John Douglas was many years an officer in the Second Dragoons (Scots Greys), with which corps he served at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1755; proceeded with the regiment to Germany in 1758, and was appointed major in the following spring. He served four campaigns under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in Germany, and was at numerous battles and skirmishes. In 1770, he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Scots Greys; he was advanced to the rank of colonel in the army in 1775, and to that of major-general in February 1779. In April of the same year he was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-first Light Dragoons,—then first embodied and formed of the light troops belonging to certain dragoon regiments. At the termination of the American war in 1783, his regiment was disbanded; and in April 1787, he was appointed Colonel of the Fourteenth Foot: he was also promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general in the same year. In 1789, he was appointed to the colonelcy of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, which he retained until his decease, on the 10th of November 1790.
Thomas Bland,
Appointed 18th November, 1790.
This officer obtained a cornetcy in the Seventh Dragoons on the 30th of March, 1754, and continued in that regiment upwards of thirty-six years. He served three campaigns in Germany under the Duke of Brunswick; was appointed major of the regiment in 1765, and lieutenant-colonel in 1771. In 1782, he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in 1790 he was appointed from the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Seventh Dragoons to the colonelcy of the Fifth Dragoon Guards. In 1796, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and to that of general in 1781. He died on the 14th of October, 1816.
Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg,
Appointed 18th October, 1816.
This illustrious Prince, whose military services have become connected with the Record of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, by his appointment to the colonelcy of the regiment, entered the army of the Emperor Alexander of Russia in 1803, and rose to the rank of major-general; but in 1810, Bonaparte demanded that His Royal Highness should quit the Russian service, and the Prince was induced to acquiesce, in order to conciliate Napoleon, and to preserve the possessions of the house of Coburg from being seized on by the French. Prince Leopold was subsequently employed in negotiating an arrangement respecting the principality of Coburg, with the crown of Bavaria, in which he displayed superior diplomatic talents. At the commencement of 1813, he exerted himself, as far as his situation permitted, at that critical and momentous period, to prepare the emancipation of Germany, and in February he proceeded to Poland, to the Emperor of Russia, by whom he was cordially received, and a command in the Russian army was given to His Royal Highness. He was at the battle of Lutzen on the 2d of May; was subsequently sent by forced marches towards the Elbe, to support the Prussian General Kleist; but the Prince's destination was afterwards changed, and on the 19th of May he marched to support General Barclay de Tolly: His Royal Highness was, however, recalled, to take part in the battle of Bautzen, on the 20th and 21st of the same month; and after supporting the line at various points, he covered the retreat on the evening of the second day, with the cavalry under his orders, amidst the hottest fire.
On the 26th of August His Royal Highness was detached to support the corps under Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, posted near the fortress of Königstein; and Prince Leopold maintained, with his cavalry, a precarious position for five hours, against the repeated attacks of a force treble his own numbers, by which he defeated the designs of the enemy, and preserved Prince Eugene's troops from destruction. On the following day the corps took post beyond Pirna, which place the enemy took by storm, and endeavoured to extend with his cavalry upon the level ground near the Elbe; but was driven back by the troops under Prince Leopold. The main army, however, retired towards Bohemia, by which the retreat of the corps near Pirna was rendered difficult, and the abilities of His Royal Highness were particularly conspicuous in the masterly dispositions and skilful movements of the cavalry under his orders, in facilitating and covering the retrogade movement of the corps. A sharp action occurred in the village of Peterswalde on the 29th of August, when His Royal Highness signalized himself; several other actions occurred on the same day in the mountains, and towards the evening, the Prince repulsed the attack of a superior force near the village of Prisen, with signal bravery and astonishing success; and on the following morning he received from the Emperor Alexander the Cross of the military order of St. George. The action was renewed on the 30th of August, and the allied army having been concentrated, the French were defeated with considerable loss. Prince Leopold had a distinguished share in the engagement, and he pursued the retiring enemy to the village of Peterswalde: the brilliant conduct of His Royal Highness between the 26th and 30th of August, was rewarded by the Emperor of Austria with the military order of Maria Theresa.
Prince Leopold had a distinguished post at the battle of Leipzig, and, with the cavalry under his orders, contributed materially to the decisive termination of that gigantic contest. His Royal Highness was actively employed in the beginning of 1814; was at the battle of Brienne, and in the pursuit of the defeated army on the 2d of February, and in several minor affairs. On the 25th of March the Prince was in the action with the French at La Fere Champenoise, when, attacking the enemy's right flank at Caunentrai, he carried the position, captured five pieces of cannon, and, when attacked in turn, he repulsed the enemy, and maintained his ground with signal intrepidity. The battle of Paris concluded the campaign, and on the 31st of March, the Prince entered that city with the cavalry of the reserve, and remained there in garrison. These important events were succeeded by the abdication of Napoleon, and, when the Congress assembled at Vienna, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg conducted the business relating to his own country.
On the return of Bonaparte to France, in 1815, Prince Leopold proceeded to the grand army on the Rhine, and soon afterwards reached Paris. On the termination of the war he visited England; became a suitor to Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales, and, having obtained the consent of the Prince Regent, the nuptials between Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and the presumptive heiress to the British throne, were eventually solemnized.