THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 318, 7 December 1910, Page 2

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY.

A SPLENDID STORY. The history of the Household Cavalry dates from January, 1661, when Charles 11. established "His Majestie's own Troope of Guards, His Highness Royali the Duke of York his Troope of Guards, and His Grace the Duke of Albemarle his Troope of Guards." From these are descended the Life Guards. The Royal Horse Guards, better known as the Blues, •late from February, 1661.

Very picturesque was the appearance of these old gentlemen troopers, of whom Francis Bothwell, in "Old Mortality," is the best remembered type. They wore a low-crowned broad-brimmed helmet, or "pott" exchanged on occasion for a lowcrowned soft hat, back and breast pieces of pistol-proof armour, coats of scarlet or blue with gold lace facings, a loose cloak and cape of corresponding colour, breeches of buff leather, black jack-boots with hunting spurs, sashes round the waist, gauntlet gloves of buff leather, and carbine belts enriched with ornament. The frequent changes of uniform which the Household troops underwent generally tendsd towards magnificence at the expense of ease. The Household soldiers fought at Dettingen and Waterloo in the same splendid discomfort which contributed to their spectacular effect at Coronations and State processions. It was not until the campaigns of Egypt and South Africa that they took the field in any comfort. Undsr Charles 11. the Household Cavalry were mainly employed in protecting the person of the Sovereign, in maintaining the security of the Metropolis, and in supplying mounted petrols to cope with Claude Duval and his imitators. The Scotch troop of Life Guards,, subsequently disbanded, was routed at Drumclog, and shared in the victory of Bothwell Brig. In the succeeding reign Life Guards and Blues formed part of the Royalist forces at Sedgemoor. One of the last official acts of James 11. was to deprive Churchill of the command of the Third Troop of Lif-3 Guards, which he had vainly attempted to carry with him into the camp of the Dutch invader. The bulk of the Life Guards fought under William at the Boyne. But the creation of a body of Dutch Guards caused grave dissatisfaction, and the "Oxford Blues" in particular became a nest of Jacobitism.

The Household Cavalry followed their King tnrcugh those bloodstained battles in Flinders, where William showed himself the bravest of soldiers and unluckiest of generals. At Landen (July 29, 1693) the Life Guards, charging in line with the 4th and 6th Dragoon Guards, drove back the hitherto invincible '"Maison dc Roy" ; and with the King and the Duk3 of Ormond at their head they saved the defeated army from destruction.

It was fifty years before a British Monarch was again under fire, and the experiment is not likely to be repeated, Cettingcn is the earliest of the titles of honour which the Household Cavalry emblazon on their standard ; and there, while the Blues helped to dispose of the French Household Cavalry, the Life Guards fairly rode down the "Gardes Suisses" and the "Gardes Francaises," the flower of the French infantry. With a cheery word, and with Strict injunctions to trust to thsir swords and forget their pistols, Lord Craufurd, says Sir George Arthur in his "History of the Household Cavalry," led his men straight to their front. The charge, well delivered, was well met. but the dstermined rush of the big men and big horses was irresistible. The trumpeter of the Fourth Troop hail the happy inspiraticn to sound "Britons, strike home!" which drew a quick nod of thanks and approval from his Colonel.

It was not until the later stages of the Peninsula war that the Household Cavalry as a body had any opportunities of distinguishing themselves in battle, though the Blues were present at Mintlen, and shared in the brilliant cavalry actions of Villers-en-Cauchies and Bethc-ncourt, which redeemed the Duke of York's campaign of 1794 from the discredit of its inglorious termination.

A Brigade of Life Guards and

Blues was sent to Spain in Novemr ber, ISI2. The ISth of June, ISIS, is a memorable anniversary in the annals of the Household Regiments, but on the preceding clay they had rendered inestimable service in protecting the retreat of the British Army from Quatre Bras to Mont St. Jean. Our Hussars and Light Dragoons found the French cavalry too strong for them, until Lord Uxbridge called upon two squadrons of the First Life Guards.

Gallently led by Major Kelly, to again quote Sir George Arthur, they came on with right good will. As they thundered down the hill they bore all before them, riding over and scattering the French Lancers, and never reigning in their big horses till they had cleared the enemy's cavalry right out oi Genappe. That was the end of all attempts to hinder the British Army from reaching the battlefield.

In the Battle of Waterloo itself the Household cavalry shot their bolt at an early stage. The charges of the two heavy brigades under Lord Uxbridge were unscientifically delivered, and resulted in heavy loss, but they effectually checked the French horse, which outnumbered ours by two to one. The impetuosity of the Life Guards carried all before them, and their crash into the mail-clad Cuirassiers of Napoleon gave occasion to what an onlooker described as the severest hand-to-hand cavalry fight in the memory of man. Among those who fell on the British side not the least regretted was that famous pugilist and "bonny fighter" Shaw, the Life Guardsman.

How the Household Cavalry acquitted themselves at Kassassin in ISB2, in the dash across the desert in 1885, on the South African veldt in the second Boer War, is familiar to all of us.—"Globe."