 65 
 
 way, where he encamped his army, and awaited 1691 
 the approach of the English. In the mean time 
 a large supply of provisions having heen conveyed 
 from Dublin by the Earl of Portland's Regiment, 
 arrived in the English camp* ; and De Ginckell 
 prepared to follow up his success. His army 
 passed the Shannon on the 10th of July; the 
 horse and artillery over a stone bridge, and the 
 foot over a bridge of boats below the town, halting 
 that night about five miles from Athlone. On the 
 1 1th he again marched forward, and encamped 
 on the left of Ballinasloe, along the Roscommon 
 side of the river Suck, within three miles of the 
 Irish army under General St. Ruth, who were 
 very advantageously encamped at Aghrim ; their 
 left stretching towards Kilconnel Abbey, and 
 their right on the hill of Kilcommodonf. A 
 rivulet ran on their left, with steep hills and little 
 bogs on each side ; near to which was a large bog, 
 almost a mile across ; at the end of which stood 
 the castle of Aghrim, commanding the way that 
 led to their camp, passable for horse nowhere but 
 just at the castle. 
 
 This bog extended itself along the front to 
 the right, where there was another pass, called 
 Urachree, having a rising ground on each side 
 of it ; and the Irish camp lay along the ridge of 
 
 * Life of King William III. 
 
 t This account of the battle of Aghrim is chiefly taken from 
 an account of that battle published by authority, 1691 ; the Lon- 
 don Gazette; the Life of King William III., 1702; and the con- 
 tinuation of Story's History of the Wars in Ireland, London, 
 1693.
 
 66 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1691 a hill, on one side of which stood two old Danish 
 forts ahout half a mile distant from the bog below, 
 and the space between was cut into many small 
 inclosures, from behind which (there being a 
 communication between them) the Irish mus- 
 keteers were enabled to fire with great advantage. 
 On the morning of the 12th, by eleven o'clock, 
 the whole of the English army had passed the 
 Suck ; the horse by two fords, and the foot and 
 artillery over a bridge, in as good order as the 
 ground would permit ; and the General, having 
 reconnoitred the enemy's position, determined, if 
 possible, to force them from the pass of Urachree. 
 For this service he detached the Royal Regiment 
 of Horse Guards, a squadron of Cunningham's 
 dragoons, and the regiment of the Earl of Port- 
 land. The Irish seeing them advance, and that 
 but a small part of the army was yet come up, 
 sent some foot and horse through the bog ; upon 
 which the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards dis- 
 mounted and repulsed them. 
 
 The enemy now detached several battalions 
 and squadrons to support their men ; but, the 
 English being also reinforced, they were com- 
 pelled to retire to their main body. The cannon, 
 in the mean time, had dislodged the advanced 
 guard of the Irish at the end of the defile that 
 leads to Aghrim, and the right wing of the 
 British horse and foot were posted there. It was 
 now two o'clock, and as the enemy were retiring, 
 De Ginckell, unwilling to risk his men in the 
 attempt to force so strong a position, determined
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 67 
 
 to postpone a general action till the next day. 1691 
 But seeing the Irish in some disorder, and, as 
 it is said by the advice of General Mackay, he 
 changed his resolution, and ordered that an at- 
 tack should be forthwitli made upon their right, 
 in the hope to draw their strength from the 
 Castle of Aghrim, so that the right wing of the 
 English should have an easier passage to attack 
 their left, and thus the whole English army might 
 have an opportunity to engage, which otherwise 
 could not be. Accordingly, about half-past four 
 o'clock on that evening, the English left wing 
 advanced to the attack, and the battle began 
 afresh by five. For an hour and a half the at- 
 tack was continued against the pass of Urachree, 
 which was well defended by the Irish, aided by 
 the strength of their intrenchments, and the 
 natural difficulties of the ground ; when the 
 English Commander, observing several bodies 
 of the horse and foot of his opponents draw off 
 to the left and more to the right, where they 
 were hardly pressed by the English, ordered his 
 foot to pass the bog, and, supported by his can- 
 non, to attack the centre. They were at first 
 driven back into the bog, but being reinforced, 
 recovered their ground, and succeeded in main- 
 taining themselves till the horse were able to 
 come to their support. In the mean time part 
 of the French horse of the Marquis de Rovigny*, 
 
 * This was a regiment of French Protestants in the service of 
 King William : at the conclusion of the Irish war their Com- 
 mander, the Marquis, was created Earl of Galway, and afterwards 
 became distinguished in the war in Spain. 
 
 F'2
 
 68 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1691 and the English of Sir John Lanier, had been 
 withdrawn from the right, where they were at 
 first posted, in order to reinforce the left, where 
 they did very good service, and the remainder of 
 the horse on the right now advanced with great 
 gallantry along the pass that led by the Castle of 
 Aghrim, which, as well as the hedges and walls 
 about it, was strongly lined with musketeers. 
 They were supported by Major-General Kirke's 
 and Colonel Gustavus Hamilton's foot, who, after 
 receiving the enemy's fire for some time, at length 
 succeeded in lodging themselves in a dry ditch 
 beyond the bog. It is said that St. Ruth, seeing 
 the English horse draw that way, and then begin 
 to scramble over at a place where only two abreast 
 could pass, and that too with great difficulty, after 
 which they were obliged to pass within thirty 
 yards of the castle, could not restrain his astonish- 
 ment at seeing them attempt this, and inquired 
 what they meant by it: when being told that 
 they would certainly endeavour to pass there, and 
 attack him on the right, he exclaimed with an 
 oath ' they are brave fellows ! it is a pity they 
 * should be so exposed.' 
 
 At length the horse, though with much diffi- 
 culty, forced the pass. Sir Francis Compton, 
 with Lord Oxford's Regiment, being one of the 
 first that could be in a posture to engage, fell in 
 at random amongst the enemy, and charged them 
 briskly ; and though his men were once or twice 
 repulsed, yet being seconded by the Marquis de 
 Rovigny's French horse, with the Marquis at
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 69 
 
 their head, Colonel Langston's, and some of 1691 
 Colonel Byerley's horse, as also Brigadier Levi- 
 son's dragoons, they charged along the edge of 
 the bog, and routed the enemy from their in- 
 trenchments. The Irish were now every where 
 giving way, and St. Ruth having put himself at 
 the head of his reserve, in order, if possible, to 
 retrieve the fortune of the day, was descending 
 Kilcommodon Hill, when he was killed by a can- 
 non shot. The death of the Commander at once 
 terminated the struggle. His French guards 
 immediately retreated with his body, and the 
 remainder of his army, throwing down their 
 arms, fled in all directions*. A misty rain, and 
 the darkness of the night (for it was past eight 
 o'clock when the enemy were routed), put an 
 end to the pursuit, which was continued for about 
 four miles. The loss on the side of the Irish 
 amounted to five thousand men, and the whole of 
 their baggage, tents, and cannon, which latter, 
 consisting of only nine pieces, fell into the hands 
 of the victors, whose loss is said not to have much 
 exceeded six hundred men. Such was the unmi- 
 
 * In some of the accounts of this battle, .St. Ruth, upon ad- 
 vancing with his reserve, is said to have exclaimed, 'Now will I 
 ' drive these English to the gates of Dublin :' and it is asserted 
 that had not their General been slain, the Irish must have been 
 victorious. We are, however, assured by the Duke of Berwick, in 
 his Memoirs, apparently in answer to the foregoing report, that 
 the battle was irretrievably lost before the fall of the General. 
 Indeed the expressions attributed to St. Ruth prove nothing they 
 are merely such as might be used, even in desperate circum- 
 stances, by a Commander anxious to encourage his men in a final 
 struggle.
 
 70 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1691 tigated ferocity of the war, that little quarter ap- 
 pears to have been given on either side. The 
 loss of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards was 
 as follows : one Captain, two Lieutenants, one 
 Cornet, forty-five troopers, and twenty-four horses, 
 killed ; and twenty-one troopers wounded*. The 
 names of the officers who fell are unknown ; but 
 General De Ginckell for many years afterwards 
 bore testimony to the gallant bearing of the 
 Regiment in this action. That Commander, 
 when complimented upon the skill and courage 
 he had shown at the battle of Aghrim, modestly 
 declared, ' that the honour of that great day was 
 ' principally owing to the conduct and bravery 
 ' of the Marquis de Rovigny, and of the Oxford 
 ' and French regiments of Horsef.' 
 
 The remains of the Irish army fled in confusion 
 to Limerick, where it was resolved to make a final 
 stand, in the hope of obtaining succours from 
 France. Towards that city, therefore, after re- 
 ducing Galway (which at once capitulated, the 
 garrison being permitted to retire to Limerick), 
 De Ginckell marched with his victorious army. 
 Having secured Portumna, Bonnachar, and other 
 passes of the Shannon, he formally invested the 
 place. But the details of this second siege of 
 Limerick, which was terminated (Sept. 25th) by 
 the celebrated treaty, granting indemnity to the 
 Roman Catholics, are involved in much obscurity ; 
 
 * This list of the killed and wounded is taken from Story's ' Con- 
 ' tinuation of the Impartial History.' 
 t Life of King William III. p. 310.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 71 
 
 and there is no authentic account of any further 1691 
 operation in which the Royal Regiment of Horse 
 Guards was engaged during the remainder of its 
 stay in Ireland. It did not, however, return to 
 England till the following year ; when upon 
 disembarking at Highlake (March the 18th), the 
 Regiment marched to London, where it continued 
 stationed throughout the year*. 
 
 * Marching Orders, War Office.
 
 72 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Accession of Queen Anne and occurrences during her reign the 
 King of Spain, Mareschal Tallard, &c., attended by escorts from 
 the Blues Death of the Queen The Blues form a Guard of 
 Honour to receive her Successor Occurrences during the Reigns 
 of George the First and Second War with France The Blues 
 embark for the Continent An Army formed in the Nether- 
 lands Battle of Dettingen The Army retires into quarters in 
 the Netherlands The Duke of Cumberland assumes the com- 
 mand Battle of Fontenoy. 
 
 1691 FROM this time, for a period of no less than fifty 
 years, during the whole of which the Regiment 
 was employed upon home service, the transactions 
 in which it was engaged were not of a very 
 interesting or important character. Its conduct 
 during the war in Ireland seems to have confirmed 
 the King in his confident reliance upon its ser- 
 vices, and to have convinced him that its pre- 
 sent officers were attached to his government * ; 
 it was therefore employed to furnish guards, 
 escorts, &c. , for the King or Royal Family, upon 
 all occasions where state was required. Indeed, 
 King William, throughout the remainder of 
 his reign, seldom travelled in England without 
 an escort furnished by this Regiment, a strong 
 
 * In the year 1692 a proclamation was issued for the apprehen- 
 sion of the Earls of Scarborough, Lichfield, and others, charged 
 with conspiring to overturn the Government ; amongst those named 
 are Colonel Slingsby, Charles Adderley, Esq., and David Lloyd, Esq., 
 three officers who bore commissions in the Royal Horse Guards at 
 the Revolution.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 73 
 
 detachment from which always accompanied him 1691 
 in his numerous journeys to and from Margate, 
 which was his usual place of embarkation and 
 disembarkation on his progress to and return from 
 Holland ; and the Head Quarters were almost 
 constantly established in Westminster, in order 
 (say the Marching Orders of the period), ' to 
 ' attend their Majesties' persons.' On the 5th of 
 March, 1694, the King went to Portsmouth to 1694 
 inspect the fleet, when he was escorted by a party 
 of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, detach- 
 ments from which attended His Majesty during his 
 progress through a great part of the kingdom, in 
 October, 1697, when he visited several of the 1697 
 nobility at their residences in the country*. On 
 the accession of Queen Anne, March 8, 1702, that 
 Princess retained the Regiment in immediate 
 attendance upon the Court ; and upon the decease 
 of the Earl of Oxford, March 12, 1703 f, who had 1703 
 
 * Marching Orders, War Office. 
 
 t This nobleman was twice married, but died without male 
 issue, and his titles became extinct : his first wife was the daughter 
 of Paul, Viscount Bayning ; his second, who survived him, was 
 the daughter of George Kirke, Esq., Groom of the Bedchamber. 
 In the Memoirs of the Count de Grammont, an anecdote is related 
 of an actress said to have been seduced by the Earl of Oxford, by 
 the artifice of a pretended marriage, at which the trumpeter and 
 kettle-drummer of his Lordship's regiment officiated as parson and 
 clerk. This story, however characteristic of the licentious gallantry 
 of a courtier of the reign of Charles II., is probably not entitled to 
 implicit credit. The name of the actress is not recorded, but she 
 is supposed to have been the Roxalana, so called from her per- 
 formance of that character, mentioned in the Diaries of Evelyn and 
 Pepys ; and the occurrence, if true, must have taken place shortly 
 after the Restoration.
 
 74 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1703 commanded it, with the exception of one short 
 intermission, during forty-two years, the command 
 of the corps, now familiarly called ' The Oxford 
 ' Blues,' was given to the Duke of Northumber- 
 land, natural son of King Charles II. On the 
 9th of August, in that year, the Regiment 
 attended the Queen to Bath ; and in the subse- 
 quent November, the second son of the Emperor, 
 now recognized as King of Spain by a great 
 portion of Europe, having landed at Portsmouth, 
 proceeded to Windsor, where he was received by 
 the Queen with much state, and all the honours 
 due to a crowned head. On his return to Ports- 
 mouth in order to embark for his new dominions, 
 he was escorted by a squadron of this Regiment*. 
 
 1704 On the 4th of December in the year following, 
 the French Mareschal Tallard, and several other 
 officers of distinction, who had been taken pri- 
 soners at the battle of Blenheim, upon landing 
 at Blackwall, were removed to Nottingham and 
 Lichfield, under the escort of two troops of the 
 Blues, which remained in attendance upon the 
 Mareschal and his companions during their long 
 detention in England f . 
 
 * Marching Orders, War Office. 
 
 t Upon giving their parole, the French officers were allowed full 
 liberty to remove to any place within a certain distance of the above- 
 named places ; and the Duke of Devonshire having invited Mar- 
 shal Tallard and some of his unfortunate companions to Chats- 
 worth, entertained them for several days with great hospitality ; at 
 parting, the Marshal warmly expressed his gratitude to his noble 
 host, and assured him that ' in computing the time of his captivity 
 ' in England, he should omit those days spent in enjoyment at 
 ' Chatsworth.'
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 75 
 
 In 1708, the Regiment was quartered in the 1708 
 North, in consequence of the threatened invasion 
 of the Pretender, who having at length made an 
 attempt to land in Scotland, one of his ships (the 
 Salisbury) was captured in the Forth, and the pri- 
 soners taken on board were sent into England by 
 the Earl of Leven, commanding the forces in 
 Scotland, under the escort of a party of the Blues. 
 
 On the 22d of September, the Regiment formed 
 a relay of escorts to attend the Queen on her pro- 
 gress to and from Newmarket : and in May, 1711, 1711 
 it marched to Harwich, in order to embark for 
 foreign service, but was afterwards disposed in 
 quarters at Colchester, Ipswich, and the vicinity. 
 On the 4th of January, 1712, the Duke of Nor- 1712 
 thumberland being appointed to the command of 
 the First Troop of Horse Guards, the command 
 of the Blues was given to Richard, Earl Rivers : 
 he, however, dying on the 19th of August, in that 
 year, was succeeded as Colonel, by Charles, Earl 
 of Peterborough, who had acquired a high repu- 
 tation by his skilful conduct during two campaigns, 
 as Commander of the forces in Spain. 
 
 On the death of Queen Anne, August 1, 1714, 1714 
 great preparations were made to receive her suc- 
 cessor, King George, with becoming state. Two 
 troops of the Regiment were disposed on the road to 
 receive His Majesty on his arrival ; and fifty men, 
 with officers proportionate, were ordered to take 
 the guard at the Horse Guards, on the day before 
 His Majesty proceeded from Greenwich to his 
 Palace*. 
 
 * Marching Orders, War Office.
 
