Figure to assemble and paint
Ref.: 5 – CT
Weight: 250 grs.
Material: Metal blanco
Number of Pieces: 18
Historical Review:

6TH REGIMENT OF DRAGOON GUARDS (CARABINIERS) – 1857. Ref.: 02- CRV

Raised in 1685 as The Queen Dowager’s Regiment of Horse.
1692 – The King’s Regiment of Carabineers.
1740 – His Majesty’s 1st Regiment of Carabiniers.
1756 – 3rd Regiment of Horse (Carabiniers).
1788 – 6th Regiment of Dragoon Guards.
1826 – 6th Regiment of Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers).
1922 – Amalgamated with the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales’s) to form the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards 1928 – Renamed the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards).
1971 – Amalgamated with the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) forming the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys).

Battle Honours: Early Wars: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Warburg, Willems, Sevastopol, Delhi 1857, Afghanistan 1879-80, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902

The Great War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1915, St. Julien, Bellewaarde, Arras 1917 Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917 ’18, Somme 1918, St. Quentin, Lys, Hazebrouck, Amiens, Bapaume 1918, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Sambre, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914–1918.

The original uniform of the Queen Dowager’s Regiment of Horse is recorded as including a red coat lined with green. In common with other regiments of Horse, cuirasses were worn until 1699. In 1715 the regimental facing colour was changed to pale yellow. In 1768 white lapels were adopted by Royal Warrant. Silver epaulettes were worn by the officers. In 1812 a new model of leather helmet was issued, carrying the title of “6th Dragoon Guards or Carabiniers”. In 1861 a complete change of uniform was authorized by Queen Victoria, following the conversion of the regiment to a light cavalry role and appearance. Thereafter until 1914 the full dress of the regiment was entirely dark blue with white facings. Although the designation of Dragoon Guards was retained, the 6th was the only dragoon regiment in the British Army to wear dark blue tunics instead of scarlet. After 1873, a white plume was worn on the brass helmet.

From 1826 the regiment changed its name. Now under its new name, the Regiment took part in the ceremonial proceedings for the coronation of the young Queen Victoria in 1838. At some point between 1844 and 1853, the uniform for the Regiment changed from the traditional scarlet jacket to an Oxford blue jacket and overalls.

The 6th Dragoon Guards were shipped to the Crimean Peninsula in 1854 but saw little action, and thence to India when the Mutiny occurred in 1857. They returned to England in 1861 but, shipped back to India in 1877 just prior to the outbreak of the Second Afghan War (1878-80). During the war they were engaged in constant action against the Afghan guerrillas in and around the Khyber Pass.

On the outbreak of the Boer War, the Regiment shipped to South Africa where they joined General French’s 1st Cavalry Brigade. They fought with distinction at Kimberley (1900) and Bloemfontein (1900) and throughout 1901.

It landed in France at the outbreak of the First World War as part of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division on 16 August 1914 for service on the Western Front. It took part in the Battle of Mons in August 1914, the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914 and the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915 before going on to see further action at the Battle of the Somme in Autumn 1916, the Battle of Arras in April 1917 and the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917.

In October 1922, the regiment was amalgamated with the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales’s) to form the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards.

The figure wears the cap adopted in India, after the brass helmets (used in Delhi) were discarded. It had been engaged in heavy and bloody fighting at the beginning of the mutiny. This regiment had changed its uniform some decades earlier, Queen Victoria having authorized the replacement of the characteristic scarlet jacket with an all-blue uniform. These colours were maintained over time, and the regiment was the only British Dragoon regiment not to wear red.

He wears his jacket slung across his ammunition belt. The carbine he carries is the Victoria model for cavalry. Some other regiments, for example the 8th Hussars, had already adopted the Sharps carbine. The sabre is the universal model for the cavalry of 1853.