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

Benjamin Carpenter,

Appointed 20th September, 1764.

Benjamin Carpenter was many years an officer in the second troop, now second regiment, of Life Guards, in which corps he was appointed major in 1749, and lieut.-colonel in 1757. He did not serve abroad, but he was celebrated for a punctilious attention to all his duties, and being repeatedly employed in attendance on the court as ivory stick and silver stick in waiting, he obtained the favour and approbation of King George II., and also of King George III., who promoted him to the rank of colonel, and appointed him aide-de-camp to the King, in a few days after His Majesty's accession to the throne. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in July, 1762, and two years after the King gave him the colonelcy of the Twelfth Dragoons, from which he was removed in 1770, to the Fourth, the King's Own, Dragoons. He was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general in 1772, and to that of general in 1783. He died in 1788.

William Augustus Pitt,

Appointed 24th October, 1770.

William Augustus Pitt was appointed in February, 1744, cornet in the Tenth Dragoons, in which corps he rose to the rank of lieut.-colonel; he commanded the regiment in Germany, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, and distinguished himself on several occasions, particularly at the battle of Campen, on the 15th of October, 1760, where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1762, and to that of major-general in August, 1770; in October following he was rewarded with the colonelcy of the Twelfth Light Dragoons; and in 1775 he was removed to the Third Irish Horse, or Carabineers. In 1777 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and in 1780 he was removed to the Tenth Dragoons. He was created a knight of the most honorable order of the Bath in 1792; promoted to the rank of general in 1793; appointed governor of Portsmouth in 1794; and removed to the First Dragoon Guards in 1796. He died in 1810.

The Honorable William Keppel,

Appointed 18th October, 1775.

The Honorable William Keppel, fourth son of William-Anne, second Earl of Albemarle, was gentleman of the horse to King George II., and an officer of the first foot guards, in which corps he attained the rank of captain and lieut.-colonel on the 28th of April, 1751. In 1760 he was nominated second major of that regiment with the rank of colonel; and in 1761 he succeeded Lord Charles Manners in the colonelcy of the Fifty-sixth foot, with which he embarked with the armament fitted out against the Havannah, in the island of Cuba, having the rank of major-general in the expedition. On the surrender of the Havannah he took possession of fort La Punta, and when his eldest brother, George, third Earl of Albemarle, sailed for Europe, he was left in command at the Havannah, which city he delivered to the Spaniards after the conclusion of a treaty of peace in 1763. In 1765 he was removed to the Fourteenth Foot; in 1772 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general; in 1773 he was commander-in-chief in Ireland; and was removed in 1775, to the colonelcy of the Twelfth Light Dragoons, which he retained until his decease in 1782.