#8288 Colonial British Dragoons

Dated: January 26, 2013.

During the Victorian period, Britain's regular cavalry included regiments of Dragoon Guards and Dragoons. Although their titles preserved older distinctions, both formed part of the Army's heavy cavalry and were trained to fight mounted with the sword, while also carrying firearms for dismounted service. In colonial warfare they could be used for reconnaissance, escort duty, patrols, pursuit and rapid movement across open country.

Box art

Service overseas required practical changes to the elaborate uniforms worn at home. This set depicts British dragoons in scarlet tunics and dark riding trousers, but wearing the white foreign-service helmet introduced during the early 1870s. Their clothing and equipment place them broadly in the final decades of the 19th century, before khaki field dress became standard for active service.

Line drawing

The men carry straight cavalry swords and carbines. British cavalry doctrine still placed considerable emphasis upon the mounted charge, but colonial campaigning demanded greater flexibility. Cavalrymen might scout ahead of an army, guard lines of communication, escort convoys, pursue a retreating enemy or dismount and use their carbines when terrain or circumstances made mounted action unsuitable.

Test shot (may go through substantial revisions prior to release).
There will be 12 mounted figures in this set. Three extra mounted figures can be subbed in to allow for greater variation of poses.

British heavy cavalry saw overseas service in several campaigns during this period. One of the best-known actions occurred at Kassassin in Egypt on 28 August 1882, where the Household Cavalry and the 7th Dragoon Guards charged Egyptian troops during the campaign against the forces of Ahmed Urabi. British cavalry also served in southern Africa and elsewhere across the Empire, although units, uniforms and field equipment varied considerably between campaigns.

This set contains twelve mounted dragoons in four rider poses, together with twelve horses. The poses include men advancing with swords, carrying carbines and directing their mounts, allowing the set to represent a patrol, an escort or a formed cavalry unit preparing for action. These figures can be combined with our colonial infantry, artillery and General Service wagons to create a late-Victorian British column. Because the men retain scarlet tunics, they are most appropriate for the period before khaki became the normal campaigning uniform rather than for the later stages of the Second Boer War.

Roles of British colonial cavalry
- Reconnaissance, scouting ahead and locating enemy forces.
- Escort duty, protecting officers, convoys and communications.
- Patrols, covering wide areas more quickly than infantry.
- Mounted attack, charging with the straight cavalry sword.
- Dismounted action, using carbines when mounted combat was unsuitable.

British dragoons in foreign-service helmets, equipped for mounted and dismounted duties during the colonial campaigns of the late Victorian period.