The 1st Regiment of Life Guards was a

cavalry regiment Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating a ...

in the British Army, part of the

Household Cavalry The Household Cavalry (HCav) is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment st ...

. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of

Horse Grenadier Guards The Horse Grenadier Guards, usually referred to ''Horse Grenadiers'' were a series of cavalry troops in the British Household Cavalry between 1687 and 1788, who used grenades and other explosives in battle. Originally attached to the Horse Guar ...

. In 1922, it was amalgamated with the

2nd Life Guards The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...

to form the Life Guards.

History

The regiment was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of

. It fought in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

and at the Waterloo. In 1877, it was renamed 1st Life Guards and contributed to the

Household Cavalry Composite Regiment The Household Cavalry Composite Regiment was a temporary, wartime-only, cavalry regiment of the British Army consisting of personnel drawn from the 1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards. It was active in 1882 for service in the ...

in the

Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt (1882), also known as Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It ...

, in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

and in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

from August to November 1914. From 1916 to 1918, the Reserve Regiment contributed to the

Household Battalion The Household Battalion was an infantry battalion of the British army during the Great War. It was formed in September 1916 from the reserves of the Household Cavalry regiments (the 1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards) to ...

. In 1918, the regiment was converted to the 1st Battalion,

Guards Machine Gun Regiment The Guards Machine Gun Regiment was a regiment of the British Army, formed for service in the First World War. When the Guards Division was formed in August 1915, it included three machine gun companies, with a fourth added in March 1917. In Apr ...

. It was reconstituted in 1919 and was amalgamated with the

in 1922 to form the Life Guards.

Battle honours

The battle honours of the regiment were: * ''Early Wars'': Dettingen,

Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

, Waterloo,

Tel-el-Kebir Tell El Kebir ( ar, التل الكبير lit."the great mound") is 110 km north-north-east of Cairo and 75 kilometres south of Port Said on the edge of the Egyptian desert at the altitude of 29 m. Administratively, it is a part of the Isma ...

Egypt 1882 Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Relief of Kimberley The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley, Cape Colony (present-day South Africa), when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the South African Republic, Transvaal besieged the diam ...

Paardeberg The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg ("Horse Mountain") was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near ''Paardeberg Drift'' on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley. Lord Methuen adv ...

, South Africa 1899–1900 * ''The Great War'':

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

, Le Cateau,

Retreat from Mons The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western Fr ...

Marne 1914 Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nether ...

Aisne 1914 Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Messines 1914,

Armentières 1914 Armentières (; vls, Armentiers) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. The motto of the town is ''Pauvre mais fière'' (Poor but proud). Geogr ...

, Ypres 1914 '15 '17, Langemarck 1914,

Gheluvelt Zonnebeke (; vls, Zunnebeke) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of , , Passendale, Zandvoorde and Zonnebeke proper. On January 1, 2006, Zonnebeke had a total population of ...

Nonne Bosschen The Nonne (also ''Nonnenstein'') is a roughly 18-metre-high, isolated, standing sandstone rock and climbing peak in Saxon Switzerland in Germany. The rock is located southeast of Rathen, east of the rock chain of Rauenstein. In the Middle Ages ...

, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Somme 1916,

Albert 1916 Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert C ...

Arras 1917 Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of t ...

'18, Scarpe 1917 '18, Broodseinde,

Poelcappelle Langemark-Poelkapelle () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Geography Other places in the municipality include Bikschote, Langemark and Poelkapelle. On January 1, 2006, Langemark-Poelkapelle had a total populati ...

, Passchendaele,

Hindenburg Line The Hindenburg Line (German: , Siegfried Position) was a German defensive position built during the winter of 1916–1917 on the Western Front during the First World War. The line ran from Arras to Laffaux, near Soissons on the Aisne. In 191 ...

, Cambrai 1918, France and Flanders 1914–18

Colonels-in-Chief

The Colonels-in-Chief of the regiment were: *1815–1830: King George IV *1830–1837: King William IV *1837–1880: ''vacant'' *1880–1910: F.M. The Prince of Wales, later HM King Edward VII *1910–1922: F.M. King George V

Regimental Colonels

The colonels of the regiment were: *1788–1789: Gen.

William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian General William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian (13 March 1737 – 4 January 1815) was a British soldier and peer, styled Lord Newbattle until 1767 and Earl of Ancrum from 1767 to 1775. He was buried at St Andrew's parish Church, Farnham, S ...

, KT *1789–1792: Gen. Sir

Joseph Yorke, 1st Baron Dover General Joseph Yorke, 1st Baron Dover Order of the Bath, KB, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (24 June 1724 – 2 December 1792), styled The Honourable Joseph Yorke until 1761 and The Honourable Sir Joseph Yorke between 1761 and ...

, KB *1792–1829: Gen.

Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington General Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington (17 March 17535 September 1829), styled Viscount Petersham until 1779, was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1779 when he succeeded to the pe ...

, GCH *1829–1865: F.M. Sir

Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere (14 November 1773 – 21 February 1865), was a British Army officer, diplomat and politician. As a junior officer he took part in the Flanders Campaign, in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War an ...

, GCB, GCH, KSI *1865–1888: F.M.

George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, (16 April 1800 – 10 November 1888), styled Lord Bingham before 1839, was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish aristocrat and British Army officer. He was one of three men, along with Louis Nolan, Capta ...

, GCB *1888–1902: F.M. Prince William Augustus Edward of Saxe-Weimar, KP, GCB, GCVO *1902–1907: Lt-Gen.

Dudley FitzGerald-de Ros, 24th Baron de Ros Lieutenant-General Dudley Charles FitzGerald-de Ros, 23rd Baron de Ros of Helmsley, (11 March 1827 – 29 April 1907) was a soldier, courtier and the premier Baron of England. Biography He was the son of William FitzGerald-de Ros and Lady Geor ...

, KP, KCVO *1907–1920: F.M. Sir

Francis Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell, (29 April 1841 – 27 January 1925) was a British Army officer. After serving as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, he fought in the 9th Xhosa War, the Anglo-Zul ...

, GCB, GCMG *1920–1922: F.M. Sir

Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...

, GCB, GCMG, GCVO

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1st Regiment Of Life Guards 1-001 Regiment of Life Guards

LG1 The LG1 is a modern 105 mm towed howitzer designed and produced by GIAT Industries (now Nexter group) of France. Design The LG1 howitzer is a 105 mm towed artillery piece that features both low weight and a high level of accuracy over lon ...