A History of the 17th Lancers
[Illustration:
Sir Joshua Reynolds Walker & Burstall Ph. Sc.
_John Hale_
_First Colonel of the 17^{th} Light Dragoons_.]
A History
Of the 17th Lancers
(DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE’S OWN)
BY
HON. J. W. FORTESCUE
London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1895
_All rights reserved_
[Illustration]
To the Memory
OF
MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES WOLFE
WHO FELL GLORIOUSLY IN THE MOMENT OF VICTORY
ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM BEFORE QUEBEC
13TH SEPTEMBER 1759
THIS HISTORY
OF THE REGIMENT RAISED IN HIS HONOUR
BY HIS COMRADE IN ARMS
JOHN HALE
IS PROUDLY AND REVERENTLY INSCRIBED
Preface
This history has been compiled at the request of the Colonel and
Officers of the Seventeenth Lancers.
The materials in possession of the Regiment are unfortunately very
scanty, being in fact little more than the manuscript of the short,
and not very accurate summary drawn up nearly sixty years ago for
Cannon’s _Historical Records of the British Army_. The loss of the
regimental papers by shipwreck in 1797 accounts for the absence of all
documents previous to that year, as also, I take it, for the neglect
to preserve any sufficient records during many subsequent decades. I
have therefore been forced to seek information almost exclusively from
external sources.
The material for the first three chapters has been gathered in part
from original documents preserved in the Record Office,--Minutes of the
Board of General Officers, Muster-Rolls, Paysheets, Inspection Returns,
Marching Orders, and the like; in part from a mass of old drill-books,
printed Standing Orders, and military treatises, French and English, in
the British Museum. The most important[· is a smudge?] of these latter
are Dalrymple’s _Military Essay_, Bland’s _Military Discipline_, and,
above all, Hinde’s _Discipline of the Light Horse_ (1778).
For the American War I have relied principally on the original
despatches and papers, numerous enough, in the Record Office,
Tarleton’s _Memoirs_, and Stedman’s _History of the American War_,--the
last named being especially valuable for the excellence of its maps and
plans. I have also, setting aside minor works, derived much information
from the two volumes of the _Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy_ compiled
by Mr. B. Stevenson; and from Clinton’s original pamphlets, with
manuscript additions in his own hand, which are preserved in the
library at Dropmore.
For the campaigns in the West Indies the original despatches in the
Record Office have afforded most material, supplemented by a certain
number of small pamphlets in the British Museum. The Maroon War is
treated with great fulness by Dallas in his _History of the Maroons_;
and there is matter also in Bridges’ _Annals of Jamaica_, and the works
of Bryan Edwards. The original despatches are, however, indispensable
to a right understanding of the war. Unfortunately the despatches that
relate to St. Domingo are not to be found at the Record Office, so that
I have been compelled to fall back on the few that are published in the
_London Gazette_. Nor could I find any documents relating to the return
of the Regiment from the West Indies, which has forced me unwillingly
to accept the bald statement in Cannon’s records.
The raid on Ostend and the expedition to La Plata have been related
mainly from the accounts in the original despatches, and from
the reports of the courts-martial on General Whitelocke and Sir
Home Popham. There is much interesting information as to South
America,--original memoranda by Miranda, Popham, Sir Arthur Wellesley
(the Duke of Wellington) and other documents--preserved among the
manuscripts at Dropmore.
The dearth of original documents both at the Record Office and the
India Office has seriously hampered me in tracing the history of the
Regiment during its first sojourn in India and through the Pindari War.
I have, however, to thank the officials of the Record Department of the
India Office for the ready courtesy with which they disinterred every
paper, in print or manuscript, which could be of service to me.
Respecting the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny I have received (setting
aside the standard histories) much help from former officers,
notably Sir Robert White, Sir William Gordon, and Sir Drury Lowe,
but especially from Sir Evelyn Wood, who kindly found time, amid all
the pressure of his official duties, to give me many interesting
particulars respecting the chase of Tantia Topee. Above all I have to
thank Colonel John Brown for information and assistance on a hundred
points. His long experience and his accurate memory, quickened but not
clouded by his intense attachment to his old regiment, have been of the
greatest value to me.
