In 1794, King George III was on the throne, William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister of Great Britain and, across the Channel, Britain was faced by a French nation that had recently guillotined its King and possessed a revolutionary army numbering half a million men. The Prime Minister proposed that the Counties form a force of Volunteer Yeoman Cavalry that could be called upon by the King to defend the country against invasion or by the Lord Lieutenant to subdue any civil disorder within the country.[3]
However, it was not until 1819 that The Newcastle Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry was raised. Shortly afterward, in 1831, the regiment was used against its own countrymen, putting down the miners' strikes of that year. In 1849 an Army Riding School was established in Northumberland Road for the use of the regiment.[4] In 1876, the regiment was renamed the Northumberland (Hussars) Yeomanry Cavalry.[5]
Second Boer War
The Yeomanry was not intended to serve overseas, but due to the string of defeats during Black Week in December 1899, the British government realized they were going to need more troops than just the regular army. A Royal Warrant was issued on 24 December 1899 to allow volunteer forces to serve in the Second Boer War. The Royal Warrant asked standing Yeomanry regiments to provide service companies of approximately 115 men each for the Imperial Yeomanry equipped as Mounted infantry.[6] The regiment provided:[7]
14th (Northumberland) Company, 5th Battalion in 1900
15th (Northumberland) Company, 5th Battalion in 1900
55th (Northumberland) Company, 14th Battalion in 1900, transferred to 5th Battalion in 1902
100th (Northumberland) Company, 5th Battalion in 1901
101st (Northumberland) Company, 5th Battalion in 1901
105th (Northumberland) Company, 5th Battalion in 1901
110th (Northumberland) Company, 2nd Battalion in 1901
The mounted infantry experiment was considered a success and the regiment was designated the Northumberland Imperial Yeomanry (Hussars) from 1901 to 1908.
In accordance with the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (7 Edw. 7, c.9) which brought the Territorial Force into being, the TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, many members volunteered for Imperial Service. Therefore, TF units were split in August and September 1914 into 1st Line (liable for overseas service) and 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. Later, a 3rd Line was formed to act as a reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line regiments.[9]
1/1st Northumberland Hussars
Horse lines of the Northumberland Hussars, Bruges, October 1914 (IWM Q50713)
This lasted until May 1916, when the squadrons were reunited in France to act as the Cavalry unit for XIII Corps. The regiment would then move between Corps, being attached to the VIII Corps in August 1917, III Corps in November 1917 and, finally, XII Corps in October 1918 where it remained until the end of the war.[11]
2/1st Northumberland Hussars
The 2nd Line regiment was formed in October 1914. In April 1916, the regiment was split up:
In February 1917, the regiment reassembled and, on 19 March 1917, it moved to France, where it constituted XIX Corps Cavalry Regiment a few days later.[11] It was the only 2nd Line Yeomanry regiment to be posted overseas on active service in the First World War.[12][lower-alpha 1] On 28 August 1917, the regiment moved to Étaples for infantry training; this completed on 25 September, at which time the unit amalgamated with the 9th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers as the 9th (Northumberland Hussars) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers.[11]
Four Northumberland Hussars, who died in the First World War and have no known grave, are commemorated on panel 5 of the Menin Gate. A fifth, Shoeing Smith G. Stephenson, was added to Panel 60 in 2017.[13]
Between the wars
Post war, a commission was set up to consider the shape of the Territorial Force (Territorial Army from 1 October 1921). The experience of the First World War made it clear that cavalry was surfeit. The commission decided that only the 14 most senior regiments were to be retained as cavalry (though the Lovat Scouts and the Scottish Horse were also to remain mounted as "scouts"). Eight regiments were converted to Armoured Car Companies of the Royal Tank Corps (RTC), one was reduced to a battery in another regiment, one was absorbed into a local infantry battalion, one became a signals regiment and two were disbanded. The remaining 25 regiments were converted to brigades[lower-alpha 2] of the Royal Field Artillery between 1920 and 1922.[16] As the 14th most senior regiment in the order of precedence, the regiment was retained as horsed cavalry.[17]
In October 1940, the division set sail for the Middle East, arriving in the new year.[21] Two months later, the 'Hussars' converted to a three-battery anti-tank regiment, with one LAA battery re-equipping with 2-pdrs and the other, 'A' Battery, transferring to 25th LAA Regiment, in which it served as 274 (Northumberland Hussars) LAA Battery until the end of the war.[19] Following the conversion, the regiment was unofficially considered to be a Royal Horse Artillery unit.[22]
