5th Royal Irish Lancers
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The 5th Royal Irish Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British army formed in 1689 as Owen Wynne's Dragoons.
They fought in the Battle of the Boyne and at the Battle of Aughrim under William of Orange. They went on to serve with the Duke of Marlborough during the Spanish War of Succession and earned three battle honours there.
Renamed the 5th Royal Irish Dragoons, they served in Ireland and were active during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. However, they were accused of treachery; their accusers claimed their ranks had been infiltrated by rebels. This accusation appears to have been false, but nevertheless they were disbanded in 1799.
In 1858 they were reformed as a lancer regiment and served in India. A section served in Egypt in 1885, taking part in the battles at Suakin. They served with distinction in the Boer War from 1899 to 1902, gaining battle honours at Elandslaagte and The Defence of Ladysmith.
They then returned to England where they stayed, until the outbreak of World War I, where they were part of the British Expeditionary Force and saw action continually from 1914 to 1918 in some of the war's bloodiest battles.
Disbanded in 1922 due to the establishment of the Irish Free State, they were amalgamated with the 16th Lancers to become 16th/5th Queen's Royal Lancers. That regiment, too, was amalagamted with the 17th/21st Lancers to form the Queen's Royal Lancers in 1993.
