Inniskilling Dragoons Officer’s 1834 Pattern Helmet
Presented here is an Inniskilling Dragoons Officer’s 1834
pattern helmet which will be sold in our September auction. The impressive fur crest was removable and could
be replaced with a well modeled lion finial.
The regimental title covers the front peak and the rayed helmet plate
has the Royal Arms of Great Britain with the Waterloo honor. There are large
Tudor rose bosses suspending chin scales with paw clasps. The helmet is considered to be on of the most
beautiful of all British helmets. The linage
of the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons is linked to the political unrest
of 1688 which lead to the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland after the
protestant King William deposed the Catholic King James II. Protestant citizens
of Inniskilling declared their loyalty to King William and actively sought out
pro-King James II forces known as Jacobites.
The Inniskillings had several victories against the Jacobites and once
King William forces arrived in Ireland the Inniskillings were integrated into the army. After the war the Inniskilling regiments were divided into a regiment of foot soldiers and a regiment of dragoons. At the Battle of Waterloo the Inniskilling Dragoons took part in a massive charge against a French assault. Although the charge was a success, the regiment went too far behind the French lines and suffered heavy casualties including General Ponsonby at the hands of fresh French cavalry. At the Battle of Balaclava (1854) the Inniskilling Dragoons participated in a 500 man force that clashed with a Russian cavalry force of 2,000 men. In an attack that only lasted eight minutes the ferocity of the attack caused the Russians to retreat. The Inniskillings ended the day with two men killed and another 14 wounded. In the 1930s the Inniskillings aligned with the 5th Dragoon Guards to become the 5th/6th Dragoons and in 1935 become the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. During World War II it was one of the units that evacuated Dunkirk in 1940, but returned to France after the Normandy landings. In the Korean conflict the regiment clashed with the army of Communist China. In 1992 the regiment was again realigned to form the Royal Dragoon Guards.