In April 1941, the 'Hussars', and other elements from the 2nd Support Group, joined the 1st Armoured Brigade for Operation Lustre, (the move to Greece). At this time, the regiment had a strength of 578 men, 168 vehicles and 48 x 2pdrs.[23]
After their arrival, the regiment was deployed to hold the Metamorphos Pass in conjunction with the Greek Horse Artillery. On 22 April, they were subjected to dive bombing and tank attacks. Together with their New Zealand allies, the 'Hussars' acted as a rearguard. After a 12-hour battle and a 160-mile march through the night, they reached Athens on 25 April. The next day, they headed off to the nearby Rafina Beach and waited to be evacuated, having by now destroyed their guns and equipment. Most of the unit landed at Suda on the island of Crete. However, some elements were evacuated to Alexandria.[24]
Troops take shelter near an M10 tank destroyer, used by 102nd (Northumberland Hussars) Anti-Tank Regiment; 6 June 1944
On the island, they were equipped with rifles and tasked to fight as infantry on the Akrotiri Peninsula between Canea and Suda. On 15 May, they again came under air attack; 11 German gliders also landed in the regimental area. By 26 May, the peninsula was under allied control and the gliders had all been destroyed. On 27 May, the allies decided to evacuate Crete; the regiment had to withdraw across the mountains from the town of Suda to the evacuation beaches at Sphakia, a distance of 50 miles. Many troops did get away, but owing to heavy shipping losses, the embarkation was stopped on 31 May and over 200 men from the regiment were left behind and ordered to surrender to the advancing German forces.[24]
In October 1943, the highly experienced 50th Infantry Division set sail for England, arriving at Liverpool on 5 November 1943; the regiment had returned to the UK after an absence of almost three years. The Northumberland Hussars were, by this stage, a very experienced unit with six major battles, including two amphibious landings under their belts. They were an obvious choice to be placed at the forefront of Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. For the next six months, they joined thousands of allied servicemen training in Britain for the assault on the French Coast.[27]
In preparation for the assault, the Northumberland Hussars equipped their 99th and 288th batteries with eight 6pdrs and four M10 SP A/Tk Guns – a normal infantry division A/Tk battery had four 6pdrs and eight 17pdrs.[28] In addition, the regiment was reinforced by the 198th and 234th SP A/Tk Batteries (both with 12 M10s), which were detached from XXX Corps's 73rd Anti-Tank Regiment RA.[29]
Once the leading brigades had secured their objectives, they were to consolidate their position with the help of the 'Hussars' two other batteries. Meanwhile, the follow-up infantry Brigades (the 151st and the independent 56th, which had been attached to the division for the assault) would continue the push inland, supported by the 8th Armoured Brigade and the rest of the anti-tank units.[32]
The 50th Infantry Division was considered to have performed very well in Normandy; out of the three divisions that were veterans of the desert (the others being 7th Armoured Division and 51st (Highland) Infantry Division), it was considered to have performed the best. It was one of the driving forces behind the British advance, but was exhausted by the end of the battle. It later played a minor role in Operation Market Garden, where the 231st Infantry Brigade was detached to help support the advance of the Guards Armoured Division.[33]
In December 1944, when the rest of the division returned to Britain, the Northumberland Hussars remained in Northern Europe as part of the 15th (Lowland) Infantry Division, with which it remained until the end of the war.[34]
Post war
The regiment was disbanded from Regular service in the Royal Artillery and returned to the TA Order of battle in 1946 when it was equipped with Cruiser Tanks as the 50th (Northumbrian) Divisional Reconnaissance Regiment and re-occupied the Army Riding School.[35] The regimental headquarters and 'A' Squadron moved to Debden Gardens in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1954.[36]
In 1999 'D' Squadron and Headquarters Squadron amalgamated to form 'D' Squadron, (The Northumberland Hussars) at Fenham Barracks and the amalgamated squadron was equipped with CVR(T) Sabre and then FV107 Scimitar Tracked Armoured Reconnaissance vehicles. Then 'D' Squadron changed its name with Army 2020 to form command and support Squadron (The Northumberland Hussars) Queen's Own Yeomanry, equipped with the Land Rover RWMIK in 2014.[40]
Honorary Distinction from the Second World War, awarded to the Shropshire Yeomanry for service as a Royal Artillery regiment. The Northumberland Hussars Honorary Distinction was similar.
