An officer of the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers, 1889 (c)

Photograph, 1889 (c).

Full length studio portrait of an officer in undress uniform holding sword in scabbard.

After the Crimean War (1854-1856) and Indian Mutiny (1857-1859), the British Army needed more cavalry troops. A new 5th Regiment of Dragoons was raised in 1858. Three years after its formation, it changed from dragoons into lancers. However, this new unit was ranked after the 17th Lancers owing to its predecessor unit's dishonourable disbandment at the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. For the next few decades, it was mainly used on garrison duties in England, Ireland and India. But it also sent two squadrons to fight in the Sudan in 1885, charging with lances at Suakin (1885).