Formation and early history 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. 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. In 1876, the regiment was renamed the
Northumberland (Hussars) Yeomanry Cavalry.
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. The regiment provided: • 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.
First World War 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.
1/1st Northumberland Hussars The 1st Line regiment was mobilised in August 1914, at the Army Riding School in
Newcastle upon Tyne, and attached to the
Yorkshire Mounted Brigade. In September, it joined the
7th Infantry Division at
Lyndhurst. On 6 October it landed at
Zeebrugge with the division. In April 1915, the regiment was split up • Regimental
Headquarters and A
Squadron remained with the 7th Division • B Squadron joined the
1st Division • C Squadron joined the
8th Division 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.
2/1st Northumberland Hussars The 2nd Line regiment was formed in October 1914. In April 1916, the regiment was split up: • Regimental Headquarters and B Squadron joined the
62nd (2nd West Riding) Division • A Squadron operated as an independent unit based in
Scarborough • C Squadron joined the
59th (2nd North Midland) Division 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. 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.
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 of the
Royal Field Artillery between 1920 and 1922. As the 14th most senior regiment in the
order of precedence, the regiment was retained as horsed cavalry.
Second World War In February 1940, the regiment transferred to the
Royal Artillery (RA) as the
102nd Light Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Tank Regiment, RA (Northumberland Hussars); two batteries were equipped with
2 pounder Anti-Tank Guns (2pdr A/Tk Guns), the other two were light anti-aircraft (LAA) batteries. Following conversion, the regiment joined the
2nd Armoured Division's
2nd Support Group. 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. 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. 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. , 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. The 102nd was attached to the
7th Armoured Division for
Operation Crusader, in November 1941. By February 1942, the 'Hussars' had moved to the
1st Armoured Division, with whom they participated in the
Battle of Gazala. In October 1942, they became part of the
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, with whom they took part in the
Second Battle of El Alamein and fought in
Sicily. 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. 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. 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. The
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division was to assault
Gold Beach with the
69th and
231st Infantry Brigades. The 69th Brigade, supported by the 99th battery, would land at
La Rivière and move south toward
Crépon and
Creully to
Saint-Léger, which was on the strategically important
Bayeux–
Caen road. The 231st Brigade would be supported by the 234th SP and 288th batteries. The 198th SP Battery was scheduled to land six hours after the first assault. 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. 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. 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.
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. The regimental headquarters and 'A' Squadron moved to Debden Gardens in
Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1954. After the formation of the
TAVR in 1967, the regiment was reduced to cadre strength at the
Barrack Road drill hall in 1969. The unit was then reformed as Headquarters Squadron (The Northumberland Hussars), the
Queen's Own Yeomanry at
Fenham Barracks,
Newcastle upon Tyne and equipped with
Ferret and
Alvis Saracen Armoured Cars in 1971. 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. ==Regimental museum==