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Authors and Contributors this page: T.F. Mills
Page created 1 August 2000. Corrected and updated 15.07.2006
 
crest and tie
17th Lancers 
(Duke of Cambridge's Own)
crest and tie
 by A. Melville-Brown
United Kingdom 
  Titles & Lineage
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How to find information about individuals who served in this corps
 
  1715.07.22 Sir Robert Rich's Regiment of Dragoons
ranked as 18th Dragoons; also known by the name of one other colonel
  1718 disbanded
 
1759.11.07 18th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, or Hale's Light Horse
re-formed in Hertfordshire, claiming no lineal descent from previous regiment
1763.04.27 17th Regiment of (or Corps of) Light Dragoons
regularised
1766.05.26 3rd Regiment of Light Dragoons
1769 17th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
1823 17th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers)
1861.08.17 17th Regiment of Lancers
1876.06.19 17th (The Duke of Cambridge's Own) Lancers
(named for the Colonel-in-Chief)
18uu 17th (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Lancers
1921.01.01 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own)
1922.06.27 amalgamated with 21st Lancers (Empress of India's) to form 17th/21st Lancers
pip Deployment and Service
pip Historical Record of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons [1759-1784], by John Novicki.
pip 17th Light Dragoons, 1759-1821, by Stephen Luscombe & Charles Griffin (The British Empire).
pip 17th Lancers, 1822-1922, by Stephen Luscombe & Charles Griffin (The British Empire).
pip 17th Lancers History (Museum/Association site)
pip 17th Lancers in the Crimea, by Jim Boys and Roy Mills (Lives of the Light Brigade)
pip

History of the 17th Lancers, by Denis McGurin (Great War Association) [web archive]
pip The Lancers, by Chris Baker (The British Army in the Great War)
pip British Cavalry Regiments, by Brad Chappell (The Regimental Warpath 1914-1918)
   
RHQ and Depot:
  Home HQ: [none]
  Depot:
  Recruiting Area: nationwide
   
 
Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Central India, South Africa 1879, South Africa 1900-1902

The Great War1:   Festubert 1914, Somme 1916 '18, Morval, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Avre, Lys, Hazebrouck, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18

1. awarded Sep. 1922 (after amalgamation) and amended Feb. 1925.

flag construction sign
   
Badges: Death's Head "or Glory"
Uniform:

scarlet (1759-1784), blue (1784-1922); facings:  white (1759-1922)
   
   
     
   
1876.06.21   F.M. HRH George William Frederick Charles, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, KG, KT, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GCVO, GBE, VD, TD
  1715.07 Sir Robert Rich
  1717.07.17 Col. James Croft
 
1759.11.07 Gen. John Hale
1770.11.09 Lt-Gen. George Preston [also 2nd Dragoons]
1782.04.18 Gen. Hon. Thomas Gage [also 11th Light Dgns, 22nd Foot, 60th Foot, 80th Foot; C-in-C North America]
1785.02.04 Maj-Gen. Thomas Fiennes (Pelham-Clinton), 3rd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme (Earl of Lincoln) [also 75th Foot]
1795.05.20 Gen. Oliver de Lancey
1822.09.09 Gen. Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset. GCB [also 1st Dragoons, 11th Light Dgns]
1829.11.23 Lt-Gen. Sir John Elley, KCB, KCH
1839.01.28 Lt-Gen. Sir Joseph Straton, CB, KCH [also 6th Dragoons, 8th Hussars]
1839.08.24 Gen. Sir Arthur Benjamin Clifton, GCB, KCH [also 1st Dragoons, 11th Hussars]
1842.04.25 F.M. HRH George William Frederick Charles, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, KG, KT, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GCVO, GBE, VD, TD
1852.09.23 Maj-Gen. Thomas William Taylor
1854.01.28 Gen. Sir James Maxwell Wallace, KH
1867.02.04 Lt-Gen. Charles William Morley Balders, CB
1875.09.22 Gen. John Charles Hope Gibsone [also 8th Hussars]
1884.07.19 Gen. Henry Roxby Benson, CB [also 7th Hussars]
1892.01.24 Lt-Gen. Sir Drury Curzon Drury-Lowe, GCB
1908.04.07 Maj-Gen. Thomas Arthur Cooke, CVO [also 5th Lancers]
1912.05.14 F.M. Sir Douglas (Haig), 1st Earl Haig. KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE [continued 1922 in 17th/21st Lancers; also RHG, KOSB; C-in-C BEF 1915-19]
vc Victoria Crosses, by Mike Chapman (VC Reference).
vc VCs in the Queen's Royal Lancers Regimental Museum, by Iain Stewart.
pip F.M. HRH George William Frederick Charles, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, by Stephen Luscombe (The British Empire)
pip John Hale, by Stephen Luscombe (The British Empire)
pip Oswald Werge, by Stephen Luscombe (The British Empire)
pip Henry Sarel, by Stephen Luscombe (The British Empire)
pip Sir George Wombwell, by Stephen Luscombe (The British Empire)
 
Motto: Or Glory
Nicknames: The Death or Glory Boys, The Tots, Bingham's Dandies, The Horse Marines, The White Lancers
Anniversaries: construction sign
Marches: quick: theme from Robert le Diable (Giacomo Meyerbeer)
quick (c. 1910) : The White Lancer (William Richardson)
slow: Occasional Overture (Georg Friedrich Händel)
Musicians: construction sign
Mascot: construction sign
Miscellaneous Tradition Links:

[none]

 
 
swords The 17th Light Dragoons in North America, 1776-1783, by John Novicki.
swords 17th Light Dragoons, 1776 (North West Territory Alliance)
swords An Introduction To The 17th Lancers And World War I Reenacting, by Gunther Jung & Dietrich Lowe.
monument The Queen's Royal Lancers Regimental Museum, Belvoir Castle, Grantham (Museum site)
monument The Queen's Royal Lancers Regimental Museum, Belvoir Castle, Grantham (Army Museums Ogilby Trust)
monument The Queen's Royal Lancers Regimental Museum, Grantham (Simonides listing)
  Regimental Journal:
  The white lancer.
 
  Full Histories:
Cannon, Richard.  Historical record of the Seventeenth Regiment of Light Dragoons-- Lancers : containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1759, and of its subsequent services to 1841.  London : J.W. Parker,  1841. (Historical records of the British Army)
book Fortescue, J. W. (John William).  A history of the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own).  London and New York : Macmillan and co., 1895.
book Micholls, Gilbert.  A history of the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own), vol. 2, 1895-1924.  London : Macmillan, 1931.
book Parry, D. H.  "The death or glory boys" : the story of the 17th Lancers.  London ; New York : Cassell, 1899.
book Martin, Frederick. The story of Alec Drummond, of the 17th Lancers.  London :  Chapman and Hall, 1869.
   
Special Topics:
book Payne, Harry. 17th Lancers.  England :  Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1914 1918. [6 photoprints,  "Postcard No. 8637."]
   
Manuscripts and Archives:
book Orderly Books of the Crown Forces in America 1775-1784, compiled by John K. Robertson, Don Hagist, Todd Braisted, and Don Londahl-Smidt (RevWar'75)