The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

first formed in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but was slated for reduction in the

1957 Defence White Paper The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd. 124) was a British white paper issued in March 1957 setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected w ...

, and was amalgamated with the

9th Queen's Royal Lancers The 9th Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but wa ...

to form the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) in 1960.

History

Early wars

The regiment of dragoons was raised in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

by Brigadier-General Phineas Bowles as the Phineas Bowles's Regiment of Dragoons in July 1715 as part of the response to the Jacobite rebellion. It was employed escorting prisoners to London later in the year. In 1718, the regiment was placed on the Irish establishment and posted to Ireland, where it remained for 75 years. In 1751, the regiment was officially styled the 12th Dragoons. In 1768,

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

bestowed the badge of the three ostrich feathers and the motto "''Ich Dien''" on the regiment and re-titled it as the 12th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons. A young Arthur Wesley (later Duke of Wellington) joined the regiment as a subaltern in 1789. The regiment took part in the

siege of Bastia The siege of Bastia was a combined British and Corsican military operation during the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars. The Corsican people had risen up against the French garrison of the island in 1793, and sought support from the ...

in April 1794, which took place in Corsica, in the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

.Cannon, p. 18 Pope Pius VI was impressed by the conduct of the regiment and ordered that medals be awarded to its officers. The regiment landed at

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

in March 1801 and, although its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Mervyn Archdall, was seriously injured in skirmishes, it saw action at the Battle of Alexandria later in the month.Cannon, p.27 The regiment, under a new commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John Doyle, captured 28 officers and 570 other ranks of the French Dromedary Regiment (french: Régiment de Dromadaires) in an action in the Egyptian desert in May 1801. It took part in the siege of Cairo securing the city in June 1801 and then participated in the siege of Alexandria taking that city in September 1801. The regiment next deployed for the disastrous

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign ( ) was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Sir John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chath ...

in autumn 1809.Cannon, p.30 In June 1811 the regiment embarked for Lisbon and, under the command of Colonel Frederick Ponsonby, took part in the

siege of Ciudad Rodrigo Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo are a series of sieges of the Spanish town Ciudad Rodrigo. Specific sieges are: * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1370) * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1707) * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810) * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812) ...

in January 1812, the siege of Badajoz in March 1812 and the

Battle of Villagarcia In the Battle of Villagarcia (also known as the Battle of Llerena) on 11 April 1812, British cavalry commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Stapleton Cotton routed a French cavalry force led by ' Charles Lallemand at the village of Villagarcia in ...

in April 1812 in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. It also undertook two charges at the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of Arapiles) on 22July 1812 was a battle in which an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, ...

in July 1812 before taking part in the

siege of Burgos At the siege of Burgos, from 19 September to 21 October 1812, the Anglo-Portuguese Army led by General Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington tried to capture the castle of Burgos from its French garrison under the command of General of ...

in September 1812, the

Battle of Vitoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813) a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leadin ...

in June 1813 and the

siege of San Sebastián In the siege of San Sebastián (7 July – 8 September 1813), part of the Peninsular War, Allied forces under the command of Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington failed to capture the city in a siege. However in a second siege the Alli ...

in autumn 1813. The regiment next advanced into

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and supported the infantry at the

Battle of Nivelle The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War (1808–1814). After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops (20, ...

in November 1813. The regiment marched through France and arrived in Calais in July 1814 from where it returned to England.Cannon, p.44 In the

Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he l ...

, the regiment was attached to Sir John Vandeleur's light cavalry brigade. At the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

in June 1815, the regiment charged down the slope to support the Union Brigade of medium cavalry. Ponsonby fell, dangerously wounded, in the

melee A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...

.Cannon, p.50 Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson (1822–1885), as Captain, 12th Royal Lancers

In 1816, the 12th Light Dragoons was armed with lances after the cavalry of Napoleon's Army had shown their effectiveness at Waterloo and were re-titled 12th (The Prince of Wales's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers). In 1855, it reinforced the Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea after the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. In 1861, the regiment was renamed 12th (The Prince of Wales's) Royal Regiment of Lancers. It was stationed in India between 1857 and 1860 in response to the Indian Rebellion and in Ireland from 1865 to 1870, before fighting in the

Second Anglo-Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...

in the late 1870s.

