Military Subjects: Organization, Strategy & Tactics

British Cavalry Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 1st Dragoon Guards

By Steve Brown

Secondary Titles:

The King’s

Regimental History

1685:

6 June – raised as the Queen’s Regiment of Horse

Colonels

1779:

21 April

Sir George Howard, K.B.

1796:

18 July

Sir William Augustus Pitt, K.B.

1810:

4 January

Francis, Lord Heathfield

1813:

27 January

Sir David Dundas, K.B.

Stations and Combats

1793:

Increased from 9 to 12 troops; July – 6 troops at Romford, 6 troops to Blackwell, then Ostend; Nieuport

1794:

Flanders – BEAUMONT (Cateau); Premont; Tournai; Antwerp; Breda; Nijmegen; Bremen

1795:

Scharmbeek; November – Bremenlee; to North Shields; reduced from 12 to 7 troops

1796:

Regiment reunited at Romford; June – Brighton; October – Guildford; Salisbury

1797:

Salisbury; July – Weymouth; September – Croydon

1798:

Croydon; July – Swinley; October – Ipswich; Chelmsford

1799:

Croydon; increased from 7 to 8 troops; August – Ipswich; Canterbury; Croydon

1800:

Croydon; increased from 8 to 10 troops; June – Windsor Forest, 2 troops in Croydon; September – Nottingham; December – Northampton

1801:

Leicester; Birmingham; Nottingham; August – Guildford; Nottingham & Birmingham

1802:

Birmingham; July – Bristol

1803:

Bristol; May – Exeter

1804:

Exeter; March – Arundel; Norwich

1805:

Norwich; October – Brighton

1806:

Brighton

1807:

Brighton; June – Lewes

1808:

Lewes; June – York

1809:

York; May – Berwick; Dunbar; August – Piershill

1810:

Piershill; April – Belhaven; Port Patrick; to Ireland – Donaghadee; Dundalk

1811:

Dundalk; December – Dublin

1812:

Dublin; September – Clonmel

1813:

Clonmel; May – 18 men to Peninsula

1814:

Reduced from 12 to 10 troops; Clonmel; Cork; November – 7 troops to Bristol; then 4 troops to Coventry, 2 troops to Leicester, 1 troop to Warwick

1815:

January – remaining 3 troops to Bristol; then 2 troops to Northampton, 1 troop to Warwick; March – increased from 10 to 12 troops; April – Romford; 8 troops to Ostend, depot at Ipswich; Bruges; Ghent; Genappe; WATERLOO; Paris; Army of Occupation

1816:

May – Calais; to Dover.

Careers of Senior Officers (shown as highest rank attained in regiment in the period)

Lt Col Richard Vyse

Born Staffordshire 1746; Lieutenant-Colonel in 4th Dragoons 7 January 1781 (on transfer from 18th Light Dragoons); Lieutenant-Colonel in 1st Dragoon Guards 1 June 1784; commanded 1st Dragoon Guards 1784 to 1794; brevet Colonel 22 November 1790; commanded at brigade in Flanders 1793; subsequently Major-General 2 October 1794; Lieutenant-General 1 January 1801; MP 1806 to 1807; General 1 January 1812; died Staffordshire 1825.

Major Henry Waller

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 14 May 1785; retired June 1793.

Lt Col Hatton Flood

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 1 June 1793; Lieutenant-Colonel 9 September 1794; commanded 1st Dragoon Guards 1794 to 1797; to Hompesch Hussars May 1797.

Major John Prince

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 9 September 1794; Lieutenant-Colonel in 6th Dragoon Guards 28 March 1795.

Lt Col William Tooley Hawley

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 9 September 1794; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 June 1797; Lieutenant-Colonel in 29th Light Dragoons June 1797; Lieutenant-Colonel in 1st Dragoon Guards 15 December 1797; commanded 1st Dragoon Guards 1797 to 1803; died April 1803.

Lt Col William Ann Villettes

Born London 1754; Major in 12th Light Dragoons 24 December 1787 (on transfer from 10th Light Dragoons); Lieutenant-Colonel in 69th Foot 30 July 1791; brevet Colonel 21 August 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel in 1st Dragoon Guards 23 March 1797; subsequently Major-General 18 June 1798; Colonel-Commandant 1/4th Foot 1801; Lieutenant-General 30 October 1805; Lieutenant-Governor and CO Forces in Jamaica November 1807; died Jamaica July 1808.

Lt Col James Hay

Served in Flanders 1793 to 1795; Major in 2nd Dragoon Guards May 1794; Lieutenant-Colonel in 29th Light Dragoons 16 September 1795 (on transfer from 2nd Dragoon Guards); served in West Indies 1795 to 1796; Lieutenant-Colonel in 1st Dragoon Guards 22 May 1797; Lieutenant-Colonel in 2nd Dragoon Guards 19 December 1797.

Major John Syer

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 1 April 1795; retired January 1798.

Lt Col John Eliot

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 1 June 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel 3 May 1799; commanded 1st Dragoon Guards 1803 to 1804; court-martialled for ‘improprieties’ and dismissed December 1804.

Captain Montgomery Agnew

Born Scotland 1733; Captain in 1st Dragoon Guards 2 April 1778; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 29 August 1777; brevet Colonel 20 November 1782; Major-General 12 October 1793; Lieutenant-General 1 January 1798; General 29 April 1802; retired 24 November 1803 – a 70 year old captain in the regimental roster who also happened to be a General!

Major Henry Teesdale

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 10 January 1798; Lieutenant-Colonel in 4th Dragoon Guards 5 January 1805.

Major John Campbell

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 3 May 1799; retired May 1805.

Lt Col Henry Fane

Born Lincolnshire 1778; Major in 4th Dragoon Guards 24 August 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel in 4th Dragoon Guards 1 June 1797; served in Irish rebellion 1798; Lieutenant-Colonel in 1st Dragoon Guards 25 December 1804; commanded 1st Dragoon Guards 1804 to 1805; brevet Colonel 1 January 1805; subsequently Major-General 25 July 1810; commanded a cavalry brigade in the Peninsula August to December 1810; and again May 1813 to April 1814; Lieutenant-General 12 August 1819; General 10 January 1837; Colonel of 1st Dragoon Guards 24 February 1837; died Azores 1840.

Major John Balcombe

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 29 December 1804; retired November 1805.

Lt Col George Teesdale

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 30 May 1805; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1812; Lieutenant-Colonel 7 September 1815.

Lt Col William Fuller

Major in 10th Light Dragoons 26 September 1799; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1805; Lieutenant-Colonel in 1st Dragoon Guards 22 August 1805 (on transfer from 10th Light Dragoons); commanded 1st Dragoon Guards 1805 to 1815; brevet Colonel 4 June 1813; killed in action at Waterloo.

Major Robert Evatt Acklom

Major in 1st Dragoon Guards 23 November 1805; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1812.

Sources:

War Office. Army Lists 1796 to 1815. London: various years.

McKenna, Michael G. The British Army – And Its Regiments and Battalions. West Chester, Ohio: The Nafziger Collection. 2004.

Park, S.J. and Nafziger, G.F. The British Miltary – Its System and Organization 1803-1815. Cambridge, Ontario: Rafm Co. Inc. 1983.

Reid, Stuart. Wellington’s Officers, Volume 1. Leigh-On-Sea: Patrizan Press, 2008.

Philippart, John. The Royal Military Calendar, or Army Service and Commission Book. London: A.J. Valpy, 1820.

Queens Dragoons Website. October 2009.

London Gazette Website. October 2009.

Wikipedia. October 2009. Various pages.

 

Placed on the Napoleon Series: November 2009

 

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