CHEST PLATE OF AN OFFICER OF THE SQUADRON OF THE CENT-GUARDS, NAPOLEON III, Second Empire.
25.38g / 55x34mm
The Cent-gardes Squadron, French: L'Escadron des Cent-gardes, also called Cent Gardes à Cheval Hundred Guardsmen on Horseback, were an elite cavalry corps of the Second French Empire primarily responsible for protecting the person of the Emperor Napoleon III, as well as providing security within the Tuileries Palace. They also provided an escort for the emblems of the Imperial Guard and their award ceremony with flag and standard bearers.
The squadron was created by decree on 24 March 1854 by the emperor, who may have modelled the new unit on the British Lifeguards. When on duty the Cent-Gardes had to stand absolutely still and render honours only to the emperor and members of the Imperial family. Although theoretically not part of the Imperial Guard, they were under the orders of the Grand Marshal of the Palace.
The Cent-Gardes squadron consisted of a headquarters, 11 officers and 137 privates, totaling 148 men at the time the unit was created, later they would be increased to 190, including officers, and finally numbered 221 commissioned officers and guardsmen, including a lieutenant colonel, at the time that they were finally disbanded.
The soldiers of the squadron were recruited from the cavalry regiments of the Imperial Guard or from those of the line, and they had to be at least 1.80m tall. Their salary was 1,000 gold francs a year for guards and trumpeters, an amount which was particularly high at the time, and after 7 years of service, their pay was increased 80 additional cents per day.
The headquarters of the Cent-gardes were located at 37 rue de Bellechasse 75007 in Paris. Their original barracks were in Sevres in the old farm of La Belle Polle. Napoleon III however had a farm built in the Swiss-style to lodge the Cent-gardes squadron and their horses in the new Pavillon des Cent-guardes in Marnes-la-Coquette, near the castle, in the area of Villeneuve-l'Étang.
For off duty wear tenue de ville, their attire comprised a sky-blue tunic lined with red silk, red trousers with black stripes plus a cocked hat and sword. In full dress, the Cent-gardes wore white breeches with their light blue tunics plus a breastplate embossed with the French Imperial Eagle and a helmet with a white plume. For Palace guard duty, the Cent-gardes were issued with a surcoat of fine chamois cloth decorated with gold braid on the chest and embroidered with the Imperial coat of arms.
Their weapons consisted of a snap-clasped Treuille-de-Beaulieu musket, breech loading, 11mm caliber, brass furniture's, a barrel and a lath which fitted into a bayonet, and a sword for walking out dress.
In 1854 the Lieutenant colonel Jacques Félix Auguste Lepic was the commanding officer succeeded in 1855 by Colonel Baron Albert Jacques Verly. The latter commanded the squadron until 1857 when he was replaced by Captain Armand Ernest Junqua. The Cent-gardes escorted the Emperor during the Second Italian War of Independence at Magenta and Solferino where Verly, the Commander-in-chief, was wounded in his arm.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 part of the squadron accompanied the Emperor to Metz, and in the Battle of Sedan they were constantly at his side. The squadron was disbanded by a decree of 1 October 1870 and their men transferred to the Second Regiment of Cuirassiers, which served with distinction in the defense of Paris following the dissolution of the Second Empire.
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