Description
Did - Napoleonic series George
15th The King's Hussars George
The 15th The King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first
raised in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated into the
15th/19th Hussars in 1922.
The regiment was raised as the first of the new regiments of light dragoons in
1759, and named Elliots Light Horse, after George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield
who had raised the regiment, then soon after renamed the 15th Regiment of (Light)
Dragoons.
In 1759 the 15th was the first unit in the British Army to be awarded a battle
honour "Emsdorf" for the battle of Emsdorf in the Seven Years War. Other more senior
units then applied to be awarded battle honours for previous campaigns and battles. In
1766 they were renamed for 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 reestablished, with the
regiment returning as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in
1769. They became hussars in 1807, as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
(Hussars).
These light dragoon regiments fought all over the world in the half-century that
followed, notably in India and North America. They distinguished themselves under the Duke
of Wellington in Spain and Portugal in the Napoleonic wars, and three of them were
present at the battle of Waterloo (1815).
The title was simplified in 1861 to the 15th (The King's) Hussars. After service
in the First World War, the regiment retitled as the 15th The King's Hussars in 1921,
and was amalgamated with the 19th Royal Hussars (Queen Alexandra's Own) to form the
15th/19th Hussars the following year.