My thanks are also due to the officials of the Record Department of the
War Office, and to Mr. S. M. Milne of Calverley House, Leeds, for help
on divers minute but troublesome points, and to Captain Anstruther of
the Seventeenth Lancers for constant information and advice. Lastly,
and principally, let me express my deep obligations to Mr. Hubert
Hall for his unwearied courtesy and invaluable guidance through the
paper labyrinth of the Record Office, and to Mr. G. K. Fortescue, the
Superintendent of the Reading-Room at the British Museum, for help
rendered twice inestimable by the kindness wherewith it was bestowed.
The first and two last of the coloured plates in this book have been
taken from original drawings by Mr. J. P. Beadle. The remainder are from
old drawings, by one G. Salisbury, in the possession of the regiment.
They have been deliberately chosen as giving, on the whole, a more
faithful presentment of the old and extinct British soldier than could
easily be obtained at the present day, while their defects are of the
obvious kind that disarm criticism. The portrait of Colonel John Hale
is from an engraving after a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the
original of which is still in possession of his lineal descendant in
America. That of Lord Bingham is after a portrait kindly placed at the
disposal of the Regiment by his son, the present Earl of Lucan. Those
of the Duke of Cambridge and of Sir Drury Lowe are from photographs.
_May, 1895._
Contents
CHAP. PAGE
1. The Rise of the 17th Light Dragoons, 1759 1
2. The Making of the 17th Light Dragoons 10
3. Reforms after the Peace of Paris, 1763–1774 20
4. The American War--1st Stage--The Northern Campaign,
1775–1780 31
5. The American War--2nd Stage--The Southern Campaign,
1780–1782 49
6. Return of the 17th from America, 1783--Ireland,
1793--Embarkation for the West Indies, 1795 65
7. The Maroon War in Jamaica, 1795 73
8. Grenada and St. Domingo, 1796 87
9. Ostend--La Plata, 1797–1807 96
10. First Sojourn of the 17th in India,
1808–1823--The Pindari War 110
11. Home Service, 1823–1854 121
12. The Crimea, 1854–1856 128
13. Central India, 1858–1859 144
14. Peace Service in India and England, 1859–1879 166
15. The Zulu War--Peace Service in India and at Home,
1879–1894 174
Appendix
PAGE
A. A List of the Officers of the 17th Light Dragoons,
Lancers 181
B. Quarters and Movements of the 17th Lancers since their
Foundation 236
C. Pay of all Ranks of a Light Dragoon Regiment, 1764 241
D. Horse Furniture and Accoutrements of a Light Dragoon,
1759 243
E. Clothing, etc. of a Light Dragoon, 1764 244
F. Evolutions required at the Inspection of a Regiment,
1759 245
List of Illustrations
PAGE
Lieutenant-Colonel John Hale _Frontispiece_
H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge, K.G., Colonel-in-Chief 17th
Lancers _To face_ 1
Seventeenth Light Dragoons, 1764 „ 11
Privates, 1784–1810 „ 31
Officers, 1810–1813 „ 48
Privates, 1810–1813 „ 48
Officer, Corporal, and Privates, 1814 „ 65
Officers and Private, 1817–1823 „ 87
Officers, 1824 „ 102
Privates, 1824–1829 „ 117
George, Lord Bingham „ 121
Officers, 1829 „ 128
Officer and Privates, 1829–1832 „ 143
Officers, 1832–1841 „ 155
Central India, 1858, 1859 „ 165
Lieutenant-General Sir Drury Curzon Drury Lowe,
K.C.B. „ 179
Seventeenth Lancers, 1895 „ 227
[Illustration:
W. & D. Downey Photo. Walker & Burstall Ph. Sc.
_H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge, K.G._
_Colonel-in-chief 17^{th} Lancers, 1876._]
CHAPTER I
THE RISE OF THE 17TH LIGHT DRAGOONS, 1759
[Sidenote: 1645.]
