British Cavalry Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815

British Cavalry Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: Royal Regiment of Horse Guards

Secondary Titles:

Royal Horse Guards (Blue)

Regimental History

1660:

26 January – formed as the Royal Regiment of Horse (Earl of Oxford’s)

Colonels

1770:	25 August	Henry Seymour Conway
1795:	15 July	Charles, Duke of Richmond, K.G.
1806:	30 December	Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland, K.G.
1813:	1 January	Arthur, Duke of Wellington, K.G.

Stations and Combats

1793:	London; June – 2 squadrons to Blackwell; to Ostend; Flanders (remaining 2 squadrons at Northampton)
1794:	Ghent; Cambray; Cateau; Tournay; Retreat to Bremen
1795:	Hanover; November – to London; 4 squadrons reunited at Northampton
1796:	London
1797:	Weymouth
1798:	Hertford; Swinley; Northampton
1799:	Northampton; Windsor
1800:	Nottingham; Derby
1801:	Nottingham; Derby; Northampton; Birmingham
1802:	Northampton; Dorchester
1803:	Dorchester; Salisbury
1804:	Canterbury
1805:	Windsor
1806:	Windsor
1807:	Windsor
1808:	Windsor
1809:	Windsor
1810:	Windsor
1811:	Windsor
1812:	Windsor; November – 2 squadrons to Portsmouth; Lisbon; Belem; Luz (remaining 2 squadrons at Windsor)
1813:	April – remounts from England; May – joined Peninsula army; Vittoria; Logrono
1814:	Logrono; Pyrenees; March – received remounts; April – Bordeaux; July – to Dover
1815:	May – 2 squadrons to Dover; Ostend; Bruges; Ninove; retreat from Quatre Bras; WATERLOO; Paris (remaining 2 squadrons at Windsor)
1816:	January – to England.

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

Lt. Col. Wynter Blathwayte

Lieutenant-Colonel in RHG 23 November 1772; commanded RHG November 1772 to December 1794; brevet Colonel 17 November 1780; Major-General 28 September 1787; Colonel of 81st Foot 31 December 1794; subsequently Lieutenant-General 26 January 1797; died April 1801.

Lt. Col. Miles Staveley

Major in RHG 17 April 1790; Lieutenant-Colonel 31 December 1794; commanded RHG December 1794 to September 1799; brevet Colonel 21 August 1795; Major-General 23 June 1798; Colonel of 28th Light Dragoons 18 December 1799; subsequently Lieutenant-General 30 October 1805.

Major Gustavus Belford

Born Kent 1748; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 March 1794; Major in RHG 31 December 1794; retired September 1798; died 1816.

Lt. Col. Andrew Corbet

Born Shropshire 1766; Captain in RHG 17 January 1787; brevet Major 6 May 1795; Major 27 September 1798; Lieutenant-Colonel 18 December 1799; retired March 1800; Inspecting Field Officer of Yeomanry in 1804.

Lt. Col. William Paul de Cerjat

Born Lincolnshire 1764; Captain in RHG 28 May 1788; brevet Major 3 May 1796; Major 18 December 1799; Lieutenant-Colonel 11 January 1800; commanded RHG January 1800 to May 1803; retired May 1803.

Lt. Col. John Dorrien

Born Hertfordshire 1759; Captain in RHG 14 May 1790; served in Hanover 1795; brevet Major 26 January 1797; Major 25 October 1799; Lieutenant-Colonel 25 March 1800; brevet Colonel 19 January 1806; subsequently Major-General 4 June 1811; Lieutenant-General 12 August 1819; died Hertfordshire 1825.

Major Henry Ware

Major in RHG 24 October 1799; retired April 1802.

Lt. Col. Charles Armand Dashwood

Born London 1768; Major in RHG 11 April 1800; Lieutenant-Colonel May 1803; commanded RHG May 1803 to November 1804; retired December 1804; Inspecting Field Officer of Yeomanry in 1807; died 1812.

Lt. Col. Warden Sergison

Born Sussex 1763; Major in RHG 7 April 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel 29 November 1804; commanded RHG November 1804 to March 1806; retired March 1806; died 1812.

Major William Miller

Major in RHG 21 April 1803; retired November 1805.

Lt. Col. Sir John Elley, K.C.B., K.C.H.

Born London 1770; joined RHG as a private in 1790, made Quartermaster; Cornet 1791; served in Flanders 1793 to 1795; Major 29 November 1804; Lieutenant-Colonel 6 March 1806; commanded RHG March 1806 to May 1813; served in peninsula as Assistant Adjutant-General of Cavalry, November 1808 to January 1809; and again June 1809 to April 1814; wounded at Salamanca; brevet Colonel 7 March 1813; Deputy Adjutant-General and wounded at Waterloo; Major-General 12 August 1819; died 1839.

Lt. Col. Sir Robert Chambre Hill, Kt., C.B.

Born Shropshire 1778, younger brother of Rowland Hill; served in Flanders 1794 to 1795; Major in RHG 14 November 1805; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1812; commanded RHG squadrons in Peninsula November 1812 to February 1813; commanded Household Cavalry brigade February to June 1813; commanded RHG June 1813 to April 1814; Lieutenant-Colonel 13 May 1813; commanded RHG and wounded at Waterloo; brevet Colonel 1 January 1819; commanded RHG until July 1823; died 1860.

Major Thomas Athorpe

Born Yorkshire 1774; Major in RHG 6 March 1806; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 4 June 1813; commanded RHG squadrons at Windsor 1811 to 1815; retired June 1820.

Captain Clement Delves Hill

Born Shropshire 1781, another younger brother of Rowland Hill; served in Peninsula as ADC to General Hill August 1808 to January 1809; and again May 1809 to November 1810; wounded at Douro; Captain in RHG 4 April 1811; ADC again in Peninsula May 1811 to April 1814; brevet Major 26 December 1811; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 30 December 1813; ADC to Lord Hill and wounded at Waterloo; died 1845.

Major Robert Christopher Packe

Born Leicester 1783; served in Peninsula November 1812 to April 1814; commanded RHG in Peninsula February to June 1813; Major in RHG 13 May 1813; killed in action at Waterloo.

Major John Thoyts

Born Berkshire 1771; graduated BNC Oxford 1789; Captain in RHG 22 August 1805; served in Peninsula November 1812 to April 1814; taken prisoner at Waterloo, released a few days later; Major 18 June 1815; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 18 June 1815; commanded RHG on advance to Paris; retired 1820; died 1849.

Sources:

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

Packe, Edmund. An Historical Record of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, or Oxford Blues. London: William Clowes, 1834.

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

Fletcher, Ian. Wellington’s Regiments. Staplehurst: Spellmount, 1994.

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

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

Hall, John A. A History of the Peninsular War: Volume VIII – The Biographical Dictionary of British Officers Killed and Wounded 1808-1814. London: Greenhill Books, 1998.

Dalton, Charles. The Waterloo Roll Call. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1904.

London Gazette Website. October 2009.

The Napoleon Series – Peninsula Roll Call. May 2009.

Presenting the Household Cavalry website.

Wikipedia. May 2009. Various pages.

Placed on the Napoleon Series: January 2010

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