Horse Guards

Horse Guards, a noble modern edifice opposite to the Banquetting house, Whitehall. It consists of a center and two wings, and has an air of solidity perfectly agreeable to the nature of the building. It receives its name from the horse guards, who while the King is at St. James's are here on duty, two at a time being constantly mounted and completely armed, under two handsome slope porches detached from the building, and erected to shelter them from the weather. This structure is equally calculated for the use of the foot as well as the horse on duty.

In the center of this edifice is an arched passage into St. James's Park, and the building over this has a pediment, in which are the King's arms in bass relief. But this arch, as it is the passage of his Majesty to and from the house of Peers, should have been more lofty and noble. At each extreme of this center is a pavilion. But the cupola, which is not seen in the view represented in the plate of the Treasury, has but little to recommend it. The middle face of the cupola presents a dial; and the aperture in the lower part of this, and on the several stages of the other, are well calculated to break the plainness, without weakening the building, either in reality or appearance. The wings are plainer than the center. They each consist of a fore front, projecting a little, with ornamented windows in the principal story, and a plain one in the sides. Each has its pediment, with a circular window in the center: and the whole has a proper air of strength and plainness.

Horse-Guards, Whitehall,—about ⅙ of a mile on the R. from Charing-cross towards Westminster-abbey, entering to St. James's park.

Horse Guards, the, Office and Head-Quarters, Whitehall, is opposite the Royal Chapel, or Banquetting-house. It is a substantial stone building, by Kent, and consists of a centre and two pavilion wings, with a turret and clock, which is often quoted for its correctness. Its west front opens into St. James's-park, which is entered through the building by as low and mean an archway as could be devised. It is said, that, when the royal state-coach first attempted to penetrate it, the crown and ornaments upon the roof were obliged to be taken off.

Horse Guards, at Whitehall, a guard-house and public building where, until 1872, the Secretary of War, the Commander-in-Chief, the Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General had their offices. A guard-house was built in front of the palace in 1641; the present building was erected 1751–1753 by John Vardy, after a design furnished by William Kent. In Plate II. of the "Election," Hogarth cleverly satirises the stunted proportions of the edifice. Ludlow is the first who mentions the Horse Guards at Whitehall:—

Next morning I went with Sir Henry Vane and Major Saloway to the Chamher of the Horse Guards, at Whitehall, where the principal officers use to meet.—Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 776.

The archway under it forms a principal entrance to St. James's Park from the east; but the entrée for carriages is permitted only to royal and other personages having leave. At each side of the entrance facing Whitehall two mounted cavalry soldiers do duty every day from ten to four. The guard is relieved every morning at a quarter to eleven.

The sovereign of this country had no standing army before the reign of Charles II., the band of Gentlemen Pensioners forming the only bodyguard of the sovereign before the Restoration. In 1676 King Charles II. had four regiments of foot and four of horse. The "King's Regiment of Foot" consisted of twenty-four companies, commanded by Colonel Russell (the Colonel Russell of De Grammont's Memoirs); the "Duke of York's Regiment" consisted of 720 men, commanded by Sir Charles Lyttelton (another of De Grammont's heroes); "The Third Regiment" consisted of 600 men, commanded by Sir Walter Vane; and "The Fourth Regiment" of 960, commanded by the Earl of Craven. These were the four Foot Regiments. The "Regiment of Horse" was commanded by Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford, another of De Grammont's heroes, from whom the "Oxford Blues," now the Royal Horse Guards, derives its name. A portrait of Lord Oxford in armour adorns the mess-room of the regiment. The "King's Troop of Horse," commanded by the Duke of Monmouth; the "Queen's Troop," by Sir Philip Howard, son of the Earl of Berkshire; and the "Duke of York's," by the Marquis of Blanquefort, afterwards Earl of Feversham.

The gay Horse Guards whose clock of mighty fame
Directs the dinner of each careful dame
Where soldiers with red coats equipped
Are sometimes marched and sometimes whipped.
Rolliad, Probationary Odes, p. 88.

The clock at the Horse Guards was long unrivalled for accuracy, and was taken for an authority just as the Greenwich time-ball is now.

Six by the Horse Guards! Old Georgy is late—
But come lay the table-cloth—zounds do not wait.
Thomas Moore.