Photographs and history of the 1st Dragoon Guards,
during the reign of Queen Victoria.
When James II, to cope with Monmouth's rebellion, increased the army
to 15,000 men by the addition of new regiments, among them was "the
Queen's Regiment of Horse", so called to distinguish it from
"the King's Regiment of Horse", which afterwards became the
Horse Guards Blue.
The "Queen's" first saw fighting at Sedgemoor, and was one
of the regiments that were sent in pursuit of the Duke of Schomberg's
battalion, which had declared for the exiled King James, and with four
guns was marching to Scotland. It was this mutiny that led to the
introduction of the Mutiny Act, in which Parliament first recognised the
necessity for a code of law distinct from that carried out in Civil
Courts. The accession of the Prince of Orange to the throne was by
no means received with universal approbation. In Scotland there
were risings under Graham of Claverhouse, and in the suppression of the
abortive insurrection the Queen's Regiment shared. Even more
serious was the resistance to the new dynasty which was displayed in
Ireland, and of which the battle of the Boyne was the principal contest,
and the regiment took a prominent share in the operations which
culminated in the siege of Limerick. It had early earned the name
of a "brave and valorous corps".
The death of James II, and the recognition of his son as James III by
the Courts of France and Spain, led to the prolonged war in which
Marlborough occupies the principal place. Like most of the early
Dragoon Regiments, this was present in that magnificent charge at
Belnheim which cut the French army in two, and led to the drowning of
4000 men in the Danube; and it also shared in the glories of Ramillies,
Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. During the whole of the campaign armour
was worn, and in 1714, on the accession of George I, the regiment
received the title of the "King's Own Regiment of Horse", and
the colour of the facings was changed from yellow to blue".
It was during this reign that the purchase of commissions by officers
was authoritatively permitted according to a fixed scale, which ranged
from £7,000 for the colonel and captain (the commanding officer
received pay for the two duties) to £1,000 for the cornet. The
adjutancy seems to have been little appreciated, as it is only priced at
£200.
The "King's Own" suffered severely at Dettingen and
Fontenoy. The equipment and duties of the whole of the cavalry had
so far assimilated, that in 1746 three regiments of Horse were converted
into Dragoons, with the additional title of "Guards", and
precedence over all other regiments of Dragoons, as a compensation for
the reduction of their pay to that of the last named troops. Thus
the "King's Own" became the 1st Dragoon Guards. It was
specified in the warrant authorising the change that they should
"roll and do duty in our army, or upon detachments, with our other
forces, as Dragoons, in the same manner as if the word 'Guards' was not
inserted in their respective titles". As in the Infantry
there was a tendency to use light and grenadier companies on the flanks
of the battalion, so, too, about this time, "light troops"
were added to the cavalry. Many minor alterations were made from
time to time, as the idea of their being mounted infantry died
away. Thus the heavy muskets and brace of large heavy pistols were
replaced by a lighter carbine and a single pistol; trumpeters replaced
drummers; veterinary surgeons were added to the staff; the standard was
for the first time definitely fixed at 5ft 8in, and the light troops of
the 1st Dragoon Guards and of three other regiments were formed into a
separate body, then called the 19th Light Dragoons. A curious
custom was in force at the end of the last century, by which rewards
were paid for captured stores, at the rate of £20 per gun, £10 per
pair of colours or a tumbril, and £12 for a horse. The regiment
must have been successful as well as gallant in the sharp affair of
Cateau, in 1794, for it received £500 for its spoil, and was in
addition mentioned (with two other regiments) as having "acquired
immortal honour". Pay and praise ran together in this
instance.
In 1810 they shared with the Life Guards the duty of "gold stick
in waiting", an honour at that time not even extended to the Horse
Guards Blue. With these regiments it formed Lord Edward Somerset's
brigade at Waterloo. Then the men were dressed in red short tailed
coats, and wore helmets of leather brass-mounted and with a long black
horse hair crest. It charged the French Cuirassiers in the brigade
composed of the Life and Horse Guards, a Light Cavalry brigade, and an
Infantry column, as well as joining in the final advance of Wellington's
line. During the action itself the Duke came to the brigade, and
praised the conduct of the men. The heavy loss of eleven officers
and two hundred and fifty two men killed and wounded, shows that they
had charged home, and well merited the mention in despatches that they
had "highly distinguished themselves". Their tangible
reward was a silver medal to every officer and man, the permission to
bear "Waterloo" on their standards, and the men were allowed
to count two years towards an increase in pension.
To one of the colonels is due one of the earliest official drill
books. Sir David Dundas was an enthusiastic admirer of all that
was Prussian, and after attending the summer manoeuvres in Germany,
produced the "Regulations for the Field Exercises and Movements of
the Cavalry". The old time battles of Blenheim, Ramillies,
Oudenarde, Malplaquet, and Dettingen, are numbered among the regimental
distinctions. In China, with fane and Probyn's "Horse",
it formed the cavalry brigade, and at Kaowle and Chang-chai-wan
brilliantly dispersed the huge masses of Tartar cavalry, and conduced to
the rapid advance on the capital which terminated the campaign, and led
to the addition of "Pekin" and "Taku Forts" to the
previous list of honours. Lastly, the title "South
Africa 1879" was added for their services in that campaign;
and while one troop was present at the fight at Ulundi, it was one of
its squadrons that, with some mounted inantry and natives, was
despatched for the capture of Cetchwayo, who surrendered to Major Marter
of the King's Dragoon Guards. There was even then a dignity in the
fallen monarch's attitude; for when he came out from the Kwa Dasa kraal,
and a dragoon advanced to seize him, "White soldier", he said,
"touch me not; I surrender to your chief!" Later on they
garrisoned the Transvaal, and were stationed at Pretoria, Wakkerstrom,
and Heidelberg, at the outbreak of active hostilities with the Boer
Government. The regimental badge is the royal cypher within the
garter; the facings blue.
Extract from "The British Army and Auxiliary Forces" Colonel
C. Cooper King, R.M.A. , 1894
JOHN DOOGAN (Private)
(Late) 1st Dragoon Guards
On January 28th 1881, at the action of Laing’s Nek,
Major Brownlow was dismounted during a charge, owing to his horse being
shot. Doogan who was the
Major’s servant, seeing the precarious position of his master, rode to
his assistance, and though himself severely wounded, sprang from his
horse to induce him to accept his mount, receiving another wound while
engaged in this gallant act.
