REFORMS AFTER THE PEACE OF PARIS, 1763–1774
[Sidenote: 1760.]
In September Hale’s Light Dragoons moved up to Berwick-on-Tweed, and
thence into Scotland, where they were appointed to remain for the
three ensuing years. Before it left Coventry the regiment, in common
with all Light Dragoon regiments, had gathered fresh importance for
itself from the magnificent behaviour of the 15th at Emsdorf on the
16th July; in which engagement Captain Martin Basil, who had returned
to his own corps from Colonel Hale’s, was among the slain. The close
of the year brings us to the earliest of the regimental muster-rolls,
which is dated Haddington, 8th December 1760. One must speak of
muster-rolls in the plural, for there is a separate muster-roll for
each troop--regimental rolls being at this period unknown.
These first rolls are somewhat of a curiosity, for that every one
of them describes Hale’s regiment as the 17th, the officers being
evidently unwilling to yield seniority to the two paltry troops
[Sidenote: 1761.] raised by Lord Aberdour. The next muster-rolls show
considerable difference of opinion as to the regimental number, the
head-quarter troop calling itself of the 18th, while the rest still
claim [Sidenote: 1762.] to be of the 17th. In 1762 for the first
time every troop [Sidenote: 1763.] acknowledges itself to be of the
18th, but in April 1763 the old conflict of opinion reappears; the
head-quarter troop writes itself down as of the 18th, two other troops
as of the 17th, while the remainder decline to commit themselves to
any number at all. A gap in the rolls from 1763–1771 prevents us from
following the controversy any further; but from this year 1763, the
Seventeenth, [Sidenote: 1763.] as shall be shown, enjoys undisputed
right to the number which it originally claimed.
Albeit raised for service in the Seven Years’ War, the regiment was
never sent abroad, though it furnished a draft of fifty men and
horses to the army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. All efforts
to discover anything about this draft have proved fruitless; though
from the circumstance that Lieutenant Wallop is described in the
muster-rolls as “prisoner of war to the French,” it is just possible
that it served as an independent unit, and was actively engaged. But
the war came to an end with the Treaty of Paris early in 1763; and
with the peace came a variety of important changes for the Army, and
particularly for the Light Dragoons.
The first change, of course, was a great reduction of the military
establishment. Many regiments were disbanded--Lord Aberdour’s, the
20th and 21st Light Dragoons among them. Colonel Hale’s regiment
was retained, and became the Seventeenth; and, as if to warrant it
continued life, Hale himself was promoted to be full Colonel. We must
not omit to mention here that, whether on account of his advancement,
or from other simpler causes, Colonel Hale in this same year took to
himself a wife, Miss Mary Chaloner of Guisbrough. History does not
relate whether the occasion was duly celebrated by the regiment, either
at the Colonel’s expense or at its own; but it is safe to assume that,
in those hard-drinking days, such an opportunity for extra consumption
of liquor was not neglected. If the fulness of the quiver be accepted
as the measure of wedded happiness, then we may fearlessly assert
that Colonel Hale was a happy man. Mrs. Hale bore him no fewer than
twenty-one children, seventeen of whom survived him.
The actual command of the regiment upon Colonel Hale’s promotion
devolved upon Lieut.-Colonel Blaquiere, whose duty it now became to
carry out a number of new regulations laid down after the peace for
the guidance of the Light Dragoons. [Sidenote: 1764.] By July 1764
these reforms were finally completed; and as they remained in force
for another twenty years, they must be given here at some length. The
pith of them lies in the fact that the authorities had determined to
emphasise in every possible way the distinction between Light and Heavy
Cavalry. Let us begin with the least important, but most sentimental of
all matters--the dress.
PRIVATES
_Coat._--(Alike for all ranks.) Scarlet, with 3-inch white
lapels to the waist. White collar and cuffs, sleeves unslit.
White lining. Braid on button-holes. Buttons, in pairs, white
metal with regimental number.
_Waistcoat._--White, unembroidered and unlaced. Cross
pockets.
_Breeches._--White, duck or leather.
_Boots._--To the knee, “round toed and of a light sort.”
_Helmet._--Black leather, with badge of white metal in
front, and white turban round the base, plume and crest scarlet
and white.
_Forage Cap._--Red, turned up with white. Regimental number
on little flap.
_Shoulder Belts._--White, 2¾ inches broad. Sword belt over
the right shoulder.
_Waist Belt._--White, 1¾ inches broad.
_Cloaks._--Red, white lining; loop of black and white lace
on the top. White cape.
_Epaulettes._--White cloth with white worsted fringe.
