Sir William Waller's Lifeguard of Horse

Mounted and dismounted dragoons

Being a Dragoon

On a typical weekend most members normally arrive on Friday and have a quiet evening after setting up their tents or caravans. Saturday starts with a kit inspection at about 0930 to check that all the equipment is both safe and authentic. We then have some spare time until forming up at the horse lines around mid-day ready for our display. We might then do some drill to warm up both riders and horses before performing the display which takes about 20 minutes. The dragoons tend to open the display with a mounted deployment, and then help set up during the cavalry part. It’s then over to Living History with some or all of the horses to have lunch and talk to the public until it’s time to form up for the battle. We form up in good time, and then the battle normally takes about an hour and a half, so on completion we wend our weary way back to the campsite in the late afternoon for tea and cakes before readying ourselves for a fun night in the beer tent or around the camp-fire. Sunday follows a similar pattern, except we normally only do the Saturday display, so we have more time on Sunday mornings to pack up camping gear before taking horses over to Living History.

The Battle

The battles are scripted so we always know a rough outline of events and who will win. They are often, however, quite loose within the scripted framework, so we respond to events as they happen on the field. The battles are, above anything else, shows, and we always bear that in mind – girly giggles and wide grins are not tolerated. Safety of both people and horses is, of course, always the first priority, followed by putting on an entertaining and educational show.

The dragoons often start the battle with a mounted deployment, and the horses are then returned for the ironsides to mount. Once a few shots have been fired the dragoons will generally join another Parliamentarian regiment for the main battle, which will involve both firing volleys and hand to hand fighting with musket and sword. In order to ensure safety training is given in hand to hand fighting and swords cannot be used until an examination in their use has been passed. At the end of the battle the dragoons will rejoin the ironsides for the march past if possible.