BRITISH LANCERS - COLONIAL WARS

After the end of the Crimean War in 1856, the British Army took part in many smaller or larger colonial military conflicts, including the suppression of the Sipaya uprising (1857-1858), the conflict in Sudan that ended with the Battle of Omdurman ( 1898) or the First and Second Boer Wars (1880-1881 and 1899-1902). All these conflicts had a significant impact on the British Army, and forced significant changes in the British cavalry, including lancer units. Shortly before the outbreak of the Crimean War, the British cavalry consisted of a dozen regiments, including 4 regiments of lancers, i.e. regiments using the lance as the basic white weapon, equivalent to the lancers' regiments in the then Prussian army. It is worth adding that the lancers were then treated as light cavalry, similarly to the hussars. The Crimean War, as well as the Sipaj uprising, forced changes in the British cavalry, including lancer units. First of all, as a result of the Cardwell and Childers reforms, the conditions of service and recruitment were changed, and the duration of service was reduced from 21 to 12 years. The lancer units were also armed with threaded and reciprocating cavalry rifles, and significant changes also began in the equipment and uniforms. In 1881, however, there were still 4 regiments of lancers: 5th Royal Irish Lancers , 16th The Queen's Lancers, 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own) and 9th Queen's Royal Lancers. It is worth adding that they all took part in the Second Boer War (1899-1902), often suffering heavy losses - for example, the 17th Lancers' Regiment in the Battle of Modderfontein (or the River Elands).