CORPORALS
Same as the men. Distinguished by narrow silver lace round the
turn-up of the sleeves. Epaulettes bound with white silk tape,
white silk fringe.
SERGEANTS
Same as the men. Epaulettes bound with narrow silver lace;
silver fringe. Narrow silver lace round button-holes. Sash of
spun silk, crimson with white stripe.
QUARTERMASTERS
Same as the men. Silver epaulettes. Sash of spun silk, crimson.
OFFICERS
Same as the men; but with silver lace or embroidery at the
Colonel’s discretion. Silk sash, crimson. Silver epaulettes.
Scarlet velvet stock and waist belts.
TRUMPETERS
White coats with scarlet lapels and lining; lace, white with
black edge; red waistcoats and breeches. Hats, cocked, with
white plume.
FARRIERS
Blue coats, waistcoats, and breeches. Linings and lapels blue;
turn-up of sleeves white. Hat, small black bearskin, with a
horse-shoe of silver-plated metal on a black ground. White apron
rolled back on left side.
_Horse Furniture._--White cloth holster caps and housings
bordered with white, black-edged lace. XVII. L. D.
embroidered on the housings on a scarlet ground, within a wreath
of roses and thistles. King’s cypher, with crown over it and
XVII. L. D. under it embroidered on the holster caps.
Officers had a silver tassel on the holster caps and at the
corners of the housings.
Quartermasters had the same furniture as the officers, but with
narrower lace, and without tassels to the holster caps.
ARMS
_Officers._--A pair of pistols with barrels 9 inches long.
Sword (straight or curved according to regimental pattern),
blade 36 inches long. A smaller sword, with 28-inch blade, worn
in a waist belt, for foot duty.
_Men._--Sword and pistols, as the officers. Carbine, 2 feet
5 inches long in the barrel. Bayonet, 12 inches long. Carbine
and pistols of the same bore. Cartridge-box to hold twenty-four
rounds.
So much for the outward adornment and armament of the men, to which we
have only to add that trumpeters, to give them further distinction,
were mounted on white horses, and carried a sword with a scimitar
blade. Farriers, who were a peculiar people in those days, were made as
dusky as the trumpeters were gorgeous. They carried two churns instead
of holsters on their saddles, wherein to stow their shoeing tools,
etc., and black bearskin furniture with crossed hammer and pincers on
the housing. Their weapon was an axe, carried, like the men’s swords,
in a belt slung from the right shoulder. When the men drew swords,
the farriers drew axes and carried them at the “advance.” The old
traditions of the original farrier still survive in the blue tunics,
black plumes, and axes of the farriers of the Life Guards, as well as
in the blue stable jackets of their brethren of the Dragoons.
Passing now from man to horse, we must note that from 27th July 1764
it was ordained that the horses of Horse and Dragoons should in future
wear their full tails, and that those of Light Dragoons only should be
docked.[3] This was the first step towards the reduction of the weight
to be carried by the Light Dragoon horse. The next was more practical.
A saddle much lighter than the old pattern was invented, approved,
and adopted, with excellent results. It was of rather peculiar
construction: very high in the pommel and cantle, and very deep sunk in
the seat, in order to give a man a steadier seat when firing from on
horseback. Behind the saddle was a flat board or tray, on to which the
kit was strapped in a rather bulky bundle. It was reckoned that this
saddle, with blanket and kit complete, 30 lbs of hay and 5 pecks of
oats, weighed just over 10 stone (141 lbs.); and that the Dragoon with
three days’ rations, ammunition, etc., weighed 12 stone 7 lbs. more;
and that thus the total weight of a Dragoon in heavy marching order
with (roughly speaking) three days’ rations for man and horse, was 22
stone 8 lbs. In marching from quarter to quarter in England, the utmost
weight on a horse’s back was reckoned not to exceed 16 stone.
A few odd points remain to be noticed before the question of saddlery
is finally dismissed. In the first place, there was rather an uncouth
mixture of colours in the leather, which, though designed to look well
with the horse furniture, cannot have been beautiful without it. Thus
the head collar for ordinary occasions was brown, but for reviews
white; bridoons were black, bits of bright steel; the saddle was
brown, and the carbine bucket black. These buckets were, of course,
little more than leather caps five or six inches long, fitting over
the muzzle of the carbine, practically the same as were served out
to Her Majesty’s Auxiliary Cavalry less than twenty years ago. Light
Dragoons, however, had a swivel fitted to their shoulder-belt to which
the carbine could be sprung, and the weapon thus made more readily
available. The horse furniture of the men was not designed for ornament
only; for, being made in one piece, it served to cover the men when
encamped under canvas. As a last minute point, let it be noted that the
stirrups of the officers were square, and of the men round at the top.
