"British lancers?" Topic

Strictly speaking not Napoleonic. I read somewhere that in 1816 three cavalry regiments were converted to lancers. Does anyone know which regiments were converted, and what the numbers of the lancer regiments became? I'm guessing one of them was the 17th? Thanks

The first regiments raised from September 1816 were the 9th, 12th, 16th, 19th and 23rd all converted from Light Dragoons. The 23rd were quickly disbanded in 1817 and the 19th in 1821. The 17th Light Dragoons were redesignated Lancers in 1822.

Wow that was quick, thanks a lot.

However, Rocket Troops of the Royal Horse Artillery were sometimes mistaken for lancers, due to the practice of attaching penants to the bundles of sticks carried as part of their equipment.

According to Sir John Fortescue'd history of the regiment, the 17th Light Dragoons did not learn of their new status until 1823, when, during a stopover at Saint Helena on its journey back from India, a copy of the Army List was obtained. (p 121)

He also includes, a few pages earlier, an account of how the introduction of lancers to the cavalry came about:

'H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief, at the opening of 1816, had become bitten with the notion of forming corps of Lancers in imitation of the Polish Lancers which had done such good service to the army under Napoleon. The first idea was
to attach a troop of lancers to each cavalry regiment, just as a small body of riflemen was attached to a regiment of infentry. Lord Rosslyn oflfered the 9th Light Dragoons for the experiment, and trained fifty picked men under the command of Captain Peters. On Saturday, 20th April, these fifty men were reviewed in the Queen's Riding-house at Pimlico, before a few select spectators who were admitted by ticket. The men were dressed in blue jackets faced with crimson, gray trousers and blue cloth caps, and carried a lance sixteen feet long with a pennon of the Union colours.

"The opposite extremity of the lance," continues our authority, " was confined in a leather socket attached to the stirrup, and the lance was supported near the centre by a loose string."

Such is an abridged account of the first parade of Lancers in England, taken from an extract from the Sun newspaper of 22nd August 18 16, and copied into the Calcutta Gazette^ whence probably it found its way to the officers' mess of the Seventeenth.' (p116)

link

before them you had the British Uhlans a French émigrés corps mostly from Germans as it was very well indicated by such regimental title…

after the 5th in 1858 the 21st from Hussars in 1898 and even the 24th in 1940 and 27th in 1941 but oldest regiments have been amalgamated at this last period

if not there was the Indian Army but that is an other story

>> the 17th Light Dragoons did not learn of their new status until 1823,

No wonder you lost an Empire… couldn't even keep the paperwork up to date tsk tsk
d

16ft lances? Wow, they cannot have been easy to use and would have been worse than useless in a cavalry melee surely.

Well, The Sun. You know… Copied into the Calcutta Gazette…

Translation: nobody got any deeper than the third page.

@deadhead:

The pointy bit with the wee flag was for show.

The heavy ferrule at the heel was for the real work – knocking-in foot soldiers' skulls.

Considering that C17th pikemen found 16-foot pikes more than enough to handle with two hands, this is either an error or an experiment that quickly demonstrated that 9-foot lances would be quite long enough, thank you. One would think that somebody had thought to measure a French lance, but given that this is the British army, perhaps not. The cavalry, of course, did not stoop to measuring items.

I was under the impression that the model used for the British Lance was a Polish one taken at Waterloo? – which was indeed about 9 feet long?

Oh indeed. OK, Cossacks used a much longer implement (their lance I mean) but even then….not 16ft

I have a 1860s British Cavalry lance, complete with swallow tail guidon. Purchased from Norm Flayderman. Early 70s.
It is 106" in length, so just under 9 feet.
It is made of ash. Pennon made of linen, with brass grommets for pennon.
This was a default purchase when I was a kid as Flayderman would send these catalogs out and you listed alternates.
Since I got the lance I have been a Lancer enthusiast.

In 15mm I painted a 9th Lancer Unit in transition,1816, half with lancer rig and lances and half as light dragoons
and swords. Painted for Fire and Steel 4 squadrons of six
withthree of each per troop. For pennons I gave them union jack guidons.

The 9th, nickname "Delhi Spearman", is my favorite Lancer regiment, but all the British regiments have well earned
reputations.

I have yet to use the 9th on the wargame table, but it will happen.

I was under the impression that the model used for the British Lance was a Polish one taken at Waterloo? – which was indeed about 9 feet long?

The French lance was 276 centimeters long, which is about 9 feet. It weigned 3.3 kilograms which is about 7 pounds. The 'Polish' lance which was probably carried by some Polish units was 2.5 inches longer than the French lance.