Alexander Cannon entered the service of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and held a commission in one of the English regiments in Holland, with which he served under the Prince of Orange (afterwards King William III.), and was promoted to the colonelcy of the corps. Having arrived in England with his regiment in the summer of 1685, to assist in suppressing the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, he quitted the Dutch service, and was appointed, by King James II., Lieutenant-Colonel of the Queen's Dragoons. He was a stanch adherent to the Court, and was rewarded with the colonelcy of the regiment in 1687; but refusing to take the oath to the Prince of Orange, at the Revolution in 1688, he was removed from his command.
Colonel Cannon proceeded to Ireland in 1689, where he was promoted by King James to the rank of brigadier-general; he was sent with a small body of men to Scotland, to assist the highlanders in their opposition to the government of King William III. He was second in command at the Battle of Killicrankie, and after the fall of Viscount Dundee, he commanded the Highlanders and Irish. He was reinforced by another body of troops from Ireland under Brigadier-General Buchan, and remained in Scotland two years; but being harassed by the King's forces, and defeated in several skirmishes, the highlanders tendered their submission to King William, and their commanders followed King James to France.
Richard Leveson.
Appointed 31st December, 1688.
In the reign of King Charles II. Richard Leveson served as a volunteer against the Moors at Tangier, in Africa; and on the breaking out of the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth in June, 1685, he raised a troop of dragoons in the county of Middlesex, which troop was eventually incorporated in the Queen's regiment, now Third, or King's Own. In the summer of 1687, he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy, and having joined the standard of the Prince of Orange, in November, 1688, he was advanced, on the 31st of December following, to the colonelcy of the regiment. He served at the head of the Queen's Dragoons in Ireland; evinced great personal bravery at the Battle of the Boyne, and on other occasions, as detailed in the record of the Third Light Dragoons; and acquired celebrity for his ability, activity, and gallantry on detached services. After the decease of Brigadier-General Villiers, King William rewarded the brave Leveson with the command of a corps of cuirassiers, now second dragoon guards. He served under His Majesty in the Netherlands, and was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 11th of January, 1696. His decease occurred on the 3rd of March, 1699.
Thomas, Lord Fairfax.
Appointed 30th January, 1694.
Lord Fairfax having joined the Prince of Orange at the Revolution in 1688, was appointed lieutenant and lieutenant-colonel in the third troop of life guards, which gave him the privilege of taking the court duty of silver stick; he afterwards exchanged to the second troop (now second regiment) of life guards, from which he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Queen's dragoons. He retired in the following year, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in 1702. He died in January, 1710.
William Lloyd.
Appointed 21st February, 1695.
This Officer served with distinction under King William III. in Ireland and the Netherlands, and was promoted to the colonelcy of the Queen's Dragoons by purchase, in 1695. He served with his regiment in Flanders until the peace of Ryswick; was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the spring of 1702; and, commanding a brigade of infantry under the Duke of Ormond, in the expedition to Spain, was engaged in the storming of the forts of Vigo. He was subsequently advanced to the rank of major-general; but obtained permission to dispose of the colonelcy of his regiment in 1703, to Colonel Carpenter.
George Carpenter.
Appointed 31st December, 1703.
George Carpenter was born in February, 1657, and when fourteen years of age he was page to the Duke of Montague in his grace's embassy to France. In 1672, he entered the army as a private gentleman in the Duke of York's troop of life guards, which corps was, at that period, as a school where young gentlemen were qualified for commissions. In 1685 he was appointed troop quarter-master in a newly-raised corps of cuirassiers, now second dragoon guards; in which regiment he rose to the rank of cornet in 1687, and afterwards to that of lieutenant, captain, and lieutenant-colonel. He served with his regiment in Ireland, and in Flanders and Brabant, and was promoted to the rank of colonel in the army in 1702. In the following year he purchased the colonelcy of the Queen's Dragoons and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general on the 25th of December, 1705. He proceeded to Spain in 1706, and serving with the allied army, signalized himself at the unfortunate battle of Almanza in 1707, where he repeatedly charged at the head of the British cavalry, and, commanding one of the last squadrons which left the field, saved the Earl of Galway, many wounded men, and much of the baggage from falling into the hands of the enemy. He continued with the army in Spain, acquiring additional honour by his excellent conduct on all occasions, was promoted to the rank of major-general in September, 1708, and to that of lieutenant-general in January, 1710. In the brilliant cavalry action on the plains of Almanara, on the 27th of July, 1710, he highly distinguished himself, and was wounded: his spirited conduct on this occasion, procured him the thanks of King Charles III. of Spain, afterwards Emperor of the Romans, who was with the army. He acquired fresh laurels at Saragossa and wrote an interesting account of that battle, which was published at the time. After advancing to Madrid, the army retreated to Valencia and Catalonia, and Lieutenant-General Carpenter was with the division under General Stanhope, which halted at the little walled town of Brihuega, in the mountains of Castile, and was there surrounded and made prisoners by the French army. On this occasion he was wounded by a musket-ball, which, having broken part of his jaw, lodged itself under the root of his tongue, where it remained several months before it could be extracted, during which time his life was in danger, and he suffered great pain.