In the summer of the following year great excitement prevailed in the manufacturing towns in Lancashire and the adjoining counties; and in May a serious riot took place at Manchester, in consequence of a bill, fixing the minimum of wages, having been rejected by parliament: so great was the violence of the rioters, that the Fourth Dragoon Guards and militia were obliged to use violent means, and unfortunately eight men were killed and several wounded. This severity did not, however, prevent another body of weavers assembling on the 1st of June, and committing many acts of violence and outrage; and the cavalry was again obliged to act. The weavers of other towns were equally outrageous; and at Rochdale they attacked and burnt the prison, and were only prevented committing further mischief by the arrival of a troop of the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards from Manchester.
The disturbed state of the manufacturing towns, and the numerous calls of the civil authorities for the aid of a military force, occasioned much harassing duty to the regiment throughout the summer, and these services were rendered particularly painful to the troops, from the necessity of frequently using coercive measures to restrain the lawless violence of the people.
In November Major-General Pigott inspected the regiment at Birmingham, and expressed himself gratified at finding it so effective after the severe duties on which it had been employed.
1809
During this year the men's hair, which had been worn long and tied behind with a queue, was ordered to be cut short; and in 1809 the use of powder to the hair was abolished. An order was also received for the appointment of troop serjeant-majors in the place of troop quartermasters, when vacancies occurred. A reduction of one hundred horses was also made to the establishment in 1808, and again in 1809.
1810
Numerous changes of quarters took place during the year 1809, and the spring of 1810, and in the summer of the latter year the regiment occupied York, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Beverley, &c. &c. During the autumn and early part of the winter of this year (1810) four troops (A. B. C. and D.) were employed under Major Ross in suppressing the riotous conduct of the workmen in the coal-districts in the counties of Northumberland and Durham, which, after much difficulty and painful service, was happily effected to the satisfaction of the coal-owners, who presented the regiment with a handsome Silver Vase, with the following inscription:—
'Presented to the Mess of the Fourth Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, by the Coal-Owners on the rivers Tyne and Wear, as a mark of grateful respect for services performed by a part of that corps, called out in aid of the civil power, in suppressing a riotous combination of their workmen in the year 1810.'
1811
In November, 1810, and again in May, 1811, the regiment was inspected by Major-General Vyse, who passed very high encomiums on its appearance and discipline. In June following it marched to Radipole barracks, where it received orders, on the 5th of July, for six troops to be held in readiness to proceed on foreign service, to join the army commanded by General the Earl of Wellington, which was fighting against the legions of Bonaparte in Portugal and Spain; and the establishment was augmented to 800 troop horses. The six troops, amounting to 550 men, and 534 horses, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sherlock, embarked at Plymouth on the 24th of July, and, having a quick voyage, landed at Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, on the 4th of August.