War of Spanish Succession (1701-13)
Blenheim 1704
Ramillies 1706
Oudenarde 1708
Malplaquet 1709
War of Spanish Succession (1701-13)
(Honour Awarded in 1882)
The War of Spanish Succession broke out in 1702 and lasted until the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. The cause of the conflict was the possible unification of both French and Spanish thrones under a French king. This would have been the most serious threat yet to the balance of power in Europe, because it would have posted a perpetual menace to the security of all the other states but especially to the English and Dutch.
Soon after the Spanish throne had become vacant on the death of Charles11, in November 1700, Louis XIV used French troops to seize parts of the Spanish Netherlands for one of his grandsons, Philip of Anjou. This precipitated the war. To make matters worse, when James II died in France in the autumn of 1701, Louis immediately recognised his son, the Old Pretender, as James III. To add further tension to the scene, by 1702 it was obvious that William III was dying, but Anne, James II daughter, succeeded to the throne and declared war on France. During the war most of the English troops, including the Queen’s Regiment of Horse, served under Marlborough, but some small contingents were sent to the Spanish Peninsula where an ill-conducted campaign was waged to try to install the Allied claimant, Charles of Austria, on the Spanish throne.
The Third Horse (Peterborough's) was chosen as one of the two cavalry regiments, which formed part of an English force of 6,500 men. The Third Horse sailed from Ireland and after many delays arrived in Lisbon early in 1704; they found that the Portuguese could only provide them with half the number of horses needed so they saw no active service that year. Transfers to Peterborough’s expedition that had captured Barcelona soon halved the English force and the Third Horse became the only English cavalry regiment to remain with a mixed army of Dutch and Portuguese on the Western side of the Spanish Peninsula. During 1705 the Generals in charge of the three national contingents each held command for a week at a time and it was therefore remarkable that any campaigning occurred, but three towns were captured. 1706 marked the climax of the campaign in which allied troops were led by a French Protestant General, Massue de Ruvigny, later Earl of Galway, while the Franco-Spanish army was commanded by an English Catholic, Marlborough’s nephew, The Duke of Berwick.
With 19,000 men, mainly Portuguese, Galway outnumbered Berwick who fell back, and, in June 1706 the Allies entered Madrid proclaiming the Austrian Charles as King. In 1707 the Third Horse fought at Almanza where in a dashing charge they helped to break up two French battalions, but with the Portuguese cavalry having left the field, the battle turned against them. A French counter-attack inflicted heavy losses on them and the surviving Allied troops were forced to withdraw to Catalonia. Here they spent the next two years in desultory fighting. The climax of this seesaw campaign came in 1710 where at Almenara the Third Horse formed part of Stanhope’s cavalry, which routed the enemy. A harder fought success was later gained at Saragossa and Philips force was defeated. In September the Allied army with Charles at their head re-entered Madrid. There they waited for Portuguese reinforcements that never arrived. By November their position had become untenable and they were forced to march back through hostile territory to try to reach Catalonia again. By now Philips army had been greatly strengthened and they cornered over 2,000 British troops at Briuega. After a brief but bitter siege, they surrendered. This was the only time that the regiment was captured; an exchange however was arranged and the Third Horse was repatriated in 1711.
Ramillies
The Queen’s Regiment of Horse served abroad continuously from 1702-1714. They formed part of Marlborough’s forces and distinguished themselves in all his major victories and campaigns. At Blenheim the Queen’s Regiment of Horse was posted on the Allied left flank and thus in the thick of the fierce struggle that took place to gain the village of Blenheim itself. At the end of the day Lumley (Colonel KDG) was one of the commanders who led the cavalry charges that finally disintegrated Tallard’s army, driving the French soldiers into the Danube. In 1706 at Ramellies the English cavalry were on the right of the line. They were not employed until the very end of the battle when again under Lumley; they swept into action at the gallop to cut the French line of retreat, the Queen’s Horse playing a particularly prominent part in this role and during the harassment of the enemy’s withdrawl. The pursuit went on till the early hours of the morning of 24 May.
The Queen's Regiment of Horse capturing French drums and standards, Ramillies 1706
The winter months were spent quartered in Holland or Flemish towns such as Ghent. It was outside Oudenarde that Marlborough, after a series of forced marches, confronted the French on 11th July 1708. The Queen’s Horse was now brigaded with the Cadogan’s (5DG) and Palmes’s (Carabiniers) under Brigadier-General Kellum. Even though the regiment carries Oudenarde as one of its battle honours, the British cavalry took no active part in the battle. Later in 1708 they helped cover the Allied armies during the bloody siege which eventually led to the capture of Vauban’s greatest fortress, Lille. In 1709 the regiment fought at Malplaquet where they vigorously pursued the French troops who were fleeing from the battle. In the concluding years they were employed in routine duties.