We must take notice next of a more significant reform, namely, the
abolition of side drums and drummers in the Light Dragoons, and the
substitution of trumpeters in their place. By this change the Light
Dragoons gained an accession of dignity, and took equal rank with the
horse of old days. The establishment of trumpeters was, of course,
one to each troop, making six in all. When dismounted they formed a
“band of music,” consisting of two French horns, two clarionets, and
two bassoons, which, considering the difficulties and imperfections of
those instruments as they existed a century and a quarter ago, must
have produced some rather remarkable combinations of sound. None the
less we have here the germ of the regimental band, which now enjoys so
high a reputation.
Over and above the trumpeters, the regiment enjoyed the possession
of a fife, to whose music the men used to march. At inspection the
trumpets used to sound while the inspecting officer went down the line;
and when the trumpeters could blow no longer, the fife took up the
wondrous tale and filled up the interval with an ear-piercing solo. The
old trumpet “marches” are still heard (unless I am mistaken) when the
Household Cavalry relieve guard at Whitehall. But more important than
these parade trumpet sounds is the increased use of the trumpet for
signalling movements in the field. The original number of trumpet-calls
in the earliest days of the British cavalry was, as has already been
mentioned, but six. These six were apparently still retained and made
to serve for more purposes than one; but others also were added to
them. And since, so far as we can gather, the variety of calls on one
instrument that could be played and remembered was limited by human
unskilfulness and human stupidity, this difficulty was overcome by the
employment of other instruments. These last were the bugle horn and the
French horn; the former the simple curved horn that is still portrayed
on the appointments of Light Infantry, the latter the curved French
hunting horn. The united efforts of trumpet, bugle horn, and French
horn availed to produce the following sounds:--
Stable call--Trumpet.
(_Butte Sella_).[4] Boot and saddle--Trumpet.
(_Monte Cavallo_).[4] Horse and away--Trumpet. But sometimes
bugle horn; used also for evening
stables.
(? _Tucquet_).[4] March--Trumpet.
Water--Trumpet.
(_Auquet_).[4] Setting watch or tattoo--Trumpet. Used also
for morning stables.
(? _Tucquet_).[4] The call--Trumpet. Used for parade or
assembly.
Repair to alarm post--Bugle horn.
(_Alla Standarda_).[4] Standard call--Trumpet. Used for fetching
and lodging standards; and also for
drawing and returning swords.
Preparative for firing--Trumpet.
Cease firing--Trumpet.
Form squadrons, form the line--Bugle horn.
Advance--Trumpet.
(_Carga_).[4] Charge or attack--Trumpet.
Retreat--French horns.
Trot, gallop, front form--Trumpet.
Rally--Bugle horn.
Non-commissioned officers’ call--Trumpet.
The quick march on foot--The fife.
The slow march on foot--The band of music.
All attempts to discover the notation of these calls have, I regret to
say, proved fruitless, so that I am unable to state positively whether
any of them continue in use at the present day. The earliest musical
notation of the trumpet sounds that I have been able to discover dates
from the beginning of this century,[5] and is practically the same as
that in the cavalry drill-book of 1894; so that it is not unreasonable
to infer that the sounds have been little altered since their first
introduction. Indeed, it seems to me highly probable that the old
“Alla Standarda,” which is easily traceable back to the first quarter
of the seventeenth century, still survives in the flourish now played
after the general salute to an inspecting officer. As to the actual
employment of the three signalling instruments in the field, we shall
be able to judge better while treating of the next reform of 1763–1764,
viz. that of the drill.
The first great change wrought by the experience of the Seven Years’
War on the English Light Dragoon drill was the final abolition of
the formation in three ranks. Henceforward we shall never find the
Seventeenth ranked more than two deep. Further, we find a general
tendency to less stiffness and greater flexibility of movement, and
to greater rapidity of manœuvre. The very evolutions sacrifice some
of their prettiness and precision in order to gain swifter change of
formation. Thus, when the left half rank is doubled in rear of the
right, the right, instead of standing fast, advances and inclines to
the left, while the latter reins back and passages to the right, thus
accomplishing the desired result in half the time. Field manœuvres
are carried out chiefly by means of small flexible columns, differing
from the present in one principal feature only, viz. that the rear
rank in 1763 does not inseparably follow the front rank, but that
each rank wheels from line into column of half-ranks or quarter-ranks
independently. Moreover, we find one great principle pervading all
field movements: that Light Dragoons, for the dignity of their name,
must move with uncommon rapidity and smartness. The very word “smart,”
as applied to the action of a soldier, appears, so far as I know, for
the first time in a drill-book made for Light Dragoons at this period.
