The 19th Mounted Brigade previously known as the 2/1st Scottish Horse Mounted Brigade was a 2nd Line
yeomanry brigade of the
British Army during the
First World War. In July 1916 it was converted to a
cyclist formation as 12th Cyclist Brigade and redesignated as 8th Cyclist Brigade in November 1916. It was still in existence, in Ireland, at the end of the war.
Mounted Brigade
In accordance with the
Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907
The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 ('' 7 Edw. 7, c.9'') was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the auxiliary forces of the British Army by transferring existing Volunteer and Yeomanry units into a new Territori ...
(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.
Similarly, by 1915 most 2nd Line yeomanry regiments were formed into 2nd Line mounted brigades with the same title and composition as the pre-war 1st Line formations. Two other 2nd Line brigades (
2/1st Southern Mounted Brigade and
2/1st Western Mounted Brigade
The W21 was an hydrogen bomb design for the US military. It would have used the physics package of the TX-21 bomb. The TX-21 was a weaponized version of the "Shrimp" device tested in the Bravo shot of Operation Castle. A TX-21C was tested as th ...
) without 1st Line antecedents were also formed.
The
Scottish Horse was initially expanded by the formation of a 3rd Regiment in August 1914. All three regiments then formed 2nd Line units (2/1st Scottish Horse, 2/2nd Scottish Horse, and 2/3rd Scottish Horse) in August and September 1914 at
Dunkeld and
Aberdeen. They moved to
Kettering,
Northamptonshire and formed 2/1st Scottish Horse Mounted Brigade. At the end of 1915 they moved to
Alford,
Lincolnshire.
On 31 March 1916, the remaining Mounted Brigades were ordered to be numbered in a single sequence and the brigade became 19th Mounted Brigade, still in Lincolnshire under
Northern Command.
[
]
Cyclist Brigade
In July 1916 there was a major reorganization of 2nd Line yeomanry units in the United Kingdom. All but 12 regiments were converted to cyclists[ and as a consequence the brigade was converted to 12th Cyclist Brigade. Further reorganization in October and November 1916 saw the brigade redesignated as 8th Cyclist Brigade in November, still in Lincolnshire.][
At the end of 1917, the brigade moved to ]Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
with the regiments at Ladybank (2/1st), St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...
(2/2nd) and Cupar (2/3rd). In April 1918, it moved to Ireland (headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
at Limerick) and the regiments were stationed at Limerick (2/1st), Lahinch (2/2nd) and Tulla (2/3rd) where they remained until the end of the war.
See also
* Scottish Horse Mounted Brigade
The Scottish Horse Mounted Brigade was a formation of the Territorial Force of the British Army, raised in August 1914, during the First World War. After service in the Gallipoli Campaign and in the defence of Egypt, it was absorbed into the 1s ...
for the 1st Line formation
* British yeomanry during the First World War
The British yeomanry during the First World War were part of the British Army reserve Territorial Force. Initially, in 1914, there were fifty-seven regiments and fourteen mounted brigades. Soon after the declaration of war, second and third line ...
* Second line yeomanry regiments of the British Army
References
Bibliography
*
* {{cite book
, last = Rinaldi , first = Richard A
, year = 2008
, title = Order of Battle of the British Army 1914
, publisher = Ravi Rikhye
, isbn = 978-0-97760728-0
Cyclist units and formations of the British Army
Mounted Brigades of the British Army
Military units and formations disestablished in 1914
Military units and formations disestablished in 1918