The Royal Artillery was present in nearly all battles and would have earned most of the honours awarded to cavalry and infantry regiments. In 1833, William IV awarded the motto Ubique (meaning "everywhere") in place of all battle honours.[42]
Prior to World War I the regiment wore a dark blue review order modelled on that of the regular hussar regiments of the British Army. However the six bands of braid across the front of the tunic were silver for officers and white for other ranks. Officers had red morocco shoulder belts, while troopers wore leather bandoliers. The historic fur busbies, with white over red plumes, were issued to all ranks for special occasions such as coronation parades. Dark blue overalls (tight fitting cavalry trousers) with double white stripes were worn for off duty wear and dismounted parades.[43] After 1914 the Northumberland Hussars wore the standard khaki service dress with regimental insignia for nearly all occasions.[44]
↑ The basic organic unit of the Royal Artillery was, and is, the Battery.[14] When grouped together they formed brigades, in the same way that infantry battalions or cavalry regiments were grouped together in brigades. At the outbreak of the First World War, a field artillery brigade of headquarters (4 officers, 37 other ranks), three batteries (5 and 193 each), and a brigade ammunition column (4 and 154)[15] had a total strength just under 800 so was broadly comparable to an infantry battalion (just over 1,000) or a cavalry regiment (about 550). Like an infantry battalion, an artillery brigade was usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. Artillery brigades were redesignated as regiments in 1938.
The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY) was a British Yeomanry regiment. In 1967 it was amalgamated with other units to form the Royal Yeomanry (RY), a light cavalry regiment of the Army Reserve. Originally raised as the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Cavalry in 1794, the regiment was used on several occasions in the 19th Century to maintain law and order. During the Second Boer War and both World Wars the regiment earned 44 battle honours. It is now one of the six squadrons of the Royal Yeomanry (RY), a light cavalry regiment of the Army Reserve. Designated as 'A' Squadron, the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry's current role is to support the Light Cavalry Regiments on operations by providing reconnaissance soldiers.
The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a volunteer yeomanry regiment which, in the 20th century, became part of the British Army Reserve. It traced its origins to the First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry raised in 1795, although a break in the lineage means that its formation is dated to the Marshfield and Dodington Troop raised in 1830. Six further troops – officered by nobility and gentry, and recruited largely from among landholders and tenant farmers – were subsequently raised in Gloucestershire, and in 1834 they came together to form the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1847, the regiment adopted a hussar uniform and the name Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. Originally intended to counter insurrection and a French invasion that never materialised, the yeomanry's first deployments were ceremonial and as mounted police during times of civil unrest. Three Gloucestershire troops were deployed to Bristol on two separate occasions in the 1830s in support of the civil authorities.
The Leicestershire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794 and again in 1803, which provided cavalry and mounted infantry in the Second Boer War and the First World War and provided two field artillery regiments of the Royal Artillery in the Second World War, before being amalgamated with the Derbyshire Yeomanry to form the Leicestershire and Derbyshire (Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry in 1957. The regiment's lineage is currently perpetuated by E (Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry) Squadron of the Royal Yeomanry.
The Warwickshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as cavalry and machine gunners in the First World War and as a cavalry and an armoured regiment in the Second World War, before being amalgamated into the Queen's Own Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry in 1956. The lineage is maintained by B Squadron, part of The Royal Yeomanry.
The Lanarkshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1819, which served as a dismounted infantry regiment in the First World War and provided two field artillery regiments in the Second World War, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Own Lowland Yeomanry in 1956. Its lineage was revived by B Squadron, the Scottish Yeomanry in 1992 until that unit was disbanded in 1999.
The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (RWY) was a Yeomanry regiment of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom established in 1794. It was disbanded as an independent Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when the strength of the Territorial Army was greatly reduced. The regiment lives on in B Squadron of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.
The 4th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the First World War on the Western Front where it was initially assigned to The Cavalry Division before spending most of the war with the 2nd Cavalry Division, and with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Second World War.
The Cheshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment that can trace its history back to 1797 when Sir John Leicester of Tabley raised a county regiment of light cavalry in response to the growing fears of invasion from Napoleonic France. Its lineage is maintained by C Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
The Shropshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1795, which served as a cavalry and dismounted infantry regiment in the First World War and as a cavalry and an artillery regiment in the Second World War. It was then amalgamated with the Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery.
The North Somerset Yeomanry was a part-time cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1798 to 1967. It maintained order in Somerset in the days before organised police forces, and supplied volunteers to fight in the Second Boer War. It served on the Western Front in the First World War. At the outbreak of the Second World War, it continued to operate in the mounted role and then as a specialist signals unit. Postwar it joined the Royal Armoured Corps and later became infantry. Its lineage today is maintained by 93 Squadron 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment.
The Lancashire Hussars was a British Army unit originally formed in 1798. It saw action in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War. In 1969, the regiment reduced to a cadre and the Yeomanry lineage discontinued.
The South Nottinghamshire Hussars is a unit of the British Army formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794. Converted to artillery in 1922, it presently forms part of 103 Regiment, Royal Artillery.
The Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. Originally formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1793, it fought in the Second Boer war as part of the Imperial Yeomanry. In the World War I the regiment fought at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front. The unit was subsequently converted into a Royal Artillery unit, serving in the anti-tank role North Africa, Italy and France during World War II. The lineage is maintained by No. 677 Squadron AAC.
The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1794 to 1956. It was formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its volunteer companies played an active role with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War, but opportunities for mounted action were much more restricted during the First World War and it was temporarily converted into a cycle unit. It remained a cavalry regiment throughout the interwar years, and was the last horsed unit of the British Army to see action, in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign of 1941, finally mechanising the following year. It served as motorised infantry in the North African and Italian campaigns of the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with the Yorkshire Hussars and the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by A Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army formed in 1902. Units of Yeomanry Cavalry were raised in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the 18th and early 19th centuries at times of national emergency: the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. These were stood down once each emergency was over. The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry, was established in 1902, and this saw action during the First World War both in the mounted role and as machine gunners.
The Denbighshire Hussars was a Welsh Yeomanry regiment of the British Army formed in 1794. It saw service in the First World War before being converted into a unit of the Royal Artillery. The lineage has been continued by 398 Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps.
The Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army founded in 1794 as the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry in response to the growing threat of invasion during the Napoleonic wars. It gained its first royal association in 1833 as The Princess Victoria's Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry, and its second, in 1843, as the Queen's Own Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry.
The Action at Bir el Gubi took place on 19 November 1941 near Biʾr al-Ġubbiyy, Libya. It was one of the opening engagements of Operation Crusader in North Africa and resulted in a success for the Italian armoured forces.
Barnes, B.S. (2008). The Sign of the Double 'T' (The 50th Northumbrian Division – July 1943 to December 1944). Market Weighton: Sentinel Press. ISBN978-0-9534262-0-1.
Delaforce, Patrick (2004). Monty's Northern Legions. 50th Northumbrian and 15th Scottish Divisions at War 1939-1945. Stroud: Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN9780750935562.
Forty, George (2004). Battle Zone Normandy: Villers Bocage. London: Sutton Publishing. ISBN0-7509-3012-8.
Hewitson, T.L. (2006). Weekend Warriors from Tyne to Tweed. Stoud: Tempus Publishing Limited. ISBN0-7524-3756-9.
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