HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY 1882 - 1917

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY -

BRIEF REGIMENTAL HISTORY OF

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY

1882 - 1917

The Household Cavalry

1882 - 1917

1882	Egypt - All three commanding officers of the Household Cavalry strove to get a Household Cavalry Regiment into the forces which, under Sir Garnet Wolseley, went to Egypt to suppress a Nationalist rising in the Egyptian army in 1882. The result of their efforts was the 600 strong Household Cavalry Composite Regiment, which played a prominent part in the short campaign. The Moonlight Charge of the Regiment at Kassassin stirred popular imagination at the time. At the more decisive battle of Tel el Kebir, shortly afterwards, the Composite Regiment, with Sir Drury Lowe's Cavalry Division, by-passed the Egyption defences and overrode their rear.
1885	In the Nile Expedition, in the Sudan, which attempted to raise the siege of Khartoum, the Household Cavalry provided detachments of the Heavy Camel Corps. They were engaged in the action at Abu Klea, 17th January, 1885 - unfortunately, Colonel F G Burnaby was killed while closing the square.
1899 - 1900	South Africa - Another Household Cavalry Composite Regiment was formed in 1899 to fight in South Africa. The Composite Regiment was first in action near Rensburg, 7th January 1900. From then on they were in the action to relieve Kimberley, took part in the battle of Paardeberg, the advance to Pretoria, and the battle of Diamond Hill (all in 1900).
1914	France and Flanders - At the outbreak of the First World War, each Regiment of Household Cavalry provided one Squadron to form the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment, which embarked for France in August 1914. This Regiment formed part of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in the 2nd Cavalry Division. Britain had only a tiny Regular Army to put in the field at the outbreak of war, while volunteers were trained at home. The Germans swarmed through neutral Belgium threatening Paris and the Channel Ports. The Composite Regiment's short life of three months saw it decimated to a mere 63 men. Its battle honours were: Mons, Le Cateau (August 1914), The Marne, The Aisne (September 1914), Messines, and Armentieres (October 1914). The remainder of the Household Cavalry in England were reinforced by drafts from Regiments of the Line Cavalry. Early in October 1914, the three Regiments (1st and 2nd Life Guards and The Blues) were sent to Belgium. They formed the 7th Cavalry Brigade in the 3rd Cavalry Division and were immediately involved in the violent battle of Ypres (1914). During the battle of Langemarck (21st-24th October, 1914), the 7th Cavalry Brigade manned the trenches from Zonnebeke to St. Julien. At Gheluvelt (29th-31st October) they bore the brunt of attack by an augmented German division in trenches around the south of Zandvoorde, and were forced back on Klein Zillebeke. The 1st and 2nd Life Guards had two Squadrons wiped out, while The Blues lost their complete MG (Machine Gun) section. They were in support at Hooge, during the attack by the Prussian Guard at Nonne Bosschen (11th November). On this day the Composite Regiment disbanded, and each man remaining joined his own Regiment.
1915	Immediately afterwards, The Blues became part of the 8th Cavalry Brigade, but all three Regiments of Household Cavalry were in action during the second battle of Ypres (April and May 1915). The Regiments were mainly in reserve during the action of St Julien, but during the action of Frezenberg Ridge (8th-13th May, 1915), they suffered very heavily in the trenches near the Ypres-Zonnebeke road. It was here, Frezenberg, that The Blues made a most valiant bayonet charge, 13th May, 1915. At the Battle of Loos, at the end of September 1916, The Blues held 150 yards of trenches south-east of Loos under a bombardment of shrapnel, high explosive and gas shells.
1916	In the Somme battles from July to November 1916, the Regiments moved about with horses, close behind the front, expectant of the eventual break-through which never came. Trench systems were now highly developed, and in greater depth. The solders' conditions in the wastes of mud, ruins and unburied dead, were worse than anything hitherto known in war.
1917	At Arras (April 1917), east of the town, the Household Cavalry again were poised for the cavalry exploitation of a breakthrough which never came.