23rd Dragoons and all the King's Horse

I finally finished the last unit I needed, the 23rd Light Dragoons, to complete my cavalry contingent for the Talavera campaign. I now have far more horse than I am likely to need for any future scenario, certainly more heavies which did not see a lot of action in the Peninsular War.

This set is the HaT set, full of all its idiosyncrasies which I documented in an earlier post here. But I still was happy with the way they turned out and can now take a break from cavalry for a while and focus on other things.

A bit of history

The 23rd Light Dragoons appeared and disappeared in history a couple of times prior to the Peninsular War. Originally established by Sir John Burgoyne in 1781, it was re-designated the 19th in 1786. The 23rd was resurrected in 1794 but disbanded again in 1802.

In March of 1803 the 26th (raised 1795) were re-numbered the 19th, and saw service in Egypt, Spain and Waterloo, before finally being disbanded in November 1817.

23rd at Talavera

The 23rd spent relatively little time in the Peninsula, arriving June 1809 and returning to England after the disaster of Talavera in November of the same year. It was to go down in the history books as the British light dragoon regiment that charged headlong into a hidden ditch while advancing on French infantry. They managed to rally on the far side of the ditch and continued their advance but by the end of the day had lost nearly half their number.

Here are a few photos of my painting results:

And all the King's Horse...

The completion of the 23rd gives me all the British cavalry I need for the Talavera campaign. They are as follows:

1st Brigade: commanded by Brigadier General Henry Fane: 3rd (Prince of wales) Dragoon Guards and 4th (Queen's Own) Dragoons

2nd Brigade: commanded by Brigadier General Stapleton Cotton: 14th and 16th Light Dragoons

3rd Brigade: commanded by Brigadier General George Anson: 23rd Light Dragoons and 1st KGL

And really, what is the point in going to all of this trouble if you can't have them all on a table at once!

Here are the three Light Dragoon regiments, the 14th, 16th and 23rd.

And a few photos of all six regiments of horse (although only the 1st KGL Hussars were present at Talavera, my Hussars are composed of a half regiment each of the 1st and 2nd.)

3rd (Prince of Wales') Dragoon Guards

It has been a while since I have posted much in the way of painted figures, but have every intention to catch up on that over the next while. With the completion of my 3rd Dragoon Guards I now have, in conjunction with the 4th Dragoons, the British heavies I need for Talavera.

Once again these are the less than perfect HaT set, requiring a lot of fussy pinning and plume adding, but I still find that their beautiful red coats paint up very nicely and look just fine en masse.

A bit of History

First established as the Earl of Plymouth's Regiment of Horse in 1685, this venerable unit was renamed the 3rd Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1751, receiving the Prince of Wales (future George IV) designation in 1765. 

The 3rd Guard's Peninsular record is less than brilliant. They were brigaded with the 4th Dragoons (Queen's Own) and landed in Portugal in late April 1809 at the beginning of Wellesley's Oporto campaign under the command of Major General Henry Fane, although they took no direct part in the expulsion of the French from Portugal. It is only when the allied army marches into Spain that the heavies become more actively involved, although even at Talavera they see little if no action in support of Anson's Brigade where the the ill-fated 23rd plunged head long into an unknown dry watercourse.

Their command passes to Major General George de Grey, spending the next two years in relative inactivity, joining Hill's southern army (under command of Beresford as Hill was laid low by malaria) for the Battle of Albuera in May 1811. A reorganization early in 1812 sees them moved to the northern 1st Division Cavalry where they are now brigaded with the the 1st Dragoons and rejoined by the 4th, brought forward from the back area where they had been since August 1811. They are once again in action at the Combat at Maguilla, against a force of French dragoons commanded by Lallemand, where the British cavalry's famously inept leadership (at this point the brigade was commanded by Slade) successfully turned a victory into a defeat through an uncontrolled and chaotic pursuit of the enemy.

Following Maguilla they once again went into a period of relative inactivity, joining Wellesley's army as it marched north into Spain and eventually France in 1813-14, but seeing little if any action before finally returning to England on the 20th of July, 1814 after peace is declared. They were not present at Waterloo.

For more information on their history in the Peninsula: https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/Britain/Cavalry/WellingtonsCavalry/c_3rdDragoonGuards.html

Here are a few pictures of the completed unit (two units really, six stands apiece, which accounts for the two command stands with trumpeters). I couldn't find any definitive reference for the saddle blanket (a few post Napoleonic images only) so went with a nice royal blue with gold trim.