Collar badge of the 13th Hussars, 1900-1902.
NAM. 1964-04-85-19Introduction
On 23 July 1715, less than a year into his reign as king of Great Britain, George I authorised 11 noblemen to form dragoon regiments. One of these regiments was Richard Munden's Regiment of Dragoons, named after its founder, who had command experience from the War of the Spanish Succession 11 years earlier. The new unit saw its first action on 12 November 1715 against a Jacobite roadblock in Lancaster during the Battle of Preston.
The unit was given the numeral 13 in 1751 and by the end of the 18th century it had become a light dragoon regiment, fighting the forces of Napoleonic France at Albuera, Vittoria and Waterloo.
13th Light Dragoons survivors after the battle of Balaklava, photograph by Roger Fenton, 1855. NAM. 1964-12-151-6-39It then took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea in 1854 – its personnel there included Lance-Sergeant Joseph Malone, who won the Victoria Cross for his actions, and Troop Sergeant Edwin Hughes, who became the oldest survivor of the Charge, dying in 1927. Its Crimean engagements also included Inkerman and Sebastopol.
Soon afterwards, in 1861, it was renamed the 13th Hussars. It then served in India, where it was the first regiment ever joined by Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement and later its regimental colonel.
Later it served in the Boer War and on the Western and Mesopotamian fronts in World War One - at Sharqat it made a mounted charge and then a dismounted one, less than a month before the Armistice. In 1922 it merged with the 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own) to form the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own).
Key facts
Motto:
- 'Viret In Aeternum' (meaning 'May It Flourish Forever')
Nicknames:
- The Lilywhites (due to the white collars on its tunics)
- The Evergreens (from its uniform facings)
- The Geraniums (from the smartness of its uniforms)
Titles to date:
- Richard Munden's Regiment of Dragoons
- Munden’s Dragoons
- 13th Regiment of Dragoons
- 13th Regiment of Light Dragoons
- 13th Hussars
- 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own)
- Light Dragoons
Find out more
Regimental Museum
Regimental Merchandise
National Army Museum Collection
Add your comment
Please note: By submitting a comment you are agreeing to the terms laid out in the National Army Museum's Rules for User Comments. Any views expressed in user comments do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of the National Army Museum or its staff.