The British Cavalry Soldier and the British Cavalry Regiment, such as
we now know them, may be said to date from 1645, that being the year
in which the Parliamentary Army, then engaged in fighting against King
Charles the First, was finally remodelled. At the outbreak of the war
the Parliamentary cavalry was organised in seventy-five troops of
horse and five of dragoons: the Captain of the 67th troop of horse was
Oliver Cromwell. In the winter of 1642–43 Captain Cromwell was promoted
to be Colonel, and entrusted with the task of raising a regiment of
horse. This duty he fulfilled after a fashion peculiarly his own.
Hitherto the Parliamentary horse had been little better than a lot of
half-trained yeomen: Colonel Cromwell took the trouble to make his
men into disciplined cavalry soldiers. Moreover, he raised not one
regiment, but two, which soon made a mark by their superior discipline
and efficiency, and finally at the battle of Marston Moor defeated the
hitherto invincible cavalry of the Royalists. After that battle Prince
Rupert, the Royalist cavalry leader, gave Colonel Cromwell the nickname
of Ironside; the name was passed on to his regiments, which grew to be
known no longer as Cromwell’s, but as Ironside’s.
In 1645, when the army was remodelled, these two famous regiments
were taken as the pattern for the English cavalry; and having been
blent into one, appear at the head of the list as Sir Thomas Fairfax’s
Regiment of Horse. Fairfax was General-in-Chief, and his appointment
to the colonelcy was of course a compliment to the regiment. Besides
Fairfax’s there were ten other regiments of horse, each consisting
of six troops of 100 men apiece, including three corporals and two
trumpeters. As the field-officers in those days had each a troop of his
own, the full establishment of the regiments was 1 colonel, 1 major,
4 captains, 6 lieutenants, 6 cornets, 6 quartermasters. Such was the
origin of the British Cavalry Regiment.
The troopers, like every other man in this remodelled army, wore
scarlet coats faced with their Colonel’s colours--blue in the case of
Fairfax. They were equipped with an iron cuirass and an iron helmet,
armed with a brace of pistols and a long straight sword, and mounted
on horses mostly under fifteen hands in height. For drill in the field
they were formed in five ranks, with six feet (one horse’s length in
those days), both of interval and distance, between ranks and files, so
that the whole troop could take ground to flanks or rear by the simple
words, “To your right (or left) turn;” “To your right (or left) about
turn.” Thus, as a rule, every horse turned on his own ground, and the
troop was rarely wheeled entire: if the latter course were necessary,
ranks and files were closed up till the men stood knee to knee, and the
horses nose to croup. This formation deservedly bore the name of “close
order.” For increasing the front the order was, “To the right (or left)
double your ranks,” which brought the men of the second and fourth
ranks into the intervals of the first and third, leaving the fifth rank
untouched. To diminish the front the order was: “To the right (or left)
double your files,” which doubled the depth of the files from five to
ten in the same way as infantry files are now doubled at the word,
“Form fours.”
The principal weapons of the cavalry soldiers were his firearms,
generally pistols, but sometimes a carbine. The lance, which had
formerly been the favourite weapon, at Crecy for instance, was utterly
out of fashion in Cromwell’s time, and never employed when any other
arm was procurable. Firearms were the rage of the day, and governed the
whole system of cavalry attack. Thus in action the front rank fired
its two pistols, and filed away to load again in the rear, while the
second and third ranks came up and did likewise. If the word were given
to charge, the men advanced to the charge pistol in hand, fired, threw
it in the enemy’s face, and then fell in with the sword. But though
there was a very elaborate exercise for carbine and pistol, there was
no such thing as sword exercise.
