The 16th The Queen's 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 raised in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the

16th/5th Lancers The 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 16th The Queen's Lancers and the 5th Royal Irish Lancers in 1922. The reason for the uniquely atypical regimental title (wi ...

in 1922.

History

Early wars

The regiment was raised in 1759 by Colonel

John Burgoyne General John Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British general, dramatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 to 1792. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several bat ...

as the 16th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, being the second of the new regiments of light dragoons; it was also known as Burgoyne's Light Horse. The regiment was closely involved, undertaking several cavalry charges, in the action leading up to the capture of the French Garrison of Belle Île in April 1761 during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

. It also made a major contribution to the British victories against the Spaniards at the

Battle of Valencia de Alcántara The Battle of Valencia de Alcántara took place in August 1762 when an Anglo Portuguese force led by John Burgoyne surprised and captured the town of Valencia de Alcántara from its Spanish defenders during the Seven Years' War. The town was take ...

in August 1762 and at the Battle of Vila Velha in October 1762 during the Anglo-Spanish War. In 1766 the regiment was renamed after

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

as the 2nd (or The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, the number being an attempt to create a new numbering system for the light dragoon regiments. However, the old system was quickly re-established, with the regiment returning as the 16th (The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1769. The regiment arrived in New York in October 1776 for service in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

.Cannon, p. 24 It was involved in fighting at the

Battle of White Plains The Battle of White Plains was a battle in the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War, fought on October 28, 1776 near White Plains, New York. Following the retreat of George Washington's Continental Army northward f ...

in October 1776, the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777 and the Battle of Germantown in October 1777 before seeing more action at the

Battle of Crooked Billet The Battle of Crooked Billet was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on May 1, 1778 near the Crooked Billet Tavern (present-day Hatboro, Pennsylvania). In the skirmish action, British forces under the ...

in May 1778,Cannon, p. 29 the

Battle of Barren Hill A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

later that month and the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778. The regiment returned to England in spring 1779. The regiment next landed at

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

in April 1793 for service in the Flanders Campaign and was present at the siege of Valenciennes in June 1793, the siege of Dunkirk in August 1793 and the

siege of Landrecies The siege of Landrecies (1543) took place during the Italian War of 1542–46. Landrecies was besieged by Imperial and English forces under the command of Ferrante Gonzaga Ferrante I Gonzaga (also Ferdinando I Gonzaga; 28 January 1507 – 1 ...

in April 1794. It also took part in the

Battle of Beaumont The Battle of Beaumont on 30 August 1870 was won by Prussia during the Franco-Prussian War. It was fought between the French V Corps under general Pierre Louis Charles de Failly, and IV Corps under general Constantin von Alvensleben, XII Corp ...

in April 1794, the

Battle of Willems The Battle of Willems (10 May 1794) saw a Republican French army under Jean-Charles Pichegru oppose Coalition forces commanded by Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, as part of a French attempt to defeat an Allied counteroffensive and cont ...

in May 1794 and the Battle of Tournay in later that month before returning to England in February 1796. The regiment was then based in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

between autumn 1802 and 1805.

Napoleonic Wars

The regiment were ordered to support

Sir Arthur Wellesley Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

's Army on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

and landed at Lisbon in April 1809.Cannon, p. 47 The regiment fought at the

Second Battle of Porto The Second Battle of Porto, also known as the Battle of the Douro or the Crossing of the Douro, was a battle in which General Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portuguese Army defeated Marshal Soult's French troops on 12 May 1809 and took back the ...

in May 1809, the

Battle of Talavera The Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish a ...

in July 1809 and 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 April 1810. The regiment also saw action at the

Battle of Bussaco The Battle of Buçaco () or Bussaco, fought on 27 September 1810 during the Peninsular War in the Portuguese mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, resulted in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. Having o ...

in September 1810 the

Battle of Sabugal The Battle of Sabugal was an engagement of the Peninsular War which took place on 3 April 1811 between Anglo-Portuguese forces under Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) and French troops under the command of Marshal André M ...

in April 1811 and the

Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May 1811), the British–Portuguese Army under Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida. A bloody stalema ...

in May 1811. It next fought 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, 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 and 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. It was next in action at 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 August 1813Cannon, p. 77 and having advanced into France, 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 and at the

Battle of the Nive The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult's French army on French soil ...

in December 1813. It returned home in July 1814. The regiment took part in the Hundred Days landing at

in May 1815. It charged with John Vandeleur's 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. After the battle, their commander, Lieutenant-colonel

James Hay James Hay may refer to: *James Hay (bishop) (died 1538), Scottish abbot and bishop * James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle (c.1580–1636), British noble * James Hay, 2nd Earl of Carlisle (1612–1660), British noble * James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (172 ...

