In 1678 three companies of dragoons were raised in Scotland during a government campaign to suppress the Covenanters. Dragoons operated as mounted infantry, able to cover rough terrain and dismount to fight when necessary. A further three companies were recruited in 1681 to form a regiment of dragoons under the command of Lieutenant-General Thomas (Tam) Dalyell of the Binns. King William III conferred the title 'Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons' in 1692.

The name 'Royal Scots Greys' perhaps originates in Tam Dalyell's time when he may have been granted royal permission for his regiment to wear grey cloth rather than the national colour red. By 1694 the Scots Dragoons were mounted on grey horses which could also explain the regimental association with the colour.

The 4th and 9th Regiments of Horse were raised in June 1685 during the rebellion against King James II led by his exiled nephew, James Scott the Duke of Monmouth. The 4th Regiment of Horse was composed of six troops from the English counties of Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Middlesex. Six troops were also raised in Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Yorkshire, Suffolk and possibly Devon, to form the 9th or Queen Dowager’s Regiment of Horse. The latter regiment was armed with carbines (shortened muskets suitable for carrying on a saddle) which is the origin of its later title ‘The Carabiniers’.

Although the 4th Horse played no significant role in the campaign to suppress the Monmouth Rebellion, the 9th Horse took part in the final stages of the decisive battle at Sedgemoor. The Hampshire troop commanded by Lord Lumley also participated in the capture of Monmouth in July 1685.

At the Battle of Ramillies the Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons, together with the Irish Dragoons, are reputed to have cornered and captured a whole battalion of the French Régiment de Picardie. The Scots Dragoons also participated in the successful capture of the colours of the elite French Régiment du Roi. In recognition of their actions, the Scots Dragoons were given the honour of dressing henceforth as grenadiers, including wearing the grenadiers’ characteristic mitre caps.

One of the Scots Dragoons wounded at Ramillies was discovered to be a woman. Christian (Kit) Davies is thought to have been an Irishwoman who earlier served disguised as an infantryman in the Nine Years War. Commonly known as ‘Mother Ross’, her life story was published in 1740 in an account which has been attributed to Daniel Defoe. She later became a pensioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea where she died in 1739.

The 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons were part of the Union Brigade of heavy cavalry regiments that faced Napoleon’s imperial army at the Battle of Waterloo. As Britain's Dutch and Belgian allies fell back, the Union Brigade charged the French columns with the 2nd Dragoons on the left flank. In the melee, Sergeant Charles Ewart captured the eagle and standard of the French 45th Infantry Regiment of the Line. Ewart won his trophy in a desperate fight to the death with the French standard-bearer. Ordered to return to the rear, he had to cut down two more French soldiers before reaching safety. Ewart would later recall that he had been moved to fight for the eagle by the death of his Cornet Francis Kinchant. Earlier in the battle, Kinchant had ordered Ewart to take a French officer prisoner, but after surrendering the Frenchman had shot Kinchant dead with a concealed pistol. After Ewart reluctantly withdrew from the fighting, the British heavy cavalry continued their charge up the opposite slope of the valley and into the French battery. Dangerously exposed, the 2nd Dragoons were outflanked by the French cavalry. The regiment's commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel James Hamilton was killed attempting to lead his men out of the fray. Of the 391 men of the 2nd Dragoons who took the field at Waterloo, 105 were killed in action or died of wounds. Ewart himself took the captured eagle to Brussels before he was commissioned an Ensign in the 5th Royal Veterans Battalion for his bravery and retired to Salford in Lancashire.

Why are they on horses….nobody really knows. Domesticated horses are about three centuries younger than the Pyramids of Giza, researchers have found, as they uncover the origin of all modern domestic horses. Scientists found that modern horses come from central Asia, and rapidly replaced all of their relatives around 4000 years ago.

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