Formation and early years A Troop, Royal Horse Artillery was raised as The Chestnut Troop at Woolwich on 1 February 1793. In 1798 the troop saw action in the Irish Rebellion and in 1799 it fought in the Netherlands. In 1806,
Hew Dalrymple Ross assumed command of the unit which he led during campaigns in Spain, Portugal and France. Ross was later knighted and promoted to
field marshal. After 1809, it fought in the
Peninsular War and at the
Battle of Waterloo. Between 1855 and 1856 it fought in the
Crimean War.
World War I The outbreak of the First World War saw the unit, now enlarged to a battery, deployed to France in 1914. It served during all four years, firing its last round at Orrs on 4 November 1918. and, in 1921, it was deployed to
Basra. In 1938, the battery became part of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. During the
Italian Campaign, commander
Anthony Clarke refused orders to bombard the town of
Sansepolcro in order to preserve
Piero della Francesca's fresco painting
The Resurrection, having remembered
Aldous Huxley's description of it as "the greatest picture in the world."
Post war In the post-war period the battery served in Egypt, the United Kingdom and Germany. Most significantly, between 1965 and 1967 it was deployed to Aden. In the 1970s, the battery completed tours in Northern Ireland, and in 1990, the battery provided soldiers for a combined A/B/E Battery which fought in the
Gulf War. In 1996, the battery served in
Bosnia as a part of
IFOR. In April 2004, the unit deployed to Basra as part of the 1 Cheshire Battlegroup, and was tasked with developing the
Iraqi Police within the City, as part of Operation Telic 4. Later in 2007 the battery deployed to
Basra on Operation Telic 10. In 2009 A Battery served in Sangin as part of 3 Rifles Battlegroup on Operation Herrick 11. ==See also==