190
THE EAGLE
30th his Majesty conferred the colonelcy of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons upon Thomas,
T H E
hostilities terminating on the 80th of Septem»
that excellent oliicer, BrigadienGeneral Ross. and was employed as a guard to the English train of artillery. The formal declaration of that war, which is knownin history as the “ War of Succession in Spain," and which more or less embroiled the whole of Europe for nine years, was made on the 18th of May, 1702, in London, Vienna, and the Hague. The. league against France and the Duke of Anjou, and in favour of the
her by the treaty of Ryswick, the regiment
Archduke Charles of Austria,
embarked from the Netherlands, and landing
England, Holland, Savoy, Austria, Prussia, and Portugal, while Spain and Bavaria supported the cause of Philip. The war was to be carried on upon four separate theatres—Belgium, the valleys of
Lord Raby, afterwards Earl of Stafford. The enemy, having great superiority of numbers, besieged and captured Aeth, and afterwards threatened Brussels, but were frustrated in their designs by King William. The Royal Dragoons encamped before Brus» sels in June, and subsequently at Wavre ; and
at the Red House in Southwark 011 the 21st of November, at the end of the month, it moved into Yorkshire, when the establishment,
which during the war had been eight troops, amounting to 590 officers and men, was reduc‘ ed to six troops of 294 officers and men. During the two succeeding years the regiment occupied quarters in Lancashire and Leicestershire. In June, 1700, it was reviewed on Hounslow Heath by King William III., who was pleased to express his approbation of their appearance and discipline, and in the month following it moved into Yorkshire and Cumberland, with one troop at Carlisle and another at Hull.
King Charles II. of Spain, dying on the lst of November, 1700, Louis XIV. of France,
regardless of former treaties, put forward the claims of his grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, to the vacant throne, and in view to hostilities the Royal Dragoons, augmented to eight troops of 582 officers and men, embarked for Holland in the beginning of March, 1702. Before the transport sailed, however, William III. died on the 8th of the month,
and the regiment was disembarked and placed in cantonments in the immediate vicinity of London. In a few days afterwards, Her Majesty Queen Anne resolving to pursue the foreign policy of her great predecessor, the regiment was .l‘egembarked, and, landing at Williamstadt, Awent into quarters at Breda,
where it was .again'brrigaded with the Royal Scots andthe' Royal Irish Dragoons, under
121
E A (l L E
ed with 4,000 Horse and Dragoons, when Lieutenant Benson, with the advanced—guard of thirty men of the Royal Dragoons, charged and overthrew a picket of forty French Horse, and chased them to the barriers of their entrenchments, thus giving his Grace an oppor-
tunity of approaching within musket shot of the lines which he was desirous of attacking,
ran in one long line from Dilkusha Palace to what was then the southern corner of the Mahomed Bagh, i.e., at the cross roads between the headquarter offices and the polo grounds. You must remember that in those days Dilkusha had a large deer park round it, the wall of which ran from the WilatiBagh on
but was prevented by the timidity and perti nacity of the Dutch generals and field deputies. At the siege of Huy, which was invested on the thh of August, the Royal Dragoons were encam ped on the river Maese, in order to
the river, southwards to the Sultanpur road,
secure the bridge and the communication, and
House.
were subsequently employed at the siege of
eastwards for about six hundred yards, and
the Middle Rhine and the Upper Danube, the
Limburg, which was invested on the 10th of
then the wall ran straight back through the
Sierras and the coast of Spain, and the north of Italy.
September, acity upon a pleasant eminence
among the woods near the banks of the
A powerful French army was in the field
little river Wesdet, which surrendered on
present Martiniere Park to the Wilati Bagh. I just mention this to give you an idea of how our immediate surroundings were in those days. What I really had in my mind's eye when Istarted, was to give you a few tours which can be ridden on Thursdays, and which combine acertaiu amount of interest with exercise, and at the same time will bring you in touch with the stirring events of 1857 and 1858. Just now I mentioned the old cantonments, so why shouldn't we go and see where they were. I am afraid you will not see much even
comprised
threatening the frontiers of Holland. The Duke of Marlborough assembled his forces
towards the end of June, and in July the Royal Dragoons joined them with the artillery. They were then employed in covering the sieges of Venloo, Ruremonde, and Stevenswaert, and took part in the capture of the city of Liege, afterwards returning to Holland to be quartered at Arnheim, the capital of the province of Guelderland, where, in April, 1703, 'they were reviewed by their colonel, Lord 'Raby, who was passing through Holland on his way to Prussia as envoy extraordinary to that court. At the commencement of the campaign of 1703 the regiment was engaged in covering the siege of Bonn. Thence, on joining the army 4 near Maestricht, with six battalions of infant» ry commanded by the Prince of Hesse, it was brigaded with the same corps asin the precede
ing year. On the
advance
of the
Duke
of Marl-
borough ’s army the French retired, and took post behind their fortified lines between Camphont and Westdown, towards which, on the 27th of July, the British Commander proceed
the 27th of the month.
Spanish Guelderland
being now delivered from the power of France, and the Dutch freed from the dread of invasion, the Royal Dragoons returned to Holland, while in the meantime circumstances had occurred which occasioned their removal from the army of the Duke of Marlborough to
another theatre of action. (To be continued.)
The boundary
followed
the canal
when you get there, still it is an excuse for a
LUCKNOW.
BY MAJOR G. F. STEELE. It is now getting on for four years since I the Regiment arrived in Lucknow, yet have doubt if there are many of the men who from taken the trouble to look at the place it is which to view of point the interesting d. entitle tedly undoub me How many of you, for instance, could tell the at meuts canton y militar the site of the of you outbreak of the mutiny, or how many Colin Sir 1857, know that on the 10th March, the on ally practic ed, Campbellwas encamp preto-day, occupy lines our as ground same retaking paratory to his final advance and
oiILucknow 2’ Yet such is the case.
close to the Regimental Bazaar, then west through our No. 1 bungalow to the Colonels bungalow, thence northwest for halfa mile along the Mahomed Bagh wall, and on to the canal near Government
His camp
ride, so let us take the shortest way to the Residency, i.e., down Cantonment road, which will lead us to the Iron Bridge, and three
miles beyond that we come to the village of M ariaon, where what was called the old cantonment was situated. The new canton ment was a mile further on at the village of Mudki~ pur All the native Regular troops, together with one Light Horse Battery of European artillery, and two batteries of the Oudh Irregular Artillery were in these cantonments, the of.
‘ficers living in thatched bungalows between The ‘Zud Regiment. of Oudh the two villages located on the site now were I Irregular cavalry