Historical record of the Seventeenth Regiment of Light Dragoons;—Lancers / Containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1759 and of its subsequent services to 1841.

by Richard Cannon

Appointed 27th April, 1763.

John Hale held a commission in the Forty-seventh Foot, and served in Scotland during the rebellion of 1745-6. He was promoted to Captain in 1752, and to the Majority of the regiment in 1755. On the breaking out of the seven years' war he proceeded with the Forty-seventh to North America, and was promoted to the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the regiment on the 19th of March, 1758. He commanded the Forty-seventh regiment in the expedition against Cape Breton, under Lieut.-General, afterwards Lord, Amherst; was distinguished for intrepidity at the landing on the 8th of June, 1758, and also served with credit at the siege of Louisburg, which surrendered on the 26th of July. On the 30th of August he embarked with his regiment from Louisburg, and proceeded to the support of Major-General Abercromby, who had been repulsed in an attack on the French fort of Ticonderago, on the west shore of Lake Champlain. In 1759 he commanded the Forty-seventh in the expedition against Quebec, under Major-General James Wolfe, and when appointed to this arduous enterprise, he was honoured with the local rank of Colonel in America. Sailing up the river St. Lawrence a landing was effected, and several actions took place, in which Colonel Hale was distinguished for the cool and steady manner in which he led the Forty-seventh into the fight. At the battle of Quebec, on the 13th of September, 1759, Major-General Wolfe fell, mortally wounded, while in the act of leading the Twenty-eighth Foot to the charge with bayonets; Colonel Hale brought the Forty-seventh into action in a very gallant manner, and the charge of the two regiments (Twenty-eighth and Forty-seventh) was irresistible. After the surrender of Quebec, Colonel Hale was selected to proceed to England with despatches, and he arrived in London on the evening of the 16th of October. He was well received at Court, and being a talented officer, well acquainted with the nature of the service of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, his merits procured him the favour of his Sovereign.

A few months previous to Colonel Hale's arrival in England, King George II. had resolved to add to his land forces entire regiments of light cavalry; soon after the victory at Quebec was made known, His Majesty reviewed the first of these regiments, "Eliott's Light Horse," in Hyde Park, and was so much pleased with its appearance and activity, that Colonel Hale was appointed to superintend the formation of an additional light regiment, now the Seventeenth Lancers, of which he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel Commandant on the 7th of November, 1759, and Colonel on the 27th of April, 1763. In 1770 he was appointed Governor of Limerick, when he was succeeded in the colonelcy of his regiment by Colonel Preston. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1772, to that of Lieut.-General in 1777; and to that of General on the 12th of October, 1793. He died on the 20th of March, 1806, at the Plantations, near Guisborough, Yorkshire, leaving behind him seventeen children.

George Preston,

Appointed 2nd November, 1770.

George Preston was many years an officer in the Scots' Greys, and served with his regiment in 1743 at the battle of Dettingen, where the Greys captured the white standard of the French household troops. The Greys also served at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745, at Roucoux in 1746, and in 1747 highly distinguished themselves at Val, where Captain George Preston was wounded. His meritorious conduct was rewarded, in 1757, with the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the Greys, at the head of which corps he served in Germany under Prince Ferdinand, of Brunswick, from 1758 to 1762. At the battle of Minden in 1759, Warbourg in 1760, Kirch Denkern in 1761, and Grobenstein in 1762, the Greys had the honour of serving, and they signalized themselves in numerous skirmishes, on which occasions Lieut.-Colonel Preston was distinguished for discretion and personal bravery; and he returned to England in 1763, with the reputation of being an excellent cavalry officer. In 1770 he was rewarded with the Colonelcy of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons; in 1772 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and to that of Lieut.-General in 1777: in 1782 he was appointed to the Colonelcy of the Scots' Greys. He died at Bath in 1785.

The Honourable Thomas Gage,

Appointed 18th April, 1782.

The Honourable Thomas Gage, second son of Thomas, first Viscount Gage, of Castle Island, in Ireland, having served some time in the subordinate commissions, was appointed Major of the Forty-fourth Foot in February, 1747, and he was further promoted to the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the regiment on the 2nd of March, 1751. He was serving with his regiment in America, when a dispute occurred between Great Britain and France respecting the territory on the banks of the Ohio, and he commanded the advance-guard of the forces sent against Fort Du Quesne, which the French had built to command the entrance into the country on the Ohio and Mississippi. In the disastrous action on the 9th of July, 1755, Major-General Braddock was killed and Lieut.-Colonel Honourable Thomas Gage was wounded. He continued to serve in America, where he raised a provincial regiment, which was numbered the Eightieth, Light-armed, Foot, of which he was appointed Colonel in May, 1758: he was also appointed Brigadier-General in North America, and the efforts of the army effected the conquest of Canada, which has continued to form part of the British dominions from that period. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1761, and in the same year he performed the duty of Commander-in-Chief in North America, and also succeeded Sir Jeffrey Amherst as Colonel-in-Chief of the Sixteenth regiment, which he held two months, when Lieut.-General Amherst was re-appointed. In March, 1762, he was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-second Foot; and in April, 1770, he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General. When the misunderstanding between Great Britain and her North American colonies began to assume a serious aspect, he was appointed Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay, and he arrived at Boston in May, 1774. Hostilities commenced in the following year, and his active exertions to suppress the rebellion were rewarded in August, 1775, with the appointment of Commander-in-Chief in North America, which he resigned in a few months afterwards. In April, 1782, he was appointed Colonel of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons; he was promoted to the rank of General in November following, and in 1785 he was removed to the Eleventh Dragoons. He died in 1787.

Thomas Earl of Lincoln,