While these events were transpiring, another detachment of the regiment was employed in the county of Kildare, and had several skirmishes with bands of insurgents.
A patrole of the regiment, commanded by Captain Pack, proceeding towards Prosperous, encountered one hundred rebels well mounted and equipped; the Dragoon Guards instantly charged with signal valour and intrepidity, routed their adversaries at the first shock, killed twenty on the spot, and captured eight horses.
When the rebellion was nearly suppressed, the French endeavoured to revive the contest by sending General Humbert with about a thousand men, who landed at Killala on the 22d of August. The Fifth Dragoon Guards marched from Dublin to oppose the combined rebel and French forces, and were attached to the column under the Marquis of Cornwallis's command. The action at Ballinamuck on the 8th of September followed; the French surrendered themselves prisoners of war, and the insurgents were dispersed. After the action, the Marquis of Cornwallis selected a squadron of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, commanded by Captain (afterwards Sir William) Ponsonby, to escort him on his return to Dublin.
1799
The rebellion in Ireland having been suppressed, the Fifth Dragoon Guards were embarked in 1799, in order to join the expedition to Holland, commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of York; but the order for their proceeding on this service was countermanded, and after disembarking at Liverpool, they marched into quarters in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
1802
1803
After the conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens, a reduction of two troops was made in the establishment; but on the breaking out of the war in 1803, the army was again augmented, and an addition of two troops was again made to the strength of the regiment.
1804
In the following year King George III. was pleased to confer upon the regiment the distinguished title of The Princess Charlotte of Wales's Regiment of Dragoon Guards, in honour of Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Carolina Augusta, daughter of George William Frederick Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), by Carolina Amelia Elizabeth, second daughter of the Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel. The Princess Charlotte of Wales exhibited in her early life a most amiable disposition with excellent traits of character, and, being considered as the future sovereign of Great Britain, the nation saw in her qualities calculated to adorn the throne, and to make a great and civilized people happy; hence, the conferring of Her Royal Highness's title on the regiment, was considered a special mark of His Majesty's favour and approbation.
1805
1808