Formed on December 21, 1883 as the Cavalry School Corps, The Royal Canadian Dragoons is the senior cavalry regiment in the Canadian Army and was Canada's first professional, full-time cavalry unit. The Winnipeg Dragoons were an ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who played in the Manitoba Hockey Association competition in 1892-93 and 1893-94. Players from the Dragoons took part in a tour of western Canada along with members of the Winnipeg Victorias and the Winnipeg Hockey Club in February 1893.
It was originally organized as a troop (the then-company-sized British Army cavalry maneuver sub-unit, today regarded as a squadron) and was commanded by Captain (Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel) J.F. Turnbull of Quebec City's Queen's Own Canadian Hussars. The first Regimental Sergeant-Major was Sergeant-Major George Baxter, recruited by Lt.-Col. Turnbull from the British Army's 4th Dragoon Guards at Aldershot along with two other British Army Sergeant-Instructors from the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 15th The King's Hussars.