The Inniskilling Dragoon Tune

The Royal Dragoon Guards adopted "Fare Thee Well Inniskilling " from the 5th Royal Inniskilling Guards as their new Regimental quick march.

When Mr E Adams became Bandmaster of the 6th Inniskillings in 1908, he heard the men singing an old ballad, 'The Inniskilling Dragoon', written in the 18th century by Charles Lever. Recognising its popularity, Mr Adams took down the tune and made it into a march, which became an immediate success. The first and last verses are:

A beautiful damsel, of fame and renown,
A gentleman's daughter near Monaghan town;
As she rode by the barracks, this beautiful maid,
She stood in her coach to see Dragoons on parade.

Fare thee well, Inniskilling! fare thee well for a while
To all your fair waters and every green isle!
And when the war is over we'll return again soon,
And they'll all welcome home the Inniskilling Dragoon.

The march was lengthened by adding an arrangement of 'Far Far Away', a song said to have been composed by Mr Adams himself. In 1931 it was presented to the Regiment as 'Fare Ye Well Inniskilling'; and in 1952 Bandmaster Norman Richardson re-arranged it and it was adopted as the Regimental quick march.



A beautiful damsel of fame and renown,
A gentleman's daughter of fame and renown,
As she rode by the barracks this beautiful maid,
She stood in her coach to see the dragoons parade.

They were all dressed out like gentlemen's sons,
With their bright shining swords and carbine guns.
With their silver mounted pistols she observed them full soon
Because that she loved her Enniskillen dragoon.

You bright son of Mars who stand on the right,
Whose armor doth shine like the bright star of night,
Saying Willie, dearest Willie, you've listed full soon,
For to serve as a royal Enniskillen dragoon.

O! Flora, dearest Flora, your pardon I crave,
It's now and forever I must be a slave,
Your parents they insulted me, both morning and noon,
For fear that you'd wed an Enniskillen dragoon.

O! mind, dearest Willie, O! mind what you say,
For children are bound their parents to obey;
For when we're leaving Ireland they will all change their tune,
Saying the Lord may be with you, Enniskillen dragoon.

Fare you well, Enniskillen, fare you well for a while.
And all around the borders of Erin's green Isle,
And when the war is over we'll return in full bloom,
And they'll all welcome home the Enniskillen dragoon.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into the 5th/6th Dragoons (later the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, then finally the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards) in 1922.

The 'Skins' (as they were known) are one of the four ancestor regiments of the Royal Dragoon Guards.

The regiment was first raised as Sir Albert Cunningham's Regiment of Dragoons in 1689, by the regimenting of various independent troops, and ranked as the 6th Dragoons. It later took the nickname of the "Black Dragoons", and in 1751 was formally titled as the 6th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Dragoons, later simply the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons.

Arguably one of the most famous cavalry regiments of all time. One of their most notable battles was the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. They also fought with distinction at the Battle of Waterloo in the Charge of the Union Brigade and again during the Crimean War as part of the successful Charge of the Heavy Brigade against superior numbers at the Battle of Balaklava.

World War I sounded the death knell for mounted cavalry as it became apparent that technology had moved forward with greater destructive power and made horsed cavalry redundant on the modern battlefield. The British Army reorganised and reduced its cavalry corps by disbanding or amalgamating many of its famous cavalry regiments in 1922 as part of the Geddes Reforms. The Inniskillings was one of those affected.