FOOTNOTES:
[7] Charles Butler, second son of Thomas Earl of Ossory, and grandson of James first Duke of Ormond, was created Earl of the islands of Arran, in the county of Galway, in January, 1694. The Earl of Arran, mentioned at [page 7], was the eldest son of William Duke of Hamilton, and obtained his father's title in 1698.
[8] This officer's name is spelt Napper, instead of Napier, in the lists of killed and wounded published at the time; but he is the same officer who was appointed Colonel of the regiment by King George I., on the 27th of May, 1717.
[9] "The Sunday following was appointed for a day of thanks-giving, and after divine service the army drew out to fire a feu-de-joie for the victory. Marshal Tallard and the officers with him were invited to ride out to see the army fire, which they did with much persuasion. Our generals paid Tallard the compliment of riding next the army, and ordered all the officers to salute him. When the firing was over, the Duke of Marlborough asked Tallard how he liked the army; he answered with a shrug, Very well; but they have had the honour of beating the best troops in the world. The Duke replied, What will the world think of the troops that beat them?"—Parker's Memoirs.
[10] The following very spirited description of the charge of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, and Third and Fourth Dragoons, is copied from Colonel Napier's admirable History of the Peninsular War:—
"While Pakenham, bearing onward with a conquering violence, was closing on their flank, and the fifth division advancing with a storm of fire on their front, the interval between the two attacks was suddenly filled with a whirling cloud of dust, which moving swiftly forward carried within its womb the trampling sound of a charging multitude. As it passed the left of the third division Le Marchant's heavy horsemen, flanked by Anson's light cavalry, broke forth from it at full speed, and the next instant twelve hundred French infantry though formed in several lines were trampled down with a terrible clamour and disturbance. Bewildered and blinded, they cast away their arms and ran through the openings of the British squadrons stooping and demanding quarter, while the dragoons, big men and on big horses, rode onward smiting with their long glittering swords in uncontrollable power, and the third division followed at speed, shouting as the French masses fell in succession before this dreadful charge."
"Nor were these valiant swordsmen yet exhausted. Their own general, Le Marchant, and many officers had fallen, but Cotton and all his staff were at their head, and with ranks confused, and blended together in one mass, still galloping forward they sustained from a fresh column an irregular stream of fire which emptied a hundred saddles; yet with fine courage, and downright force, the survivors broke through this the third and strongest body of men that had encountered them, and Lord Edward Somerset, continuing his course at the head of one squadron, with a happy perseverance, captured five guns. The French left was entirely broken, more than two thousand prisoners were taken, the French light horsemen abandoned that part of the field, and Thomiere's division no longer existed as a military body. Anson's cavalry, which had passed quite over the hill, and had suffered little in the charge, was now joined by D'Urban's troopers, and took the place of Le Marchant's exhausted men; the heavy German dragoons followed in reserve, and with the third and fifth divisions and the guns formed one formidable line two miles in advance of where Pakenham first attacked, and that impetuous officer with unmitigated strength still pressed forward spreading terror and disorder on the enemy's left."
[11] The sixty-sixth French regiment of infantry of the line, was one of the corps which was nearly annihilated, and the staff of the drum-major of that regiment is preserved as a trophy by the Fifth Dragoon Guards, and carried on parades, &c., by the trumpet-major.
[12] While at Boulogne the regiment was inspected by Major-General Sir Henry Fane, who expressed much gratification at its condition after so long a march, and selected a number of horses to be given up to the French government, for the purpose of mounting the royal guard of Louis XVIII.
[13] The Honourable William Ponsonby, (son of Lord Ponsonby,) after holding the commissions of ensign in Captain Bulwer's independent company, lieutenant in Captain Davis's independent company, and captain in the eighty-third regiment, was appointed major in the Loyal Irish Fencibles, in December, 1794: in March, 1798 he was removed to the majority of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, and he served with his regiment in Ireland during the rebellion, which broke out in the following summer. On the 1st of January, 1800, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army; in February, 1803, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, in the Fifth Dragoon Guards; and on the 25th of July, 1810, he was advanced to the brevet rank of colonel. He commanded the six troops of the Fifth Dragoon Guards on foreign service in 1811, and 1812, and while at the theatre of war he was so conspicuous for a gallant and chivalrous spirit, with cheerful alacrity in moments of peril and privation, united with a kind and benevolent disposition, that he won the affection and esteem of those individuals who had the happiness of becoming acquainted with him, and he was the favourite of the troopers of his regiment. At the battle of Salamanca he led the Fifth Dragoon Guards to the charge with his characteristic zeal and gallantry; after the fall of Major-General Le Marchant he was appointed to the command of the heavy brigade, which he held until the end of the war; and no officer better qualified for that important trust, or one who possessed the confidence of the officers and men in a greater degree, could have been found in the army. He was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 4th of June, 1813; and was afterwards chosen a knight commander of the honourable military order of the Bath. On the recommencement of hostilities in 1815, this distinguished officer was placed on the staff of the army in Belgium, and appointed to the command of the second cavalry brigade, consisting of the Royal, Scots Greys, and Inniskilling dragoons, which corps he led to the charge of the French infantry at the battle of Waterloo with that intrepidity for which he had always been so eminently distinguished. Having cut through the first column, he continued his career against fresh adversaries; while passing through a newly-ploughed field, which was so soft and miry from recent heavy rain that his charger sunk deeply in the soil at every step and became exhausted, he was attacked by a regiment of Polish lancers; being in front of his brigade, no one was near him except one aide-de-camp, and at the moment when his horse was unable to extricate itself, a body of lancers approached him at full speed. His own death he knew was inevitable; but supposing his aide-de-camp might escape, he drew from his bosom the picture of his lady, and was in the act of delivering it and his watch to his attendant, to be conveyed to his wife and family, when the lancers came up, and they were both speared on the spot. Thus fell the brave, the ingenuous Ponsonby, whose death occasioned deep sorrow in the Fifth Dragoon Guards, and the troopers expressed regret that they were not at Waterloo to revenge the death of their former commander, who had led them to battle and to victory. His death is thus alluded to by the Duke of Wellington in his public despatch. "I have received a report that Major-General Sir William Ponsonby is killed; and in announcing this intelligence I have to add the expression of my grief for the fate of an officer who had already rendered very brilliant and important services, and was an ornament to his profession."
Manchester, August 23d, 1820.
Sir,
Although the Fifth Dragoon Guards were only placed at Manchester as a temporary quarter, I should be wanting in what is due from me to that distinguished corps, did I withhold from you the expression of my admiration of it as a regiment, or from the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, my unqualified approbation of their conduct, and my satisfaction at the readiness and good-will with which they performed all the duties required of them whilst under my orders. I request you will do me the honour to make known these my sentiments to them, with the assurance that it will be ever gratifying to me to hear of their continued welfare and prosperity.
I have &c.
James Lyon, Major-General.
Major Irwin, commanding Fifth Dragoon Guards.