| 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) | |
|---|---|
 Badge of the 5th Dragoon Guards | |
| Active | 1685–1922 |
| Disbanded | 1922 |
| Country |  England (1685–1697) Ireland (1698–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1922) |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Cavalry of the Line |
| Role | Heavy Cavalry |
| Size | 1 battalion |
| Nicknames | The Green Horse[1] The Green Dragoons[2] The Old Farmers[2] |
| Motto | Vestigia nulla restorsum (Latin – We do not retreat) |
| March | (Quick) The Gay Cavalier (Slow) Soldier's chorus from Gounod's Faust |
| Anniversaries | Salamanca Day |
| Engagements | The Boyne 1690Blenheim 1704Ramillies 1706Malplaquet 1709Salamanca 1812Balaclava 1854 |
| Battle honours | Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Beaumont, Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, Peninsula, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Defence of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899–1902; France and Flanders 1914–18[a][3] |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | 1st Earl Cadogan 7th Earl of Cardigan |
The5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards was aBritish army cavalry regiment, officially raised in January 1686 asShrewsbury's Regiment of Horse or theEarl of Shrewsbury's Horse.
By 1687, it was known asLangsdale's Horse, from 1687 to 1688 asHamilton's Horse, then from 1688 to 1691 asJohn Coy's Horse. In 1691, it was given a number and known as the6th Horse. In 1697 the regiment was known asArran's Horse and later becameCadogan's Horse.
As Coy's Horse, the regiment fought at theBattle of the Boyne. In 1804 it became the5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards.
In 1922, the regiment was amalgamated with the6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons to form the5th/6th Dragoons. Its history and traditions continue today in theRoyal Dragoon Guards, an armoured cavalry unit of the British Army.[4]
On 1 January 1686, several independent troops of horse raised in response to the 1685Monmouth Rebellion were formed into theEarl of Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse.[5] It was first commanded by Lord Shrewsbury, withJohn Darcy, Lord Conyers, as his lieutenant-colonel.[6]
After theGlorious Revolution of 1688, the regiment served in theWilliamite War in Ireland, including fighting at theBattle of the Boyne and theFirst Siege of Limerick.[7] When theNine Years' War ended in 1697, the regiment escaped disbandment by being made part of the Irish military establishment, where it remained until the creation of theUnited Kingdom in 1801.[8]
During theWar of the Spanish Succession, the unit was commanded byWilliam Cadogan, close aide to theDuke of Marlborough. It was engaged in many of Marlborough's battles and sieges, includingBlenheim,Ramillies andMalplaquet; after thePeace of Utrecht in 1713, it resumed garrison duties in Ireland, where it spent most of the next 80 years.[9]
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Renamed Second Irish Horse in 1746, it then became 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1788.[3] On the outbreak of theFrench Revolutionary Wars in 1793, it was posted to Flanders where it fought at the April 1794Battle of Beaumont.[8] The unit returned to Ireland and helped suppress the1798 Irish Rebellion, including the battles ofArklow,Vinegar Hill andBallinamuck.[7] In 1804, it was retitled 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards afterPrincess Charlotte, later simplified to 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards.[3]
Posted to Spain in 1810, it was part ofJohn Le Marchant's brigade during thePeninsular campaign. TheBattle of Salamanca in July 1812 is considered one ofWellington's greatest victories and Le Marchant's attack as the 'single most destructive charge made by a brigade of cavalry in the whole Napoleonic period.'[10] The regiment celebrated 'Salamanca Day' until its dissolution in 1922; the tradition continues among several units of the modern British army.[11]
Redesignated heavy cavalry, it was sent to theCrimean War in 1853 and fought in the October 1854Battle of Balaclava.[7] The Charge of the Heavy Brigade was a famous action but casualties were relatively light; the Brigade as a whole lost 92 dead and wounded in total, 15 of whom came from the 5th Dragoon Guards.[12] A small detachment joined the1885 Nile Expedition in 1885 but its next serious action was during the 1899–1902Second Boer War, when it fought at the battles ofElandslaagte andLadysmith.[13]
During theFirst World War, it formed part of theBritish Expeditionary Force that landed in France in August 1914.[14] Retitled 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) in 1921, the following year it was amalgamated with theInniskillings (6th Dragoons), to form5th/6th Dragoons.[3]
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The regimental collection is held in theCheshire Military Museum atChester Castle.[15][16]
The colonels of the regiment were as follows:[3]
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