On the 24th September a detachment of the regiment marched from Norwich to Stanfield Hall, where its presence was required to assist the civil power in securing some persons who were illegally assembled, and who bade defiance to the magistrates. After some resistance the rioters were secured, and eighty-four of them lodged in Norwich Jail. The Magistrates transmitted to the General Commanding in Chief a letter, explanatory of the circumstances which had occasioned them to call for the aid of the troops, and expressive of their thanks for the promptitude with which assistance was granted, as well as for the steadiness and good conduct of the detachment, and for the valuable aid afforded by the officers and soldiers.
The Fourth Dragoon Guards, under a well-regulated system of discipline and the direction of intelligent officers, in whom the men have confidence, have evinced their usefulness to the country by their firm and temperate conduct on home duty, as well as by their bravery in the field when called upon to combat a foreign enemy. Instances frequently occur, in which the magistrates call for the aid of the military, without whose co-operation the civil police would sometimes be unequal to repress and control the violence of a lawless mob. On these occasions, the conduct of the troops has been such as to draw forth the commendations and thanks of the civil authorities, which have been communicated to the General Commanding in Chief, and by his authority signified in orders to the troops who have been so employed, and whose conduct has merited such commendations.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Captain Charles Nedby commanded a troop in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of horse, which was raised in 1678, in the expectation of a war with France, and was disbanded in the following year. In 1680 he raised an independent troop of horse for service at Tangier in Africa, and proceeding thither immediately, distinguished himself in an action with the Moors, on 27th of September, 1680. In 1683 the four troops of Tangier horse were constituted, together with two troops raised in England, the Royal Regiment of Dragoons. Captain Nedby continued in the Royal Dragoons until June, 1685, when he raised a troop of horse for the Queen's Regiment, now 1st Dragoon Guards; and in July of the same year he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Earl of Arran's Regiment.
[8] According to the estimates of this period, the following sums were usually paid for the clothing of the horse:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Scarlet coats | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| Corporal's ditto | 4 | 10 | 0 |
| Red cloaks, lined | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Hats edged with lace | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Sword and belts | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Carbine belts | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Cloth waistcoats | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Buff gloves | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Horse furniture,—viz.: housing and holster-caps, embroidered | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Jacked boots | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Cartouch boxes | 0 | 2 | 6 |
Each Captain clothed his own trumpeter, and the Colonel the kettle-drummer.
[9] The Fifth Horse were embodied in July, 1685, under the command of the Earl of Thanet, who was succeeded, on the 24th of October of the same year, by Major-General Werden. This officer commanded the regiment until December, 1688, when Lord Deloraine was appointed to the command; his Lordship was succeeded in the following year by Colonel Francis Russell, who commanded it until it was disbanded.
[10] Lord Mountjoy was a warm-hearted Irish nobleman, devoted to the Protestant interest. At the Revolution he was desirous of having Ireland delivered into the hands of King William; the Lord-Lieutenant, Earl Tyrconnel, appeared to acquiesce, and sent Lord Mountjoy to France to obtain the sanction of King James, who confined him in the Bastile, where he remained until 1692, when he was exchanged for General Richard Hamilton. He arrived from France a few days before the battle of Steenkirk, and though holding no military rank, he served with this regiment as a volunteer, and was killed as above stated.
[11] The Princess Anne's regiment was formed of independent troops of horse raised in June, 1685, and the Colonelcy conferred on the Earl of Scarsdale, who was succeeded, on the 1st of December, 1687, by Charles, Duke of St. Alban's. This regiment was remarkable for being one of the first corps which joined the Prince of Orange in November, 1688; having been conducted to His Highness's quarters by the Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas Langston, who was immediately promoted to the Colonelcy of the regiment, and his brother, Captain Francis Langston, of the Royal Dragoons, was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy. Colonel Thomas Langston died of a fever at Lisburn, in Ireland, in December, 1689, and the Colonelcy of the regiment was conferred on his brother Francis. This regiment served at the battles of the Boyne and Aghrim in Ireland, and at Steenkirk in the Netherlands; but having lost many men and horses, the remainder were transferred to other corps, and the regiment was taken off the establishment of the army in the autumn of 1692. The officers served en seconde until vacancies occurred in other regiments.