3rd The King’s Own Hussars

Introduction

Early in 1685 four independent troops of cavalry were raised to protect London from the threat posed by the Monmouth Rebellion. These were initially attached to what would later become the 1st Royal Dragoons, but on 17 July that year they and two more troops were formed into a separate regiment.

This new unit was named The Queen Consort’s Own Regiment of Dragoons after James II’s wife Mary of Modena and initially wore her livery. However, much of the regiment had Protestant sympathies – its first colonel was dismissed for them after only a year and in 1688 half the regiment went over to William III. The other half joined them after James’s flight to France and the regiment then spent the rest of the 17th century fighting James and his French allies in Ireland and the Low Countries. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) saw the regiment used in raids on the Spanish ports of Cadiz and Vigo and fight at Almanza.

On George I’s accession the regiment was renamed the King’s Regiment of Dragoons in 1714. The following year George granted it his family crest of a white horse as its cap badge, in recognition of its service against the Jacobites at Sherrifmuir.

30 years’ home service followed, finally broken by the battle of Dettingen in 1743, where it held its position for three hours under heavy artillery fire, charged three times and captured a pair of French kettle drums. One of its privates, Tom Brown, was severely wounded saving the regimental colour during the battle and was made the last ever knight banneret on the battlefield by George II.

Two years later the regiment was sent back to fight at Culloden, but then saw no more action for the rest of the century except for suppressing the Gordon Riots in 1780. It was then sent on the Walcheren expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 and to the Peninsula War from 1811 to 1814, in which it fought at Salamanca and Vittoria. It missed Waterloo, but joined the Army of Occupation in France briefly before returning to policing duties in England and Ireland for over 15 years.

1837 saw the regiment on its first Indian deployment, lasting 16 years. There it took part in the First Afghan War (1839-42) and the First and Second Sikh Wars (1845-49), including the battles of Kabul, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Sobraon, Chillianwala and Goojerat. It remained in England and Ireland during the Crimean War and alternated between home service and India for the rest of the 19th century. It began the new century mopping up Boer resistance for six months from November 1901 onwards, before spending the next 13 years in India, South Africa and England.

The regiment spent the whole First World War on the Western Front, mainly as dismounted troops, but still won 20 battle honours there. It joined the Allied army of occupation in Turkey during the 1920s before garrison service in Egypt and India.

The regiment was back in England by 1935 and a year later it was converted to use armoured cars, in which they fought in North Africa from 1940 to 1941. It then split into two squadrons – one was captured in its entirety on Java by the Japanese, but the other fought in the breakthrough at El Alamein in 1942. These events left it so short of men that it was transferred to Syria and Lebanon until April 1944, when it joined the Italian campaign.

It spent 1945 to 1948 peacekeeping in Palestine and then seven years in Germany from 1951 onwards. It returned to England in October 1958 and the following month was amalgamated with the 7th Hussars to form The Queen’s Own Hussars.

Key facts

Motto:

• ‘Nec Aspera Terrent’ (meaning ‘Nor Do Difficulties Deter’)

Nicknames:

• The Moodkee Wallahs (after its actions at Moodkee in 1845 during the First Sikh War)
• Bland’s Dragoons (after Humphrey Bland, its colonel from 1743 to 1752)
• Lord Adam Gordon’s Life Guards (due to being kept in Scotland for a long period in the early 1790s providing escorts for Adam Gordon, the commander-in-chief of Scotland)

Titles to date:

• Duke of Somerset’s Regiment of Dragoons
• 3rd Dragoons
• The Queen Consort’s Own Regiment of Dragoons
• The King’s Regiment of Dragoons
• 3rd (King’s Own) Regiment of Dragoons
• 3rd (The King’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
• 3rd (The King’s Own) Hussars
• 3rd (King’s Own) Hussars
• 3rd The King’s Own Hussars
• The Queen’s Own Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)

4th Queen’s Own Hussars

Introduction

In 1685, in the midst of the Monmouth Rebellion, several independent troops of cavalry were raised in south west England and Bradford. In July that year, these were merged into a single regiment of dragoons named after Anne, daughter of King James II.

Its first engagements were in the 1690s against the Jacobites in Scotland and Ireland and the French in the Low Countries. It also fought in Portugal and Spain early in the 18th century and also took part in a raid on Cherbourg in 1708.