 76 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1714 King George the First, like his predecessors, 
 seems to have constantly employed this Regiment 
 near his person. But as the reign of this Mo- 
 narch was one of the most pacific in our history, 
 the annals of a military body during that period 
 are, of course, proportionably meagre and unin- 
 teresting. On the resignation of the Earl of Peter- 
 
 1715 borough (13th of June, 1715), upon his appoint- 
 ment as Ambassador to the Italian States, he was 
 succeeded as Colonel by John, Duke of Argyle, 
 who had successfully exerted his great military 
 talents in quelling the Rebellion in Scotland*. 
 But this nobleman, shortly afterwards declining in 
 favour with the Court, was dismissed from his 
 
 1717 command (March 8, 1717), and was succeeded by 
 Charles, Marquis of Winchester, afterwards third 
 Duke of Bolton. The quarters of the Regiment 
 were throughout this reign widely dispersed, yet 
 seldom at any great distance from the metropolis, 
 near or in which a. party was usually stationed to 
 attend upon the Court. On the 23d of October, 
 
 1719 1719, it formed a relay of escorts to attend the 
 King from Margate to London, on his return from 
 Hanover. Again it formed a relay of escorts on 
 the road to Harwich to receive His Majesty, on the 
 
 1720 18th of October, 1720. In the summer of 1722 
 1722 it was encamped at Hounslow, and in August 
 
 of that year escorted the King to Portsmouth. 
 
 1725 In November, 1725, it again formed a relay of 
 
 escorts on the road from Margate, to receive the 
 
 * This was the nobleman panegyrized by Pope : 
 
 ' Argylc, the State's whole thunder born to wield, 
 And shake alike the Senate or the field.'
 
 ROYAl. RKC. 1 OK HOKSK C.l'ARDS 
 Standidyt &. '"' f.Mc
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 77 
 
 King on his return from the Continent. On the 1725 
 accession of King George II., the Regiment con- 
 tinued to occupy generally the same quarters as 
 in the preceding reign. In August, 1732, it, as 1732 
 usual, escorted the King into London on his 
 return from abroad. In 1733 (August 6), the 1733 
 Duke of Bolton having joined with the opposition 
 against the ministry of Sir Robert Walpole, was 
 deprived of his Regiment*, and was succeeded by 
 the Duke of Argyle, who now, for the second time, 
 assumed the command of the Blues. This noble- 
 man, afterwards becoming an opponent of the mi- 
 nister, resigned the Colonelcy on the 6th of May, 
 1740, and was succeeded by Algernon, Earl of 1740 
 Hertford, eldest son of the Duke of Somerset but 
 on the retirement of Sir Robert Walpole from 
 power, in 1742, his friend, the Earl of Hertford, 1742 
 was superseded, and the Duke of Argyle was, for 
 the third time, appointed Colonel of the Royal 
 Regiment of Horse Guards (February 24) ; at the 
 same time he was made Master-General of the 
 Ordnance, and Commander-in-Chief of all the 
 forces in South Britain; but finding himself, says 
 Smollet, disappointed in his expectations of the 
 
 * At the same time Lord Cobham was removed from the com- 
 mand of the First Dragoon Guards. These removals led to very 
 violent debates in both Houses of Parliament, in one of which, the 
 Duke of Argyle said, with more bitterness than good taste, ' That 
 ' though two Lords had been removed, only one Soldier had lost 
 ' his commission.' The insult was levelled at his predecessor. Lord 
 Cobham's past services and great military talents were sufficiently 
 notorious. About three years after this, Cornet Pitt, afterwards 
 the great Lord Chatham, was deprived of his commission in Lord 
 Cobham's old Regiment, now the First Dragoon Guards.
 
 78 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1742 Coalition Ministry, which was now formed, on 
 the 16th of March folio wing he resigned all these 
 employments, and the Earl of Hertford resumed 
 the command of the Regiment. 
 
 At length the King having entered into an 
 alliance with the Queen of Hungary against 
 France, determined to assemble an army to co- 
 operate with the Austrian Generals on the Conti- 
 nent, and for this service the Royal Regiment of 
 Horse Guards was one of the first selected. Ac- 
 cordingly it embarked from Gravesend towards 
 the close of the summer of 1742. The British 
 army, assembled near Ghent, in the Netherlands, 
 under the command of the Earl of Stair, amounted 
 to about sixteen thousand men, and these troops 
 were afterwards joined by six thousand Hessians 
 and sixteen thousand Hanoverians in British pay. 
 The allied armies having remained in their quar- 
 ters during the ensuing winter, began their march 
 
 1743 for the Rhine in the spring of 1743. On the 21st 
 of March, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, accom- 
 panied by her husband, the Prince of Lorraine, 
 made her public entrance into Brussels "as Sove- 
 reign of the Netherlands, and was escorted into 
 that city by one hundred of His Britannic Ma- 
 jesty's Blue Guards*. The march of the allied 
 armies was much delayed by the badness of the 
 roads; but, at length, in the month of May, they 
 were encamped at Hoechst, three leagues from 
 Frankfort, on the right bank of the river Mayne, 
 
 * London Gazette.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 79 
 
 the appointed rendezvous. In order to prevent a 1743 
 junction between the Anglo-Hanoverian armies 
 and the Austrian army, under Prince Charles of 
 Lorraine, the King of France, whilst he sent an 
 army under Mareschal Coigny to oppose the latter, 
 ordered the Duke De Noailles, with a large force, 
 to advance to the Mayne against the Earl of Stair ; 
 who now moved forward to AschafTenberg with a 
 view of securing the navigation of the Upper 
 Mayne, which was necessary for the conveyance of 
 his provisions and forage. But the French Com- 
 mander, having possessed himself of the principal 
 posts on the river above that town, was enabled to 
 cut off their supplies ; and having also, by means 
 of parties and other precautions intercepted the 
 communication of the allies with Frankfort. The 
 King of England, on his arrival in the camp (July 
 19), accompanied by his second son, the Duke of 
 Cumberland, found his army eager for battle, but 
 in great danger of starvation. In this emergency, 
 hearing that a reinforcement of twelve thousand 
 Hanoverians and Hessians had reached Hanau, he 
 resolved to march thither, both with a view to effect 
 a junction, and to obtain provisions for his forces. 
 The tents were accordingly struck at day-break on 
 the 26th of June (N.S.), and the army commenced 
 its march through the confined plain which ex- 
 tended between the mountains and the river, and 
 which no where exceeded a mile in breadth. 
 Noailles, in the mean time, having sent a party to 
 secure Aschaffenberg immediately it was aban- 
 doned by the allies, caused the greater part of his
 
 80 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1743 army to cross the river lower down at Seligenstadt, 
 and, taking possession of the village of Dettingen, 
 occupied a position of great strength, along the 
 front of which ran a rivulet through a morass ; the 
 right of his army being protected by the village of 
 Dettingen arid the river, and the left by an almost 
 impassable mountain and woods. Then himself 
 repassing the Mayne, he directed the fire of several 
 strong batteries, which were advantageously 
 posted, to gall the flank of the allies, who now 
 finding their march intercepted, prepared to form 
 their army in two lines, in order to attack the 
 enemy in their front ; the Earl of Stair, who com- 
 manded under the King, directing this disposition. 
 But as the greater part of the British infantry 
 was in the rear, where the King seems to have 
 expected the attack would be made, it was some 
 time before they could be brought up to form in 
 their intended position. The time was thus occu- 
 pied from eight o'clock till twelve, during the 
 whole of which, the Blues, with some other regi- 
 ments of cavalry which covered the formation, 
 were exposed to the destructive fire of the French 
 batteries, which, posted on the rising grounds on 
 the opposite side of the Mayne, flanked them from 
 left to right, within two hundred paces. The dis- 
 position for battle being at length completed, the 
 King placed himself at the head of the second 
 line, and addressed his troops in an animating 
 strain, encouraging them ' to fight for the honour 
 ' of England ;' and never did encouragement seem 
 to be more needed, for never surely was the British
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 81 
 
 Lion more apparently within the toils of the hunter 1743 
 than now, when the rashness of an individual 
 liberated the Monarch and his army from the 
 perils that surrounded them, and deprived the 
 Mareschal de Noailles of a triumph, which his 
 skilful dispositions seemed to have all but insured. 
 The nephew of the Mareschal, the Duke de 
 Grammont, had been left in command at Dettin- 
 gen, and being accompanied by two princes of 
 the Blood and the flower of the French nobility, 
 at the head of the household troops and gens- 
 d arrnes, was impatient of this inactivity before an 
 enemy supposed to be dispirited by privation and 
 fatigue. Abandoning his strong position, there- 
 fore, he rashly led these chosen troops across the 
 morass to attack the British left. In the first im- 
 petuosity of the attack, "one or two regiments seem 
 to have given way before them, but being at length 
 hemmed in by the infantry, they were almost en- 
 tirely destroyed. The battle was now become 
 general along the line, and General Clayton, who 
 commanded on the left, fearing lest his flank 
 should be turned, sent for some cavalry to assist 
 him. Eland's Dragoons (the Third) were accord- 
 ingly moved to the left, and drove the enemy back 
 with great slaughter. This successful attack was 
 well seconded by the Blues, with Honeywood's 
 (the First), and Ligonier's (the Seventh) Dra- 
 goon Guards. The allied troops now gradually 
 gained upon the French, who were at length 
 defeated at all points, and, abandoning their strong 
 positions, were pursued by the British cavalry to
 
 82 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1743 the banks of the river, across which they fled with 
 precipitation. Several standards were taken from 
 the enemy, whose loss in this action is said to 
 have been nearfive thousand men, killed, wounded, 
 and taken prisoners. On the side of the allies, 
 Generals Clayton and Monroy were killed ; the 
 Duke of Cumberland, the Earl of Albemarle, 
 General Huske, and some other officers of distinc- 
 tion, were wounded ; and the total loss amounted 
 to near two thousand killed, wounded, and taken 
 prisoners. The loss of the Blues was as follows : 
 one trumpeter, seven rank and file, twenty-two 
 horses killed, one officer (Cornet Davies), and four- 
 teen horses wounded*. 
 
 After the battle, the King declining to pursue 
 
 * Shortly after the news of this victory was known in England a 
 report was industriously spread, that the Blues, when called upon, 
 had refused to advance ; this was naturally taken up very warmly 
 by the Regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonet Beake, Major Jenkinson, 
 and Captain Sir James Chamberlayne, who each commanded a 
 squadron in the action, waited upon Lord Stair, with a request 
 that he would do the Regiment justice by contradicting such inju- 
 rious reports. A similar appeal was made to General Honey wood, 
 who led the Regiment to the attack. Both these officers at once 
 declared the reports false and malicious ; but no further notice 
 being taken of it, many persons gave credit to the story, which 
 seems to have had its origin in party feeling. The prepossessions 
 of the King in favour of his Hanoverian troops, were well known, 
 and the attempt to exalt their services at the expense of the 
 reputation of one of the first regiments in the British service, pro- 
 bably originated with some of the flatterers of the Court. At this 
 distance of time, the best proof of the absolute falsity of the report 
 consists in the fact, that the King continued to place the utmost 
 confidence in the services of the Regiment, which, he was assured 
 by its conduct at Fontenoy, two years afterwards, was not mis- 
 placed.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 83 
 
 the enemy, whose retreat beyond the Mayne ap- 1743 
 pears to have been covered by their formidable 
 train of artillery, continued his march to Hanau ; 
 where the Earl of Stair, disgusted at the pre- 
 ference shewn to the Hanoverian Generals, re- 
 signed his command, and returned to England*. 
 During the remainder of the campaign the allied 
 armies were not engaged in any important opera- 
 tions, and, returning to Flanders, were early dis- 
 tributed into winter quarters. 
 
 Throughout the year 1744, the allied army con- 1744 
 tinned posted behind the Scheldt in a state of 
 almost complete inactivity. The apparent attach- 
 ment of the King to the interests of Hanover had 
 rendered his Government unpopular to his English 
 subjects, and given rise to violent debates in Par- 
 liament. The Pretender, thus encouraged, threat- 
 ened a descent upon his dominions at the head of 
 a French army ; and under these circumstances 
 the King of England did not venture to commit 
 his army in Flanders in any affair of importance, 
 uncertain how soon he might require its services 
 at home. 
 
 In the following year the French King, desi- 1745 
 rous to complete the conquest of Flanders, as- 
 sembled a large army, consisting of seventy-six 
 thousand men, under Count Saxe, with which 
 Tournay was invested ; and shortly afterwards 
 the King, accompanied by the Dauphin, arrived 
 in the camp. To oppose these formidable prepa- 
 
 * Life of the Earl of Stair.
 
 84 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1745 rations the Duke of Cumberland was hastily 
 despatched from London, to take the command of 
 the British and Hanoverian armies, encamped 
 near Brussels ; where they were joined by a Dutch 
 army, under the command of the Prince of Wai- 
 deck, and a small force of Austrians, under Count 
 Konigseg. The whole allied army amounted to 
 about fifty-three thousand men, and with this force 
 it was resolved to attempt the relief of Tournay. 
 
 Accordingly, decamping on the 1st of May, the 
 allies advanced to Halle, and afterwards, on the 
 3rd, to Cambroun, from whence the whole army 
 advanced, in order of battle, on the 7th, and on 
 the 10th took up a position in front of that occu- 
 pied by the French. The French army was 
 strongly posted upon a rising ground ; the village 
 of Antoine, on their right, and that of Fontenoy, 
 in front of their centre, were strongly fortified 
 with heavy cannon. Connecting these, and be- 
 yond them, a chain of redoubts extended to their 
 extreme left ; where, at the verge of the wood of 
 Barri, was erected a formidable battery, to flank 
 the approaches to the position. After some skir- 
 mishing on the evening of the 10th the French 
 outposts were driven in, and at two o'clock on 
 the morning of the llth the confederate arrny 
 marched forwards, to occupy a small plain, which 
 lay between them and the enemy. The right 
 wing, composed of English, and the Hanoverians, 
 under General Zastrow, forming the centre, were 
 to form in four lines, in front of the village of 
 Vezont; and the left wing, consisting of the
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 85 
 
 Dutch and Austrians, were to draw up on the 1745 
 left, as far as the wood of Pierrone. The army 
 marched up in three columns ; the first, which was 
 cavalry, moving by the road of Mons, along the 
 village of Vezoiit ; the second, consisting of in- 
 fantry, marched through the village of Vezont ; 
 and the third stretched forward into the plain, 
 bet wen Fontenoy and Antoine. The Duke of 
 Cumberland having detached General Ingoldsby, 
 with four battalions and three six-pounders, 
 against the fort in the wood of Barri, ordered Sir 
 James Campbell, who commanded the cavalry, 
 with twelve squadrons, to defile through Vezont, 
 and enter the plain, leaving the highway and 
 enclosures to their right hand, so as to cover the 
 infantry of the rflght wing, commanded by Sir 
 John Ligonier, whilst they were forming, by 
 extending those squadrons along the plain from 
 the wood towards Fontenoy. ' It is inconceiva- 
 ' ble,' says an experienced eye-witness, ' what a 
 ' number of bullets plunged in upon the British 
 ' troops all the time (above an hour) their first 
 ' line and cavalry were forming.' Sir James 
 Campbell had his leg shot off, and died shortly 
 afterwards; upon which the command of these 
 squadrons, covering the formation, devolved upon 
 Lord Crawford, Colonel of the Fourth Troop of 
 Horse Guards ; and afterwards upon General 
 Hawley, who took the command of the whole 
 cavalry of the right wing, and formed it in order 
 of battle, in rear of the infanty. 
 