In illustration, let us briefly describe a parade attack movement,
which is particularly characteristic.
The regiment having been formed by previous manœuvres in echelon of
wings (three troops to a wing) from the left, the word is given,
“Advance and gain the flank of the enemy.”
_First Trumpet._--The right files (of troops?) of each
wing gallop to the front, and form rank entire; unswivel their
carbines, and keep up a rapid irregular fire from the saddle.
Under cover of this fire the echelon advances.
_Second Trumpet._--The right wing forms the “half-wedge”
(single echelon), passes the left or leading wing at an
increased pace, and gains the flank of the imaginary enemy by
the “head to haunch” (an extremely oblique form of incline), and
forms line on the flank.
_Third Trumpet_--“_Charge._”--The skirmishers gallop
back through the intervals to the rear of their own troops, and
remain there till the charge is over.
_French Horns_--“_Retreat._”--The skirmishers gallop
forward once more, and keep up their fire till the line is
reformed.
The whole scheme of this attack is perhaps a shade theatrical, and,
indeed, may possibly have been designed to astonish the weak mind of
some gouty old infantry general; but a regiment that could execute it
smartly could hardly have been in a very inefficient state.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1765.]
In 1765 the Seventeenth was moved to Ireland, though to what part
of Ireland the gap in the muster-rolls disenables us to say. Almost
certainly it was split up into detachments, where we have reason to
believe that the troop officers took pains to teach their men the new
drill. We must conceive of the regiment’s life as best we may during
this period, for we have no information to help us. Colonel Blaquiere,
we have no doubt, paid visits to the outlying troops from time to time,
and probably was able now and again to get them together for work in
the field, particularly when an inspecting officer’s visit was at hand.
We know, from the inspection returns, that the Seventeenth advanced and
gained the flank of the enemy every year, in a fashion which commanded
the admiration of all beholders. And let us note that in this very year
the British Parliament passed an Act for the imposition of stamp duties
on the American Colonies--preparing, though unconsciously, future work
on active service for the Seventeenth.
[Sidenote: 1766.]
For the three ensuing years we find little that is worth the
chronicling, except that in 1766 the regiment suffered, for a brief
period, a further change in its nomenclature, the 15th, 16th, and 17th
being renumbered the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Light Dragoons. In this same
year we discover, quite by chance, that two troops of the Seventeenth
were quartered in the Isle of Man, for how long we know not. In 1767 a
small matter crops up which throws a curious light on the grievances
of the soldier in those days. Bread was so dear that Government was
compelled to help the men to pay for it, and to ordain that on payment
of fivepence every man should receive a six-pound loaf--which loaf was
to last him for four days. Let us note also, as a matter of interest
to Colonel Blaquiere, a rise in the value of another article, namely,
the troop horse, whereof the outside price was in this year raised from
twenty to twenty-two guineas.
[Sidenote: 1770.]
In 1770 we find Colonel Hale promoted to be Governor of Limerick, and
therewith severed from the regiment which he had raised. As his new
post must presumably have brought him over to Ireland, we may guess
that the regiment may have had an opportunity of giving him a farewell
dinner, and, as was the fashion in those days, of getting more than
ordinarily drunk. From this time forward we lose sight of Colonel Hale,
though he is still a young and vigorous man, and has thirty-three years
of life before him. His very name perishes from the regiment, for if
ever he had an idea of placing a son therein, that hope must have been
killed long before the arrival of his twenty-first child. His successor
in the colonelcy was Colonel George Preston of the Scots Greys, a
distinguished officer who had served at Dettingen, Fontenoy, and other
actions of the war of 1743–47, as well as in the principal battles of
the Seven Years’ War.
Meanwhile, through all these years, the plot of the American
[Sidenote: 1770.] dispute was thickening fast. From 1773 onwards
the news of trouble and discontent across the Atlantic became more
frequent; and at last in 1774 seven infantry regiments were despatched
to Boston. Then probably the Seventeenth pricked up its ears and
discussed, with the lightest of hearts, the prospect of fighting the
[Sidenote: 1775.] rebels over the water. The year 1775 had hardly
come in when the order arrived for the regiment to complete its
establishment with drafts from the 12th and 18th, and hold itself in
readiness to embark at Cork for the port of Boston. It was the first
cavalry regiment selected for the service--a pretty good proof of its
reputation for efficiency.[6]
[Illustration:
Marching Order. Field-day Order. Review Order.
PRIVATES, 1784–1810.]