Historical Record of the Third, or Prince of Wales' Regiment of Dragoon Guards: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1838Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Third, or Prince of Wales' Regiment of Dragoon Guards: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1838
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Dragoon Guards, 3rd
Although the nation was at peace, and arts and manufactures were
prospering, yet the minds of the people were troubled, for they
saw the King proceeding with rapid progress towards effecting the
overthrow of the established religion and laws of the kingdom; while
the nobility appeared resolved to make a stand against the arbitrary
measures of the court. Thus, the FOURTH HORSE, when they had been
only three years in the service of the crown, found themselves in a
most perplexing situation; yet their conduct was so truly honourable,
that every individual who has served in the corps may reflect with
exultation on the fact that, throughout the whole period of its
service, its reputation has been preserved untarnished. In the
summer of 1688 it again erected its tents on Hounslow Heath; and,
several Bishops having been imprisoned and brought to trial for not
acquiescing in the King's measures, on the day they were acquitted,
his Majesty, after reviewing the army on the Heath, dined in the
Earl of Feversham's tent when, on a sudden, the soldiers began to
shout and huzza; the King inquired the cause of the noise, and
was answered--'Nothing, your Majesty, but the soldiers shouting
because the Bishops are acquitted.' The King answered, with evident
displeasure, 'Call you that nothing?' and dismissed the troops to
their quarters, resolving (according to the historians of that
period) never to call them together again until he had remodelled
them, by the dismissal of protestants and the introduction of
papists. But events were ripe for execution; and the Prince of Orange
was, in compliance with the solicitations of the English nobility,
preparing an expedition for England to support the established
religion and laws.
When the FOURTH HORSE left Hounslow Heath, they proceeded into
quarters at Oxford and Woodstock. In the beginning of November they
marched to Alresford; and when the Prince of Orange landed at Torbay,
they were ordered to advance to Salisbury, where King James's army
was assembled; before leaving Alresford, the men, in consequence
of an order from the Secretary-at-War, placed their ARMOUR under
the charge of the civil authorities of the town, from whence it was
subsequently removed to the Tower of London.
King James arrived at Salisbury to command the forces in person,
where he again discovered the reluctance of the troops to support
the proceedings of the jesuitical faction by which he was governed;
and, alarmed by the desertions which took place, he fled to London
and ultimately to France. Several corps went over to the Prince of
Orange; but the FOURTH HORSE preserved their fidelity to King James
until that unhappy monarch forsook the throne; and when the Prince
assumed the reins of government, His Highness ordered the regiment to
march to Dorking and Ryegate, where it received a draught of 100 men
and horses from the Marquis de Miremont's[11] regiment of horse, a
newly-raised corps which was ordered to be disbanded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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