12th Light Dragoons, Waterloo 1815

The regiment of dragoons was raised by Brigadier-General Phineas Bowles as the Phineas Bowles's Regiment of Dragoons in July 1715.

In 1751, the regiment was officially styled the 12th Dragoons. and in 1768, King George III bestowed the badge of the three ostrich feathers and the motto "Ich Dien" on the regiment and re-titled it as The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons.

A young Arthur Wellesley joined the regiment as a subaltern in 1789. The regiment took part in the Siege of Bastia in April 1794, which took place in Corsica, during the French Revolutionary Wars.[

During the Waterloo Campaign, the regiment was attached to Sir John Vandeleur's light cavalry brigade. At the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, the regiment charged down the slope to support the Union Brigade of medium cavalry. Ponsonby was seriously wounded in the melee but survived. 
(source - wikipedia)

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