 In the mean time the British infantry, com-
 
 86 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 I745manded by the Duke of Cumberland in person, 
 assisted by Sir John Ligonier, advanced against 
 the enemy, and never was made a more gallant 
 and persevering attack ; though the fire from the 
 French batteries was so heavy, that it swept off 
 whole ranks at a single discharge, they continued 
 to advance as if they were invulnerable, repulsing 
 in succession every regiment of the enemy that 
 presented itself*. The Hanoverian troops also 
 behaved with great bravery ; but the Dutch, 
 having totally failed in their attack upon the vil- 
 lage of Fontenoy, and owing to a misapprehension 
 of his orders, General Ingoldsby having neglected 
 to attack the fort in the wood of Barri, the infan- 
 try were terribly exposed to the cross-fire of the 
 enemy's batteries ; and such^ras the confined 
 nature of the ground, that it was not till late in 
 the day that the cavalry were enabled to press 
 forward to their succour. Scrambling through a 
 hollow way, abounding in difficulties, ' at last,' 
 says the gallant Lord Crawford, in his Memoirs, 
 
 * a few squadrons got up, and passed the fort 
 ' through a dreadful fire ; and a few of some 
 ' other broken corps, as they got rallied, after 
 ' passing the before- mentioned hollow way, so far 
 1 as, I believe, at least, to be serviceable in cover- 
 ' ing the retreat of the infantry. Most advanced 
 ' there were two squadrons of the Blues, some of 
 ' the Hanoverians, and some few of the Dutch 
 
 * and Austrians, of the corps de reserve, who had 
 
 * Voltaire.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 87 
 
 ' not been broken by passing the hollow way ; 1745 
 ' because most of those that passed it had only 
 ' got rallied, as most of those that advanced were 
 ' coming back again in much greater haste than 
 
 * they went forward, breaking several of the Bri- 
 ' tish corps that were rallied, so that they never 
 ' recovered again. Without prejudice I declare, 
 
 * that I have too great reason to say, the Dutch 
 
 * dragoons led the way, for I never had a greater 
 1 risk than in being run over by them : and had 
 1 not my horse been of prodigious strength, I 
 ' must have been trampled to death. I had just 
 
 * rallied the brigade of Horse Guards, and was 
 ' moving forwards, finding there was no cavalry 
 ' got on by the flank of the second line, which 
 ' had now lost some battalions, that were carried 
 ' elsewhere, when they came upon us and broke 
 ' us anew. With the assistance of my officers, 
 ' who were very alert and willing, I had just got 
 ' them a third time rallied, as all the cavalry that 
 
 * had been made to move forwards came back in 
 ' confusion : those that I saw returning in the 
 ' best order being the two squadrons of the Blues, 
 ' whom I begged to halt, and rally by my Horse 
 1 Guards ; but all those who attacked together, 
 ' also rallied together. It was impossible better 
 ' could come of a manoeuvre, which was far from 
 ' being a proper one, by the marching or allowing 
 ' those squadrons to advance, and be beat in 
 ' detail, if the retreat was not determined before 
 ' they were allowed to do so ; because there were 
 ' not numbers enough together to withstand any
 
 88 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1745' corps of the enemy's cavalry who would hazard 
 * anything with them ; besides, it was impossible 
 ' for separate squadrons, not to call them broken, 
 ' to hurry on with spirit, and to have steadiness 
 ' to stand long enough under the innumerable 
 ' dropping shots ; indeed, without being a Gascon, 
 ' I may call it constant fire from the enemies' 
 ' batteries*.' 
 
 It was past two o'clock, when the Duke of 
 Cumberland, deserted by his Dutch allies, disap- 
 pointed in his hopes of a sally from the garrison 
 of Tournay, and discouraged by other disadvan- 
 tageous circumstances, determined to retire from 
 the field, now red with the blood of many of the 
 bravest in his army. Accordingly the signal 
 being given, the troops commenced their retreat, 
 retiring through Vezont with tolerable regularity. 
 The several battalions facing about as occasion 
 required, and being supported by some squadrons, 
 which had successfully rallied under Lord Craw- 
 ford, they were enabled to check the advance of 
 their scarcely victorious pursuers. In this engage- 
 ment Sir James Campbell t and General Pon- 
 sonby were killed ; and Lord Albemarle, Major- 
 General Howard, Brigadier-Generals Ingoldsby 
 and Churchill, and several other distinguished 
 officers were wounded. The total loss of the 
 British and Hanoverians exceeded ten thousand 
 men, killed, wounded, and missing ; whilst that 
 of the enemy is said to have been even greater. 
 
 * Life and Memoirs of John, Lord Crawford. London, 1759. 
 t Colonel of the Scotch dreys.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 89 
 
 The loss of several of the British regiments 1745 
 was very severe ; that of the Blues was as fol- 
 lows : killed, ten men, and seventy-nine horses : 
 wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Beake, Captain 
 Lloyd, Captain-Lieutenant Migget*, Quarter- 
 Masters Hudson and But, thirty-nine men, and 
 sixty-two horses ; missing, seven men, and nine 
 horsesf. In the British official account of this 
 battle the behaviour of this Regiment is adverted 
 to in terms of high commendation ; and Major 
 Jenkinson, upon whom (Lieutenant-Colonel Beake 
 having been wounded) the command of it de- 
 volved, is stated to have particularly distinguished 
 himself by his conduct and care. 
 
 * The Lieutenant commanding the King's Troop held the rank 
 of Captain-Lieutenant. This distinction continued till 1799, when 
 regular Captains were appointed to the King's, also the Lieutenant- 
 Colonel's and the Major's Troops. 
 
 t London Gazette.
 
 90 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Invasion of the Pretender, and recall of the Duke of Cumberland 
 The Blues return to England Quarters of the Regiment 
 War with France The Blues embark and join the Army in 
 Germany Battles of Minden and Warbourg The French 
 surprised and defeated at Grcebenstein Affair near Hombourg 
 Conclusion of the War, and return of the regiment to England 
 Stationed in country quarters It embarks to join the Army 
 under the Duke of York, in Flanders French defeated at Villers 
 en Couchie at Gateau and near Tournay The Army retires 
 through Germany, and returns to England. 
 
 1745 THE allied army retreated under the cannon of 
 Ath, and was encamped at Lessines, near that 
 fortress ; but it was shortly afterwards compelled 
 to retire before the superior force of the French, 
 who before the end of the year had subdued the 
 greater part of the Austrian Netherlands. In the 
 mean time the young Pretender, Charles Edward, 
 at the head of the insurgent clans, having defeat- 
 ed the King's troops at Gladsmuir, was continu- 
 ing his triumphant march towards the metropolis. 
 In this emergency, the Duke of Cumberland was 
 recalled to command the army destined to sup- 
 press the Rebellion ; and the greater part of the 
 English troops were ordered home. Upon its 
 arrival in the Thames, from Flanders, (February, 
 1745,) the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards 
 marched into cantonments at Aylesbury, Wen-
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 91 
 
 dover, Uxbridge, and other towns in that vicinity* 1745 
 forming part of the army assembled to cover the 
 metropolis, in event of the advance of the Preten- 
 der, or to oppose the threatened descent of the 
 French upon the southern coasts of the kingdom. 
 The Rebellion, however, being terminated by the 
 Battle of Culloden, a detachment, consisting of 
 two troops, was stationed at Kingston-upon- 
 Thames, to attend upon the Court, and the re- 
 mainder of the Regiment was cantoned in the 
 vicinity of Northampton, in which town the head 
 quarters were established. 
 
 Few incidents now occur worthy of record ; the 
 Blues formed a relay of escorts to attend the 
 King on his landing from the Continent in 1748, 
 1750, and 1755f, and a detachment seems to 1750 
 have been constantly retained to attend upon the 
 Court, without reference to the quarters of the 
 remainder of the Regiment. On the death of the 
 Duke of Somerset, (February 7, 1750,) Charles, 
 second Duke of Richmond, succeeded to the Colo- 
 nelcy of the Blues (February 13). But that no- 
 bleman dying on the 8th of August in the same 
 year, the vacant Colonelcy was not filled up till 
 January 27th, 1753, when Sir John Ligonier, 
 K.B., from the Second Dragoon Guards, was 
 appointed to the command of the Regiment J. 
 
 * War Office Records. f Ibid. 
 
 J At the time of the Duke of Richmond's death, the King was 
 on the Continent, and did not return to England till nearly two 
 years afterwards. This may in some measure explain why the 
 Colonelcy of the Regiment continued so long vacant. The off-
 
 92 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1758 This officer was succeeded in the Colonelcy (13th 
 May, 1758) by John, Marquis of Granby. 
 
 War had been again declared against France 
 in the year 1756; and in order to rescue the 
 Electorate of Hanover from the French armies, 
 by which it was overrun, a large body of British 
 troops was embarked for the Continent in the 
 year 1758, to co-operate with the allied Hano- 
 verians and Hessians. The Royal Regiment of 
 Horse Guards having been encamped at Black- 
 heath, and afterwards at Dartford Heath*, em- 
 barked in the Thames, in the month of May, in 
 that year, and, shortly afterwards landing at Emb- 
 den, in Germany, proceeded to join the allied 
 army, of which Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick 
 now assumed the chief command. The British 
 contingent was commanded by the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, and afterwards, upon that nobleman's 
 death, by Lord George Sackville. After various 
 
 1759 unimportant operations in the spring and summer 
 of 1759, the Prince at length succeeded in drawing 
 the French army, under the Mareschals de Con- 
 tades and Broglio, from a strong position which it 
 
 reckonings and allowances due to the Colonel were in the mean 
 time directed to be paid to William Adair, Esq., the agent, and 
 the balance in his hands, upon the appointment of Sir John Ligonier 
 to be Colonel, was directed to be appropriated as follows : ' To 
 Robert Gardiner, Esq., for oatmeal delivered to the troops in 
 ' North Britain, 4951. Us. Id. ;' and the remainder of the balance, 
 being 6261. 10s. 7d., to John Calcraft, Esq., to be by him applied 
 towards carrying on the buildings at the Horse Guards. The 
 letters in the War Office books, authorizing the appropriation of 
 these sums, are dated 10th May, 1753. 
 * War Office Records.
 
 ROYAI. HKC.T OF 1IOUSK C.rAKDS. 1758: 
 
 StmJUae & <" .
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 93 
 
 occupied near Minden. It accordingly advanced 1759 
 to attack the allied army (August 1), when, 
 after a fierce engagement, the French were totally 
 defeated. But, owing to the unfortunate misun- 
 derstanding between Prince Ferdinand and the 
 Commander of the English Forces, Lord George 
 Sackville, and the misapprehension of his orders 
 on the part of the latter, the Blues, with several 
 other regiments of English cavalry, forming the 
 cavalry of the right wing, were detained in a 
 state of inactivity, being separated by a wood from 
 the rest of the army ; and thus deprived of an 
 opportunity of sharing in the honours of the day, 
 and of rendering more decisive a victory which 
 had been gained chiefly by the valorous conduct 
 of the British artillery and infantry*. Upon the 
 resignation of Lord George Sackville, who re- 
 turned to England (where he was afterwards 
 tried by a Court-Martial, and found guilty of dis- 
 obeying the orders of the Commander-in-Chief), 
 the Marquis of Granby succeeded to the command 
 of the British troops in Germany ; but during the 
 remainder of the year they do not appear to have 
 been actively engaged, and were distributed in 
 winter quarters in the neighbourhood of Osnaburg. 
 
 On the 5th of May, 1760, the allied armies 1760 
 marched from their cantonments, and were en- 
 camped near Fritzlar, in Lower Hesse. In the 
 subsequent operations of the campaign, the Blues 
 
 * Despatches of Prince Ferdinand, and subsequent General 
 Orders
 
 94 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1760 do not appear to have been engaged till the end 
 of July ; when the allies being encamped at Kalle, 
 near Cassel, the Due De Broglio, with the French 
 army under his command, advanced against them, 
 having detached the Chevalier de Muy, at the 
 head of his reserve, amounting to 35,000 men, to 
 cross the Dymel, and thus cutoff the communica- 
 tion of the allied army with Westphalia. To 
 prevent this, Prince Ferdinand, leaving a small 
 force to protect Cassel, despatched the Hereditary 
 Prince of Brunswick, at the head of a body of 
 troops, across the Dymel, lower down (July 29), 
 who, by a rapid march, succeeded in placing him- 
 self upon the left flank of the French army, which 
 had now advanced to Warbourg ; whilst Prince 
 Ferdinand, who had crossed the river for that 
 purpose, with the remainder of the allied army, 
 advanced against their front*. The result may be 
 told in the words of Lord Granby's despatch : 
 1 The Hereditary Prince immediately attacked the 
 1 enemy's flank, and, after a very sharp dispute, 
 ' obliged them to give way, and by a continual 
 ' fire, kept forcing them to fall back upon War- 
 4 bourg. The army was at this time marching 
 
 * with the greatest diligence to attack the enemy 
 
 * in front; but the infantry could not get up in 
 1 time. General Waldegrave, at the head of the 
 4 British, pressed their march as much as possible : 
 1 no troops could shew more eagerness to get up 
 ' than they shewed. Many of the men, from the 
 
 * London Gazette.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 95 
 
 1 heat of the weather, and overstraining themselves 1760 
 ' to get on through morassy and very difficult 
 ' ground, suddenly dropped down on their inarch. 
 
 ' General Mostyn, who was at the head of the 
 ' British cavalry, that was formed on the right of 
 ' our infantry, on the other side of a large wood, 
 ' upon receiving the Duke's orders to come up 
 ' with the cavalry as fast as possible, made so 
 ' much expedition, bringing them up at a full 
 ' trot, though the distance was near five miles, 
 ' that the British cavalry had the happiness to 
 ' arrive in time to share the glory of the day, 
 ' having successfully charged several times both 
 ' the enemy's cavalry and infantry. 
 
 ' I should do injustice to the general officers, to 
 1 every officer and private man of the cavalry, if I 
 * did not beg your Lordship would assure His 
 ' Majesty, that nothing could exceed their gallant 
 ' behaviour on that occasion.' 
 
 The loss of the Royal Regiment of Horse 
 Guards was as follows : killed, two rank and file, 
 one horse ; wounded, Cornet Cheney, six rank and 
 file, fifteen horses ; missing, seven rank and file, 
 six horses. 
 
 Nothing further of any consequence occurred 
 during the campaign, and at its close, the British 
 troops were cantoned in the Bishopric of Pader- 
 born, where they suffered great hardships from 
 scarcity of forage and provisions*. The campaign 
 
 * It was by his liberality and generous efforts to relieve the dis- 
 tresses of the soldiers, who, during the greater part of the war were 
 subjected to extraordinary privations, that the Marquis of Granby
 
 96 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1761 of 1761 was distinguished by few memorable 
 events. The battle of Kirch denkern (July 16), 
 in which the Due De Broglio was defeated by the 
 allies, was almost entirely an affair of infantry, 
 and throughout the campaign, the Blues do not 
 seem to have been once engaged. The British 
 army occupied nearly the same winter quarters as 
 in the preceding year. 
 
 In the following spring the allies again took 
 the field, at first with doubtful success; but 
 
 1762 on the 24th of June, Prince Ferdinand having 
 succeeded in surprising the French army under 
 the Mareschals D'Etrees and Soubise, at Grce- 
 benstein, in Westphalia, gained a complete vic- 
 tory, having taken between two and three thou- 
 sand prisoners, together with several pieces of 
 cannon, colours, &c. In this action the Blues, 
 and Elliot's Light Horse, were the only regi- 
 ments of British cavalry present. The loss of 
 the former was as follows : killed, one rank and 
 
 acquired that reputation for kindness of heart, which, even more 
 than his fame as a Commander, long rendered him so popular with 
 the British army. Upon the return of the troops to England, 
 every village host found it his interest to adorn his sign-post with 
 a portrait of the hero : and the passing veteran, recognizing his 
 noble General, splendidly portrayed in the uniform of his Regi- 
 ment, could seldom resist the temptation to devote a tankard to 
 his health, and reward the good taste of the landlord who had 
 adopted such a sign. Many an idle villager was thus attracted to 
 listen to the wondrous tales of war, whilst seated in the chimney 
 corner, 
 
 ' The praise of Granby next the sweet musician sung ;' 
 till under the accumulating inspiration of ale and tobacco, the roof 
 resounded with the burthen of the ditty, ' Granby () ! generous 
 Granby O !'
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 97 
 
 file, three horses; wounded, five rank and file, 1762 
 two horses. 
 