Moreover, though the whole system of drill was difficult, and required
perfection of training in horse and man, yet there was no such thing
as a regular riding-school. If a troop horse was a kicker a bell was
placed on his crupper to warn men to keep clear of his heels. If he
were a jibber the following were the instructions given for his cure:--
“If your horse be resty so as he cannot be put forwards then let one
take a cat tied by the tail to a long pole, and when he [the horse]
goes backward, thrust the cat within his tail where she may claw
him, and forget not to threaten your horse with a terrible noise. Or
otherwise, take a hedgehog and tie him strait by one of his feet to the
horse’s tail, so that he [the hedgehog] may squeal and prick him.”
For the rest, certain peculiarities should be noted which distinguish
cavalry from infantry. In the first place, though every troop and
every company had a standard of its own, such standard was called in
the cavalry a Cornet, and in the infantry an Ensign, and gave in each
case its name to the junior subaltern whose duty it was to carry it.
In the second place there were no sergeants in old days except in the
infantry, the non-commissioned officers of cavalry being corporals
only. In the third place, the use of a wind instrument for making
signals was confined to the cavalry, which used the trumpet; the
infantry as yet had no bugle, but only the drum. There were originally
but six trumpet-calls, all known by foreign names; of which names
one (_Butte sella_ or _Boute selle_) still survives in the
corrupted form, “Boots and saddles.”
How then have these minor distinctions which formerly separated cavalry
from infantry so utterly disappeared? Through what channel did the two
branches of the service contrive to meet? The answer is, through the
dragoons. Dragoons were originally mounted infantry pure and simple.
Those of the Army of 1645 were organised in ten companies, each 100
men strong. They were armed like infantry and drilled like infantry;
they followed an ensign and not a cornet; they obeyed, not a trumpet,
but a drum. True, they were mounted, but on inferior horses, and for
the object of swifter mobility only; for they always fought on foot,
dismounting nine men out of ten for action, and linking the horses by
the rude process of throwing each animal’s bridle over the head of the
horse standing next to it in the ranks. Such were the two branches of
the mounted service in the first British Army.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1745.]
A century passes, and we find Great Britain again torn by internal
strife in the shape of the Scotch rebellion. Glancing at the list of
the British cavalry regiments at this period we find them still divided
into horse and dragoons; but the dragoons are in decided preponderance,
and both branches unmistakably “heavy.” A patriotic Englishman, the
Duke of Kingston, observing this latter failing, raised a regiment
of Light Horse (the first ever seen in England) at his own expense,
in imitation of the Hussars of foreign countries. Thus the Civil War
of 1745 called into existence the only arm of the military service
which had been left uncreate by the great rebellion of 1642–48. Before
leaving this Scotch rebellion of 1745, let us remark that there took
part in the suppression thereof a young ensign of the 47th Foot,
named John Hale--a mere boy of seventeen, it is true, but a promising
officer, of whom we shall hear more.
The Scotch rebellion over, the Duke of Kingston’s Light Horse were
disbanded and re-established forthwith as the Duke of Cumberland’s own,
a delicate compliment to their distinguished service. As such they
fought in Flanders in 1747, but were finally disbanded in the following
year. For seven years after the British Army possessed no Light
Cavalry, until at the end of 1755 a single troop of Light Dragoons--3
officers and 65 men strong--was added to each of the eleven cavalry
regiments on the British establishment, viz., the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
Dragoon Guards, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, and 11th
Dragoons. These light dragoons were armed with carbine and bayonet and
a single pistol, the second holster being filled (sufficiently filled,
one must conclude) with an axe, a hedging-bill, and a spade. Their
shoulder-belts were provided with a swivel to which the carbine could
be sprung; for these light troops were expected to do a deal of firing
from the saddle. Their main distinction of dress was that they wore not
hats like the rest of the army, but helmets--helmets of strong black
jacked leather with bars down the sides and a brass comb on the top.
