2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays)
2nd Dragoon Guards (The Queen's Bays) | |
---|---|
Active | 1685–1959 |
Country | Kingdom of England (1685–1707) Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1959) |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Cavalry |
Size | Regiment |
Part of | Royal Armoured Corps |
Nickname(s) | The Bays Rusty Buckles[1] |
Motto(s) | Pro rege et patria (Latin "for King & Country") |
March | Quick – Rusty Buckles Slow – The Queen's Bays |
The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse.
Renamed several times, it was designated the Queen's Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1746 as it evolved into a dragoon unit (dragoons described a force of highly mobile mounted infantry equipped with lighter, faster horses and carrying firearms) and later named the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) in 1767 to reflect the custom of its soldiers riding only bay horses.
The regiment served as horse cavalry until 1937, when it was mechanised with light tanks. The regiment became part of the Royal Armoured Corps in 1939. After service in the First and Second World Wars, the regiment amalgamated with the 1st King's Dragoon Guards in 1959 to form the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards.
History
Early history
The regiment was raised in 1685 as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse when
During the
Brigadier-General
During the War of the Spanish Succession Harveys Regiment moved to Portugal in March 1704 to support the Allied campaign in the Iberian Peninsula. In July 1710 it fought at the Battle of Almenar but in December was overwhelmed by superior forces at Brihuega, the survivors being taken prisoner.[5]
In recognition of its involvement in suppressing the
During the
In an incident at Lezennes, a single squadron of the regiment, under Major Robert Craufurd, attacked and defeated a unit of 150 French troops, in October 1793 during the War of the First Coalition.[9]
The regiment next saw action when a squadron under Major Piercy Smith charged the rebels at the
First World War
The regiment, which had been was stationed at Aldershot at the start of the war, landed in France as part of the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division, part of the Expeditionary Force, in August 1914 for service on the Western Front.[12] The regiment took part in the Great Retreat in August 1914, the Battle of Le Cateau in August 1914, the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, the Battle of Messines in October 1914, the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914, the Battle of the Somme in Autumn 1916, the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, the Battle of the Scarpe in August 1918 and in the final advance of Autumn 1918.[13]
Inter-war
The regiment was renamed the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) in 1921.[8] The regiment served as horse cavalry until 1937, when it was mechanised with light tanks. The regiment became part of the Royal Armoured Corps in 1939.[13]
Second World War
At the outbreak of the
Post war
After the war, the regiment remained in northern Italy, at Pegi on the River Isonzo, and then moved to Egypt in June 1947 before returning to Dale Barracks in Chester in October 1947.[15] The regiment moved on to Bad Fallingbostel in Germany in 1949, before returning to Tidworth Camp in September 1954 and then deploying to Aqaba in Jordan later in the year.[15] It deployed to Libya in February 1956 and then returned to Perham Down in August 1957 before transferring to Northampton Barracks in Wolfenbüttel in 1958.[15] The regiment amalgamated with the 1st King's Dragoon Guards in 1959 to form the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards.[15]
Regimental museum
The regimental collection is displayed at Firing Line: Cardiff Castle Museum of the Welsh Soldier in Cardiff.[16]
Battle honours
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[8]
- Early Wars: Warburg, Willems, Lucknow, South Africa 1901-02
- The Great War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18
- The Second World War: Somme 1940, Withdrawal to Seine, North-West Europe 1940, Msus, Gazala, Bir el Aslagh, Cauldron, Knightsbridge, Via Balbia, Mersa Matruh, El Alamein, Tebaga Gap, El Hamma, El Kourzia, Djebel Kournine, Tunis, Creteville Pass, North Africa 1941–43, Coriano, Carpineta, Lamone Crossing, Defence of Lamone Bridgehead, Rimini Line, Ceriano Ridge, Cesena, Argenta Gap, Italy 1944-45
Regimental Colonels
Regimental colonels have included:[17]
- The Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse (1685); Villiers (1689); Leveson's (1694); Harveys (1699);
- 1685–1688: Col. Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, KG
- 1688–1694: Brig-Gen. Hon. Edward Villiers
- 1694–1699: Brig-Gen Richard Leveson
- 1699–1712: Gen. Daniel Harvey
- 1712–1715: Col. John Bland
- The Princess of Wales's Own Regiment of Horse - (1715)
- 1715–1726: Col. Thomas Pitt, 1st Earl of Londonderry
- 1726–1733: F.M. John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, KG, KT
- The Queen's Own Regiment of Horse - (1727)
- 1733–1740: Gen. William Evans
- 1740–1749: Gen. John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu, KG, KB
- The Queen's Regiment of Dragoon Guards - (1746)
- 1749–1753: F.M. Sir John Ligonier, KB
- 2nd (The Queen's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards - (1751)
- 1753–1757: Maj-Gen. Hon. William Herbert
- 1757–1759: Lt-Gen. Lord George Sackville
- 1759–1773: Gen. John Waldegrave, 3rd Earl Waldegrave
- 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) - (1767)
- 1773–1807: F.M. George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend
- 1807–1821: Lt-Gen. Sir Charles Cregan Craufurd, GCB
- 1821–1831: Gen. William Loftus
- 1831–1837: Gen. Sir James Hay, KCH
- 1837–1853: Gen. Sir Thomas Gage Montresor, KCH, KC
- 1853–1873: Gen. Hon. Henry Frederick Compton Cavendish
- 1873–1874: Gen. Sir Henry Dalrymple White, KCB
- 1874–1881: Gen. Alexander Low, CB
- 1881–1894: Gen. Sir Charles Pyndar Beauchamp Walker, KCB
- 1894–1921: Gen. Sir William Henry Seymour, KCB
- The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) - (1921)
- 1921–1930: Lt-Gen. Sir Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe, KCB, KCMG
- 1930–1945: Lt-Gen. Sir Antony Ernest Wentworth Harman, KCB, DSO
- 1945–1954: Brig. James Joseph Kingstone, CBE, DSO, MC
- 1954–1959: Col. George William Charles Draffen, DSO
See also
Footnotes
- ^ At this time, regiments were typically named after the Colonel and changed names when a new Colonel was appointed.
- ^ Commissions were private assets that could be bought, sold or used as an investment; many Colonels played no active military role which seems likely with Villiers.
- ^ Villiers died in July 1689 but this would not have impacted operational command, which appears to have exercised by Lt-Colonel George Carpenter.
- ^ Until 1707, Scotland, England and Ireland were treated as separate kingdoms, which paid for their own military units.
References
- ISBN 978-1-84832-562-3.
- ^ a b "1685 to 1899 - A Short History of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards". Regimental Museum of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Horse). Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ "English Cavalry Regiments". Spanish Succession.nl. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ Richards, p. 26
- ^ a b c Richards, p. 27
- ISBN 1152896717.
- ^ "English Cavalry Regiments". Spanish Succession.nl. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d "The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards)". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 9 January 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ "2nd Dragoon Guards". British Empire. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ Richards, p. 29
- ^ "2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays)". Anglo-Boer War. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ "The Dragoon Guards". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ a b "1899 to 1938 - A Short History of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards". Regimental Museum of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Horse). Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ a b c "1938 to 1959 - A Short History of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards". Regimental Museum of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Horse). Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ a b c d "Queen's Bays". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ "Museum of the Welsh Soldier". Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- ^ "The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards)". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
Sources
- Richards, Walter (1890). Her Majesty's Army (PDF). London: J. S. Virtue and Co.
External link