The dearth of original documents both at the Record Office and the India Office has seriously hampered me in tracing the history of the Regiment during its first sojourn in India and through the Pindari War. I have, however, to thank the officials of the Record Department of the India Office for the ready courtesy with which they disinterred every paper, in print or manuscript, which could be of service to me.
Respecting the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny I have received (setting aside the standard histories) much help from former officers, notably Sir Robert White, Sir William Gordon, and Sir Drury Lowe, but especially from Sir Evelyn Wood, who kindly found time, amid all the pressure of his official duties, to give me many interesting particulars respecting the chase of Tantia Topee. Above all I have to thank Colonel John Brown for information and assistance on a hundred points. His long experience and his accurate memory, quickened but not clouded by his intense attachment to his old regiment, have been of the greatest value to me.
My thanks are also due to the officials of the Record Department of the War Office, and to Mr. S. M. Milne of Calverley House, Leeds, for help on divers minute but troublesome points, and to Captain Anstruther of the Seventeenth Lancers for constant information and advice. Lastly, and principally, let me express my deep obligations to Mr. Hubert Hall for his unwearied courtesy and invaluable guidance through the paper labyrinth of the Record Office, and to Mr. G. K. Fortescue, the Superintendent of the Reading-Room at the British Museum, for help rendered twice inestimable by the kindness wherewith it was bestowed.
The first and two last of the coloured plates in this book have been taken from original drawings by Mr. J. P. Beadle. The remainder are from old drawings, by one G. Salisbury, in the possession of the regiment. They have been deliberately chosen as giving, on the whole, a more faithful presentment of the old and extinct British soldier than could easily be obtained at the present day, while their defects are of the obvious kind that disarm criticism. The portrait of Colonel John Hale is from an engraving after a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the original of which is still in possession of his lineal descendant in America. That of Lord Bingham is after a portrait kindly placed at the disposal of the Regiment by his son, the present Earl of Lucan. Those of the Duke of Cambridge and of Sir Drury Lowe are from photographs.
May, 1895.
Contents
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Rise of the 17th Light Dragoons, 1759 | [1] |
| 2. | The Making of the 17th Light Dragoons | [10] |
| 3. | Reforms after the Peace of Paris, 1763–1774 | [20] |
| 4. | The American War—1st Stage—The Northern Campaign, 1775–1780 | [31] |
| 5. | The American War—2nd Stage—The Southern Campaign, 1780–1782 | [49] |
| 6. | Return of the 17th from America, 1783—Ireland, 1793—Embarkation for the West Indies, 1795 | [65] |
| 7. | The Maroon War in Jamaica, 1795 | [73] |
| 8. | Grenada and St. Domingo, 1796 | [87] |
| 9. | Ostend—La Plata, 1797–1807 | [96] |
| 10. | First Sojourn of the 17th in India, 1808–1823—The Pindari War | [110] |
| 11. | Home Service, 1823–1854 | [121] |
| 12. | The Crimea, 1854–1856 | [128] |
| 13. | Central India, 1858–1859 | [144] |
| 14. | Peace Service in India and England, 1859–1879 | [166] |
| 15. | The Zulu War—Peace Service in India and at Home, 1879–1894 | [174] |
Appendix
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| A. | A List of the Officers of the 17th Light Dragoons, Lancers | [181] |
| B. | Quarters and Movements of the 17th Lancers since their Foundation | [236] |
| C. | Pay of all Ranks of a Light Dragoon Regiment, 1764 | [241] |
| D. | Horse Furniture and Accoutrements of a Light Dragoon, 1759 | [243] |
| E. | Clothing, etc. of a Light Dragoon, 1764 | [244] |
| F. | Evolutions required at the Inspection of a Regiment, 1759 | [245] |