The regiment fought against the First Jacobite Rebellion in 1715 and returned to the Low Countries in 1742, where George Daraugh was commissioned from the ranks by George II for saving one of the regiment’s standards at Dettingen. The regiment then remained in England for 60 years from 1748 onwards, though this period did see it gain its ranking of 4th in the order of precedence in 1751 and the prefix ‘Queen’s Own’ in 1788 after George III’s wife Queen Charlotte.

It helped to suppress the Gordon Riots in London in 1780, but its next foreign action came in 1809 with the Peninsular War. There it fought at Talavera, Busaco, Salamanca, Vittoria and Toulouse, only getting back to Britain in 1814. It then spent eight years in England, where it was converted into a light dragoon regiment in 1818 then sent on its first Indian posting in 1822. That posting lasted 20 years and saw it take part in the First Afghan War (1839-42) and the capture of Ghuznee.

The regiment was sent to the Crimea in 1854 under the command of a Brevet-Colonel, Lord George Paget, who led it into the Charge of the Light Brigade smoking a cheroot and in 1874 became its full colonel. It converted into a hussar regiment in 1861.

For almost 60 years after the Crimea the regiment alternated between garrison duty in England, Ireland and India, only interrupted by sending a detachment to Egypt in 1883. One of its officers during this period was Winston Churchill. However, he spent much time as a war correspondent or on attachment to other regiments and found it hard to support the luxurious cavalry-officer lifestyle.

The regiment also sent men to reinforce other cavalry regiments during the Boer War in 1899 and served in South Africa as a whole regiment from 1905 to 1909. It was from Ireland that it deployed to the Western Front in 1914, remaining there for the whole First World War. The regiment spent the 1920s in India and the 1930s in England, mechanising in 1936. It then deployed to the Middle East in January 1940, fighting in North Africa, Greece and Italy until the end of the Second World War.

Its first post-war duty was in Austria and it served in Malaya from 1948 to 1951, operating in armoured cars on counter-terrorism duties. It then spent time in England and Germany before amalgamating with the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars in October 1958 to form The Queen’s Own Royal Irish Hussars.

Key facts

Motto:

• ‘Mente et Manu’ (meaning ‘With Mind and Hand’)

Nickname:

• Paget’s Irregular Horse (after its colonel and after its poor drill, a result of it being in the field for 20 years in India from 1822 onwards)

Titles to date:

• The Princess Anne of Denmark’s Regiment of Dragoons
• 4th Regiment of Dragoons
• 4th (Queen’s Own) Regiment of Dragoons
• 4th (Queen’s Own) Regiment of Light Dragoons
• 4th (The Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
• 4th (The Queen’s Own) Hussars
• 4th (Queen’s Own) Hussars
• 4th Queen’s Own Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)

7th Queen’s Own Hussars

Introduction

In 1689 the Scottish army raised 12 independent cavalry troops, half of which were merged into a single regiment on the English establishment in 1690 for policing duties in Scotland. This new unit was named the Queen’s Own Regiment of Dragoons after Queen Mary II, who had recently joined with her husband King William III in seizing the throne from her father James II.

The regiment’s first 25 years included two deployments to the Low Countries and ten years on the Scottish establishment. It was disbanded for ten months from April 1714 and February 1715, before facing the Jacobite rebels at Sherrifmuir nine months after its re-formation. 1715 also saw it renamed ‘The Princess of Wales’s Own’ after Caroline, consort of the future King George II, though it returned to being ‘The Queen’s Own’ in 1727 when George acceded to the throne.

The unit was then out of action for 27 years, until it re-mobilised in 1742 and charging at both Dettingen and Fontenoy. It moved back to Scotland in 1756 and added a light troop, which was used in the late 1750s in raids on northern French ports. The regiment as a whole fought at Warburg in 1760 before entering another 30 years’ home service before the French Revolutionary Wars. They deployed to the Netherlands in 1794 and 1799 before ten years in Britain. In 1801 Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, became the regiment’s colonel and he remained in the role until 1842, even after losing a leg at Waterloo (1815).

Paget also gained the regiment an upgrade to hussars in 1807, the second-ever British regiment to gain that honour. It served in Spain in 1808 and 1813, spending the interim recruiting after severe losses. It was also heavily engaged at Waterloo, charging more than 12 times in four hours and losing 64 killed and 120 wounded.