 The French were again defeated August 6, in 
 the same year, at Hombourg, when the Blues 
 greatly distinguished themselves. The following 
 particulars are given in the London Gazette : 
 
 * Prince Ferdinand having received advice that 
 ' M. De Rochambeau had assembled some brigades 
 ' of infantry and cavalry near Hombourg, with a 
 1 view to cover the communications of the enemy's 
 ' army with Frankfort, took the resolution of dis- 
 ' lodging him from his post which he had taken 
 'possession of: for which purpose His Serene 
 1 Highness ordered Lord Frederick Cavendish to 
 4 advance with the chasseurs of the infantry of the 
 ' army, Freytag's Chasseurs, and Bauer's and 
 ' Riedesel's Hussars, from Lohn to Felzberg, and 
 1 Lord Granby, with the brigade of British Gre- 
 ' nadiers, Elliot's, the Blues, and the four Hano- 
 4 verian squadrons, from Hoff to Fritzlar. The 
 ' former were to march towards Hombourg, in 
 ' such a direction as to cut off the enemy's corps 
 ' from Melsulgen and Fulda, the other to cut off 
 
 * their retreat to Ziegenhayn, which orders were 
 4 executed in the following manner. The hour 
 ' of rendezvous on both sides of Hombourg for 
 
 * the attack of Rocham beau's corps was agreed 
 4 on ; the discharge of three pieces of cannon from 
 ' Lord Frederic Cavendish's troops was to be the 
 ' signal of their arrival. Elliot's being arrived at 
 ' a quarter of a league's distance from Hombourg, 
 ' attacked the advanced posts and drove them from
 
 98 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1762 'the heights, and took post there : the rest of 
 ' Lord Granby's corps were in the rear of Elliot's, 
 ' behind the declivity of the height, and the 
 
 * enemy's tents continued standing. At the same 
 ' time Lord Frederick Cavendish's Hussars began 
 ' to exchange some shots with the enemy, when 
 ' their tents were immediately struck, and they got 
 
 * under arms at the foot of the mountain, and in 
 
 * the hedges near the town. Their cavalry formed 
 4 on the plain ; the three discharges of cannon 
 4 were made ; whereupon the enemy's infantry 
 ' defiled upon their left, their cavalry covering 
 4 their march. Lord Granby, perceiving they 
 4 intended to retreat,, marched all his corps as fast 
 4 as possible to the right, when the enemy's 
 4 cavalry, who put on a good countenance, began 
 4 to move on at a good rate ; upon this his Lord- 
 4 ship ordered the cavalry to advance, following 
 4 close with the infantry, which began an attack 
 4 on the enemy's rear with the greatest ardour 
 4 and success, making two onsets in an instant ; 
 4 but the enemy's cavalry facing about imme- 
 4 diately, and falling sword in hand upon Elliot's 
 4 Dragoons, that regiment would have suffered 
 4 greatly, had not Colonel Hervey, at the head of 
 4 the Blues, seeing the danger, passed the village 
 4 at full gallop, and notwithstanding he could 
 4 only oppose eight or ten men in front to formed 
 4 squadrons, he overthrew all that came in his 
 4 way, and saved Elliot's Regiment. The situation 
 4 of the two regiments at this time was very cri- 
 4 tical ; but the mutual support which they gave
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 99 
 
 ' each other Elliot's Dragoons by their con- 1/62 
 
 * tinual skirmishing with the enemy ; and the 
 ' Blues by their manoeuvres in squadrons, and by 
 ' their steady countenance, kept the enemy at 
 ' bay, till the infantry could come up. They then 
 ' began their retreat in the utmost hurry, the 
 ' Grenadiers and Highlanders following them 
 ' with their usual ardour. If their infantry had 
 
 * not posted themselves in a hollow way to sustain 
 ' their squadrons, which the Blues and Elliot's 
 ' were charging, the whole would have been 
 
 * routed : during their retreat Lord Cavendish's 
 
 * corps, which could not advance sooner, followed 
 ' them close, and pushed them vigorously. 
 
 * Colonels Hervey and Erskine, Majors Forbes 
 ' and Ainsley, distinguished themselves greatly. 
 ' Our loss in killed, wounded, and taken may 
 
 * be about eighty men ; that of the enemy is very 
 
 * considerable, the number of prisoners made by us 
 ' amounting to two hundred and fifty.' 
 
 Of the loss of the Blues upon this occasion there 
 is no official return. 
 
 At the conclusion of the war the Regiment was 
 reduced previous to its return to England, which 
 took place in the spring of 1763. The establish- 1763 
 ment, which had before been fifty-two, was now 
 fixed at twenty-nine per troop. The discharged 
 men were conveyed to England with the remain- 
 der of the Regiment, and certain allowances 
 granted to them, to enable them to return to their 
 previous places of abode. Each discharged trooper 
 who had served for one whole year was permitted 
 
 H 2
 
 100 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1763 to sell his horse for his own benefit, upon condition 
 that it should be sold previous to embarkation, and 
 an additional gratuity equal to nine days' pay was 
 given to them upon disembarking in England : 
 to those who had served for less than a year 
 eighteen days' pay was given at the same time, 
 and the whole were permitted to retain their 
 clothes and cloaks*. 
 
 The Regiment was now stationed at Derby and 
 Nottingham, and it seems singular that from this 
 period till the year 1804 it was not employed 
 about the Court, nor was the usual detachment 
 retained near London to perform the escort duties 
 as had been customary in the preceding reigns. 
 In the first instance, probably, it was thought just, 
 that a corps which had been so much harassed 
 during five years of active service should be per- 
 mitted, for a time at least, to remain stationed 
 in the country, in order to recruit ; and after- 
 wards the commanding officers of those regiments 
 which had superseded the Royal Regiment of 
 Horse Guards in the honourable duties which for 
 one hundred years it had performed, and for the 
 performance of which it was originally raised, 
 seem to have been long enabled, by means of 
 various kinds of influence, to continue its privi- 
 leges in abeyance. On the other hand, it is not 
 unlikely that the officers and troopers of the Regi- 
 
 * The warrant authorizing this reduction and the allowances to 
 the discharged men, is dated December 24, 1762; the reduction 
 appears to have been carried into effect in the month of February 
 following.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 
 
 101 
 
 ment, satisfied with the easy duties belonging to 1770 
 a military life in country quarters, were scarcely 
 anxious to exchange them for the almost forgotten 
 honour of attending upon the Court. On the 
 death of the Marquis of Granby, (19th of Octo- 
 ber, 1770,) General, afterwards Field-Marshal 
 Con way, from the Fourth Regiment of Dragoons, 
 was appointed to the Colonelcy of the Blues (25th 
 of October, 1770). 
 
 The quarters of the Regiment seem to have 
 been generally established at Derby, Nottingham, 
 Leicester, Stamford, Northampton, and other 
 towns in the midland counties of England, till 
 the commencement of the war with the French 
 Republic, in 1793*. On the 8th of June in 1793 
 that year, four troops of the Blues, having been 
 previously reviewed by the King, in Hyde Park, 
 on the same day embarked at Blackwall, for 
 the Netherlands. The remaining troops, forming 
 the regimental depot, were stationed at North- 
 ampton. The troops on foreign service landed 
 at Ostend on the 15th of June, and marched from 
 thence to Conde ; whence they joined the army 
 under the command of His Royal Highness the 
 Duke of York, and were encamped. They were 
 present at the surrender of Valenciennes on the 1st 
 
 * Shortly after the conclusion of the war in 1762, the Regiment 
 began to be mounted upon long-tailed horses. The reason assigned 
 for this change is said to have been the great annoyance to which 
 it was found the animal was subjected from the flies, when on foreign 
 service. When the fashion of a short dock was introduced is not 
 known ; but the Regiment appears to have been originally mounted 
 upon long-tailed horses.
 
 102 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1793 of August. Afterwards the regiment formed part 
 of the force assembled to besiege Dunkirk, and 
 marched from Furnes towards that city on the 
 23rd of August. But as the route lay along the 
 sands, near the sea, upon its approaching Dunkirk 
 it was exposed to the fire of some of the enemy's 
 gun-boats which bore in towards the shore. In 
 this affair Lieutenant Board of the regiment was 
 knocked off his horse by a cannon shot and so 
 severely injured that he died soon afterwards. 
 The siege of Dunkirk was raised on the 8th of 
 September, and the regiment does not appear to 
 have been engaged in any operation of importance 
 during the remainder of the year : it retired to 
 Tournay, and afterwards for winter quarters to 
 Ghent. 
 
 1 794 In the following spring, the allies commenced 
 the campaign by laying siege to Landrecies, to 
 relieve which fortress the French army under 
 General Pichegru had assembled in great force. 
 On the 23rd of April, the Duke of York having 
 despatched General Otto, with a detachment of 
 cavalry, to reconnoitre the enemy, that officer 
 reported them to be strongly posted at Villers 
 en Couchie, and in great force, and requested 
 that a reinforcement might be sent to his support. 
 Two squadrons of the Austrian cuirassiers of 
 Zetchwitz, Major-General Mansel's brigade of 
 heavy cavalry, consisting of the Blues, First 
 Dragoon Guards, and Royal Dragoons, together 
 with the Sixteenth Light Dragoons, were im- 
 mediately detached upon this service. As they
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 103 
 
 could not arrive till it was dark, General Otto 1794 
 was obliged to delay the attack till the next 
 morning, when, soon after day-break, he ordered 
 two squadrons of Hussars and two squadrons of 
 the Fifteenth Light Dragoons to charge the 
 enemy, which they did with the greatest success ; 
 and finding a line of infantry in rear of the cavalry 
 they continued the charge without hesitation, and 
 broke them likewise. The enemy were com- 
 pletely driven back, and obliged to retreat in great 
 confusion into Cambray, with the loss of one 
 thousand two hundred men killed, and three 
 pieces of cannon. The defeat, however, was not 
 so complete as it ought to have been, owing to 
 some mistake, by which General Mansel's brigade 
 did not arrive in time to give efficient support to 
 the Light Dragoons and Hussars*. In this action 
 one horse belonging to the Royal Horse Guards 
 was killed, one wounded, and two missing. 
 
 On the 26th of April, a French corps, amounting 
 to twenty-eight thousand men, having marched 
 out of Cambray the night before, advanced against 
 the British army under the Duke of York, which 
 was strongly posted at Gateau. The enemy having 
 formed their line at day-break, advanced under 
 cover of a thick fog, and had possessed themselves 
 of one or two small villages in front of the British 
 position, when at length their motions being 
 plainly seen, and their left appearing to be unpro- 
 tected, His Royal Highness detached the cavalry 
 
 * London Gazette.
 
 104 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1794 of the right wing, consisting of this Regiment, the 
 Zetchwitz Cuirassiers, the First, Third, and Fifth 
 Dragoon Guards, and the Royals, under Lieu- 
 tenant-General Otto, to turn them from that 
 flank ; whilst a brisk cannonade was kept up in 
 their front in order to divert their attention from 
 this movement. Some light troops were in the 
 mean time directed against their right flank, but 
 owing to the incessant fire which was kept up by 
 the enemy's batteries, stationed in a wood, this 
 attack was only partially successful. That, how- 
 ever, directed by General Otto, completely suc- 
 ceeded. The enemy being attacked in their front 
 and rear, were soon thrown into confusion, and 
 the slaughter was immense ; twenty-two pieces 
 of cannon were taken, also a great quantity of 
 ammunition* ; and Lieutenant-General Chapuy, 
 who commanded the French, with three hundred 
 and fifty officers and privates, were made prisoners. 
 The loss of the British was also severe, including 
 General Manself and his son, who were both 
 killed. The loss of the Royal Horse Guards was 
 as follows : killed, Quarter-Master Kipling, fifteen 
 rank and file, twenty-five horses ; wounded, four 
 corporals, sixteen rank and file, seventeen horses ; 
 missing, eight horses. His Royal Highness, in 
 
 * London Gazette. 
 
 t Unable to bear the imputation which remained upon his cha- 
 racter after the battle of the 24th, this unfortunate officer is said to 
 have declared that ' he would not return alive ;' and rushing into the 
 action, with all the energy of reckless despair, sought his fate in the 
 midst of the enemy's ranks.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 105 
 
 his despatch detailing this affair, was pleased to 1794 
 describe 'the conduct of the British cavalry as 
 ' beyond all praise ;' and issued a General Order 
 upon the occasion, from which the following is an 
 extract : 
 
 ' The Austrian regiment of Cuirassiers of Zetch- 
 ' witz, the Blues, the First, Third, and Fifth Dra- 
 ' goon Guards, the Royals, Archduke Ferdinand's 
 ' Hussars, and the Sixteenth Light Dragoons, who 
 ' attacked and defeated the principal column of 
 ' the enemy on the right, have all acquired im- 
 ' mortal honour to themselves.' 
 
 Landrecies surrendered a few days after the 
 action. But at day-break on the morning of the 
 10th of May the French, in different columns, 
 amounting in the whole to thirty thousand men, 
 renewed their attack upon the British army, in 
 the neighbourhood of Tournay ; and, after a sharp 
 engagement, which lasted five hours, were re- 
 pulsed with great loss, including thirteen pieces 
 of cannon, and above four hundred officers and 
 men taken prisoners. The enemy commenced 
 their attack with an attempt to turn the British 
 left, which failing, their next efforts were directed 
 against the centre, advancing with great resolu- 
 tion under a heavy cannonade. But a favourable 
 opportunity presenting itself of attacking their 
 right flank, which did not seem to be protected, 
 Lieutenant-General Harcourt, with sixteen squad- 
 rons of British, and two of Austrian cavalry, was 
 detached for this purpose ; and, having succeeded 
 in gaining their flank, attacked them with so
 
 106 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1794 much resolution and intrepidity that they im- 
 mediately began their retreat, in the course of 
 which they were soon broken. The Hanoverians, 
 who occupied a position to the right of that of 
 the British, had in the mean time repulsed an 
 attack which was made upon them, and the dis- 
 comfiture of the French army was complete*. 
 
 In this action, the Regiment being in position 
 near the Lille road, having the village of Baizieu 
 on its right, and a little to the rear, a French six- 
 pounder, with four horses, drivers, and some men 
 mounted on the limbers, was observed attempting 
 to escape from Baizieu, in the direction of Lille, 
 upon which, General Dundas ordered Lieut. Sir 
 Charles Turner of the Blues with two file of his 
 men to take possession of it ; this was instantly 
 done, and the gun was safely lodged in the rear. 
 A few moments after, a French officer, apparent! v 
 of some distinction, mounted upon a grey charger, 
 was seen crossing the right of the Regiment, 
 somewhat in front, when Joseph White, one of 
 the troopers who had been in pursuit of the gun, 
 and had been the first who came up and turned 
 the horses' heads upon that occasion, elated with 
 his success, put spurs to his horse, galloped for- 
 ward and summoned the French officer to surren- 
 der. The latter turned upon him with con- 
 temptuous fury, and a deadly combat ensued 
 between them, which lasted for several minutes 
 in sight of the Regiment, and was terminated by 
 
 * London Gazette.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 107 
 
 the death of the Frenchman; White having run 1794 
 his sword through his body. The victor dis- 
 mounted, and having taken from his opponent two 
 watches, his purse, and pocket-book, as trophies 
 of his victory, rejoined his troop, having himself 
 escaped unhurt in the encounter, but his horse had 
 received several severe cuts.* 
 
 His Royal Highness, in his despatch, after 
 thanking the general Officers, added his opinion, 
 ' that the officers, and men of the troops which 
 * they led, merit every commendation, having well 
 ' supported the reputation they had already ac- 
 ' quired by their conduct on the 26th of last 
 4 month.' Of the Royal Horse Guards, in this 
 battle, there were two rank and file and four 
 horses killed ; Cornet George Smith, three rank 
 and file, and three horses wounded ; four rank 
 and file, and four horses missing. 
 
 The immense superiority of numbers which the 
 French were enabled to bring into the field now 
 compelled the British army to retire ; and the 
 reluctance of the Dutch to make any sacrifices to 
 defend their territories becoming daily more appa- 
 rent, the Duke of York was unable effectually 
 
 * In the year 1804, when the regiment was at Windsor, White, 
 having been promoted, was one of the four orderly corporals, who in 
 turn waited at the castle to receive the King's orders, and the King, 
 (George III.) having heard that Corporal White had a French offi- 
 cer's watch in his possession, requested to see it, and upon its being 
 produced, His Majesty expressed his delight, and enquired whether 
 the owner would part with it. White, however, with all submission, 
 expressed his unwillingness to do so, and the King told him he had 
 no wish to press him, as it was an honour for him to keep it.
 
 108 
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1 794 to resist the advances of the enemy : and in the 
 subsequent operations of the war, which was 
 carried on in a country for the most part totally 
 impracticable for the movements of cavalry, the 
 Blues were not engaged. After the conquest of 
 Holland by the French, which was much faci- 
 litated by the severity of the winter of 1794-5, 
 the British army retired through Germany ; and 
 having suffered much privation during a disastrous 
 march, continued through the greater part of the 
 year 1795, it finally embarked on board transports 
 at the mouths of the Weser and Elbe. The four 
 troops of the Royal Horse Guards, shortly after 
 their arrival in the Thames, in November, 1795, 
 marched to join the remainder of the regiment at 
 Northampton*. 
 
