At the Battle of Ramillies the Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons, together with the Irish Dragoons, are reputed to have cornered and captured a whole battalion of the French Régiment de Picardie. The Scots Dragoons also participated in the successful capture of the colours of the elite French Régiment du Roi. In recognition of their actions, the Scots Dragoons were given the honour of dressing henceforth as grenadiers, including wearing the grenadiers’ characteristic mitre caps.
One of the Scots Dragoons wounded at Ramillies was discovered to be a woman. Christian (Kit) Davies is thought to have been an Irishwoman who earlier served disguised as an infantryman in the Nine Years War. Commonly known as ‘Mother Ross’, her life story was published in 1740 in an account which has been attributed to Daniel Defoe. She later became a pensioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea where she died in 1739.
