Other ranks' collar badge, 5th Dragoon Guards, c1900.
NAM. 1964-04-83-8Introduction
In 1685 various troops of horse were raised to defend James II against the Monmouth Rebellion. Later that year, several of these were merged to form a single cavalry regiment, ranked as the 7th Horse.
Its ranking rose to the 6th Horse in 1690, a year which also saw it fighting against James at the Boyne. It returned to Ireland in 1698 and 1715, fighting in Europe in the interim at Blenheim, Ramillies and Malplaquet. It went to Ireland yet again in 1746 after being shifted to the Irish establishment, this time for over 40 years.
The regiment returned to the British establishment in 1788 and five years later deployed to the Low Countries and Germany on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1804 the regiment was named after Princess Charlotte, only child of the future George IV. In 1811 it deployed to the Peninsula, where it captured the drum major's staff of the French 66th Line Infantry Regiment and fought at Salamanca and Vittoria. Yet from 1814 to 1893 the regiment remained in England, with the sole exception of the Crimea.
The uniform and standard of the 5th Dragoon Guards, 1800.
NAM. 1971-02-33-534-18The regiment had several noteworthy colonels. One was Princess Charlotte's widowed husband Leopold, from 1816 until he was made the first king of Belgium in 1831. His grandson Albert II became the regiment's colonel-in-chief in 1915. Another was Sir James Yorke Scarlett, who went on to command the charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaclava, in which the 5th Dragoon Guards took part.
Yet another was Robert Baden-Powell, future founder of the Scout Movement. He took command of the regiment in India in 1897 during its first posting there and remained its colonel until he was sent to South Africa in 1899. The training he gave the unit proved invaluable when it too was posted to the Boer War, in which it formed part of the force besieged in Ladysmith.
One of the regiment's officers in South Africa, George Kirkpatrick Ansell, later rose to command it, but he was killed on the Western Front on 1 September 1914. The regiment remained on that front throughout the First World War, serving as dismounted troops for all but a few weeks at the start and end of the conflict. It spent the post-war period in Palestine, where in 1922 it merged with the 6th Dragoons to form the 5th/6th Dragoons.
Key facts
Motto
- 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum' (meaning 'We Do Not Retreat')
Nicknames:
- The Green Horse (from the colour of its uniform facings)
- The Old Farmers (during their long stay in Ireland, several soldiers acquired land and began to farm it)
Titles to date:
- Duke of Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse
- 7th Horse
- 6th Horse
- 2nd Horse, Irish Establishment
- 2nd Regiment of Horse, Irish Establishment
- 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards
- 5th (the Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards
- 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards
- 5th/6th Dragoons
- 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
- 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
- D Squadron, Royal Dragoon Guards
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.