After reposing in quarters a short time at Grammont, the regiment sent its dismounted men and baggage to Bourdeaux, and commenced its march through France to Boulogne, where it embarked for England, and landed at Ramsgate on the 7th of July, after an absence of four years and five months, during which period it had marched about one thousand five hundred leagues (principally Spanish); it had been engaged in thirty-two affairs, many of which were sharp and contested, besides the general actions; it had been one hundred and ninety-seven nights in bivouac, and its casualties amounted to two hundred and seventy-four men, and one thousand and nine horses.
The Thirteenth Light Dragoons marched from Ramsgate to Hounslow and its neighbourhood; and having been inspected by His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief, they proceeded to Weymouth. The establishment was reduced to eight troops.
1815
The regiment embarked at Plymouth, and arrived at Cork in November. During the end of this year and the beginning of 1815, the regiment was distributed in quarters at Cork, Fermoy, Mallow, Bandon, Limerick, Clogheen, Gort, and Tallow.
On the 6th of April, 1815, the royal authority to bear on its guidons and appointments the word "Peninsula," as a mark of the Prince Regent's approbation of its conduct in Portugal, Spain, and France, under Field Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, was communicated to the regiment; and shortly afterwards the veterans of the Peninsula were again employed on foreign service; the return of Bonaparte to France, his resumption of the imperial dignity, and the flight of Louis XVIII. to Flanders, having rekindled the flame of war on the continent.
The Thirteenth were augmented to ten troops; and six troops, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Patrick Doherty, embarked at Cork at the end of April and in the beginning of May; they landed at Ostend, marched up the country, and were formed in brigade with the Third Hussars, King's German Legion, under Colonel Sir Frederick Arentschildt, K.C.B.
On the 29th of May the Thirteenth were present at Grammont at the review of the British cavalry and artillery, commanded by the Earl of Uxbridge, by His Grace the Duke of Wellington, accompanied by Prince Blucher.
While the regiment was reposing in quarters, waiting for the army to commence operations, Bonaparte endeavoured, by a rapid advance, to surprise the allies and beat them in detail. The post at Quatre Bras was attacked, and this position being fixed upon as the point of concentration for the army under the Duke of Wellington, the Thirteenth Light Dragoons marched in that direction, and joined the army during the night of the 16th of June.