Boer War

The regiment was deployed to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

for service in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

in October 1899, and took part in the

relief of Kimberley The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony (present-day South Africa), when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to tr ...

and the ensuing Battle of Paardeberg in February 1900. The commanding officer of the regiment, the 11th Earl of Airlie, was killed at the Battle of Diamond Hill in June 1900. Following the end of the war in 1902 they went to India. Almost 530 officers and men left

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

aboard SS ''Lake Manitoba'' in September 1902, arriving at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

the following month and was then stationed at

Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-are ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

First World War

The 12th Lancers at Moy, France, on 28 August 1914

The regiment, which had been based in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

at the start of the war, landed in France as part of the 5th Cavalry Brigade in the 2nd Cavalry Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. On 28 August 1914, 'C' Squadron of the 12th Lancers, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Wormald, made a successful charge against a dismounted squadron of Prussian Dragoons at Moÿ-de-l'Aisne in the

Great Retreat The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western Fro ...

. The 9th/12th Royal Lancers celebrated Mons/Moy Day annually, which commemorated the last occasions on which each predecessor regiment charged with lances.

Inter-war era

IWM-ARMY-TRAINING-6-16-Lanchester-armoured-car

In 1921 the regiment was re-titled the 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's). In 1928, it gave up its horses and was equipped with

armoured cars Armored (or armoured) car or vehicle may refer to: Wheeled armored vehicles * Armoured fighting vehicle, any armed combat vehicle protected by armor ** Armored car (military), a military wheeled armored vehicle * Armored car (valuables), an arm ...

, taking over vehicles left in Egypt by two

Royal Tank Corps The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as t ...

armoured car units, the 3rd and 5th Companies.Crow, p. 3 Late in 1934, the 12th exchanged equipment and station with the 11th Hussars, taking over 34

Lanchester 6×4 armoured car The Lanchester 6x4 armoured car was a British armoured car with a 6x4 drivetrain produced in limited numbers in the late 1920s and early 1930s. A heavier, more rugged development of the earlier Lanchester 4x2 armoured car, it remained in se ...

s at

Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, south ...

. Its strength would have been 12 officers and 141 other ranks, organised in a company headquarters and three sections, each with five cars. Total numbers were sixteen cars, six motorcycles, a staff car, four 3-ton () and seven 30- cwt ()

lorries A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

. In January–February 1935 a provisional ''D'' squadron of the 12th Lancers with eight armoured cars served as a peacekeeping force in the Saar region. On 31 December ''B'' and ''C'' squadrons were sent again to Egypt with 29 armoured cars as a response to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and strengthening garrisons in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. By the end of 1936 the squadrons were returned to Britain, where the regiment was re-equipped with Morris Light Reconnaissance Cars.

Second World War

The 12th Lancers was an armoured car regiment equipped with the Morris CS9, in the 1940 campaign in France and Flanders, playing a key part in shielding the retreat to Dunkirk. After evacuation (without their vehicles) from Malo-les-Bains on dredgers, they were first equipped with Beaverettes, then, in June 1941, with Humbers. The Lancers landed in

Port Tewfik The Suez Port is an Egyptian port located at the southern boundary of the Suez Canal. It is bordered by the imaginary line extending from Ras-El-Adabieh to Moussa sources including the North Coast until the entrance of Suez Canal. Originally ''Por ...

, Egypt, in November 1941. Subsequently, the regiment fought as divisional troops for the 1st Armoured Division at the

Second Battle of El Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented th ...

in October 1942 and then served as a corps-level reconnaissance unit in the Italian Campaign.

Post-war era

The regiment was deployed to Palestine in August 1946 before returning home in April 1947. It was sent to Malaya in September 1951 in the Malayan Emergency and, having been posted to Harewood Barracks in

Herford Herford (; nds, Hiarwede) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford. Geography Geographic locat ...

in January 1955 moved on to Northampton Barracks in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...

in March 1956. It returned home again in March 1959 and deployed to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

in May 1959. The regiment was amalgamated with the

to form the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) in September 1960.

Regimental museum

The Derby Museum and Art Gallery incorporates the Soldier's Story Gallery, based on the collection, inter alia, of the 12th Royal Lancers.

Battle honours

The regiment's battle honours were as follows: *''Early Wars'': Egypt, Salamanca, Peninsula, Waterloo, South Africa 1851-2-3, Sevastopol, Central India, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899–1902 *''The Great War:'' Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914 '15, Neuve Chapelle, St. Julien, Bellewaarde, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917 '18, Somme 1918, St. Quentin, Lys, Hazebrouck, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–18 *''The Second World War:'' Dyle, Defence of Arras, Arras Counter Attack, Dunkirk 1940, North-West Europe 1940, Chor es Sufan, Gazala, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein, Advance on Tripoli, Tebaga Gap, El Hamma, Akarit, El Kourzia, Djebel Kournine, Tunis, Creteville Pass, North Africa 1941–43, Citerna, Gothic Line, Capture of Forli, Conventello-Comacchio, Bologna, Sillaro Crossing, Idice Bridgehead, Italy 1944–45

Colonel-in-Chief

*1919–: F.M. HM

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the regiment were: *1715–1719: Maj-Gen. Phineas Bowles (senior) *1719–1740: Lt-Gen. Phineas Bowles (junior) *1740–1743: Col. Alexander Rose *1743–1746: Brig-Gen. Samuel Walter Whitshed *1746–1747: Lt-Gen.