It then saw no more action until the Indian Mutiny in 1857, where it won its first and second Victoria Crosses. It remained in India until 1871. The 7th spent the next 46 years in England and South Africa, along with a total of 18 years in India. They only joined the First World War in 1917, when they were deployed to Basra and Baghdad against the Ottoman Turks.

The unit remained in Iraq on occupation duties until May 1919. The inter-war period saw it in India, England and Egypt, during which time it also mechanised, in 1936. The 7th’s Second World War service began in North Africa from 1940 to 1942, when it redeployed to cover the retreat through Burma, fighting the last 150 miles as infantry after having to destroy its tanks. It then re-equipped in Egypt before fighting alongside 2nd Polish Corps in Italy for the last two years of the war, for which it gained the honour of wearing the crest of the city of Warsaw on its sleeve.

It served as occupation troops in Germany twice during the late 1940s before becoming the first armoured unit to deploy to Hong Kong in 1954. It kept order there during the 1956 riots, returned to Britain in 1957 and a year later amalgamated with the 3rd Hussars to form The Queen’s Own Hussars.

Key facts

Motto:

• ‘Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense’
  (meaning ‘Shame On Him Who Thinks Evil Of It’)

Nicknames:

• The Saucy Seventh (after its officers’ smartness, ornate uniforms and reputation in high society)
• The Lilywhite Seventh (after the white facings on their uniforms)
• Strawboots (after using straw to repair their worn-out boots at Warburg in 1760)
• The Black Horse

Titles to date:

• The Queen’s Own Regiment of Dragoons
• 8th Dragoons
• The Princess of Wales’s Own Regiment of Dragoons
• 7th (The Queen’s Own) Regiment of Dragoons
• 7th (or Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) British Dragoons
• 7th (The Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars)
• 7th (The Queen’s Own) Hussars
• 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars
• 7th Queen’s Own Hussars
• The Queen’s Own Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)

8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars

Introduction

This regiment was raised in 1693 as a dragoon unit from Protestants living in Ireland. This was only two years after the decisive Jacobite defeat at Aughrim so the new regiment remained in Ireland until 1704, when it was posted to Portugal and Spain. It remained there until its capture at Brihuega in 1710.

It was soon involved in a prisoner exchange and returned to Ireland, where it temporarily disbanded from April 1714 until July 1715, when the First Jacobite Rebellion triggered its re-formation. The regiment fought against both Jacobite Rebellions, but otherwise remained on policing duties in Ireland from 1715 right up until 1794, when it was posted to the Low Countries. The regiment was designated light dragoons in 1775 and gained the ‘King’s’ prefix two years later.

The French Revolutionary Wars saw the regiment garrisoning the Cape of Good Hope from 1796 onwards and sending a detachment to join Abercrombie’s force in Egypt in 1801. That year also saw it sail to India, where it stayed for 22 years, fighting in the Maratha Wars as well as campaigning in Nepal and against Meer Khan.

In 1823, just after getting back to Britain, it was renamed and re-equipped as hussars, keeping order in England and Ireland for the next 30 years. It fought against the Russians at Silistra on the Danube, en route to the main theatre of the Crimean War (1854-56). There it served at the Alma and the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade. The charge was led by the Earl of Cardigan, who had been an officer in the 8th Hussars from 1824 to 1830.

Only 154 of the regiment returned from the Crimea in 1856, but they were in Ireland for less than a year before being dispatched to deal with the Indian Mutiny (1857-59). One of the regiment’s squadrons fought at Gwalior, where four of its members won the Victoria Cross and a fifth killed the Rani of Jhansi.

It then formed part of India’s garrison until 1864 and again from 1878 to 1889, guarding lines of communication between Kabul and Peshawar during the Second Afghan War (1878-80) and fighting against the Shinwarrie tribe. One of its officers during this period was John French, later famous for his generalship during the First World War. It spent the rest of the 19th century in England and Ireland, from where it sailed to the Boer War in 1900. Another term in India followed from 1909 to 1914.

It spent the First World War on the Western Front and made its last mounted charge in 1917. In 1919 it was posted to the new nation of Iraq and to Germany in 1926, before moving to Egypt from 1933 to 1939. Except for a period peacekeeping in Palestine, it remained there until the outbreak of the Second World War, by which time it had switched to armoured cars then to light tanks. Service in North Africa, Greece and Italy followed. The regiment then returned to the United Kingdom to prepare for the invasion of Europe, landing two days after D-Day and ending the war near Hamburg, before joining the occupation force.

