Bit boss, 4th (Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, c1857.
NAM. 1965-10-21-1Introduction
In 1685, in the midst of the Monmouth Rebellion, several independent troops of cavalry were raised in south west England and Bradford. In July that year, these were merged into a single regiment of dragoons named after Anne, daughter of King James II.
Its first engagements were in the 1690s against the Jacobites in Scotland and Ireland and the French in the Low Countries. It also fought in Portugal and Spain early in the 18th century and also took part in a raid on Cherbourg in 1708.
The regiment fought against the First Jacobite Rebellion in 1715 and returned to the Low Countries in 1742, where George Daraugh was commissioned from the ranks by George II for saving one of the regiment’s standards at Dettingen. The regiment then remained in England for 60 years from 1748 onwards, though this period did see it gain its ranking of 4th in the order of precedence in 1751 and the prefix ‘Queen’s Own’ in 1788 after George III’s wife Queen Charlotte.
It helped to suppress the Gordon Riots in London in 1780, but its next foreign action came in 1809 with the Peninsular War. There it fought at Talavera, Busaco, Salamanca, Vittoria and Toulouse, only getting back to Britain in 1814. It then spent eight years in England, where it was converted into a light dragoon regiment in 1818 then sent on its first Indian posting in 1822. That posting lasted 20 years and saw it take part in the First Afghan War (1839-42) and the capture of Ghuznee.
Winston Churchill in the uniform of the 4th Hussars, 1895.
NAM. 1992-10-143-1547The regiment was sent to the Crimea in 1854 under the command of a Brevet-Colonel, Lord George Paget, who led it into the Charge of the Light Brigade smoking a cheroot and in 1874 became its full colonel. It converted into a hussar regiment in 1861.
For almost 60 years after the Crimea the regiment alternated between garrison duty in England, Ireland and India, only interrupted by sending a detachment to Egypt in 1883. One of its officers during this period was Winston Churchill. However, he spent much time as a war correspondent or on attachment to other regiments and found it hard to support the luxurious cavalry-officer lifestyle.
The regiment also sent men to reinforce other cavalry regiments during the Boer War in 1899 and served in South Africa as a whole regiment from 1905 to 1909. It was from Ireland that it deployed to the Western Front in 1914, remaining there for the whole First World War. The regiment spent the 1920s in India and the 1930s in England, mechanising in 1936. It then deployed to the Middle East in January 1940, fighting in North Africa, Greece and Italy until the end of the Second World War.
Its first post-war duty was in Austria and it served in Malaya from 1948 to 1951, operating in armoured cars on counter-terrorism duties. It then spent time in England and Germany before amalgamating with the 8th Hussars in October 1958 to form the Queen’s Own Royal Irish Hussars.
Key facts
Motto:
- 'Mente et Manu' (meaning 'With Mind and Hand')
Nickname:
- Paget’s Irregular Horse (after its colonel and after its poor drill, a result of it being in the field for 20 years in India from 1822 onwards)
Titles to date:
- The Princess Anne of Denmark’s Regiment of Dragoons
- 4th Regiment of Dragoons
- 4th (Queen’s Own) Regiment of Dragoons
- 4th (Queen’s Own) Regiment of Light Dragoons
- 4th (The Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
- 4th (The Queen’s Own) Hussars
- 4th (Queen’s Own) Hussars
- 4th Queen’s Own Hussars
- The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars
- The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)
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