Chapter I: Front Matter

A History of the 17th Lancers

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_

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

W. & D. Downey Photo. Walker & Burstall Ph. Sc.

_H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge, K.G._

_Colonel-in-chief 17^{th} Lancers, 1876._]