, lay so badly injured that he could not be moved from the field for eight days. The regiment had been the sole British cavalry regiment to serve throughout 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 ...

and at the Hundred Days.

Victorian era

The regiment was dispatched to Ireland in March 1816 where it was re-designated as a lancer regiment in September 1816, becoming the 16th (The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers). It returned from Ireland in June 1819. The regiment was sent to India in 1822 and saw action, using

lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier (lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike s ...

s, against the

Marathas The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

at the siege of Bharatpur in January 1826. It saw action again at the Battle of Ghazni, capture of Ghuznee in July 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War and at the Battle of Maharajpore in December 1843 during the Gwalior Campaign. It also took part in the Battle of Aliwal in January 1846, when the regiment charged and dispersed a body of Sikhs ten times its size, and also fought at the Battle of Sobraon in February 1846 during the First Anglo-Sikh War. The regiment's title was simplified to the 16th (The Queen's) Lancers in 1861. It served in India between 1865 and 1876 and again between 1890 and 1899.

20th century

The regiment landed at Cape Colony in January 1900 for service in the Second Boer War and took part in the Siege of Kimberley, relief of Kimberley in February 1900. The regiment, which had been based at Curragh Camp, The Curragh at the start of the World War I, First World War, landed in France as part of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade (United Kingdom), 3rd Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division (United Kingdom), 1st Cavalry Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front. The regiment was retitled as the 16th The Queen's Lancers in 1921 and amalgamated with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the

) in 1922.

Regimental museum

The regimental collection is held at The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum which is based at Thoresby Hall in Nottinghamshire.

Insignia and uniform

The collar badge of the regiment comprised the figure 16 above a scroll inscribed "Queen's Lancers", over a pair of crossed lances and surmounted by a crown. The lancer full dress cap bore the regimental battle honours and number in silver. In its early years as the 16th Light Dragoons, the regiment wore the standard red uniform of this branch of cavalry with black and then royal blue facings. In 1784 the red coat was replaced by a dark blue jacket. From 1816 to 1832 a dark blue lancer uniform was worn, until in December 1832 a scarlet coatee and undress jacket was authorized for all lancer regiments as part of a general policy to make red the national military colour. In 1840 it was ordered that Light Cavalry should revert to the blue uniforms formerly worn. Sir John Vandeleur petitioned that the regiment might be permitted to retain their scarlet coatee and on 2 March 1841, his request was granted. The scarlet uniform was worn by the regiment during the First Sikh War and on their return to England in 1846, they remained the only Lancer regiment not to resume the blue jacket of the light cavalry. The unique distinction of scarlet lancer tunic and dark blue plastron was retained in full dress until 1914.Carman, p. 172-174

Battle honours

The regiment's battle honours were as follows: *''Early Wars'': Beaumont, Willems, Talavera, Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, Nive, Peninsula, Waterloo, Bhurtpore, Ghuznee 1839, Afghanistan 1839, Maharajpore, Aliwal, Sobraon, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1900–02. *''The Great War'': Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15, Gheluvelt, St. Julien, Bellewaarde, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917, Somme 1918, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914–18.

Victoria Cross

*Lieutenant Alexander Murray, 8th Earl of Dunmore, Alexander Fincastle – Tirah Campaign, 17 August 1897

Colonel-in-Chief

*1905–: F.M. HM Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, KG, GCVO

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the Regiment were: ;16th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons *1763–1779: Lt-Gen.

;16th (or The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (1769) *1779–1830: F.M. William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt, GCB ;16th (The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers) (1816) *1830–1849: Gen. Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur, GCB *1849–1859: Lt-Gen. Sir Joseph Thackwell, GCB, KH *1859–1878: Gen. Hon. Sir Edward Cust, Bt., KCH ;16th (or Queen's) Lancers *1878–1886: Gen. Sir Charles Cameron Shute, KCB *1886–1896: Gen. Sir Charles John Foster, KCB *1896–1909: Lt-Gen. William Thomas Dickson ;16th (The Queen's) Lancers (1905) then 16th The Queen's Lancers (1921) *1909–1922: Lt-Gen. Sir James Melville Babington, KCB, KCMG (to 16th/5th Lancers) *''1922: Regiment amalgamated with 5th Royal Irish Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers''

References

Sources

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