18th Royal Hussars

18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own)
Active 1759–1821
1858–1922
Country  Kingdom of Great Britain (1759–1800)
 United Kingdom (1801–1922)
Branch  British Army
Type Cavalry
Role Line Cavalry
Size 1 Regiment
Nickname The Young 15th
The Drogheda Light Horse
Motto Pro rege, pro lege, pro patria conamur
(For King, for Law, for Country we strive)
Commanders
Notable
commanders

Field Marshal Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda

General Sir Edward Hodge

The 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first formed in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated into the 13th/18th Hussars in 1922.

The regiment was first raised as the 19th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1759, renumbered the 18th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1763, and briefly the 4th Regiment of Light Dragoons in 1766 before settling on the 18th in 1769. In 1805 it took the title of the 18th (King's Irish) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, named for George III, and redesignated as hussars in 1807, becoming the 18th (King's Irish) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars). It was informally known as the "Drogheda Light Horse" and it was humorously referred to as the "Drogheda Cossacks". It was disbanded in Ireland in 1821.

The regiment was reformed in 1858, as the 18th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons from a nucleus taken from the 15th Hussars, and renamed the 18th Hussars in 1861. In 1903 it was named the 18th (Princess of Wales's Own) Hussars, for Princess Mary, being retitled the 18th (Victoria Mary, Princess of Wales's Own) Hussars in 1905 and the 18th (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars in 1910 to mark her coronation as Queen Consort. After service in the First World War, the regiment retitled as the 18th (Queen Mary's Own) Royal Hussars in 1919, then the 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) in 1921, and was amalgamated with the 13th Hussars to form the 13th/18th Hussars the following year.

Commanding officers

Colonels

Name Appointment
Charles, Marquess of Drogheda 3 Aug. 1762 [1][lower-alpha 1]
Edward Byam 16 Nov. 1858 [1][lower-alpha 2]
Sir Charles O'Donnell 10 Sep. 1864 [3][lower-alpha 3]

Lieutenant-colonels

NameAppointment
Richard Georges 17 June 1761 [3]
William Hardcourt 17 Apr. 1765 [3]
Edward Walpole 25 June 1768 [3]
Charles Wilson Lyon 13 Apr. 1771 [3]
Charles W. Vane Stewart12 Apr. 1799 [3]
Oliver Thomas Jones 29 Jan. 1801 [3]
Henry Murray 2 Jan. 1812 [3]
Richard Knox 23 Feb. 1858 [3]

Battle honours

See also

Regimental patrol attempting to obtain information from Frenchmen, August 1914

Notes

  1. ↑ Lord Drogheda entered the British Army, as cornet in the 12th Dragoons on 1 May 1744; was gazetted as Colonel of the 18th Hussars 3 August 1762; and died on 22 of December 1821; having been colonel of the Regiment for sixty-two years.[1]
  2. ↑ Lieutenant-General Byam served the campaigns of 1812, '13, '14, and '15, including the battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, Orthes, and Waterloo, besides minor affairs. Severely wounded by a grape-shot while carrying the regimental colour of the 38th at Salamanca, and slightly wounded at Waterloo. He has received the War Medal with three Clasps. Major-General Byam's first commission was an ensigncy in the 38th, with which regiment he served two campaigns: all his other commissions and the rest of his service were in the 15th Hussars.[2]
  3. ↑ Sir Charles O'Donnell was present with the Russian troops in the campaign of 1828 on the Danube against the Turks; and in 1849 with the German troops in Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland, especially at Duppel and the battle of Fredericia.[3]
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Malet 1869, p. 62.
  2. ↑ Malet 1869, pp. 62–63.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Malet 1869, p. 63.

References

Further reading