The 1st Cavalry Brigade was a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. B ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. It served in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

(1st Household Cavalry Brigade), the

Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt (1882), also known as Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It ...

(1st (Heavy) Cavalry Brigade), the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

and in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when it was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. Prior to World War I the brigade was based at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

in England and originally consisted of three cavalry regiments, and a Royal Engineers signal troop. After the declaration of war in August 1914, the brigade was deployed to the Western Front in France, where an artillery battery joined the brigade the following September and a Machine Gun Squadron in February 1916. One of the brigade's early battles was the action at Néry on 1 September 1914 when, acting alone, the brigade defeated the German 4th Cavalry Division. As a result of this action three men from the artillery battery – Captain Edward Bradbury, Sergeant-Major George Dorrell and Sergeant David Nelson – were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

History

Napoleonic Wars

From June 1809,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

organized his cavalry into one, later two, cavalry divisions ( 1st and

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit, ...

) for the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. These performed a purely administrative, rather than tactical, role; the normal tactical headquarters were provided by brigades commanding two, later usually three, regiments. The cavalry brigades were named for the commanding officer, rather than numbered. For the Hundred Days Campaign, he numbered his British cavalry brigades in a single sequence, 1st to 7th. The 1st Cavalry Brigade consisted of: *

1st Life Guards The 1st Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...

2nd Life Guards The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...

* Royal Horse Guards *

1st King's Dragoon Guards The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment was raised by Sir John Lanier in 1685 as the 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed the 2nd Ki ...

As the majority of the brigade consisted of

Household Cavalry The Household Cavalry (HCav) is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment sta ...

regiments, it was known as the 1st (Household) Cavalry Brigade .

Anglo-Egyptian War

* Household Cavalry Composite Regiment (1 Squadron each from the

and Royal Horse Guards) *

4th Dragoon Guards The 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685 as the Earl of Arran's Regiment of Cuirassiers. It was renamed as the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in 1788 and service for two centuries, inclu ...

7th Dragoon Guards The 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1688 as Lord Cavendish's Regiment of Horse. It was renamed as the 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards for Princess Charlotte in 1788. ...

Second Boer War

The brigade was reformed for the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. During the Battle of Paardeberg, the brigade commanded: * Household Cavalry Composite Regiment * 10th Royal Hussars *

12th Royal Lancers The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army first formed in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war ...

* Q, T and U Batteries,

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link r ...

Following the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 the army was restructured, and the 1st Cavalry Brigade was established at

(South Cavalry Barracks) attached to the 1st Army Corps.

First World War

* 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) * 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards * 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars * 1st Signal Troop, Royal Engineers * I Battery, Royal Horse Artillery ''from 17 September 1914'' *1st Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks ...

Commanders

The commanders of the 1st Cavalry Brigade during the First World War were: *Brigadier-General C. J. Briggs (At mobilization) *Lieutenant-Colonel T. T. Pitman (7 May 1915 - acting) *Brigadier-General E. Makins (15 May 1915) *Brigadier-General H. S. Sewell (16 April 1918)

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

* *{{cite web, url=http://www.warpath.orbat.com/cav/1_cav_div.htm , title=1st Cavalry Division on ''The Regimental Warpath 1914 - 1918'' by PB Chappell , accessdate=2 August 2013 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108093653/http://www.warpath.orbat.com/cav/1_cav_div.htm , archivedate=8 January 2008 Cavalry brigades of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1815 Military units and formations disestablished in 1815 Military units and formations established in 1899 Military units and formations disestablished in 1902 Military units and formations established in 1914 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919