Dragoon guards was, in some
armiesAn army An army An army (from Latin armata "armed (things)" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based Military of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
, particularly the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
, the designation used to refer to heavy
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
regimentA regiment is a military unit, composed of variable numbers of battalions, commanded by a Colonel. A regiment can be broken into two distinct categories, one being an administrative unit which is responsible for non-operational management of battalions , while the other being a deployable combat...
s from the 18th century onwards. Dragoon guards usually wore
cuirassCuirass , the plate armour, is formed of a single piece of metal or other rigid material or composed of two or more pieces, which covers the front of the wearer's person...
es and
helmetA helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries, a variation of the hat. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from sword blows and arrows...
s and carried heavy
sabreThe sabre or saber is a kind of backsword that usually but not always has a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger...
s, and were similar to
cuirassierCuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armour and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. They were the successors of the medieval armoured knights...
s in other armies.
The British Army first used the designation in 1746, when the King's Own Regiment of Horse and the Princess of Wales's Own Regiment of Horse were redesignated the 1st and 2nd Dragoon Guards.
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Dragoon guards was, in some
armiesAn army An army An army (from Latin armata "armed (things)" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based Military of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
, particularly the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
, the designation used to refer to heavy
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
regimentA regiment is a military unit, composed of variable numbers of battalions, commanded by a Colonel. A regiment can be broken into two distinct categories, one being an administrative unit which is responsible for non-operational management of battalions , while the other being a deployable combat...
s from the 18th century onwards. Dragoon guards usually wore
cuirassCuirass , the plate armour, is formed of a single piece of metal or other rigid material or composed of two or more pieces, which covers the front of the wearer's person...
es and
helmetA helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries, a variation of the hat. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from sword blows and arrows...
s and carried heavy
sabreThe sabre or saber is a kind of backsword that usually but not always has a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger...
s, and were similar to
cuirassierCuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armour and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. They were the successors of the medieval armoured knights...
s in other armies.
The British Army first used the designation in 1746, when the King's Own Regiment of Horse and the Princess of Wales's Own Regiment of Horse were redesignated the 1st and 2nd Dragoon Guards. Other regiments followed. By the early 19th century, the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Dragoon Guards regiments had abandoned their cuirasses (although they still wore helmets) and were essentially indistinguishable from
DragoonDragoons were originally infantrymen deployed by horse, but later became cavalry. They were therefore trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. Dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
regiments.
The exercise of converting from Horse to Dragoon was to save money - Dragoons were paid less than Horse - and the change was very unpopular.
In the British army the regiments of Horse that were converted to Dragoon guards took precedence over all other Cavalry Regiments of the Line, which were Dragoons. As the senior regiments they could not take numbers sequential with those of the existing Dragoon regiments, so needed a new title and numbering system. Hence they were termed Dragoon Guards, the guards appellation giving them higher status, and allowing them to be numbered in their own sequence.
British Dragoon Guards Regiments
- 1st King's Dragoon Guards
The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army.- Overview :The regiment was formed in 1685 as The Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed The King's Own Regiment of Horse in 1714 in honour of George I...
(1746, from The King's Own Regiment of Horse); amalgamated to form 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of 1st King's Dragoon Guards and the Queen's Bays , both of which were raised in 1685 as Lanier's or 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, and Peterborough's or 3rd Regiment of Horse by...
(1959)
- 2nd Queen's Dragoon Guards (1746, from The Princess of Wales's Own Regiment of Horse); redesignated 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) (1872); redesignated The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) (1921); amalgamated to form 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (1959)
- 3rd Dragoon Guards (1747, from 4th Regiment of Horse); redesignated 3rd (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards (1765); amalgamated to form 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards (1922); redesignated 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) (1928); amalgamated with Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) to form Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. It was formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by the amalgamation of the 3rd Carabiniers The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) (SCOTS DG) is a cavalry regiment of...
(Carabiniers and Greys) (1971)
- 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards (1788, from 1st Irish Horse); redesignated 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards
The 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards in 1922....
(1921); amalgamated to form 4th/7th Dragoon Guards (1922); redesignated 4th/7th Royal Dragoon GuardsThe 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1922 to 1992.It was formed in India in 1922 by the amalgamation of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards and 7th Dragoon Guards , as the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards; it gained the distinction Royal in 1935...
(1936); amalgamated to form Royal Dragoon GuardsThe Royal Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments:*4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards*5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards...
(1992)
- 5th Dragoon Guards (1788, from 2nd Irish Horse); redesignated 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards (1804); redesignated 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (1920); amalgamated with The Inniskillings (6th Dragoons) to form 5th/6th Dragoons (1922); redesignated 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (1927); redesignated 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
The 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1922 to 1992, when it was amalgmated into the Royal Dragoon Guards.-The beginning:...
(1935); amalgamated to form Royal Dragoon Guards (1992)
- 6th Dragoon Guards (The Carabiniers) (1788, from 3rd Irish Horse); redesignated The Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) (1920); amalgamated to form 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards (1922)
- 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards (1788, from 4th Irish Horse); redesignated 7th Dragoon Guards (Princess Royal's) (1921); amalgamated to form 4th/7th Dragoon Guards (1922)
The Dragoon Guards regiments converted to armoured cars and
tankA tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities...
s in the 20th century. There are still three Dragoon Guards regiments in the British Army:
- 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards
1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of 1st King's Dragoon Guards and the Queen's Bays , both of which were raised in 1685 as Lanier's or 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, and Peterborough's or 3rd Regiment of Horse by...
- Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. It was formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by the amalgamation of the 3rd Carabiniers The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) (SCOTS DG) is a cavalry regiment of...
- Royal Dragoon Guards
The Royal Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments:*4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards*5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards...
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