"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
Little metal reinforcements have arrived to help (or hinder) Corp, Zeke and the boys.... 😏
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"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.". 😎
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Regimental standard |
The regiment was raised on 6 June 1685 by Sir John Lanier as the "Queen's Regiment of Horse", named in honour of James’s wife, Mary of Modena and ranked as 2nd Horse (which goes to show how small the Army was at the time of the rebellion)..
They were then another of those regiments (some of which now can trace their ancestry to the most senior regiments in the current day British Army) raised by James to face the rebellion led by Monmouth. The first duty of Lanier’s new regiment was to escort Monmouth as a prisoner from Winchester back to London after the battle of Sedgemoor (1685).
So where does "Lumley's" come in?? Well as was common in the regiments of the time they were known by the name of their then Colonel, and Sir Henry Lumley became Colonel of the regiment from 1692 after Lanier was killed at the Battle of Steenkerque. He remained in the role until 1717 but given his fairly steady rise in promotion terms I suspect it was largely an honourable role by the later years.
Lumley was a bit of a military high flier - he was promoted lieutenant-general on 11 February 1703 and commanded the British horse at the Battle of Schellenberg, and all the cavalry on the left wing at Blenheim (comprising 3 Brigades, and including this regiment) where they supported the attack of the infantry on the village of Blenheim. He was promoted general in 1711, but eventually resigned his colonelcy in 1717 (and from what I can tell this was not done happily, or voluntarily, as it was all tied up with the political shenanigans following the Hanoverian Succession).
He had the position of Governor of Jersey from 1704 to 1722 (when he died),.
The regiment was present at all four of the major battles of the war, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, and carries those honours on their standard....
The regiment still exists today - albeit after many, and usual for the British Army, name changes and amalgamations.. it was first renamed the 2nd King's Own Regiment of Horse in 1714 in honour of George I, but then became the 1st King's Dragoon Guards in 1751. In WW2 it was mechanised (they had armoured cars), but after the war (1959) was amalgamated with the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) to become the present 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards.
Interesting snippets.. Banastre Tarleton served in this regiment before volunteering for the American War of Independence, and Lumley's older brother raised this regiment [clicky] that also servers in my little project..
Regiment painted some time in 2007 (pre-Blog!) and comprising 15mm Dixon figures probably from that first batch DG gifted me at the beginning of the project..
References:
- Queen's Regiment of Horse - Project WSS (kronoskaf.com)
- 1st King's Dragoon Guards - Wikipedia
- Henry Lumley - Wikipedia
Laters, as the young people are want to say...
Nice new cowboys, the look very decent figures. Good history on Lumley's, a very good read, nice looking unit too, great uniform.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie - appreciated!
DeleteNew toys, older toys! Splendid! I always enjoy your regimental meanderings too.
ReplyDeleteCheers David - I do enjoy the research bit..
DeleteHi Steve, funny enough I am painting the same 20mm figures this week and really nice castings. I have 60 of them for Mark who commissioned the huge Pony wars 20mm's for his planned Little Big Horn game featuring 450 mounted Indians (Native Americans!) plus 100 on foot now all completed. Enjoy painting them Steve :)
ReplyDeleteLee
Damn, Lee - how the hell an I going to compete with your brushwork! LOL.. Trust your well - been enjoying your Farcebook updates on the AWI project...
DeleteAnd very nice they all look too!
ReplyDeleteTa Raymond - appreciated..
DeleteThat's a splendid British WSS cavalry unit there. :-)
ReplyDelete