 * In spite of the Duke of York's encomiums upon their gallantry, 
 the old story that the Blues had run away was again raised upon 
 their return ; and as their uniform was no longer decorated with the 
 gold lace, by which heretofore it had been distinguished, it was 
 asserted that this deprivation had taken place to mark their disgrace. 
 As this idle story, if it has not obtained implicit credit, has at 
 least been vaguely supposed to have some foundation, the simple 
 facts, and causes of this temporary eclipse, may be here related. 
 Their clothing becoming due during the absence of the four troops 
 on the Continent, a splendid parade uniform was thought incon- 
 sistent with the severer duties of active service, and a plainer one 
 was accordingly issued to them. On their return, it was necessary to 
 re-establish uniformity ; and the Colonel, unwilling to be at a greater 
 expense in clothing his Regiment than were the colonels of other 
 Dragoon Regiments, (for the peculiar rank and privileges of the 
 Royal Horse Guards were now well nigh forgotten,) ordered the 
 gold-laced uniform and furniture to be laid aside ; and, in order 
 to render their appearance still more uniform with the rest of the 
 army, the brass ornaments on the horses' bits were also ordered to 
 be taken off.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 109 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Regiment encamped at Weymouth and Swinley Stationed 
 at Windsor Silver Kettle-Drums presented Marches into 
 Lancashire Two Squadrons embark for Portugal Join the 
 Army under the Marquis of Wellington Subsequent operations 
 The Blues stationed at Logrono Enter France, and 'embark 
 for England at the conclusion of the War Are stationed at 
 Windsor Four troops again embark for Foreign Service Land 
 at Ostend, and join the Duke of Wellington's Army Battle of 
 Waterloo The Army marches to Paris The Blues return to 
 England Various Occurrences to the end of the Reign of 
 George III. The Regiment stationed in London Coronation 
 of King George IV. Cuirasses worn ; the colour of the Belts 
 changed from Buff to White Reviews, &c. during the Reign of 
 George IV. Accession of King William IV. He inspects the 
 Regiment Coronation of their Majesties -The King presents 
 a Standard to the Regiment Visit of Queen Adelaide Con- 
 clusion. 
 
 ON the death of Field-Marshal Conway (July 9), 1795 
 Charles, third Duke of Richmond, succeeded 
 to the Colonelcy (July 15th, 1795). In the suc- 
 ceeding years the Regiment occupied various 
 country quarters : it was encamped at Weymouth 
 in the summer of 1797, and in those of 1798 
 and 1799 at Swinley, near Windsor. At length 
 (October 26, 1804), it was stationed at Wind- 
 sor, and His Majesty, King George III., hav- 
 ing at once determined that the former honours 
 and privileges of the Regiment should be no 
 longer withheld, it was again furnished with gold- 
 laced clothing and appointments ; and the orna- 
 mented bridle, with the other marks of distinction 
 of which it had been deprived were ordered to be
 
 110 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1804 forthwith restored. The King was further pleased 
 to mark his sense of its merits by the donation of 
 a splendid pair of silver kettle-drums, which were 
 presented to the Regiment by His Majesty in 
 person on St. George's Day, 1805, the King's 
 Troop being drawn up for this purpose within the 
 square of Windsor Castle. Upon this occasion 
 the following Order was issued to the Regiment 
 by the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Dorrien : 
 
 ' Head Quarters, Cavalry Barracks, 
 ' Windsor, 15th May, 1805. 
 
 * Although the late most gracious present from 
 1 the King in person to the Regiment, of a pair 
 4 of silver Kettle-Drums, was given with much 
 4 public ceremony, yet it is also proper that this 
 ' present should stand upon the records of the 
 
 * Regiment, and be inserted in the Order Books 
 
 * for the information of future times. 
 
 ' On the Drums are engraved His Majesty's 
 ' arms with this inscription : 
 
 III. 
 G. R. 
 
 GIVEN BY KING GEORGE III. APRIL 23, 1805. 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS ROYAL REGIMENT OF HORSE GUARDS, AS A TESTIMONIAL 
 
 OF ITS HONOURABLE AND MILITARY CONDUCT 
 
 ON ALL OCCASIONS.
 
 ROYAL UEC.T OK HORSI-. ClARDS. IHOK. 
 
 StaxAJyt <{ P.Litlu
 
 HORSE GUARDS. Ill 
 
 'The Commanding Officer, while he partici- 1805 
 
 * pates in the satisfaction and gratitude which 
 ' must be felt by all ranks in the Regiment for 
 
 * this distinguished mark of Royal favour, wishes 
 ' to point out, that as the honourable testimony 
 4 has been gained by their own exemplary con- 
 ' duct, it is by the same means only that it can 
 ' be preserved in full force ; that is, by the united 
 4 endeavours of all ranks to deserve it, and they 
 ' are bound by the call of honour and duty thus 
 ' to transmit this valuable testimony unsullied to 
 
 * posterity.' 
 
 Till the period of his unhappy illness, His 
 Majesty continued his attachment to the Blues, 
 frequently wearing the uniform, and honouring 
 the regimental parades by his presence*. On the 
 death of the Duke of Richmond (December 29, 
 1806), the command of the Royal Horse Guards 
 was upon the day following given to Hugh, Duke 
 of Northumberland, a nobleman whose liberality 
 will ever be held in grateful remembrance, espe- 
 cially recorded as it is, by his two munificent 
 donations of one thousand pounds each, to the 
 
 * Upon the death of King George III. the uniform of the Royal 
 Horse Guards, which he had been in the habit of wearing, was pre- 
 sented to the Regiment by his Royal successor, King George IV. ; 
 who, at the same time, was pleased to assure the Commanding 
 Officer ' that he fully participated in his father's feelings of 
 ' attachment towards the corps, and that he entertained the same 
 ' sense of its honourable character and good conduct upon all 
 ' occasions.' It is perhaps needless to add that the valued relic is 
 carefully preserved, with every feeling of gratitude and respect.
 
 112 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1812 Troopers' Regimental Fund* ; the first on the 23rd 
 of April, 1807, and the second on the 23rd of 
 April, 1813. 
 
 The Regiment continued at Windsor till the 
 year 1812 ; in the spring of which, on account of 
 disturbances in the manufacturing districts, and 
 outrages committed by the Luddites (as the rioters 
 who had combined for the purpose of destroying 
 the machinery were denominated), it marched 
 into Lancashire ; and on the 7th of May the head 
 quarters were established at Warrington. 
 
 In the ensuing autumn, internal tranquillity 
 being happily in great measure restored, the 
 Government determined, by every means in their 
 power, to reinforce the British army in the Penin- 
 sula. The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, 
 therefore, with the two Regiments of Life Guards, 
 were ordered to prepare for foreign service ; and 
 the establishment of the former, previously con- 
 sisting of eight troops, was now ordered to be 
 augmented to ten. Upon this occasion the Duke 
 of Northumberland strongly urged his right, as 
 
 * This fund had been established in the year 1804, whilst the 
 Regiment was quartered at Canterbury. By its regulations the 
 non-commissioned officers and troopers agreed to contribute one 
 shilling per month out of their pay. The sum arising out of this 
 contribution being vested in Government securities, by certain ap- 
 pointed trustees, the interest was applied to the payment of pensions 
 to discharged troopers, in classes, the amount of the pension being 
 proportionate to their length of service. But in consequence of 
 some dissensions, and the generally-expressed wish of the members 
 of the society, an Act of Parliament was obtained for its dissolution 
 in the year 1832, and the capital stock was divided amongst the 
 claimants in proportionate shares.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 113 
 
 consistent with the past usages of the corps, to 1812 
 appoint the officers of both the troops about to be 
 added, whilst His Royal Highness 1he Duke of 
 York, the Commander-in-Chief, insisted upon his 
 claim, in virtue of his office, to appoint the officers 
 of at least one of them. At length, finding his 
 arguments ineffectual, and considering his privi- 
 leges as Colonel of the Regiment, in some degree 
 compromised by the decision, the Duke of Nor- 
 thumberland resigned his command, and the 
 great Chief, whose fame was now rapidly ad- 
 vancing to its meridian, the Marquis of Wel- 
 lington, succeeded to the Colonelcy (January 1, 
 1813). 
 
 In the mean time two squadrons of the Regi- 
 ment, formed for foreign service, consisting of 
 twenty-one officers, twenty-four non-commissioned 
 officers, four trumpeters, two hundred and ninety- 
 four rank and file, and two hundred and ninety- 
 six horses, embarked at Portsmouth, on the 10th 
 of November, in eight transports. The wind 
 being unfavourable, the transports having the 
 troops on board were detained in Stokes Bay till 
 the 8th of November, when they sailed for Por- 
 tugal : the remaining six depot troops were sta- 
 tioned at Windsor. The whole of the two squadrons 
 (with the exception of a small party on board a 
 transport, which, being separated from the rest in 
 a gale, did not arrive till the 23rd of December,) 
 disembarked in the Tagus, on the 23rd of Novem- 
 ber, and marched into barracks at Belem, and 
 from thence, on the 29th of the same month, into
 
 114 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1812 barracks at Luz ; having been inspected by Lieu- 
 tenant-General Sir William Carr Beresford, K.B., 
 and afterwards by Lieutenant-General Sir Stapyl- 
 ton Cotton, both which officers passed the highest 
 encomiums upon the appearance of the men, and 
 the good condition of the horses. 
 
 1813 O n tne 10 tn f January, 1813, the Regiment 
 commenced its march to Thomar, where it arrived 
 on the 17th. Major-General Rebow, of the 
 Second Life Guards, having returned to England 
 on leave of absence, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir R. C. 
 Hill, of the Royal Horse Guards, as the officer 
 next in rank, assumed the command of the House- 
 hold Brigade, and the command of the regiment 
 devolved to Captain Packe. 
 
 On the 6th of April a remount from England 
 joined at Thomar, consisting of two officers, one 
 corporal, twenty-one rank and file, and thirty-nine 
 horses. On the 6th of May the Regiment was at 
 Villa Mayor, Bismula, Roives, and Rovena, on 
 the frontiers of Portugal ; and on the 1 1th it was 
 inspected by the Marquis of Wellington ; on the 
 23rd of May it first joined the army near San 
 Manoz. On the 4th of June the Regiment passed 
 the Douro, near the city of Toro, and on the 19th 
 was in bivouac near Carcamo ; from whence it 
 marched at day-break on the morning of the 21st, 
 and was present with the rest of the army in the 
 decisive general action fought that day near Vit- 
 toria. But the difficult nature of the ground not 
 allowing the cavalry to be generally engaged, all 
 the service that could be performed was to advance
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 
 
 115 
 
 as close as possible with the infantry, in order to 1813 
 support them * ; in this service two horses of the 
 Blues were killed by a cannon-shot. About nine 
 o'clock in the evening it bivouacked in a grove 
 about three leagues from the city of Vittoria. 
 
 General Clausel, having under his command a 
 part of the French army which was not in the 
 action of the 21st, approached Vittoria on the 
 22nd, when, upon hearing of the action of the pre- 
 ceding day, he retired in the direction of Tudela 
 de Ebro. In order, if possible, to intercept his 
 retreat, the Light, Third, Fourth, and Seventh 
 Divisions, with Colonel Grant's and Major Mac- 
 pherson's Brigades of cavalry, were moved towards 
 Tudela ; whilst the Fifth and Sixth Divisions, with 
 the Household and General D'Urban's cavalry, 
 marched from Vittoria to Salvatierra, in the direc- 
 tion of Logrono. The French General, however, 
 by means of extraordinary forced marches, was 
 enabled to reach Tudela in safety f. 
 
 The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards was 
 now stationed at Logrono, where it continued till 
 the 27th of July, when it marched to Los Arcos, 
 and continuing its march through the following 
 day, on the 29th arrived at the right of the 
 British position, where it was formed in column, 
 with two other brigades of cavalry ; in the 
 evening, retiring to a convent near the village 
 of Badestein, it bivouacked rounds its walls. The 
 Regiment was in motion by three o'clock on 
 
 * Despatches of the Marquis of Wellington. f Ibid. 
 
 I 2
 
 116 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1813 the morning of the 30th of July, and proceeded, 
 with the rest of the brigade, to the right of 
 the position occupied by the British army, where 
 also were several other brigades of cavalry, form- 
 ing a reserve. On this and the preceding day 
 Marshal Soult, who had now succeeded to the 
 command of the French army, which had been 
 considerably reinforced and re-equipped, after its 
 late defeat at Vittoria, made a most formidable 
 attempt to relieve Pampeluna (then blockaded by 
 the British), with the whole of his forces, except- 
 ing the reserve, under General Villatte (which 
 remained in front of the British troops on the 
 great road from Irun) ; when he was totally de- 
 feated, and compelled to retire, with a severe loss 
 both of officers and men*. During this action 
 the Blues were again compelled to remain inac- 
 tive, the battle being fought amidst the precipitous 
 rocks and broken ravines of the Pyrenean moun- 
 tains, upon ground where it was impossible for 
 cavalry to act. On the day following the Regi- 
 ment occupied Espazza and two other small vil- 
 lages, about a league from Pampeluna; and on 
 the 9th of August the Household Brigade, being 
 destined to form a corps of reserve and support 
 for the troops blockading that fortress, marched 
 back to Logroflo, where it arrived on the 12th. 
 
 Major- General O'Loghlin, of the First Life 
 Guards, having arrived to take the command of 
 the brigade about the 15th of September, Lieute- 
 
 * Despatches of the Marquis of Wellington.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 117 
 
 nant-Colonel Sir Robert Hill returned to the com- 1813 
 mand of the Royal Horse Guards. 
 
 Pampeluna surrendered on the 31st of October ; 
 but the season being so far advanced, it was not 
 thought desirable to withdraw the Household Bri- 
 gade from the quarters it continued to occupy at 
 Logrofio before the spring. The Regiment ac- 
 cordingly remained at Logrofio and its environs 
 till the 13th of March, 1814, when it received a 1814 
 route to join the army in France. On the 23rd of 
 March it crossed the Pyrenees to Orufia, or 
 Orogne (France), where it was joined by a re- 
 mount from England, consisting of six officers, 
 ten corporals, two trumpeters, one hundred and 
 forty-five rank and file, and one hundred and 
 fifty-one horses. 
 
 On the 17th of April the Regiment marched to 
 Pompertusate, having been inspected by the Duke 
 of Wellington on the road. 
 
 Upon the termination of hostilities the dis- 
 mounted men, with the heavy baggage, were 
 embarked at Bourdeaux for England, and the 
 Regiment commenced its march from Lectoure 
 on the 31st of May, and on the 23rd of July it 
 arrived at Boulogne, two horses only being unfit 
 for duty at the conclusion of this long march. 
 Having embarked on that and the following day, 
 the whole arrived at Dover on the 25th, and pro- 
 ceeded to head quarters, which were established 
 at Windsor. 
 
 In commemoration of its services during the 
 war in Spain, Portugal, and France, the Regi-
 
 118 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1814 ment was permitted to bear the word ' Peninsula' 
 on its colours and appointments. 
 
 Upon the return of Napoleon from Elba, and 
 the subsequent declaration of war, 4;wo squadrons 
 of the Blues, consisting of twenty-two officers, 
 nineteen corporals, four trumpeters, two hundred 
 and thirty-two rank and file, and two hundred and 
 thirty-horses, under the command of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Sir Robert Hill, embarked at Dover and 
 
 1815 Ramsgate, on the 2nd of May, 1815, for Ostend, 
 where they arrived on the 4th, and upon disem- 
 barking marched forward to Bruges. On the 
 10th of the same month they occupied Leider- 
 kirke, and other inconsiderable villages in the 
 vicinity of Ninove, where the head quarters of 
 the British cavalry were established. 
 
 The two regiments of Life Guards, the Royal 
 Regiment of Horse Guards, and the First or 
 King's Dragoon Guards, were formed into one 
 brigade, under the orders of Major- General Lord 
 Edward Somerset, K.C.B. 
 
