Historical Record of the Twelfth, or the Prince of Wales's Royal Regiment of Lancers / Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1715, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1848.

by Richard Cannon

The Honorable James Cholmondeley, third son of George, second Earl of Cholmondeley, was appointed guidon and major in the first troop, now first regiment, of Life Guards, in 1725; in 1731 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and lieut.-colonel in the third troop of Life Guards; and in 1741 he obtained the colonelcy of a newly-raised regiment, which was numbered the Forty-ninth, now Forty-eighth, Foot, from which he was removed in 1742, to the Thirty-fourth regiment. Accompanying his regiment to Flanders, in 1744, he served the campaign of that year under Field-Marshal Wade. He was at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745, and was afterwards promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. On the breaking out of the rebellion in Scotland, he returned to England with a brigade of infantry, and afterwards took the charge of two battalions recently arrived from Ireland, with which he joined the army in Yorkshire under Field-Marshal Wade. On the flight of the rebels from Derby, he was detached to Scotland, and signalised himself in a most conspicuous manner at the battle of Falkirk on the 17th of January, 1746; but the excessive fatigue he underwent, with continued exposure to severe weather, deprived him of the use of his limbs for some time. In 1747 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and was removed in 1749 to the Twelfth Dragoons. In November of the same year he was removed to the third Irish Horse, now Sixth Dragoon Guards, and in 1750, to the Sixth Dragoons. In 1754 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and he was many years lieut.-governor of Chester. He died in 1775.

Lord George Sackville,

Appointed 1st November, 1749.

Lord George Sackville, youngest son of his Grace the Duke of Dorset, choosing a military life, entered the army in 1737, and was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the Twenty-eighth Foot in 1740. His distinguished behaviour at the head of his regiment at the battle of Dettingen, recommended him to the notice of King George II., and his lordship was shortly afterwards rewarded with the rank of colonel, and appointed one of His Majesty's aides-de-camp. Continuing to serve on the continent, he distinguished himself at the battle of Fontenoy, where he was shot in the breast. His lordship was also employed under the Duke of Cumberland, in suppressing the rebellion in Scotland, and was promoted, in 1746, to the colonelcy of the Twentieth Foot. He served the campaigns of 1747 and 1748, on the continent; and was removed, in 1749, to the Twelfth Dragoons, from which he was removed, in 1750, to the Third Irish Horse, or Carabineers; he was also appointed secretary of state for Ireland. In 1757 he was removed to the Second Dragoon Guards, and appointed lieut.-general of ordnance, and in 1758 he was sworn a member of the privy council. He was second in command of the expedition to the coast of France, under Charles Duke of Marlborough; also, second in command of the troops sent to Germany; and, after the Duke of Marlborough's decease, his lordship was appointed commander-in-chief of the British troops in Germany, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. Owing to some misunderstanding with his serene highness at the battle of Minden, his lordship returned to England, and was, shortly afterwards, deprived of his military employments. He was endowed with extraordinary talents as a statesman, and he filled, subsequently to this unpleasant affair, some of the highest offices in the administration. He assumed, by act of parliament, the surname of Germaine; and, in February, 1782, he was elevated to the peerage by the titles of Baron Bolebrook, and Viscount Sackville. He died in 1785.

Sir John Whitefoord, Bart.,

Appointed 18th January, 1750.

Sir John Whitefoord, of Blairquan, a Baronet of Nova Scotia, having served in the subordinate commissions several years, was promoted to the majority of the Sixth Dragoons in 1743, and served with his regiment in the Netherlands. He was subsequently promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the Thirty-fifth Foot, and in January, 1750, he was appointed colonel of the Twelfth Dragoons. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1758, and to that of lieut.-general in 1760. He died at Edinburgh on the 1st of March, 1763.

Edward Harvey,

Appointed 17th March, 1763.

This officer held a commission many years in the Sixth Dragoons, with which corps he served at the battles of Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Val. In 1754 he was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the regiment, and proceeding to Germany in the summer of 1758, he was present at nearly every general engagement and skirmish in which British cavalry were employed, during the remainder of the seven years' war, and on several occasions he commanded a brigade of heavy dragoons: he was twice wounded, viz.: at Wetter, in August, 1759, where he surprised a French corps, and took many prisoners, and at Campen, in October, 1760. In 1763 he was rewarded with the colonelcy of the Twelfth Dragoons, and was removed, in the following year, to the Third Irish Horse, or Carabineers. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1762; to that of lieut.-general in 1772; and in 1775 he was removed to the colonelcy of the Sixth Dragoons, which he retained until his decease in 1778.