Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse

The Guard was raised in the British Colony of New South Wales in late 1800 at the initiative of Governor Philip Gidley King. An order was sent from King to Lieutenant Colonel William Paterson of the New South Wales Corps on 26 December 1800 requiring the corps to provide a non-commissioned officer (NCO) and six privates to act as a bodyguard to King. King intended to utilise the men as messengers to carry despatches and specified that the men must be capable of riding a horse. Six men and a corporal were identified, some of whom had served in cavalry regiments, and these were serving in the role by early 1801. King provided horses and cavalry equipment from colony government funds and authorised a 1 shilling per day pay rise to the corporal and 6 pence to the privates. Historian Clem Sargent described the unit as "one of the lesser known of the military organisations in the early history of the Colony of New South Wales". According to Sargent, the Guard was the "first full-time military unit raised in Australia". The Guard carried the governor's despatches sent to far-flung garrison outposts across the colony and was particularly busy in the early years due to unrest among newly arrived Irish convicts. Many of these men were Republican revolutionaries, members of the Society of United Irishmen sentenced to transportation following capture after the 21 June 1798 Battle of Vinegar Hill. By 1 March 1802, the unit had dwindled to just the corporal and four privates. == Use of pardoned convicts ==

From 12 October 1802, the men of the Guard ceased to be drawn from the New South Wales Corps, possibly as a result of a disagreement between King and Paterson. Instead, King drew members from prisoners in good standing, whom he pardoned – a move that upset Paterson. In 1801, King prevented the landing of of alcohol. A series of disputes culminated in the wounding of Paterson in a duel with one of his captains, John Macarthur, who was heavily involved in the rum trade. King sent Macarthur to England to face trial, but the advocate-general refused to hear the case and Macarthur was freed. King's employment of ex-convicts in the Guard was known to the Colonial Office in London and appears to have received tacit sanction, despite the irregularity of such an arrangement. Historian David Clune notes that because of King's efforts to restrict the rum trade, safeguard the colony's women, children and aborigines, and stamp out corruption in use of convict labour and land grants, the Guard was "viewed more with amusement than anger in London". Despite rumours of impending revolt among the Irish convicts, the remainder of 1803 was quiet for the Guard. That November, King pardoned George Bridges Bellasis, a former lieutenant in an East India Company artillery unit who had been transported for killing a fellow officer in a duel. King granted Bellasis the rank of a lieutenant of artillery and placed him in command of the Guard. == Castle Hill convict rebellion==

Unrest among the Irish convicts led to the Castle Hill convict rebellion, which broke out at 8 pm on 4 March 1804. The next day, Johnston wrote to King that there had been 250 "Runaways" and his force had "been under the necessity of killing nine and wounding a great many – the number we cannot ascertain. We have taken 7 prisoners and 7 stand of Arms, and other Weapons ...". Among others, his letter mentioned "the two Troopers" favourably. The battle, which became known as the Second Battle of Vinegar Hill, is illustrated in a contemporary painting now in the collection of the National Library of Australia. The painting depicts Anlezark (erroneously shown as a corporal) drawing his pistol and ordering a rebel leader: "Croppy lay down". Anlezark, a convicted burglar and fourteen-year British Army cavalry veteran, was promoted to corporal in the Guard in May 1804, replacing the existing NCO who was discharged for "gross abuse to a superintendent". The Guard's actions in quelling the rebellion and a favourable report from Johnston led King to propose increasing the unit to thirty men. It seems this was never implemented; such an action required the approval of the British colonial secretary, which was not forthcoming. == Bligh and the Rum Rebellion ==

King was succeeded as governor by William Bligh in August 1806. Bligh immediately set about reforming the colony, banning the use of rum as a de facto currency. However, this action, together with his bad temper and blunt manner, made him many enemies, including Macarthur who had returned to New South Wales. Bligh arrested Macarthur in early January 1808 for violating the alcohol-related import restrictions. Johnston, who now commanded the New South Wales Corps in Sydney, marched on Government House and arrested Bligh in an act known as the Rum Rebellion. It is unclear where the men of the Guard were during Bligh's arrest but the unit had reverted to being provided from men of the New South Wales Corps and, given the men's divided loyalties, probably chose to absent themselves on the day of the rebellion. == Later service ==

Lachlan Macquarie, dispatched by the British government to assume the office of governor and restore order, arrived in the colony in December 1809. By April of that year the Guard consisted of a sergeant, a corporal and six troopers. One trooper had survived from King's administration, but the majority were former New South Wales Corps men who had transferred to the 73rd Regiment. At this time the supplementary pay, funded by the colonial government, was 1 shilling 6 pence per day for the sergeant, 1 shilling for the corporal and 6 pence for the troopers. During his term, Macquarie authorised the construction of a brick-built barracks and stables, with capacity for sixteen horses, in Sydney for the Guard. Macquarie saw the advantages of the unit in carrying despatches and in providing personal protection to "visit distant Interior parts of the Colony, or penetrate into the Wild Jungles and Forests of it, inhabited by Savages, Who probably Might be induced to take a treacherous Advantage of his Unprotected Situation, Were he to go Amongst them without a Guard". Bathurst also sanctioned an increase in size to twelve troopers, plus the sergeant and corporal. == Disbandment ==

'' by Thomas Lawrence, c.1824|alt=Painted portrait of an early-19th-century gentleman The Guard survived through the governorships of Thomas Brisbane (1821–25) and Ralph Darling (1825–31). When newly arrived governor Richard Bourke disclosed an expenditure of £112 16s 6d in his December 1831 report, this was queried by the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Viscount Goderich, who ordered the unit disbanded. Bourke, who considered the full title of the Guard as "much too lofty for so trifling an establishment", Upon learning of this, Goderich ordered their disbandment. Sargent notes that the ambiguous status of the Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse was indicative of the difficulty the British government had in understanding the colony in this period. The British were keen to restrict expenses incurred by the government of the colony and, without an understanding of the local conditions, saw no reason for the governor to have a personal bodyguard. == References ==