 The whole of the British cavalry, and troops of 
 horse artillery, amounting to upwards of seven 
 thousand men, under the command of the Earl of 
 Uxbridge, were reviewed on the 29th of May, on 
 the plain of Grammont, by the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, commanding the forces, Prince Blucher, and 
 several distinguished personages. 
 
 On the morning of the 16th of June an order 
 arrived for the immediate march of the Regiment, 
 which accordingly left its cantonments, and passing 
 through Braine Le Compte and Nivelles, after a
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 119 
 
 long day's march, bivouacked in a field between 1815 
 Le Quatre Bras and Genappe. On the 17th the 
 army retired, the retreat being covered by the 
 cavalry. Upon the enemy's advance, they were 
 attacked by the Seventh Hussars, and afterwards 
 by the First Regiment of Life Guards, with con- 
 siderable success. The retreat was then conti- 
 nued, covered by the Royal Horse Guards. The 
 French, however, confined their attack to a heavy 
 cannonade, and in the evening the allied army 
 having arrived at its intended position in front of 
 the village of Waterloo, the Regiment bivouacked 
 for the night. 
 
 The events of the following day are so well 
 known, and the position, &c. of the armies engaged, 
 for the most part, so generally understood, that it 
 is unnecessary to enter into any detail upon these 
 points ; a course which, in describing the position 
 and conduct of a single Regiment, it seems de- 
 sirable, as far as possible, to avoid, lest we should 
 appear to claim for a particular corps a greater 
 share in the glory belonging to that memorable 
 day than is justly its due. In this place it may 
 be sufficient to state, that the brigade of Lord 
 Edward Somerset was formed across, and ex- 
 tended to the right and left of the high road lead- 
 ing from Brussels to Charleroy, which intersected 
 the British position nearly in the centre. Gra- 
 dually advancing from this station, it made several 
 charges, in all of which the French were repulsed. 
 One of these charges was particularly remarkable 
 for the brilliant success with which it was at-
 
 120 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1815 tended. In the hope of penetrating the British 
 position, the attacks of the enemy's powerful 
 cavalry were constantly directed against the 
 centre ; it was thus that the cuirassiers and lan- 
 cers of the Imperial Guard were brought in con- 
 tact with the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, 
 near the farm of Le Haye Sainte ; and it was 
 there that those boasted victors of an hundred 
 fights were in an instant routed, and rolled to the 
 earth, 'in most admired disorder,' by the impe- 
 tuous charge of the British Household Brigade. 
 
 This success, however, was not achieved with- 
 out considerable loss. Of the Blues, Major Packe 
 (who commanded the right squadron) and several 
 men were killed, and more wounded ; and Captain 
 Thoyts, and Lieutenant Tathwell, their horses 
 being shot, fell into the hands of the enemy, and 
 were made prisoners*. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, in his despatch, was 
 pleased to notice the conduct of Lord Edward 
 Somerset's Brigade in the following terms : 
 
 * The enemy repeatedly charged our infantry 
 ' with his cavalry ; but these attacks were uni- 
 ' formly unsuccessful, and they afforded opportu- 
 ' nities for our cavalry to charge ; in one of which 
 ' Lord Edward Somerset's Brigade, consisting of 
 
 * These officers being sent to the rear, were detained by the 
 enemy at Charleroy, till set at liberty by the advance of the victo- 
 rious army. Lieutenant Tathwell rejoined his Regiment two days 
 afterwards ; but Captain Thoyts, having been placed under a more 
 rigid surveillance, did not succeed in making his escape till a day or 
 two later, and was returned missing.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 121 
 
 * the Life Guards, Royal Horse Guards, and First 1815 
 ' Dragoon Guards, highly distinguished them- 
 
 * selves.' 
 
 The loss of this Regiment on the 17th and 18th 
 of June was as follows : 
 
 On the 17th. Killed, four rank and file, and 
 eight horses ; five rank and file wounded. 
 
 On the 18th. Major Packe*, two corporals, 
 sixteen rank and file, and fifty-four horses, killed. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Sir R. C. Hill, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel and Captain Clement Hill, Lieutenant 
 Shawe, Lieutenant Bouverie ; Quarter-masters 
 Thomas Varley and Jonas Varley; five corporals, 
 fifty-one rank and file, and thirteen horses, 
 
 * To the memory of this gentleman a monument was erected by 
 the officers of the Regiment in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, 
 bearing the following inscription : 
 
 TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF ROBERT CHRISTOPHER PACKE, ESQUIRE, 
 
 SECOND SON OF CHARLES JAMES PACKE, ESQUIRE, 
 
 OF PRESTWOLD, LEICESTERSHIRE, 
 AND MAJOR IN THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF HORSE GUARDS BLUE, 
 
 WHO WAS KILL'D AT THE HEAD OF HIS SQUADRON 
 
 WHEN CHARGING THE FRENCH CUIRASSIERS AT THE EVER 
 
 MEMORABLE BATTLE OF WATERLOO, ON THE 18 JUNE, 1815, 
 
 IN THE XXXIII YEAR OF HIS AGE. 
 
 THIS MONUMENT 
 
 WAS ERECTED BY THE OFFICERS OF THE REGIMENT 
 
 IN WHICH HE HAD SERVED MORE THAN FIFTEEN YEARS, 
 
 IN TESTIMONY OF THEIR HIGH VENERATION FOR 
 
 HIS DISTINGUISHED MILITARY MERIT, 
 
 AND OF THEIR SINCERE REGRET FOR THE LOSS OF A COMPANION 
 
 SO LONG ENDEARED TO THEIR AFFECTIONS BY HIS 
 
 AMIABLE MANNERS AND PRIVATE VIRTUES.
 
 122 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1815 wounded. One corporal, sixteen rank and file, 
 and seventeen horses, missing*. 
 
 Moving forward with the allied armies on the 
 7th of July, the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards 
 was quartered at Nanterre, a small village in the 
 vicinity of Paris ; on the 18th it was at Loucienne, 
 where, on the 19th and 20th of the same month, 
 a remount joined from England, consisting of ten 
 officers, one hundred and thirty-five rank and file, 
 and one hundred and twenty-nine horses. On the 
 24th, with the whole of the allied armies, it was 
 reviewed by the Duke of Wellington, accompanied 
 by the Sovereigns of Russia, Austria, Prussia, 
 and France, between the Bridge of Neuilly and 
 the Place de Louis XV. (Paris). On the 21st of 
 August the head quarters of the Regiment were 
 established at Colombes. On the 2nd of Septem- 
 ber it was reviewed, with the rest of the House- 
 hold Brigade, the Eighth Brigade of cavalry, 
 and one troop of horse artillery, by the Emperor 
 of Russia, who expressed himself highly pleased 
 with their appearance and movements. On the 
 22nd of September, with the whole of the allied 
 army, it was again reviewed by the Duke of Wel- 
 lington on the plain of St. Denis ; and again on 
 the llth of October, when the British and Hano- 
 verian army, amounting to between fifty and 
 sixty thousand men, were reviewed upon the 
 same ground. 
 
 * None of these men ever returned to the Regiment, and there is 
 no doubt they were all killed on the 18th of June.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 123 
 
 On the 16th of January, 1816, the Regiment, 1816 
 with the two Regiments of Life Guards, having 
 been inspected by Lieutenant-General Lord Com- 
 bermere on the Plain de Sablone, near Paris, 
 commenced its march to Calais, where it arrived 
 on the 30th of the same month ; and having em- 
 barked on the two following days, landed at 
 Dover and Ramsgate on the 1st and 2nd of Fe- 
 bruary, from whence it proceeded to the depot at 
 Windsor. 
 
 In commemoration of its distinguished services, 
 on the 18th of June 1815, the Regiment was 
 permitted to bear the word ' Waterloo' on its 
 colours and appointments. 
 
 Military annals, in a period of profound peace, 
 are, of necessity, comparatively uninteresting; 
 but as a regimental record, this work would be 
 incomplete, were no mention to be made of several 
 remarkable reviews and occasions of martial spec- 
 tacle, when the Blues have borne a distinguished 
 part in the parade ceremonials of the day. 
 
 On the 25th of July, 1817, the three Regiments 1817 
 composing the Household Brigade were reviewed 
 upon Hounslow Heath, by His Royal Highness 
 the Prince Regent. On the 19th of November, in 
 the same year, the Blues were on duty at the 
 funeral of Her Royal Highness the Princess 
 Charlotte of Wales; and in the following year 1818 
 (December 2) at that of Her Majesty Queen 
 Charlotte. 
 
 In the year 1819 (May 20), His Royal High- 1819 
 ness the Prince Regent having determined to
 
 124 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 18 19 receive the Ambassador for Persia with extra- 
 ordinary ceremony, the Regiment was moved 
 up to London, the whole of the cavalry em- 
 ployed upon that occasion being placed under 
 the command of its Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John 
 Elley*. 
 
 1820 On the 12th of February, 1820, it was on 
 duty at the funeral of His Royal Highness the 
 Duke of Kent; and on the 17th of the same 
 month, at that of His Majesty King George 
 III. In this year, on the 21st of July, the 
 Household Brigade was reviewed by His Royal 
 Highness the Commander-in-Chief ; and being 
 subsequently joined by the Twelfth Regiment of 
 Lancers, and a brigade of the Royal Horse Artil- 
 lery, the whole were reviewed upon Hounslow 
 Heath, August the 5th, by His Majesty King 
 George IV. 
 
 An order had been issued by His Royal High- 
 ness the Prince Regent, as long ago as the 24th 
 of August, 1814, which, after fully recognizing 
 the privileges and claims of the Royal Regiment 
 of Horse Guards to perform, equally with the two 
 other regiments of household cavalry, the Court 
 duties in the metropolis, directed that, when the 
 presence of the whole brigade should not be 
 required, one regiment in rotation should be 
 stationed in country quarters. But during the 
 
 * This distinguished officer had only recently resumed his Regi- 
 mental duties, having been employed on the staff of the British 
 army since the 25th December, 1807, as Assistant and Deputy- 
 Adjutant-Gcneral, in the Peninsula, the Netherlands, and France.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 125 
 
 unhappy illness of the late Monarch, motives of 1821 
 respect appear to have suggested that the corps, 
 * which the King had delighted to honour/ should 
 not be withdrawn from its attendance upon his 
 declining years. The head quarters of the Regi- 
 ment accordingly continued at Windsor till the 
 14th of June, 1821, when it marched into canton- 
 ments in the vicinity of London, and shortly after- 
 wards occupied the newly-erected barracks in the 
 Regent's Park. 
 
 At the magnificent ceremonial of the coro- 
 nation of King George IV. (July 19), the Blues 
 were present, and furnished the King's Life 
 Guard upon the occasion. On that day the House- 
 hold Brigade first appeared in cuirasses, which 
 it has ever since continued to wear* ; and a 
 further remarkable alteration took place in the 
 appointments of the Blues : the buff belts, by 
 which the Regiment had been distinguished from 
 the period of its first establishment, were now 
 laid aside and exchanged for those of white. 
 
 * On its taking the field in 1794, the Regiment was supplied 
 with breast-plates, which also appear to have been worn in the pre- 
 vious campaigns in Germany and the Netherlands ; but being now 
 found to be more cumbrous than convenient, and from the length 
 of time which had elapsed since they were last worn, having 
 become rusty and unserviceable, they were deposited in store at 
 Tournay, and from thence transmitted to England. As a defence 
 for the head, however, a skull-cap was fitted on to the crown of 
 the cocked hat, and worn throughout that campaign. Originally 
 the Regiment was furnished with ' backs, breasts, and potts.' 
 When the backs and potts were laid aside is not exactly known : 
 but no part of the defensive armour appears to have been worn, 
 except when the regiment was employed upon active service.
 
 126 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1821 On the death of Her Majesty Queen Caroline, it 
 being decided that her body should be removed 
 to Brunswick for interment, the funeral proces- 
 sion left Brandenburg House (Hammersmith) on 
 the morning of the 14th of August, and, after 
 much disgraceful rioting in and near London, was 
 escorted to Harwich, the appointed place of em- 
 barkation, by a guard of Honour from the Royal 
 Regiment of Horse Guards. 
 
 1822 In the year 1822 (June 1) the Household 
 Brigade, with the Tenth and Fifteenth Hussars, 
 the Fourteenth Light Dragoons, and a brigade 
 of horse artillery, were reviewed upon Hounslow 
 Heath, by his Royal Highness the Duke of York, 
 the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 1823 In the following year (July 15) the Household 
 Brigade was again reviewed by His Royal High- 
 ness on Hounslow Heath, with the Seventh and 
 Fifteenth Hussars, the Third Light Dragoons, 
 and a brigade of horse artillery. 
 
 1825 Again in the year 1825, (June 28,) when, in 
 addition to the Household Brigade, the follow- 
 ing regiments were assembled upon Hounslow 
 Heath : the First Dragoon Guards, the Second 
 Dragoon Guards, the Greys, the Seventh Hussars, 
 the Twelfth Lancers, together with a brigade of 
 horse artillery. 
 
 1827 On the 20th of January, 1827, the Blues were 
 on duty at the funeral of His Royal Highness the 
 Duke of York, and the Duke of Wellington being 
 now appointed to the Colonelcy of the First 
 Foot Guards, the command of this Regiment was
 
 KOVAI. Kr.r, 1 or IIOKSJ-: <,r.\ui>s. ii-8
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 127 
 
 given (January 22, 1827) to His Royal Highness 1827 
 the Duke of Cumberland. 
 
 In 1828, on the 5th of February, the Royal 1828 
 Regiment of Horse Guards, the First Life Guards, 
 the Second Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, and 
 a battalion of the Third Guards, with the Seventy- 
 second Regiment of infantry, were inspected upon 
 the parade in St. James's Park by Don Miguel, 
 the Infant of Portugal. 
 
 On the 27th of May, 1829, the Royal Regi- 1829 
 ment of Horse Guards, the Second Life Guards, 
 the Tenth and Fifteenth Hussars, with the First 
 and Third Foot Guards, and a brigade of horse 
 artillery, were reviewed in Hyde Park by the 
 Duke of Orleans, accompanied by several distin- 
 guished personages. 
 
 The Regiment was on duty at the funeral of 1830 
 His Majesty King George IV., July 16, 1830; 
 and on the 26th of the same month the House- 
 hold Brigade was inspected in Hyde Park 
 by the King of Wirtemberg. On the 3rd of 
 August, His Majesty King William IV. was 
 pleased to visit the Regent's Park Barracks, 
 where the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards were 
 then quartered. Here, after inspecting the First 
 Regiment of Life Guards, which had marched 
 from Hyde Park Barracks for that purpose, His 
 Majesty proceeded to inspect this Regiment, and 
 was afterwards pleased to express * his entire ap- 
 ' probation of its appearance, and his high opinion 
 ' of its discipline and distinguished conduct upon 
 ' all occasions.' The parade being dismissed, all
 
 128 
 
 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1830 the officers had the honour to be presented to the 
 King*. 
 
 The sole command of the Household Brigade 
 had been hitherto vested in the Gold Stick, an 
 office held by the Colonels of each of the three 
 regiments, in rotation, to whom all reports, appli- 
 cations for leave of absence, &c. were forwarded, 
 and through whom, the orders of the Sovereign 
 were directly communicated. By His Majesty's 
 command this authority was now transferred to 
 the office of the Commander-in-Chief, and the 
 brigade, in all the above particulars, was placed 
 upon precisely the same footing with the rest of 
 the British army. Upon the promulgation of 
 this Order the Duke of Cumberland tendered his 
 resignation as Colonel of the Blues, His Royal 
 Highness humbly representing, in the first place, 
 that the Gold Stick being now divested of its 
 military command, was become a mere Court 
 office, which, as a Prince of the Blood Royal, he 
 could not consistently hold ; and, secondly, that 
 it was not compatible with his rank, as eldest 
 Field- Marshal but one in the British Service, to 
 receive the orders of an officer junior to himself. 
 The change, having however, been decided upon, 
 the resignation of His Royal Highness was ac- 
 cepted, and General Lord Hill was appointed to the 
 Colonelcy, November 19, 1830. In this year the 
 Troop Quarter-Masters were reduced, ceasing to 
 
 * His Majesty King William IV., on his Accession, was pleased 
 to declare himself Colonel-in-Chief of the three regiments com- 
 posing the household Brigade of cavalry.
 
