16th The Queen's Lancers
16th The Queen's Lancers | |
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![]() Badge of 16th The Queen's Lancers | |
Active | 1759–1922 |
Country | ![]() ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Type | Line Cavalry |
Size | Regiment |
Nickname(s) | "The Scarlet Lancers" |
Motto(s) | Aut cursu, aut cominus armis (Either in the charge or in hand-to-hand combat) |
March | Quick: The English Patrol Slow: The 16th Lancers |
Anniversaries | Aliwal (28 January) |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | General John Burgoyne Field Marshal William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt |
The 16th The Queen's Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers in 1922.
History
Early wars
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/BurgoyneByReynolds.jpg/220px-BurgoyneByReynolds.jpg)
The regiment was raised in 1759 by Colonel
Napoleonic Wars
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Andrieux_-_La_bataille_de_Waterloo.jpg/220px-Andrieux_-_La_bataille_de_Waterloo.jpg)
The regiment were ordered to support Sir Arthur Wellesley's Army on the Iberian Peninsula and landed at Lisbon in April 1809.[18] The regiment fought at the Second Battle of Porto in May 1809,[18] the Battle of Talavera in July 1809[19] and the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in April 1810.[20] The regiment also saw action at the Battle of Bussaco in September 1810[21] the Battle of Sabugal in April 1811[22] and the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811.[23] It next fought at the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812,[24] the siege of Burgos in September 1812[25] and the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813.[26] It was next in action at the siege of San Sebastián in August 1813[27] and having advanced into France, at the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813[27] and at the Battle of the Nive in December 1813.[28] It returned home in July 1814.[29]
The regiment took part in the
Victorian era
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Bataille_d%27Aliwal_1.jpg/220px-Bataille_d%27Aliwal_1.jpg)
The regiment was dispatched to Ireland in March 1816 where it was re-designated as a
20th century
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/16th_Lancers_Ypres_1914.jpg/220px-16th_Lancers_Ypres_1914.jpg)
The regiment landed at Cape Colony in January 1900 for service in the Second Boer War and took part in the relief of Kimberley in February 1900.[38] The regiment, which had been based at The Curragh at the start of the First World War, landed in France as part of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front.[39] The regiment was retitled as the 16th The Queen's Lancers in 1921[1] and amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers) in 1922.[1]
Regimental museum
The regimental collection is held at The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum which is based at Thoresby Hall in Nottinghamshire.[40]
Insignia and uniform
The collar badge of the regiment comprised the figure 16 above a scroll inscribed "Queen's Lancers", over a pair of crossed lances and surmounted by a crown. The lancer full dress cap bore the regimental battle honours and number in silver.[41]
In its early years as the 16th Light Dragoons, the regiment wore the standard red uniform of this branch of cavalry with black and then royal blue facings. In 1784 the red coat was replaced by a dark blue jacket. From 1816 to 1832 a dark blue lancer uniform was worn, until in December 1832 a scarlet coatee and undress jacket was authorized for all lancer regiments as part of a general policy to make red the national military colour. In 1840 it was ordered that Light Cavalry should revert to the blue uniforms formerly worn. Sir John Vandeleur petitioned that the regiment might be permitted to retain their scarlet coatee and on 2 March 1841, his request was granted.
Battle honours
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[1]
- Early Wars: Beaumont, Willems, Talavera, Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, Nive, Peninsula, Waterloo, Bhurtpore, Ghuznee 1839, Afghanistan 1839, Maharajpore, Aliwal, Sobraon, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1900–02.
- The Great War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15, Gheluvelt, St. Julien, Bellewaarde, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917, Somme 1918, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914–18.
Victoria Cross
- Lieutenant Tirah Campaign, 17 August 1897
Colonel-in-Chief
- 1905–: F.M. HM Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, KG, GCVO
Regimental Colonels
Colonels of the Regiment were:[1]
- 16th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
- 1763–1779: Lt-Gen. John Burgoyne
- 16th (or The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (1769)
- 1779–1830: F.M. William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt, GCB
- 16th (The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers) (1816)
- 1830–1849: Gen. Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur, GCB
- 1849–1859: Lt-Gen. Sir Joseph Thackwell, GCB, KH
- 1859–1878: Gen. Hon. Sir Edward Cust, Bt., KCH
- 16th (or Queen's) Lancers
- 1878–1886: Gen. Sir Charles Cameron Shute, KCB
- 1886–1896: Gen. Sir Charles John Foster, KCB
- 1896–1909: Lt-Gen. William Thomas Dickson
- 16th (The Queen's) Lancers (1905) then 16th The Queen's Lancers (1921)
- 1909–1922: Lt-Gen. Sir 16th/5th Lancers)
- 1922: Regiment amalgamated with 16th/5th Lancers
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Mills, T.F. "16th The Queen's Lancers". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
- ^ Cannon, p. 13
- ^ Cannon, p. 17
- ^ Cannon, p. 18
- ^ a b Cannon, p. 24
- ^ Cannon, p. 27
- ^ Cannon, p. 28
- ^ a b Cannon, p. 29
- ^ Cannon, p. 30
- ^ Cannon, p. 31
- ^ Cannon, p. 34
- ^ Cannon, p. 35
- ^ Cannon, p. 36
- ^ Cannon, p. 38
- ^ Cannon, p. 40
- ^ Cannon, p. 45
- ^ Cannon, p. 46
- ^ a b Cannon, p. 47
- ^ Cannon, p. 50
- ^ Cannon, p. 52
- ^ Cannon, p. 55
- ^ Cannon, p. 61
- ^ Cannon, p. 62
- ^ Cannon, p. 67
- ^ Cannon, p. 71
- ^ Cannon, p. 76
- ^ a b Cannon, p. 77
- ^ Cannon, p. 78
- ^ Cannon, p. 80
- ^ Cannon, p. 81
- ^ Dalton, p. 87
- ^ Bromley, p. 361
- ^ Cannon, p. 86
- ^ Cannon, p. 87
- ^ Cannon, p. 93
- ^ Cannon, p. 111
- ^ a b "16th The Queen's Lancers". National Army Museum. Archived from the original on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "16th The Queen's Lancers". Anglo-Boer War. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "16th The Queen's Lancers". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "Charge of the Light Brigade bugle stars at new museum". BBC. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ISBN 978-0804807272.
- ^ Sumner, p. 116
- ^ Carman, p. 172-174
Sources
- Bromley, Janet; Bromley, David (2015). Wellington's Men Remembered Volume 2: A Register of Memorials to Soldiers who Fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo- Volume II: M to Z. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-5768-1.
- Carman, W.Y. Uniforms of the British Army – the Cavalry Regiments. Webb & Bower. ISBN 0-906671-13-2.
- Cannon, Richard (1842). Historical record of the Sixteenth Regiment or the Queen's Regiment of Light Dragoons, Lancers containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1759 and of its subsequent services to 1841. John W. Parker.
- Dalton, Charles (1904). The Waterloo roll call. With biographical notes and anecdotes. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode.
- Sumner, Rev. Percy (1949). Yeomanry Cavalry Uniforms. Vol. 27. Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research.
Further reading
- Hinde, Robert (1778). The discipline of the light-horse. London: W. Owen. OCLC 8046100. Retrieved 8 May 2011.