The front of the helmet was red, ornamented with the royal cypher and
the regimental number in brass; and at the back of the comb was a tuft
of horse-hair, half coloured red for the King, and half of the hue of
the regimental facings for the regiment. The Light Dragoon-horse, we
learn, was of the “nag or hunter kind,” standing from 14.3 to 15.1, for
he was not expected to carry so heavy a man nor such cumbrous saddlery
as the Heavy Dragoon-horse. Of this latter we can only say that he was
a most ponderous animal, with a character of his own, known as the
“true dragoon mould, short-backed, well-coupled, buttocked, quartered,
forehanded, and limbed,”--all of which qualities had to be purchased
for twenty guineas. At this time, and until 1764, all troop horses were
docked so short that they can hardly be said to have kept any tail at
all.
In the year 1758 nine of these eleven light troops took part in an
expedition to the coast of France, England having two years before
allied herself with Prussia against France for the great struggle
known as the Seven Years’ War. [Sidenote: 1759.] So eminent was the
service which they rendered, that in March 1759, King George II.
decided to raise an entire regiment of Light Dragoons. On the 10th of
March, accordingly, the first regiment was raised by General Elliott
and numbered the 15th. The Major of this regiment, whom we shall meet
again as Brigadier of cavalry in America, was William Erskine. On the
4th August another regiment of Light Dragoons was raised by Colonel
Burgoyne, and numbered the 16th. We shall see the 16th distinguished
and Burgoyne disgraced before twenty years are past.
And while these two first Light Dragoon regiments are a-forming,
let us glance across the water to Canada, where English troops are
fighting the French, and seem likely to take the country from them.
Among other regiments the 47th Foot is there, commanded (since March
1758) by Colonel John Hale, the man whom we saw fighting in Scotland
as an ensign fourteen years ago. Within the past year he has served
with credit under General Amherst at the capture of Cape Breton and
Louisburg, and in these days of August, while Burgoyne is raising
his regiment, he is before Quebec with General Wolfe. Three months
more pass away, and on the 13th of October Colonel John Hale suddenly
arrives in London. He is the bearer of despatches which are to set all
England aflame with pride and sorrow; for on the 13th of September was
fought the battle on the plains of Abraham which decided the capture
of Quebec and the conquest of Canada. General Wolfe fell at the head
of the 28th Regiment in the moment of victory; and Colonel Hale, who
took a brilliant share in the action at the head of the 47th, has been
selected to carry the great news to the King. Colonel Hale was well
received; the better for that Wolfe’s last despatches, written but four
days before the battle, had been marked by a tone of deep despondency;
and, we cannot doubt, began to wonder what would be his reward. He did
not wonder for long.
Very shortly after Hale’s arrival the King reviewed the 15th Light
Dragoons, and was so well pleased with their appearance that he
resolved to raise five more such regiments, to be numbered the 17th to
the 21st.
* * * * *
The raising of the first of these regiments, that now known to us
as the Seventeenth Lancers, was intrusted to Colonel John Hale, who
received his commission for the purpose on the 7th November. For the
time, however, the regiment was known as the Eighteenth, for what
reason it is a little difficult to understand; since the apology for
a corps which received the number Seventeen was not raised until a
full month later (December 19th). As we shall presently see, this
matter of the number appears to have caused some heartburning, until
Lord Aberdour’s corps, which had usurped the rank of Seventeenth, was
finally disbanded, and thus yielded to Hale’s its proper precedence.
[Sidenote: 7th Nov.]
On the very day when Colonel Hale’s commission was signed, which we
may call the birthday of the Seventeenth Lancers, the Board of General
Officers was summoned to decide how the new regiment should be dressed.
As to the colour of the coat there could be no doubt, scarlet being the
rule for all regiments. For the facings white was the colour chosen,
and for the lace white with a black edge, the black being a sign of
mourning for the death of Wolfe. But the principal distinction of the
new regiment was the badge, chosen by Colonel Hale and approved by the
King, of the Death’s Head and the motto “Or Glory,”--the significance
of which lies not so much in claptrap sentiment, as in the fact that it
is, as it were, a perpetual commemoration of the death of Wolfe. It is
difficult for us to realise, after the lapse of nearly a century and a
half, how powerfully the story of that death seized at the time upon
the minds of men.