 Standard of King William IV., presented August 13th, 1832. (To face page i
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 
 
 129 
 
 be borne on the establishment from the 31st of 1830 
 December. 
 
 At the ceremonial of their Majesties' Corona- 1831 
 tion, September the 8th, in the following year, 
 the Blues were on duty, and furnished a Guard 
 of Honour upon the occasion. In the year 1832, 1832 
 the Regiment being then at Windsor, His Ma- 
 jesty was pleased to confer upon it a signal mark 
 of his favour, in the presentation of a magnificent 
 Standard ; which was to be designated the Stand- 
 ard of King William IV., and to be borne by the 
 King's Troop on occasions of particular ceremony. 
 The following lively account of the presentation, 
 and of the military display by which it was 
 accompanied, is taken from an ably conducted 
 periodical*. 
 
 On the 9th and 10th August, the following 
 ' troops from London were collected in the vici- 
 ' nity of Windsor : the First and Second Regi- 
 
 * ments of Life Guards, the flank companies of 
 
 * the First Battalion of the Coldstream Guards, 
 ' with a mixed brigade of horse artillery from 
 ' Woolwich. The Blues and Second Battalion 
 ' Scots' Fusilier Guards were already on the spot. 
 ' The battalion of flank companies, under the 
 ' command of Lord Saltoun, was encamped upon 
 ' an open spot in the Great Park, between the 
 ' Long Walk and Queen Ann's Ride, at a dis- 
 
 * tance of about half a mile from either barrack. 
 ' The artillery were quartered at Cumberland 
 
 * The United Service Journal.
 
 130 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1832 ' Lodge. On Monday, the 13th, the Fourteenth 
 ' Light Dragoons marched from Hounslow to 
 1 Windsor to keep the ground, and returned to 
 ' their quarters the same day. A party of the 
 
 * Third Dragoons was also present to assist in 
 ' these duties. 
 
 1 On Sunday the Blues, Foot Guards and artil- 
 ' lery assembled on the skirt of the camp to hear 
 ' Divine service, under as bright a canopy as ever 
 ' beamed on Christian worship. Their Majesties 
 ' were present. The service was performed, and 
 
 * an admirable sermon preached by Dr. Dakins, 
 ' the principal Chaplain to the Forces. At its 
 ' close the troops marched past ; they did so 
 ' admirably. The Blues surprised us by the 
 ' precision with which those superb Centaurs 
 ' performed their work on foot, rivalling the 
 e well-known accuracy of their infantry compeers. 
 ' The scene altogether, though somewhat theatri- 
 ' cal, was impressive and beautiful. The theatre 
 ' was nature's own, and the dramatis personce, 
 ' exhibiting the perfection of Art, did honour to 
 ' her rival's charms, and completed their effect. 
 
 ' Monday the 13th of August, the birth-day of 
 ' Her Majesty, opened inauspiciously for the pa- 
 ' geant, the announcement of which had attracted 
 ' a vast concourse of visitors to Windsor. A 
 ' drenching rain fell till after nine o'clock, when 
 ' the weather partially cleared, the air and roads 
 ' being refreshed by the seasonable moisture. At 
 ' eleven the troops entered the Home Park, and 
 ' formed line with their right to the Castle, and
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 131 
 
 ' their left towards Adelaide Cottage. The line 1832 
 ' was judiciously disposed for effect, the artillery 
 ' and cavalry being divided on the flanks of the 
 ' infantry. Lord Edward Somerset commanded ; 
 ' Lord Hill being present as Colonel of the Royal 
 ' Horse Guards. The Military Secretary and 
 
 * the Adjutant and Quarter-Master-General also 
 4 attended. 
 
 ' At twelve the King and Queen, with their 
 ' suite, and an escort of the Third Dragoon 
 ' Guards, passed along the front of the line in 
 ' open carriages, and having taken post in the 
 ' centre, the guns fired, and the troops saluted ; 
 ' at this moment the spectacle possessed interest 
 ' and animation. 
 
 ' The troops having been wheeled inwards, and 
 ' the officers called to the front, Lord Hill placing 
 ' himself before his regiment, their Majesties, 
 ' accompanied by the Dukes of Cumberland and 
 ' Gloucester, and Prince George of Cumberland, 
 ' with the Duchess of Cumberland and Princess 
 ' Augusta, taking their station in the centre, the 
 ' standard, richly wrought in gold, and embla- 
 1 zoned with the trophies of the Blues, was con- 
 ' secrated by the Chaplain to the Forces. After 
 ' an address in which the King recapitulated the 
 ' motive of his gift, and the early origin and dis- 
 ' tinguished services of the Royal Horse Guards, 
 ' His Majesty presented the standard to Lord Hill, 
 ' who respectfully received it on the part of his 
 
 * regiment The troops then resumed line, broke 
 
 K 2
 
 132 ROYAL REGIMENT OF 
 
 1832 ' into column, and marched past in ordinary and 
 ' quick time ; the cavalry, in the highest order, 
 ' performing that parade movement by squadrons, 
 ' troops, and threes, at a walk and trot.' 
 
 In the evening His Majesty gave a splendid 
 banquet in St. George's Hall, in honour of the 
 occasion, at which all the officers of the Royal 
 Horse Guards were present, and the company, 
 amounting to nearly two hundred, included many 
 of the most distinguished personages in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 1833 On the 13th of March, 1833, Her Majesty 
 Queen Adelaide honoured the Regiment by a visit 
 at its barracks at Windsor, when, after an exhibi- 
 tion of military horsemanship, and the perform- 
 ance of the band in the riding-school, Her Majesty 
 was graciously pleased to declare how much she 
 had been gratified by all she had seen, and to 
 mark her visit by a donation to the regimental 
 school. 
 
 1834 On the 17th of May, 1834, the Regiment was 
 reviewed in Hyde Park, together with the 1st 
 Regiment of Life Guards, a detachment of Horse 
 Artillery, and four battalions of the Grenadier, 
 Coldstream, and Scots Fusilier Guards, by His 
 Serene Highness, Duke Ferdinand of Saxe 
 Cobourg. 
 
 1836 On the 18th of June, 1836, the Regiment was 
 reviewed in Hyde Park, together with the 1st and 
 2nd Regiments of Life Guards, two troops of 
 Horse, and two batteries of Foot Artillery, the
 
 UOYAL RKCT OF HORSE GUARDS. fc34.
 
 HORSE GUARDS. 133 
 
 7th Hussars, and three battalions of the Grenadier, 1836 
 Coldstream, and Scots Fusilier Guards, by the 
 King and Queen. 
 
 The Regiment was on duty at the funeral of 1837 
 King William the Fourth, July the 8th, 1837, 
 also at the coronation of Queen Victoria, June 1838 
 the 28th, 1838. 
 
 Upon the occasion of the solemnization of Her 1840 
 Majesty's marriage, 10th February, 1840, the 
 Regiment furnished the Guard of Honour for the 
 Queen, on her progress from St. James's to Buck- 
 ingham Palace. 
 
 Upon the visit of the King of Prussia to Her 1842 
 Majesty, 22nd of January, 1842, he was met at 
 Old Windsor by a Guard of Honour furnished 
 by the Blues, who escorted him from thence to 
 Windsor Castle, and on the 25th of January, the 
 Regiment furnished a Guard of Honour at Windsor 
 Castle, upon the occasion of the christening of 
 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. 
 
 On the 20th of December in the same year, on 
 the decease of General Lord Hill, Field-Marshal 
 the Marquis of Anglesey was appointed Colonel 
 of the Regiment. 
 
 On the 5th of June, 1844, the Blues, together 1844 
 with two troops of the Royal Horse Artillery ; the 
 First Life Guards ; the Seventeenth Lancers ; a 
 battery of Field Artillery ; the second battalions of 
 the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, and 
 Scots Fusilier Guards ; and the Forty-seventh 
 Regiment; were reviewed in Windsor Great 
 Park by His Majesty the Emperor of all the 
 Russias.
 
 134 ROYAL REGIMENT OF HORSE GUARDS. 
 
 1845 In June, 1845, the regiment was moved from 
 Windsor to the Regent's Park Barracks ; and on 
 the 4th August it was reviewed in Hyde Park, with 
 two troops of the Royal Horse Artillery ; the First 
 Life Guards; the Fourth Light Dragoons; the 
 first and third battalions of the Grenadier Guards ; 
 and the two battalions of the Scots Fusilier Guards, 
 by Field Marshal His Majesty the King of the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 1846 On the 29th June, 1846, the Blues were re- 
 viewed in Hyde Park, with the First Life Guards; 
 the first and second battalions of the Grenadier 
 Guards ; the first battalion of the Coldstream 
 Guards ; and the first battalion of the Scots 
 Fusilier Guards, by Field Marshal the Duke of 
 Wellington, Commander-in-Chief ; and in the 
 same month were removed from Regent's Park 
 to Hyde Park Barracks. 
 
 This narrative has now been brought down to 
 the latest period, and the Author trusts that he 
 may be forgiven for a little ebullition of esprit de 
 corps at the conclusion ; that he may be allowed 
 to express his fervent hope that the Regiment in 
 which it is his pride to have served, may long 
 wear, with still increasing reputation, the laurels 
 it has gained ; that the lines of the Poet, slightly 
 alte.red, may be ever applicable to the Blues, and 
 that they may continue to the end of time, 
 
 Our England's ornament, the Crown's defence, 
 In battle brave, protectors of their Prince : 
 Unchanged by fortune, to their Sovereign true, 
 For which their manly forms are decked with blue*. 
 
 * Dryden. The Flower and the Leaf.
 
 KOYAl. RKO 1 or IIOKSK (,CAU|)S 1 17
 
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 136 
 
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 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE, shewing the STRENGTH of the 
 
 
 1 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonels. 1 
 
 I 
 
 , 
 
 Lieutenants. 
 
 j 
 
 c 
 
 Adjutant. 
 
 , 
 
 1 
 
 Veterinary Surgeon. I 
 
 Troop Quarter-Mastersl 
 
 1661 . . 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 t m 
 
 8 
 
 1665 . . 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1676 . . 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1677 . . 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 . . 
 
 8 
 
 1679 to 1684 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 
 
 8 
 
 1685 to 1691 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1692 . . 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 
 
 6 
 
 1693 to 1698 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1699 . . 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1700 to 1701 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 . . 
 
 9 
 
 1702 to 1707 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1708 to 1712 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1713 . . 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 . . 
 
 9 
 
 1714 to 1715 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1716 to 1717 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 , . 
 
 9 
 
 1718 to 1722 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 t . 
 
 9 
 
 1723 to 1725 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1726 to 1738 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1739 to 1743 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 . t 
 
 9 
 
 1744 to 1748 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1749 to 1754 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1755 to 1756 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ , 
 
 9 
 
 1757 to 1758 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 t . 
 
 9 
 
 1759 to 1762 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1763, January 24. 
 1792, December 25 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 1 793, January 25 . 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 August 7 . 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1797, December 23 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 t . 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1799, October 24 . 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 November 25 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 December 25 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1802, June 25. . 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1803, July 25. . 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1804, December 25 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 1811, December 14 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1812, September 4 
 1813, May 13 . . 
 December 25 
 
 
 2 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 to to to 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 1814, July 25. . 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 2 
 
 8 
 
 1815, March 25 . 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 August25 . 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 December 25 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 1816, December 25 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 1818, December 25 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 1831, January 1 . 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1847, January 1 . 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 

 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 139 
 
 REGIMENT at different Periods. 
 
 Regimental Quarter- 
 Master. 
 
 Regimental Corporal- 
 Major. 
 
 Troop Corporal-Majors 
 
 Corporal Armourers. 
 
 S3 
 
 I 
 
 O 
 
 1 
 
 jj 
 
 Kettle Drummer and 
 Trumpeters. 
 
 Farriers. 
 
 I 
 
 Rank and File. 
 
 1 
 
 Number of Troops. 1 
 
 Number of Standards.! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 500 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 540 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 400 
 
 
 8 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 480 
 
 * * 
 
 8 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 360 
 
 401 
 
 i 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 405 
 
 451 
 
 q 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 276 
 
 301 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 531 
 
 577 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 279 
 
 325 
 
 q 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 271 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 315 
 
 361 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 468 
 
 514 
 
 9 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 271 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 253 
 
 290 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 18 
 
 19 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 333 
 207 
 
 379 
 244 
 
 9 
 g 
 
 9 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 243 
 
 280 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 271 
 
 q 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 315 
 
 361 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 405 
 
 445 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 271 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 097 
 
 343 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 306 
 
 352 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 423 
 
 460 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 262 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 324 
 
 352 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 432 
 
 469 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 43'-* 
 
 478 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 432 
 
 478 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 432 
 
 478 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 432 
 
 482 
 
 g 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 456 
 
 505 
 
 g 
 
 
 'i 
 
 i 
 
 
 's 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 32 
 40 
 40 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 24 
 32 
 40 
 32 
 32 
 32 
 32 
 32 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 12 
 12 
 12 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 9 
 9 
 
 *8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 
 ie 
 
 16 
 16 
 16 
 16 
 
 304 
 384 
 536 
 536 
 670 
 670 
 710 
 432 
 496 
 576 
 496 
 416 
 320 
 343 
 343 
 
 341 
 365 
 589 
 589 
 735 
 735 
 775 
 397 
 477 
 5o7 
 477 
 470 
 257 
 274 
 274 
 
 8 
 8 
 
 8 
 8 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 4 
 4
 
 140 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 AN ESTABLISHMENT of Forty Private Soldiers, to be 
 added to the Right Hono : ble John Lord Frechevill's 
 Troope, in the Earle of Oxford's Regiment, to com- 
 mence from the time of their Muster. 
 
 
 Per Diem. 
 
 Per Mensem. 
 
 Per Annum. 
 
 CHARLES R. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Pay of Forty\ 
 Private Soldiers 1 
 at 2s. 6d. eachj 
 per diem is . . J 
 
 5 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 140 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 1820 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 29 June, 1665. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ALBEMARLE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ABLINGTON. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [In State Paper Office] 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 AN ORDER to muster Cornet PIERCY KIRK during his 
 Absence on Foreign Service, 167$. 
 
 CHARLES R. 
 
 Whereas "We have given and granted, as by these presents 
 We do give and grant free license, liberty, and permission 
 unto our trusty and well-beloved Piercy Kirk, Gentl : Cornet 
 to the Earl of Oxford's Troup of Horse, to go and remain in 
 France in the Regiment of our dear Son, the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth, in the service of our dear Brother, the most Christian 
 King, for so long time as he shall continue there in that ser- 
 vice. Our will and pleasure therefore is, and Wee do hereby 
 will and require you to continue to muster the said Piercy 
 Kirk as Cornet of the said Troup, with his two men, al the
 
 APPENDIX. 141 
 
 respective musters, and for so doing this shall be your 
 warrant. 
 
 Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 23d day of February, 
 in the 25th Yeare of our Reigne, 167f 
 
 By his Maj : " Command, 
 
 ARLINGTON. 
 To our Commissary Generall 8f 
 Comm : "for our Musters. 
 
 [Records in "War Office.] 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 ORDERS relating to the Precedence of the Royal Regi- 
 ment and Troops of Horse Guards, 1675. 
 CHARLES R. 
 
 Our will and Pleasure is, That these following Orders be 
 duly observed by the respective Officers of the three Troopes 
 of our Horse Guards, and of the Troopes of our Regiment 
 of Horse Guards, commanded by Our right trusty and right 
 welbeloved Cousin and Councelour, Aubrey, Ear le of Oxford, 
 as followeth : 
 
 1. When the Troopes march with their Collours, That then 
 the Officers of the same degree doe command according to 
 the senioritie of the Troopes respectively. 
 
 2. When they are commanded out in Parties, the Officers 
 also of the same degree are to command according to the 
 date of their Commissions. 
 
 3. That Our owue Regiment of Horse Guards above- 
 mentioned doe keep its Post, whatever change may be of the 
 Colonell ; and all the Officers thereof, of like same degree, 
 doe take place according to the dates of their Commissions. 
 
