The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse.
Renamed several times, it was designated the Queen's Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1746 as it evolved into a dragoon unit (dragoons described a force of highly mobile mounted infantry equipped with lighter, faster horses and carrying firearms) and later named the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) in 1767 to reflect the custom of its soldiers riding only bay horses.
The regiment was raised in 1685 as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse when James II expanded his army after the Monmouth rebellion. [a][2]Peterborough was a Catholic who remained loyal to James and was replaced by Edward Villiers on 31 December 1688.[b][3]
During the Nine Years' War, it served as Villiers Regiment in Ireland between 1689 and 1691, fighting in the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim.[c] At Aughrim, it was ordered to cross a bog under heavy fire, prompting French general the Marquis de St Ruth to shout "It is madness, but no matter, the more that cross the more we shall kill;" he was decapitated by a cannonball shortly thereafter.[4] When the Treaty of Limerick ended the war in Ireland in October 1691, the regiment returned to England.[5]
Brigadier-General Richard Leveson became Colonel on 19 January 1694 and as Leveson's Regiment of Horse it was based in Flanders until the Treaty of Ryswick ended the war in 1697.[6] It escaped disbandment by being placed on the Irish establishment;[d] Leveson died in March 1699 and Daniel Harvey took over as Colonel.[7]
During the War of the Spanish SuccessionHarveys Regiment moved to Portugal in March 1704 to support the Allied campaign in the Iberian Peninsula. In July 1710 it fought at the Battle of Almenar but in December was overwhelmed by superior forces at Brihuega, the survivors being taken prisoner.[5]
In recognition of its involvement in suppressing the 1715 Jacobite rising it changed names to The Princess of Wales's Own Regiment of Horse and after Caroline of Wales became Queen in 1727 The Queen's Own Regiment of Horse.[5] After the 1745 Jacobite rising it changed titles again to The Queen's Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1746 then 2nd (The Queen's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1751.[8]
During the Seven Years' War, it fought at Corbach and Warburg in July 1760 and then captured several French regiments at the Battle of Wilhelmsthal in June 1762.[2] After starting to ride on bay horses, the regiment were renamed as the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) in 1767.[8]
The regiment next saw action when a squadron under Major Piercy Smith charged the rebels at the capture of Lucknow in March 1858 during the Indian Rebellion.[10] It suffered heavy losses in an action at Leeukop in March 1902 during the Second Boer War.[11]
The regiment was renamed the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) in 1921.[8] The regiment served as horse cavalry until 1937, when it was mechanised with light tanks. The regiment became part of the Royal Armoured Corps in 1939.[13]
Early Wars: Warburg, Willems, Lucknow, South Africa 1901-02
The Great War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18
The Second World War: Somme 1940, Withdrawal to Seine, North-West Europe 1940, Msus, Gazala, Bir el Aslagh, Cauldron, Knightsbridge, Via Balbia, Mersa Matruh, El Alamein, Tebaga Gap, El Hamma, El Kourzia, Djebel Kournine, Tunis, Creteville Pass, North Africa 1941–43, Coriano, Carpineta, Lamone Crossing, Defence of Lamone Bridgehead, Rimini Line, Ceriano Ridge, Cesena, Argenta Gap, Italy 1944-45
^At this time, regiments were typically named after the Colonel and changed names when a new Colonel was appointed.
^Commissions were private assets that could be bought, sold or used as an investment; many Colonels played no active military role which seems likely with Villiers.
^Villiers died in July 1689 but this would not have impacted operational command, which appears to have exercised by Lt-Colonel George Carpenter.
^Until 1707, Scotland, England and Ireland were treated as separate kingdoms, which paid for their own military units.
References
^Burnham, Robert; McGuigan, Ron (2010). The British Army against Napoleon. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books. p. 122. ISBN978-1-84832-562-3.