1685
The decease of King Charles II. took place on the 6th of February, 1685; and on the evening of the same day, his successor (James II.) commanded the Royal Dragoons to march into quarters in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis. Previous to the coronation they were furnished with new standards, and the drummers and hautboys with new liveries.[21] The ceremonial of their Majesties' coronation was conducted with extraordinary magnificence: but the agitated state of the United Kingdom gave early indication of approaching contests; and, towards the end of April, two troops of the Royal Dragoons were despatched to Carlisle, and placed under the command of the governor, Sir Christopher Musgrave, for the purpose of assisting in the seizure of 'divers outlawed and seditious persons, who, for the avoiding of Justice, have fled from Scotland into the county of Cumberland and parts adjacent.'[22] These troops arrived at Carlisle on the 10th of May, and several persons were apprehended. In the middle of that month an insurrection, headed by the Earl of Argyle, broke out in Scotland; and in June, James Duke of Monmouth raised the standard of rebellion in the west of England and proclaimed himself king. The establishment of the Royal Dragoons was immediately augmented to sixty men per troop: an independent troop of dragoons, raised by Colonel Strother in 1683, was incorporated in the regiment; and five troops of dragoons were raised in the vicinity of London by Richard Leveson, John Williams, Edward Lea, Francis Russel, and Thomas Hussey, and added to the Royal Dragoons: the numbers were thus increased to twelve troops, amounting to about nine hundred officers and men.
Two troops of the regiment, with some other forces, were despatched under Brigadier-General Lord Churchill against the rebels in the west; and on the 19th of June two other troops marched for the same destination under the orders of Lieutenant-General the Earl of Feversham, who was appointed to the chief command of the King's army. The royal forces having been united, the four troops of dragoons were placed under the orders of Viscount Cornbury; and the whole marched in pursuit of the rebels.
After several marches and skirmishes the Duke of Monmouth took post at Bridgewater; and the Earl of Feversham, having sent a troop of the Royal Dragoons, commanded by Captain Coy, to Lamport, to secure that pass, and to gain intelligence in the event of the rebels marching westward, advanced with the royal army to Weston (about three miles from Bridgewater), where he arrived on Sunday, the 5th of July. Having quartered the cavalry in the village, and ordered the infantry to encamp on a plain fronting Sedgemoor, he sent a party of life guards to patrole in the direction of Bristol, and posted a piquet of fifty of the Royal Dragoons with a squadron of the blues supported by one hundred men of the royal regiment of foot, on the moor, in front of the camp. A guard of the Royal Dragoons was also posted over the artillery, which consisted of sixteen pieces, and was drawn up on the high road from Weston to Bridgewater.
During the night the Duke of Monmouth marched out of Bridgewater with the view of surprising the royal army; but the piquet in advance gave the alarm, and after exchanging a few shots with the rebels, retreated to the camp, and formed on the right of the infantry; at the same time the remainder of the Royal Dragoons, being aroused in their quarters in the village of Weston, turned out in the dark in good order, and formed on the left of the foot. The rebels commenced the attack with loud shouts,—the contest became general along the whole line,—and the moor sparkled with fire. The rebel horse soon gave way and fled in disorder; but their infantry stood firm and fought with great resolution. Day at length began to break; and the King's foot advancing to the charge, whilst the Royal Dragoons and other cavalry attacked the flanks of the rebels and put them in disorder, their whole line then gave way and fled in confusion, and were pursued across the moor and adjoining corn-fields with great slaughter. Two troops of the Royal Dragoons continued the pursuit as far as Bridgewater, where they were ordered to halt by the Earl of Feversham.
In the mean time Captain Russel's troop of the Royal Dragoons had been attached to three Scots regiments of foot, which had recently arrived from Holland under the command of Major-General Mackay, and ordered to join the army in the west; but, on the news of Monmouth's defeat at Sedgemoor, these forces were directed to halt at Bagshot; the Royal Dragoons were subsequently dispersed in small parties into the adjoining counties to seize suspected persons; the Scots regiments returned to Hounslow, and, after encamping a short time on the heath, re-embarked for Holland.
One troop of the Royal Dragoons was ordered to Winchester to escort the Duke of Monmouth and other prisoners to London; on its arrival this troop was quartered in the Borough of Southwark, and it was under arms when the Duke was beheaded on Tower Hill on the 15th of July. Two other troops were ordered to Salisbury to mount guard over the prisoners there, and were subsequently directed to attend Judge Jeffries during the trial and execution of the captured rebels; in which painful service the troopers were spectators of numerous acts of barbarity perpetrated by the remorseless Judge, who sacrificed the lives of upwards of two hundred persons in these "bloody assizes," as historians have denominated them.
After the suppression of this rebellion the establishment of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons was reduced to eight troops, of forty private men per troop; and the supernumerary troops were embodied into a regiment of dragoons, which was commanded by the Duke of Somerset, and is now the third light dragoons.
On the 1st of August Lord Churchill was appointed colonel of the third troop of life guards, and the colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons was conferred on Lieutenant-Colonel Viscount Cornbury. The two troops of the regiment having returned from Carlisle, the whole were stationed in London in October, and subsequently marched into quarters in Devonshire.