 And it is our further Will and Pleasure, that Our most 
 deare and most intirely beloved Sonn, James, Duke of Mon- 
 mouth, doe communicate these Our Orders, by sending Copies 
 of them, attested with his hand, to the Colonells and Cap- 
 taines of the three Troopes of our Horse Guards, and to the 
 Colonel! of Our said Regiment of Horse Guards, to be by
 
 142 APPENDIX. 
 
 them communicated to the respective Officers under their 
 command. 
 
 Given at Our Court at Whitehall, the 24th day of June, 
 1675. 
 
 By His Majesty's Command, 
 
 (Signed) J. WILLIAMSON. 
 To our most deare and most intirely 
 beloved Sonn, James, Duke of 
 
 [War Office Records] 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 ORDERS relating to the General Precedence of the Army, 
 1675. 
 
 CHARLES R. 
 
 For the preventing of all Questions and Disputes that 
 might arise for or concerning the Ranks of the severall Regi- 
 ments, Troopes, and companies, w ch now are or at any time 
 hereafter shall be employed in O r Service, and of the severall 
 Officers and Commanders of the same, as well upon Service 
 and in the Field, as in all Councells of Warr, and other Mili- 
 tary occasions, where they shall be called to appeere in their 
 respective Quallities, Wee have thought good to issue out 
 these following Rules and Directions, viz'. 
 
 1. First, as to the Foot, the Reg' of Guards take place of 
 all other Reg", and the Col : to be always reckoned and take 
 place as the first Foot Col : , the Coldstreame Reg' of Guards 
 to take place next ; Our most deare and most intirely beloved 
 Brother, James, Duke of Yorke's Regiment, immediately 
 after ; and all other Colonells to take place according to the 
 dates of their Commissions. 
 
 2. That the severall Regiments that are not of our Guards 
 take place, according to their respective senioritys, from the 
 time they were raised, so as that no Regiment is to loose its 
 precedency by the death of their Colonell. 
 
 3. As to the Horse, That the three Troopes of Guards 
 take place before all others; that the Captaines take their
 
 APPENDIX. 143 
 
 Rankes as oldest Colonells of Horse : the Lieutenants, as 
 oldest Majors ; the Cornetts, as eldest Captaines of Horse ; 
 and the Guydons, as youngest Captaines of Horse. That 
 when the Troopes march with their Collours, the Officers of 
 the same degree doo comand according to the senioritie of the 
 Troopes respectively ; but when they are commanded out 
 in Parties, the Officers of the same degree are to comand 
 according to the dates of their Commissions. That Our Owne 
 Reg 1 of Horse take place immediately after the Guards, and 
 the Col : of it have precedency immediately after the Cap- 
 taines of the Guards, and before all other Colonells of Horse, 
 what ever change may be of the Colonell ; and all the Officers 
 thereof, of like or the same degree, doe take place according to 
 the dates of their Commissions. 
 
 4. That the eldest Colonells doe in all occasions comand ; 
 and when there shal be noe Colonell upon the place, then the 
 Lieutenant-Colonell of the eldest Reg' ; and in like manner, 
 where noe Lieut :-Col: the Maj r , and soe downe to the 
 Captaines and other inferior Officers. 
 
 5. That all Officers under the condition of a Generall 
 Officer, when they shall happen to be put into any Guarrison, 
 shall, during their being there, obey the Gov r of the same, or 
 his deputies. 
 
 And it is Our further Will and Pleasure, That our most 
 deare and most intirely beloved Sonn, James, Duke ofMon- 
 mouth, doe communicate these Our Orders, by sending Copies 
 of them, attested w th his hand, to the Coll 8 and Cap 18 of the 
 three Troopes of Our Horse Guards, and to the Col 8 of Our 
 severall Reg' 8 of Horse and Foot, and Gov rs of Our Guar- 
 risons, to be by them communicated to the respective Officers 
 under their comand. 
 
 Given at Our Court at Whitehall, the first day of Decem- 
 ber, 1675. 
 
 By His Ma' s Comand, 
 
 (Signed) J. WILLIAMSON. 
 To Our most deare and most intirely 
 
 beloved Sonn, James, Duke of 
 
 Monmouth. 
 
 [War Office Records.]
 
 144 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 7. 
 
 ORDER to draw Six Men out of each Troop of the EARL 
 OF OXFORD'S Regiment, to form a Troop for Captain 
 WYND, 1677. 
 
 CHARLES R. 
 
 Right trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Coun- 
 cellor, Wee greet you well. The occasions of our service 
 requiring another troope of Horse to be raised, towards which 
 'o the Earl of We would have 6 men, with their Horses and arms, sent out 
 ^Troops of o f ea ch of the five Troops of our Regiment of Horse, under 
 is Regt (not your command, that are quartered in other places than York, 
 he^ortfrHo an( ^ Northumberland ; Our will and pleasure therefore is, that 
 raw 6 men you give order for the drawing out and discharging of six 
 Yoope e for Soldiers apeece, with their Horses and arms, out of the said 
 Jap' Wynd, fi ve troops respectively ; and for sending the men, with their 
 U the Troops 8 horses and arms, so drawn out, to our citty of Chichester, to 
 ^he^of 011 Captain William Winde (who is to command the said new 
 larch, 1677. troop), or to his Lieutenant, or other Officer of his Troop, 
 who will be there to receive them, that they may be enter- 
 tained therein. You are also to order the Chiefe Officer pre- 
 sent with each of the said five Troops to pay them off until 
 the 1 st of March next, exclusive, from which time they are 
 to be mustered and paid as of the said Captaine William 
 Wynd his Troop. And you are likewise to give order to 
 the respective Captains of your Regiment, and your own 
 Captain-Lieutenant, that they recruit their Troops respec- 
 tively to threescore Soldiers apeece by the 1 st of March next, 
 at which time the additional establishment for them will 
 commence ; and We doe bid you very heartily farewell. 
 
 Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 31st day of 
 January, 1677. 
 
 By his Ma 1 ? 8 Command, 
 
 WILLIAMSON. 
 
 To our Right trusty and Right well- 
 beloved Cousin and Counsellor, 
 Aubrey, Earle of Oxford, Collo- 
 nell of our Regt of Horse Guards. 
 ;[War Office Records.]
 
 APPENDIX. 145 
 
 No. 8. 
 
 AN ORDER to the Master-General of the Ordnance to 
 provide Arms for Captain WYND'S Troop, 167&. 
 
 Right trusty and well-beloved Councellor, We greet you 
 well. We, having given order for the recruiting of the res- 
 pective troops of our own Regiment of Horse Guards, under 
 the command of our Right trusty and Right entirely beloved 
 Cousin and Councillor, Aubrey, Earl of Oxford, with tenn 
 Soldiers apeece to make them up to threescore troopers apeece, 
 besides officers ; and being informed that the arms of two 
 Soldiers in each of the said troops, who were many years 
 since discharged, (because their pay was allowed to their said 
 Colonel, which is now discontinued), are lost or mislaid, arid 
 five of the said troops having by our order furnished 6 men 
 apeece, with their arms, towards Captain Wind's troop, Our 
 will and pleasure therefore is, that out of our stores belonging 
 to the Office of our Ordnance, you cause one hundred and 
 twenty-six carbines, with one hundred and twenty-six suites 
 of arms, to wit, Backs, Breasts, and Potts, to be delivered 
 unto our trusty and well-beloved Sir Francis Compton, K e . 
 Major of the said Regiment, or to such Officer or Officers as 
 he shall appoint, for the arming of twelve troopers in each of 
 the Eight Troops for the said Regiment, and for the arming 
 of six men apeece, to be taken into the said five troops in lieu 
 of the arms of the men furnished to Captain Wind's troop as 
 aforesaid ; for which this, with the indentures or receipts for 
 the same, shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge. 
 
 Given at our Court at Whitehall the 13 th day of February, 
 
 By his Ma. l y s Command, 
 
 WILLIAMSON. 
 To our Right trusty and well- 
 beloved Councellor, Sir Thomas 
 Chicheley, our Master- General 
 of our Ordnance. 
 
 [War Office Records.] 
 
 L
 
 146 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 9. 
 
 CERTIFICATE relative to the Appointment of a Chirur- 
 geon's Mate to attend a Party of the Royal Regiment 
 of Horse Guards designed for Foreign Service, 1678. 
 
 I doe most humbly certify, that in consideration of a party 
 designed for Flanders out of His Ma*? 8 Regiment of Horse 
 Guards, to be commanded by Major Sir Francis Compton, 
 upon the first forces that were sent thither, Mr. Sackville 
 Whittle, Chirurgion to the said Regiment of Horse, had 
 order to provide an able Chirurgion to attend that party as 
 his Mate, and did contract and agree with an able Chirurgion 
 pursuant thereunto, on the 14 th of March last past, from 
 which day the said Mate is by contract to enter into his Ma- 
 jesty's pay ; and provision being made by the late Establish- 
 ment for the said Mate only, to commence from the 1 st of May 
 inst 1 , the said Chirurgion will hereby fall short of pay due to 
 him by the said contract, from the said 14 th day of March 
 inclusive to the said I 8t of May, being forty-eight days, which, 
 according to His Majesty's Establishment, will amount to 
 Eight pounds Eight shillings. 
 
 Given under my hand the 31 st day of May, 1678. 
 
 JOHN KNIGHT. 
 [War Office Records.]
 
 APPENDIX. 147 
 
 No. 10. 
 
 AN ORDER relative to the Appointment and Pay of an 
 Adjutant, 1684. 
 
 Forasmuch as We have thought fitt to appoint our Trusty 
 and well-beloved David Lloyd, Esq r , to be Adjutant in our 
 Royal Reg' of Horse G ds ; and there being no pay allotted by 
 our Establishment of our Forces and Garrisons for that Im- 
 ployment, Our Will and Pleasure is, that one Soldier's pay of 
 each of the Eight Troops of that Regiment be allowed from 
 the date hereof, in lieu of pay to the said Adjutant ; and that 
 you allow thereof, in such manner as aforesaid, without his 
 producing to you any Soldiers, or the names of any Soldiers to 
 be mustered for that purpose, so that not above one Soldier's 
 pay in each of the said Troops be reserved on this occasion, 
 for which this shall be a sufficient warrant. 
 
 Given at our Court at Whitehall, the first day of Sept', 
 1684. 
 
 By his Ma tie> Command, 
 
 SUNDERLAND. 
 To our Trusty and well Beloved 
 Henry Howard, Esq r . our Com- 
 missary Gen 1 , of our Musters, 
 or his Deputy. 
 
 [War Office Records.]
 
 148 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 11. 
 
 STANDARDS, COLOUR, &ca. made and provided against 
 His Ma Ues Royal Coronation by Thomas Holford, 
 Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms. 
 
 48 00 00 
 
 24 00 00 
 
 For a Standard and Guidon for the first Troop "j 
 of Horse Guards, by agreement with Chas. > 
 Fox, Esq r . Paymaster-General, at 24 each, j 
 
 Fora Standard for His Ma tie8 Troop in the 
 Royal Regiment of Horse, commanded by 
 the Earl of Oxford, Sir John Parsons, Cap- 
 tain, by agreement as above. 
 
 For the other Eight Troops of the Royal Regi-] 
 
 ment of Horse, a Standard for each, at 20, > 160 00 00 
 by agreement as above. 
 
 For Eight Colours for the Royal Reg' of Dra- 
 goons, formerly commanded by the L d Chur- 
 chill, now by the Lord Combury, at 7 05*. Od. 
 each. 
 
 For 36 Colours for the two Regiments of Foot) 
 Guards, at Eight pounds each. f * 
 
 58 00 00 
 
 TOTALL . . . 578 00 00 
 [Memorandum in the War Office, 1685.] 
 
 No. 12. 
 
 ALLOWANCES to Non-commissioned Officers and Soul- 
 dyers of the Royal Regiment of Horse wounded in the 
 West, 1685. 
 
 Whereas, by the Establishment of our Forces, We have 
 been graciously pleased to direct an allowance to be made to 
 such Non-commissioned Officers and Souldyers as should be
 
 APPENDIX. 149 
 
 wounded, or hurt in our service : Our Will and Pleasure is, 
 that out of such monies as are or shall come to your hands 
 for the contingent uses of our Guards, &ca. you cause the 
 summes following to be paid to the Non-commissioned Officers 
 and Soldiers of Our Royal Regiment of Horse, hereunder 
 mentioned, viz'. 
 
 . 
 
 Edward Crooke 30 08 04 
 
 Stephen Aston 20 00 00 
 
 Price Bevins 12 00 00 
 
 Oxenbridge Harwood . . . 30 08 04 
 Cha". Fisher, Trumpeter . . 5 00 00 
 William Philpott . . . . 5 00 00 
 
 John Wood 9 00 00 
 
 Samuel Tibbs 9 00 00 
 
 Thomas White 9 00 00 
 
 Nathaniel Ablet 20 00 00 
 
 George Halgate 5 00 00 
 
 John Price 5 00 00 
 
 Rowland Lloyd 30 08 04 
 
 James Mills 5 00 00 
 
 Samuel Equisney . . . . 25 00 00 
 
 220 05 00 
 
 Which summes, amounting in all to two hundred and twenty 
 pounds five shillings, are to be paid to the said persons in 
 consideration of their wounds, received in our service during 
 the late Rebellion ; and for so doing this, together with the 
 Acquittances of the said persons, or their Assigns, shall be 
 your discharge. Given, &ca. the 28 th of May, 1686, in the 
 second Year of our Reign. 
 
 By his Ma tie9 Command, 
 
 W. B. 
 To our Right Trusty and well-beloved 
 
 Cousin and Councillor, Richard, Earl 
 
 of Ranelagh, Paymaster- General of 
 
 our Guards and Land Forces. 
 
 [War Office Records.]
 
 150 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Idf^.jl 
 
 Illllllll 
 
 s 
 
 m
 
 APPENDIX, 151 
 
 No. 14. 
 
 AN ORDER for the Royal Regiment of Horse to march 
 from Winchester to Salisbury, and to leave its Armour 
 at Winchester, 1688. 
 
 Our Will and Pleasure is, that you cause our Royal Regi- It is his Ma 
 ment of Horse, under your command, to march from Win- thTseveral 1 ' 
 Chester on Thursday, being the eighth day of this instant Officers maj 
 November, to Salisbury, where they are to remain till further oWArmou] 
 order. And you are to cause the Regiment to leave their with them i. 
 Armour at Winchester, with the Mayor or chief Magistrate, ey 
 taking a receipt for the same, to be delivered by them to the 
 Officers of our Ordnance, or such as shall be appointed by 
 them. 
 
 Given 6 th Nov : br 1688. 
 
 W. BLATHWAYT. 
 To our dearly Beloved Natural 
 
 Son, James, Duke of Berwick, 
 
 Col : of Our Royal Regiment 
 
 of Horse, fyca.
 
 152 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 15. 
 
 LIST of the OFFICERS who were with the Regiment in 
 Flanders in the year 1815, and received Waterloo 
 Medals : 
 
 Lieutenant- Colonel 
 Major .... 
 
 Captains 
 
 Lieutenants 
 
 Cornets 
 
 Quarter- Masters . 
 
 Surgeon 
 Veterinary Surgeon 
 
 Sir John Elley, Colonel, K.C.B.* 
 
 Sir Robert Chambre Hill, Knt. 
 
 Robert Christopher Packe. 
 
 John Thoyts. 
 
 William Robert Clayton. 
 
 Clement Hill, Lieut.- Colonel. 
 
 William Tyrwhitt Drake. 
 
 John Beech Riddlesden. 
 
 William Cunliffe Shawe. 
 
 Everard William Bouverie. 
 
 Charles Augustus Fitzroyt. 
 
 Henry Ellis Bates. 
 
 Tathwell Baker Tathwell. 
 
 George Smith. 
 
 Hon. George John Watson. 
 
 John Kirkby Picard. 
 
 James Arnold. 
 
 Thomas Varley. 
 
 Peter Watmough. 
 
 Thomas Hardy. 
 
 Jonas Varley. 
 
 Thomas Troy. 
 
 David Slow. 
 
 John Seddall. 
 
 * This officer was severely wounded on the 18th of June; but being 
 employed on the Staff, as Deputy Adjutant-General, he was not included 
 in the regimental return. 
 
 f On the Staff of Major-General Sir Hussey Vivian. 
 
 London : Printed by W. CLOWES and SONS, Stamford Str.-i. 

 
 A 000035381