The regiment’s final campaign was in Korea between 1950 and 1952, which included service on the Imjin River. In 1942 the regiment had temporarily merged with the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars and this amalgamation was enacted again in October 1958, this time permanently, to form The Queen’s Own Royal Irish Hussars.

Key facts

Motto:

• ‘Pristinae Virtutis Memores’ (meaning ‘Mindful of Past Courage’)

Nicknames:

• The Crossbelts (it captured the Spanish cavalry’s belts at Almenara in 1710 and from then on the regiment was allowed to wear its sword belt over its right shoulder, not round the waist as was usual for dragoon regiments)
• The Crossbelt Dragoons

Titles to date:

• Henry Conyngham’s Regiment of Dragoons
• John Pepper’s Regiment of Dragoons
• Phineas Bowles’s Regiment of Dragoons
• 8th Regiment of Dragoons
• 8th Regiment of Light Dragoons
• 8th (The King’s Royal Irish) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
• 8th (The King’s Royal Irish) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars)
• 8th (The King’s Royal Irish) Hussars
• 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)

Queen’s Own Hussars

Introduction

The regiment was formed at Tidworth in November 1958 by amalgamating the 3rd Hussars and the 7th Hussars, which had both existed as independent regiments since the 1680s.

It inherited several honours from these two regiments, including the Hanoverian white horse as its cap badge from the 3rd Hussars and the right to wear the Warsaw city crest on its sleeve, given to the 7th Hussars after fighting alongside Polish troops in Italy from 1944 to 1945. The new regiment remained in England for its first two years before deploying to Germany from 1960 to 1965. It then returned to Britain, leaving one squadron in West Berlin.

In 1967 it converted into an armoured reconnaissance regiment and then began a split posting, with part of the regiment going to Aden and part to Malaysia and Cyprus. It reunited in Germany in 1973 and remained there for the rest of its existence, interrupted only by three four-month tours to Northern Ireland in 1973, 1977 and 1979 and two years in England from 1983 onwards.

It became the last armoured regiment in the British Army to convert to using Challenger tanks in 1989 and three years later it was amalgamated with The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars to form The Queen’s Royal Hussars (Queen’s Own and Royal Irish).

Key facts

Motto:

• ‘Nec Aspera Terrent’ (meaning ‘Nor Do Difficulties Deter’)

Titles to date:

• The Queen’s Own Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)

Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars

Other ranks’ cap badge, The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, c1958

Introduction

The regiment was formed by amalgamating the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars and 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars on 24 October 1958 – the day before the anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade, in which both these regiments participated.

The new regiment’s colonel-in-chief was the Duke of Edinburgh and it inherited the colonels of both its predecessor regiments, one of whom was Winston Churchill, who had served in the 4th Hussars.

Both regiments were in Germany at the time of the merger and the new unit remained there for its early years, operating as an armoured car unit. In June 1961 it moved to Aden via England, followed by jungle warfare in Brunei and Sarawak and service as part of the Internal Security Forces in Singapore.

In 1964 the regiment moved back to West Germany for four years, before converting to a tank regiment and becoming the Royal Armoured Corps’s Centre Regiment. In 1965 officers from the regiment stood vigil over Churchill’s catafalque and acted as his coffin-bearers. His death also led the regiment to switch to a single colonel.

Next, the regiment re-equipped with Chieftain tanks in 1969 before returning to Germany once again the following year. That deployment lasted until 1979, when it returned to Britain, sending individual squadrons to serve as the Demonstration Squadron at Warminster, UN peacekeepers on Cyprus and ceasefire monitors in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

In 1983 it sent troops to be guards at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. From 1982 to 1988 and 1990 to 1995 the regiment was again based in Germany, spending the interim in England. During that period it switched to Challenger tanks, with which it led 7th Armoured Brigade’s advance in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in October 1991. Later in 1991 it returned to its base in Germany, where two years later it was merged with The Queen’s Own Hussars to form The Queen’s Royal Hussars (Queen’s Own and Royal Irish).

Key facts

Motto:

• ‘Mente et Manu’ (meaning ‘With Mind and Hand’)

Titles to date:

• The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars
• The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)