The King's				Royal Hussars

The 20th Hussars (The Peninsula War) For the first time in 3 years the Regiment were together again in 1808 in England, this was not long lived as they went off to join Wellington's Army for the Peninsular war. Working as a patrol Regiment the 20th were credited with reporting first contact with the enemy prior to the battle of Rolica, this led to the battle of Vimiera in August of 1808. Being Wellingtons' only cavalry Regiment they were kept in reserve until the French Infantry retreated then carried out a charge that turned the enemy retreat into a rout. The French cavalry, racing to support the infantry were caught in this charge and smashed by the 20th as they swept forward. The CO at the time, Lt Colonel Charles Taylor was killed during the charge and subsequently buried on the site of the battle. The 20th pressed on, perhaps a little too hard, and found themselves hard pressed by enclosing French Infantry but were rescued by the 50th Foot who were in support. The Regiment were sent to Sicily in 1809 after action against French cavalry near Grijo as part of the Douro operations. In Sicily the Regiment married up with the 4 Troops that had been left there previously and carried out garrison duties although some detachments took part in capturing the various Islands that the French held in the area. At the request of the Duke of Wellington an expedition was put together in 1812 to land on the North East coast of Spain near Alicante, the Regiment was involved in the campaign and had clashes with French cavalry. At the Villa Franca in September 1913 the Regiment was involved in action along with the Brunswick Hussars and the French cavalry were prevented from breaking through the British rearguard. Although ousted from the Iberian Peninsula the French held on to various positions in Italy. 4 Troops of the 20th helped to capture Genoa before concentrating their efforts at Palermo in Sicily The Regiment returned home with the well earned battle honours of Vimiera and Peninsula. The Regiment were disbanded whilst serving in Ireland in 1818.