The regiment, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Shapland Boyse, was employed in covering the retreat from Quatre Bras to the position in front of the village of Waterloo, on the 17th of June, which had been rendered necessary by the defeat and retrograde movement of the Prussians.
At the memorable battle of "Waterloo," on the 18th of June, 1815, the Thirteenth Dragoons, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Boyse, had the good fortune to acquire additional laurels. Eminent, as British troops ever have been, for those warlike qualities which lead to glory in the hour of battle, yet the field of "Waterloo" elevated their reputation above its former standard, and the Thirteenth have the honour of being numbered among the corps which signalized themselves in the "shock of steel." The regiment was posted with the Seventh and Fifteenth Hussars in the right centre of the position in the rear of Hugomont; it charged repeatedly during the day with the most distinguished success, the enemy's cavalry and infantry, having some sharp sword conflicts with the former; it also aided in the successful attacks upon the advancing columns, penetrated and completely routed a square of infantry, and thus materially contributed to the overthrow of the French army, which was driven from the field with the loss of its cannon, ammunition, waggons, and all its matériel.
The loss of the regiment was Captain James Gubbins, Lieutenants John Geale and John Pymm, eleven rank and file, and fifteen horses killed; Lieut.-Colonel Shapland Boyse, Captains Joseph Doherty and Gregorie, Lieutenants George Doherty, Charles Robert Bowers, John A. E. Irving, James Mill, George H. Packe, ten serjeants, two trumpeters, fifty-seven rank and file, and forty-six horses, wounded: eight rank and file and fifty-two horses missing.
Captain Brooks Lawrence, upon whom the command of the regiment devolved in the course of the day, had two horses killed and one wounded under him.
The gallant conduct of troop serjeant-major Wells, who commanded Captain Gubbins' troop after all the officers had fallen, was particularly remarked; he was promoted into the second West India regiment, and retired from the Fifty-fourth regiment as a captain in 1841.
Lieutenant Doherty, besides being severely wounded in the head, was struck by a ball which was stopped by the interposition of his watch, which it flattened. He had taken out his watch to remark the time, when the regiment was ordered to advance, and not being able to return it, he put it into the breast of his jacket, and thus providentially his life was saved.
The regiment was subsequently rewarded with the royal authority to bear the word "Waterloo" on its guidons and appointments; every officer and soldier present received a silver medal, and the privilege of reckoning two years' service for that day was also conferred on the troops. Colonel Patrick Doherty and Lieut.-Colonel Shapland Boyse, of the Thirteenth Light Dragoons, were made Companions of the Bath.
The following officers received silver medals for the Battle of Waterloo:—
Lt.-Col. Patrick Doherty, Col.
Maj. Shapland Boyse, Lt. Col.
Capt. Brooks Lawrence
Capt. Joseph Doherty
" James Macalister
" Mansell Bowers
" Charles Gregorie
" Frederick Goulbourne
Lieut. G. H. Packe
" John Wallace
" John A. E. Irving
" John J. Moss
Lieut. George Doherty
" John H. Drought
Lieut. Charles Robt. Bowers
" Allan T. Maclean
" Robert Nesbit
" William Turner
" James Mill
Surgeon Thomas G. Logan
Vet.-Surg. John Constant
Paymast. Alexander Strange
Quartermast. Wm. Minchin.
Cornet Joseph Wakefield