5th Lancers

 

                                                                      

History of the Regiment.

The 5^th Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British army formed in 1689 as Owen Wynne’s Dragoons. They fought in the Battle of the Boyne and the Battle of Aughrim under William of Orange and went on to serve the Duke of Marlborough during the Spanish War of Succession and earned three battle honours there.

 

Renamed the 5th Royal Irish Dragoons, they served in Ireland and were active during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. However, they were accused of treachery; their accusers claimed their ranks had been infiltrated by rebels. This accusation appears to have been false, but nevertheless they were disbanded in 1799.

 

In 1858 they were reformed as a Lancer regiment and served in India. A section served in Egypt in 1885, taking part in the battles on Suakin. They served with distinction in the Boer war from 1899 to 1902, gaining battle honours at the Battle \of Elandslaagte and the Defence of Ladysmith.

 

Disbanded in 1922 due to the establishment of the Irish Free State, they were amalgamated with the 16^th The Queens lancers to become 16^th/5^th Queen’s Royal Lancers. That regiment, too, was amalgamated with the 17^th/21^st Lancers to form the Queen’s Royal Lancers in 1993.

 

Having been in India for four years, the 5^th were under orders to

exchange places with the 9^th Lancers in Natal, South Africa. On

January 29^th 1898 a detachment of the 9^th Lancers took control of their horses and an advance heavy baggage party left for Bombay.

 

The 5^th Royal Lancers sailed from Bombay on the “Clive”, a strength of 18 Officers, 522 NCO’s and Men, 3 officers wives and 4 children with 19 Other Ranks wives and 27 children. They arrived at Durban on February 24th. The regiment disembarked on 5^th March and

immediately entrained for Pinetown and, via Pietermaritzburg, they arrived in Ladysmith at 5am the following morning.

 

On October 24^th 1898 they marched to Pietermaritzburg arriving on the 29^th. In April 1899 they went to Nottingham Road.

 

September 25^th 1899, ‘C’ Squadron  arrived in Ladysmith, the remainder of the regiment arriving on October 2^nd; the Reserve Troop remained at Pietermaritzburg.

 

On October 19^th, General Kock’s commando captured the coal fields and railway station of Elandslaagte, along with a supply train bound for Dundee. The following day, ‘C’ Squadron were sent in the direction of Elandlaagte and captured two Boers, who stated that Elandslaagte was not held in great force. It was decided that Elandslaagte would be retaken in order to re-open the rail and telegraph communications with Dundee.

 

The Battle of Elandslaagte has been well documented elsewhere, suffice to say the battle was one, albeit temporarily. Toward the end of the battle, after the Devon’s and Manchester’s had taken the hill to the left, a “cease fire” rang out for the second time. The Boers were streaming away and the 5^th Lancers and 5^th Dragoon Guards were waiting in a hollow to the left of the Boers position. As the escaping Boers streamed past them, they advanced from their cover, topping the rise and in extended order, charged!. The going was rocky, a river bed had to be crossed, but the Boer ponies were no match for the big English and Welsh horses. The chase lasted for over a mile, some forty Boers being speared on the Lances. Lance Corporal speared two who were sharing the same pony, with his lance.  

 

The 5^th Lancers were involved, with other units, in the retreat from Dundee, acting as a rear guard for the troops moving from Dundee to Ladysmith. On some parts of the march it took over four hours to cover a hundred yards.

 

After the Battle of Ladysmith on 30^th October 1899 the Cavalry camp was moved to below the Cove Redoubt, on which stood th Naval 4.7 gun of the Princess Victoria Battery.

 

November 2^nd, 2.30 am saw a force containing the 5^th Lancers made their way out to Bseters and shelled the Free State laager. The Lancers provided the escort for the guns and on their return came under heavy artillery fire. A Boer sympathiser writing of this section saying that on the 2^nd November, a large force of Lancers and other cavalry advanced as far as Tathams farm near Besters where they encountered the Free Staters.

 

Most of the siege was relatively quiet for the 5^th Lancers however there were occasions when their services were required. Such one was on the 9^th November they were again on duty on Observation Hill and at dawn they observed some Boers advancing across the valley towards them from the direction of Surprise Hill, a few already at the railway line below. Whilst ‘A’ Squadron opened fire the rest of the Regiment were able to get into position and their combined carbine fire turned the Boers back. There were now four troops in the firing line, sheltered by a loosely built stone wall some eighteen inches high. From here the Lancers kept up a slow and steady carbine fire, through gaps in the wall, keeping in check attempts by the Boers to rush across the open valley below. The Lancers training of the past few years was put to great use. Every man knowing how to make the use of cover and not a single man was hit.

 

Again on December 8^th, the Gun Hill sortie, where they were used as support for the men returning from the attack on the Hill. Unfortunately the Boers were ready for them and got a “good dusting”. Their casualties being four wounded.

 

From that moment up to the Battle of Platrand on 6^th January 1900, the Lancers were kept on standby, to go at a moments notice to support General Buller’s expected breakthrough. They turned out for the flying column at night, exercising an hour before dawn and during the, bivouacking by the Klip river.

 

On 6^th January at 1 pm, a staff officer rode up and ordered the 5^th lancers to gallop to Wagon Hill. All three Squadrons moved out, halting below the north face, dismounted and ran up the slope. They were joined by some 5^th Dragoon Guards and 19^th Hussars and the hill had to be cleared at all costs. They were ordered forward tro a low line of boulders, some eighteen inches high where they took cover. All around them lay the dead and wounded. It was at this point that the Devonshire’s charged with fixed bayonets, successfully driving the Boers down the southern slope of Wagon Hill.

 

At the end of January the Cavalry were being turned into Infantry, their horses slaughtered to provide much needed food. The Fifth lancers horses were turned out on Observation Hill, to pick what grazing they could. Seventy five horses and men of each of the Cavalry Regiments camped permanently on their bivouac site, endeavouring to keep their horses alive. The 5^th Lancers along with the 5^th Dragoon Guards took it in turns to carry out the duty of “Flag of Truce day.” In which an Officer would gallop out from their position on the east of Observation Hill whenever a Boer would approach with the flag of truce.

 

Following the Relief, the 5^th Lancers with the 19^th Hussars moved to Fields Farm and then on 11^th April 1900 to Pounds Plateau, below Umbulwane, where they re-horsed and brought up to strength with re-enforcements from England.

 

 

 

See Angloboerwar site for participation after Ladysmith