Two days after the settlement of the dress, a warrant was issued for
the arming of Colonel Hale’s Light Dragoons; and this, being the
earliest document relating to the regiment that I have been able to
discover, is here given entire:--
GEORGE R.
Whereas we have thought fit to order a Regiment of Light
Dragoons to be raised and to be commanded by our trusty and
well-beloved Lieutenant-Colonel John Hale, which Regiment is to
consist of Four troops, of 3 sergeants, 3 corporals, 2 drummers,
and 67 private men in each troop, besides commission officers,
Our will and pleasure is, that out of the stores remaining
within the Office of our Ordnance under your charge you cause
300 pairs of pistols, 292 carbines, 292 cartouche boxes, and 8
drums, to be issued and delivered to the said Lieutenant-Colonel
John Hale, or to such person as he shall appoint to receive
the same, taking his indent as usual, and you are to insert
the expense thereof in your next estimate to be laid before
Parliament. And for so doing this shall be as well to you as
to all other our officers and ministers herein concerned a
sufficient Warrant.
Given at our Court at St. James’ the 9th day of November 1759,
in the 33rd year of our reign.
To our trusty and well-beloved Cousin and Councillor John
Viscount Ligonier, Master-General of our Ordnance.
These preliminaries of clothing and armament being settled, Colonel
Hale’s next duty was to raise the men. Being a Hertfordshire man, the
son of Sir Bernard Hale of Kings Walden, he naturally betook himself
to his native county to raise recruits among his own people. The first
troop was raised by Captain Franklin Kirby, Lieutenant, 5th Foot; the
second by Captain Samuel Birch, Lieutenant, 11th Dragoons; the third by
Captain Martin Basil, Lieutenant, 15th Light Dragoons; and the fourth
by Captain Edward Lascelles, Cornet, Royal Horse Guards. If it be asked
what stamp of man was preferred for the Light Dragoons, we are able
to answer that the recruits were required to be “light and straight,
and by no means gummy,” not under 5 feet 5½ inches, and not over 5
feet 9 inches in height. The bounty usually offered (but varied at the
Colonel’s discretion) was three guineas, or as much less as a recruit
could be persuaded to accept.
Whether from exceptional liberality on the part of Colonel Hale, or
from an extraordinary abundance of light, straight, and by no means
gummy men in Hertfordshire at that period, the regiment was recruited
up to its establishment, we are told, within [Sidenote: December.]
the space of seventeen days. Early in December it made rendezvous
at Watford and Rickmansworth, whence it marched to Warwick and
Stratford-on-Avon, and thence a fortnight later to Coventry. Meanwhile
orders had already been given (10th December) that its establishment
should be augmented by two more troops of the same strength as the
original four; and little [Sidenote: 1760. 28th Jan.] more than a
month later came a second order to increase each of the existing
troops still further by the addition of a sergeant, a corporal, and 36
privates. Thus the regiment, increased almost as soon as raised from
300 to 450 men, and within a few weeks again strengthened by one-half,
may be said to have begun life with an establishment of 678 rank and
file. To them we must add a list of the original officers:--
_Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant._--John Hale, 7th November 1759.
_Major._--John Blaquiere, 7th November 1759.
CAPTAINS.
Franklin Kirby 4th Nov.
Samuel Birch 5th „
Martin Basil 6th „
Edward Lascelles 7th „
John Burton 7th „
Samuel Townshend 8th „
LIEUTENANTS.
Thomas Lee 4th Nov.
William Green 5th „
Joseph Hall 6th „
Henry Wallop 7th „
Henry Cope 7th „
Yelverton Peyton 8th „
CORNETS.
Robert Archdall 4th Nov.
Henry Bishop 5th „
Joseph Stopford 6th „
Henry Crofton 7th „
Joseph Moxham 7th „
Daniel Brown 8th „
_Adjutant._--Richard Westbury.
_Surgeon._--John Francis.