Tuesday, December 4

Cadogan's Horse..

Without any preamble let me introduce you to the newest regiment to join the ranks of my Marlburian British army (or perhaps more correctly, Allied army) ..


This is Cadogan's horse painted with their earlier buff coloured facings (according to Grant they went to Green later in the war).

Formed in July 1685 as the "Duke of Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse" they were ranked as 7th regiment of horse in seniority. They saw almost immediate service in 1685 in Ireland, but were in Flanders for the War of the League of Augsburg by 1690, promoted to 6th in seniority.

They returned to Ireland in 1698 (garrison duty) before then returning to Flanders in 1702 with the Duke of Marlboroughs forces at the start of the War of the Spanish Succession.

Like Wood's these guys are also "serious stuff", they carry battle honours for all four of the major engagements (Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde & Malplaquet) but served throughout the war, not returning to Ireland until 1715 - thirteen years later!

Other engagements they were involved in, or at, include Venloo, Ruremond and the siege of Stevenswaert and the siege of Liege in 1702, Schellenberg and Blenheim in 1704.

At Elixheim (also known as Helixem) in 1705 they won great distinction at the forcing of the enemy's lines between there and Neerwinden. "Big men mounted on big horses, they drove the famous Bavarian horse-grenadier guards off the field, capturing four of their standards" (Cannon, Recorded History of the 5th Dragoon Guards) - stirring stuff indeed!

They were at Ramillies in 1706, then Oudenarde and the siege of Lille in 1708. 1709 saw them at Malpaquet, followed by the sieges of Tournai and Mons, but 1710 was perhaps their busiest year, with the sieges of Douai and Bethune, and further actions at Aire, St. Venant and Quesnoy.

The regiment became known as Cadogan's (as usual they were named after their current colonel) in 1703 following the successful campaign in 1702 that ended with the siege of Liege. Cadogan (or to correctly name him, William Cadogan, first Earl Cadogan) had done strong service for Marlborough, and the colonelcy of the regiment was Marlborough's reward for this.. he was an outstanding character so I'll save the information on him for a later post..

In the meanwhile - as is the vogue at the moment on some of the "old school wargaming" Blogs this is them, brigaded with the other regiments they fought with at the Schellenberg as part of Wood's Brigade under General Lumley..


In the front rank are Wood's on the left & Cadogan's on the right (both Freikorps 15mm), behind them are Schomberg's on the left and Lumley's on the right (both Dixon's). Just Wyndham's to go to complete the brigade...

The church in the background is a recent purchase from eBay and is made by a company called Kibri (a company specialising in model railway scenery), it's in N scale which is a little small, but I think it fits quite well...I still need to tidy it up and apply a little paint here and there, but I'm pleased with the look and feel which is nicely central european

2 comments:

  1. Cadogan's Horse and the church both look great.


    -- Jeff

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  2. A bit late but very nice indeed!!!!

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