Thomas Bligh Lieutenant General Thomas Bligh (1685–1775) was an Irish-born British soldier, best known for his service during the Seven Years' War when he led a series of amphibious raids, known as " descents" on the French coastline. Despite initial succes ...

*1747–1749: Gen. Sir

John Mordaunt John Mordaunt may refer to: *John Mordaunt (speaker) (d. 1504), Tudor politician and Speaker of the House of Commons *John Mordaunt, 1st Baron Mordaunt (d. 1562) *John Mordaunt, 2nd Baron Mordaunt (1508–1571) *John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborou ...

, KB *1749: Gen. Hon.

James Cholmondeley James Cholmondeley (18 April 1708 – 13 October 1775) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament between 1731 and 1747. He fought at Fontenoy and during the 1745 Rising commanded a brigade at the Battle of Falkirk, where he suffere ...

*1749–1750: Lt-Gen.

George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, PC (26 January 1716 – 26 August 1785), styled The Honourable George Sackville until 1720, Lord George Sackville from 1720 to 1770 and Lord George Germain from 1770 to 1782, was a British soldier and p ...

*1750–1763: Lt-Gen. Sir John Whitefoord, Bt. ;12th Regiment of Dragoons (1751) *1763–1764: Lt-Gen.

Edward Harvey Admiral Sir Edward Harvey, (1783 – 4 May 1865) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and continued in the service during the first half of the nineteenth century during which he participated ...

*1764–1770: Gen. Benjamin Carpenter ;12th (The Prince of Wales's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (1768) *1770–1775: Gen. Sir

William Augustus Pitt General Sir William Augustus Pitt KB, PC (c. 1728 – 29 December 1809) was a long-serving if undistinguished senior officer of the British Army whose sixty years of service covered several major wars and numerous postings as garrison or re ...

, KB *1775–1782: Lt-Gen. Hon. William Keppel *1782–1791: Lt-Gen. Hon. George Lane Parker *1791–1815: Gen. Sir James Steuart, Bt., GCH *1815–1825: Gen. Sir William Payne, Bt. ;12th (The Prince of Wales's) Royal Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers) *1825–1827: Lt-Gen. Sir Colquhoun Grant, KCB, GCH *1827–1837: Lt-Gen. Sir

Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian Lieutenant General (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian (28 July 177520 August 1842), known as Sir Hussey Vivian from 1815 to 1828 and Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt, from 1828 to 1841, was a British cavalry leader ...

, GCB, GCH *1837–1856: Gen. Sir Henry John Cumming, KCH *1856–1861: Lt-Gen. Sir Lovell Benjamin Lovell, KCB, KH ;12th (Prince of Wales's Royal) Lancers (1861) *1861–1872: Gen. Sir George Henry Lockwood, KCB *1872–1879: Gen. Edward Pole *1879–1892: Gen. Thomas Hooke Pearson, CB *1892–1894: Lt-Gen. Edward Burgoyne Cureton *1894–1896: Maj-Gen. Robert Hale *1896–1902: Lt-Gen. Sir Arthur Lyttelton-Annesley, KCB, KCVO *1902–1909: Maj-Gen. John Cecil Russell, CVO *1909–1917: Lt-Gen. Robert George Broadwood, CB *1917–1920: Maj-Gen. Walter Howorth Greenly, CB, CMG, DSO *1920–1951: F.M. Sir

William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, (13 September 1865 – 17 May 1951) was a British Army officer. He saw active service in the Second Boer War on the staff of Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl ...

, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, CIE, DSO ;12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) (1921) *1951–1960: Gen. Sir Richard Loudon McCreery, GCB, KBE, DSO, MC (to 9th/12th Royal Lancers) *''1960: Regiment amalgamated with

to form 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's)''

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

Brief history of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers
{{British Cavalry Regiments World War I Military units and formations established in 1715 Cavalry regiments of the British Army L12 Royal Lancers 012 Military units and formations disestablished in 1960 1715 establishments in Great Britain Military units and formations of the Second Boer War