Book Description

On the 20th of January, 1715, King George I. proceeded in state to St. Paul's Cathedral, to return thanks for his peaceful accession to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland; but in a short time afterwards the tranquillity of the kingdom was disturbed by the rash proceedings of the adherents of the Stuart dynasty, who were conspiring to elevate the Pretender to the throne, in which they were abetted by the courts of Louis XIV. of France and of other foreign potentates. These proceedings occasioned the army to be augmented, and in July, 1715, Brigadier-General Phineas Bowles,—a warm-hearted loyalist, distinguished for his attachment to the house of Hanover,—who had acquired a reputation at the head of a regiment in the war of the Spanish succession, was commissioned to raise a corps of cavalry in the counties of Berks, Bucks, and Hants, having his general rendezvous at Reading. His Majesty's appeal to his subjects was cheerfully responded to, and a number of loyalists coming forward to hazard their lives in defence of their King and constitution, Brigadier-General Bowles was soon at the head of a regiment of six troops, which, having been continued in the service to the present time, now bears the title of The Twelfth, or the Prince of Wales's, Royal Regiment of Lancers. While the regiment was in quarters in Berkshire, the Pretender's standard was raised in Scotland by the Earl of Mar; but this rebellion was suppressed without Brigadier-General Bowles's dragoons being required to proceed to the north; in October they escorted a number of state prisoners to London, who were tried, and several of them executed for endeavouring to excite the people to rebellion, and for enlisting men for the Pretender's service. In 1716 the regiment was stationed in Gloucestershire; in 1717 in Wiltshire; and in October, 1718, it marched to Bristol, where it embarked for Ireland, to replace a regiment of dragoons ordered to be disbanded in that country. The Twelfth Dragoons were placed upon the Irish establishment, and they remained in that part of the United Kingdom during the following seventy-five years. Brigadier-General Bowles was removed in March, 1719, to the Eighth Dragoons, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the Twelfth, by Lieut.-Colonel Phineas Bowles. This officer was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in 1735; to that of major-general in 1739, and was removed, in 1740, to the Seventh Horse, now Sixth Dragoon Guards, when King George II. conferred the colonelcy of the Twelfth Dragoons on Colonel Alexander Rose, from the Twentieth Foot. Colonel Rose commanded the regiment until the summer of 1743, when he was succeeded by Colonel Samuel Walter Whitshed, from the Thirty-ninth Foot; and in April, 1746, Brigadier-General Thomas Bligh was appointed to the colonelcy of the regiment, from the Twentieth Foot. Brigadier-General Bligh was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1747, and removed to the Second Irish Horse, now Fifth Dragoon Guards; and the colonelcy of the Twelfth Dragoons was conferred on Major-General Sir John Mordaunt, from the Eighteenth regiment of Foot. This distinguished officer was promoted to the Tenth Dragoons, in 1749, and was succeeded by Major-General Lord George Sackville, afterwards Viscount Sackville, from the Twentieth regiment of Foot. On the 18th of January, 1750, Lord George Sackville was promoted to the Third Irish Horse, now Sixth Dragoon Guards; and the colonelcy of the Twelfth Dragoons was conferred on Lieut.-Colonel Sir John Whitefoord, Baronet, from the Thirty-fifth Foot. King George II. issued, on the 1st of July, 1751, a warrant regulating the clothing, standards and colours of the several regiments, from which the following particulars have been extracted respecting the Twelfth Dragoons:— To be continue in this ebook...