15th (The King's) Hussars

 

 

Officer, 15th (The King's) Hussars

 Pill Box Cap, c. 1900

The regiment was raised in the London area by George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield as Elliot's Light Horse as the first of the new regiments of light dragoons in 1759. It was renamed the 15th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1760. In 1766 it was renamed for King George III as the 1st (or The King's Royal) Regiment of Light Dragoons, the number being an attempt to create a new numbering system for the light dragoon regiments. However, the old system was quickly re-established, with the regiment returning as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1769.

The regiment was reconstituted as a hussar regiment in 1807 as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars). It landed at Corunna in 1808 for service in the Peninsular War and returned to England in 1814. The regiment was recalled for the Hundred Days and landed at Ostend in 1815: it took part in a charge at the Battle of Waterloo and returned to England in 1816. The regiment played a pivotal role in the notorious Peterloo Massacre in 1819, when a 60,000 strong crowd calling for democratic reform were charged by the Yeomanry. Panic from the crowd was interpreted as an attack on the Yeomanry and the Hussars were ordered in. The charge resulted in 15 fatalities and as many as 600 injured.

The title of the regiment was simplified in 1861 to the 15th (The King's) Hussars. The regiment was ordered to India in 1867 and moved on to Afghanistan in 1878 for service in the Second Anglo-Afghan War before being deployed to South Africa in January 1881 for service in the First Boer War.