The 13th Hussars (previously the 13th Light Dragoons) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army established in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War and the First World War but then amalgamated with the 18th Royal Hussars, to form the 13th/18th Royal Hussars in 1922.
History
Early wars
The regiment was raised in the Midlands by Richard Munden as Richard Munden’s Regiment of Dragoons in 1715 as part of the response to the Jacobite rebellion. It took part in the Battle of Preston in November 1715 after which it escorted the rebels to the nearest prisons. The regiment was sent to Ireland in 1718 and remained there until 1742.
During the 1745 Jacobite Rising, it was commanded by James Gardiner; largely composed of recruits, on 16 September the regiment was routed by a small party of Highlanders in the so-called 'Coltbridge Canter.' Demoralised by this, it did the same at the Battle of Prestonpans on 21 September, which lasted 15 minutes and where Gardiner was killed and the equally disastrous Battle of Falkirk Muir in January 1746. Shortly after this, Gardiner's replacement Francis Ligonier died of sickness and was replaced by Philip Naison.
The regiment returned to Ireland in 1749 and was re-titled the 13th Regiment of Dragoons in 1751. It was involved in putting down a minor rebellion by George Robert FitzGerald in 1781 and it converted to the light role in 1783. A detachment from the regiment was sent to Jamaica in September 1795 and returned in July 1798.
Peninsular War
In February 1810 the regiment sailed for Lisbon for service in the Peninsular War. It took part in the Battle of Campo Maior on the Spanish-Portuguese border on 25 March 1811 in a clash that occurred between British and Portuguese cavalry, under Robert Ballard Long, and a force of French infantry and cavalry under General Latour-Maubourg. The regiment, two and a half squadrons strong, led by Colonel Michael Head, charged and routed a superior French cavalry force of no less than six squadrons. The regiment, with two Portuguese squadrons, then went on to pursue the French for seven miles to the outskirts of Badajoz. The report reaching Lord Wellington seems to have glossed over the epic quality of the charge and emphasised the overlong pursuit. After receiving Marshal Beresford's report, Wellington issued a particularly harsh reprimand to the regiment calling them "a rabble" and threatening to remove their horses from them and send the regiment to do duty at Lisbon. The officers of the regiment then wrote a collective letter to Wellington detailing the particulars of the action. Wellington is reported as saying that had he known the full facts he would never have issued the reprimand. The historian Sir John Fortescue wrote, "Of the performance of Thirteenth, who did not exceed two hundred men, in defeating twice or thrice their numbers single-handed, it is difficult to speak too highly."
The regiment formed part of Beresford's Allied-Spanish Army at the Battle of Albuera on 16 May 1811. The French army, commanded by Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult, Duc de Dalmatie, was attempting to relieve the French garrison of the border fortress of Badajoz. Only after bloody and fierce fighting, and the steadfastness of the British infantry, did the allies carry the day. The regiment, which was unbrigaded, formed part of the cavalry force commanded initially by Brigadier Robert Ballard Long and, later in the battle, by Major General Sir William Lumley.
The regiment also saw action at the Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos (October 1811), under Rowland Hill at the Combat of Navas de Membrillo (December 1811), at the Siege of Badajoz (March 1812) and, as part of the 2nd Brigade under Colonel Colquohon Grant, at the Battle of Vitoria (June 1813). The regiment advanced into France and fought at the Battle of the Nive (December 1813), at the Battle of Orthez (February 1814) and at the Battle of Toulouse (April 1814).