Bit boss, 7th Hussars, c1857.
NAM. 1965-10-23-1Introduction
In 1689 the Scottish army raised 12 independent cavalry troops, half of which were merged into a single regiment on the English establishment in 1690 for policing duties in Scotland. This new unit was named the Queen’s Own Regiment of Dragoons after the recently enthroned Mary II.
The regiment’s first 25 years included two deployments to the Low Countries and ten years on the Scottish establishment. It was disbanded for ten months from April 1714 and February 1715, before facing the Jacobite rebels at Sherrifmuir nine months after its re-formation. 1715 also saw it renamed ‘The Princess of Wales’s Own’ after Caroline, consort of the future George II, though it returned to being ‘The Queen’s Own’ in 1727 when George acceded to the throne.
The unit was then out of action for 27 years, until it re-mobilised in 1742 and charging at both Dettingen and Fontenoy. It moved back to Scotland in 1756 and added a light troop, which was used in the late 1750s in raids on northern French ports. The regiment as a whole fought at Warburg in 1760 before entering another 30 years’ home service before the French Revolutionary Wars. They deployed to the Netherlands in 1794 and 1799 before ten years in Britain. In 1801 Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, became the regiment’s colonel and he remained in the role until 1842, even after losing a leg at Waterloo (1815).
Handkerchief used on Henry Paget’s leg wound by his aide-de-camp Captain Thomas Wildman, 7th Regiment of Light Dragoons, 1815.
NAM. 1963-09-210-2Paget also gained the regiment an upgrade to hussars in 1807, the second-ever British regiment to gain that honour. It served in Spain in 1808 and 1813, spending the interim recruiting after severe losses. It was also heavily engaged at Waterloo, charging more than 12 times in four hours and losing 64 killed and 120 wounded.
It then saw no more action until the Indian Mutiny in 1857, where it won its first and second Victoria Crosses. It remained in India until 1871. The 7th spent the next 46 years in England and South Africa, along with a total of 18 years in India. They only joined the First World War in 1917, when they were deployed to Basra and Baghdad against the Ottoman Turks.
The unit remained in Iraq on occupation duties until May 1919. The inter-war period saw it in India, England and Egypt, during which time it also mechanised, in 1936. The 7th's Second World War service began in North Africa from 1940 to 1942, when it redeployed to cover the retreat through Burma, fighting the last 150 miles as infantry after having to destroy its tanks. It then re-equipped in Egypt before fighting alongside 2nd Polish Corps in Italy for the last two years of the war, for which it gained the honour of wearing the crest of the city of Warsaw on its sleeve.
It served as occupation troops in Germany twice during the late 1940s before becoming the first armoured unit to deploy to Hong Kong in 1954. It kept order there during the 1956 riots, returned to Britain in 1957 and a year later amalgamated with the 3rd Hussars to form the Queen’s Own Hussars.
Key facts
Motto:
- 'Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense' (meaning 'Shame On Him Who Thinks This Evil')
Nicknames:
- The Saucy Seventh (after its officers’ smartness, ornate uniforms and reputation in high society)
- The Lilywhite Seventh (after the white facings on their uniforms)
- Strawboots (after using straw to repair their worn-out boots at Warburg in 1760)
- The Black Horse
Titles to date:
- The Queen’s Own Regiment of Dragoons
- 8th Dragoons
- The Princess of Wales’s Own Regiment of Dragoons
- 7th (The Queen’s Own) Regiment of Dragoons
- 7th (or Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) British Dragoons
- 7th (The Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars)
- 7th (The Queen’s Own) Hussars
- 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars
- 7th Queen’s Own Hussars
- The Queen’s Own Hussars
- The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)
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