The 5th Dragoon Guards was a British army cavalry regiment, officially formed in January 1686 as Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse. Following a number of name changes, it became the 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1804. In 1922, it was amalgamated with The Inniskillings to form the 5th/6th Dragoons. Its history and traditions continue today in the Royal Dragoon Guards, a light reconnaissance unit of the British Army.
History
On 1 January 1686, several independent troops of horse raised in response to the 1685 Monmouth Rebellion were formed into the Earl of Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse. After the 1688 Glorious Revolution, it served in the Williamite War in Ireland, including the Battle of the Boyne and the First Siege of Limerick. When the Nine Years' War ended in 1697, the regiment escaped disbandment by being made part of the Irish military establishment, where it remained until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the unit was commanded by William Cadogan, close aide to the Duke of Marlborough. It was engaged in many of Marlborough's battles and sieges, including Blenheim, Ramillies and Malplaquet; after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, it resumed garrison duties in Ireland, where it spent most of the next 80 years. Renamed Second Irish Horse in 1746, it then became 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1788. On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Warsin 1793, it was posted to Flanders where it fought at the April 1794 Battle of Beaumont. The unit returned to Ireland and helped suppress the 1798 Irish Rebellion, including the battles of Arklow, Vinegar Hill and Ballinamuck. In 1804, it was retitled 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards after Princess Charlotte, later simplified to 5th Dragoon Guards. Posted to Spain in 1810, it was part of Le Marchant's brigade during the Peninsular campaign. The Battle of Salamanca in July 1812 is considered one of Wellington's greatest victories and Le Marchant's attack as the 'single most destructive charge made by a brigade of cavalry in the whole Napoleonic period.' The regiment celebrated 'Salamanca Day' until its dissolution in 1922; the tradition continues among several units of the modern British army. Redesignated heavy cavalry, it was sent to the Crimean War in 1853 and fought in the October 1854 Battle of Balaclava. The Charge of the Heavy Brigade was a famous action but casualties were relatively light; the Brigade as a whole lost 92 dead and wounded in total, 15 of whom came from the 5th Dragoon Guards. A small detachment joined the 1885 Nile Expedition in 1885 but its next serious action was during the 1899-1902 Second Boer War, when it fought at the battles of Elandslaagte and Ladysmith. During the 1914-1918 War, it formed part of the British Expeditionary Force that landed in France in August 1914. Retitled 5th Dragoon Guards in 1921, the following year it was amalgamated with the Inniskillings, to form 5th/6th Dragoons.
