The City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) was a

yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles. History Origins In the 1790s, f ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Territorial Army, formed in 1901 from veterans of 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 So ...

. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

it served dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign but reverted to the mounted role in the Senussi campaign, at

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and in Palestine. It ended the war as a machine gun unit on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

. In the interwar years it was reduced to a battery in a composite

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 ...

unit in London, but in the period of rearmament before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

it was expanded into a full regiment of light anti-aircraft artillery. It served in this role during

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

and later in the Tunisian and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

campaigns. Postwar it became an armoured regiment. It amalgamated with the Inns of Court Regiment to form the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry in 1961. The lineage is maintained by 68 ( Inns of Court & City Yeomanry) Signal Squadron, part of 71 (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment.

Imperial Yeomanry

Rough Riders memorial, Waltham Abbey Church 2022-02-26

Following a string of defeats during

Black Week Black Week refers to the week of 10–17 December 1899 during the Second Boer War, when the British Army suffered three devastating defeats by the Boer Republics at the battles of Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso. In total, 2,776 British ...

in early December 1899, the British government realised that it would need additional troops to help the

Regular army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

fight the

. On 13 December, the decision to allow volunteer forces to serve in the field was made, and a Royal Warrant was issued on 24 December. This officially created the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but s ...

(IY). The force was organised as county service companies of approximately 115 men signed up for one year, and volunteers from existing

Yeomanry Cavalry The Yeomanry Cavalry was the mounted component of the British Volunteer Corps, a military auxiliary established in the late 18th century amid fears of invasion and insurrection during the French Revolutionary Wars. A yeoman was a person of r ...

regiments and civilians (usually middle and upper class) quickly filled the new force, which was equipped to operate as

Mounted infantry Mounted infantry were infantry who rode horses instead of marching. The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely speciall ...

. The 20th (Rough Riders) Battalion, IY, was raised on 17 March 1900 in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

by the

Earl of Lathom Baron Skelmersdale, of Skelmersdale in the County Palatine of Lancaster, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1828 for the former Member of Parliament for Westbury, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Clitheroe and Dover, Edwar ...

as a corps specially suited to combating the Boers' 'Rough Rider' irregular cavalry tactics (the title referenced

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Rough Riders The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see combat. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and di ...

who served in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

of 1898). The battalion consisted of 72nd, 76th, 78th and 79th (Rough Rider) Companies, IY, under the command of Lt-Col Richard Colvin, of the Essex Troop,

Loyal Suffolk Hussars The Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. Originally formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1793, it fought in the Second Boer war as part of the Imperial Yeomanry. In the World War I the regimen ...

, with

Capt Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Viscount Maitland (formerly of the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...

) as

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

. It embarked in April after only one month's training.Foakes & McKenzie-Bell, p. 8.Frederick, p.41.Barnes, pp. 262–3.Ryan. The battalion landed in South Africa on 3 May, where the companies were posted to separate formations during the guerrilla war phase of the campaign.IY Companies at Roll of Honour.
/ref> For example, at the end of July the 72nd and 79th Companies of 'The Roughs' joined

Col In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding co ...

Bryan Mahon Bryan Thomas Mahon, (2 April 1862 – 29 September 1930) was an Irish general of the British Army, a senator of the short-lived Senate of Southern Ireland, and a member for eight years of the Irish Free State Senate until his death. Biograp ...

's force at

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

alongside the 20th (Fife and Forfar Light Horse) Company and a composite squadron formed from the depleted 7th Battalion, IY ( 25th (West Somerset), 26th (Dorset), 27th (Devon), 48th (North Somerset) and 69th (Sussex) Companies) and saw action at Olifant's Nek in August during the pursuit of Christiaan de Wet. 'The Roughs' were popular among their fellow yeomen because of the large quantities of food and comforts they received from family and friends in the city. In September 1900 72nd Company was serving alongside the composite squadron in a column under Maj-Gen R.A.P. Clements pursuing

Koos de la Rey Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey (22 October 1847 – 15 September 1914), better known as Koos de la Rey, was a South African military officer who served as a Boer general during the Second Boer War. also had a political career and was one of the ...

. In October the company was ordered back to Pretoria. During the campaign the 20th (Rough Riders) Battalion lost three officers and 27 other ranks killed or died, and 18 seriously wounded, and its members received a number of decorations, including Lt-Col Colvin who was

Mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

and awarded a Companionship of the Bath (CB). The First Contingent of the Imperial Yeomanry completed their year's term of service in 1901 but enough of the Rough Riders signed on for a second term for two companies (76th and 78th) of the battalion to continue in service. Meanwhile, the 22nd (Rough Riders) Battalion, IY, had been raised in London on 27 March 1901 for the Second Contingent of the IY, consisting of 84th, 85th, 86th and 87th (Rough Riders) Companies. The 2nd Rough Riders sailed from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

aboard the ''German'' on 31 March under the command of Lt-Col Stewart, with Maj

Viscount Dungarvan Earl of Cork is a title in the Peerage of Ireland, held in conjunction with the Earldom of Orrery since 1753. It was created in 1620 for Richard Boyle, 1st Baron Boyle. He had already been created Lord Boyle, Baron of Youghal, in the County ...

(lieutenant-colonel of the

North Somerset Yeomanry The North Somerset Yeomanry was a part-time cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1798 to 1967. It maintained order in Somerset in the days before organised police forces, and supplied volunteers to fight in the Second Boer War. It served on ...

) as his second-in-command. On arrival in South Africa the battalion was joined by 76th and 78th Companies from the First Contingent. The battalion was disbanded at the end of the war in 1902. The Imperial Yeomanry concept was considered a success: before the war ended the existing Yeomanry regiments at home were converted into Imperial Yeomanry, and some of the war-raised battalions were established as permanent regiments. The Rough Riders were established on 27 July 1901 as 1st County of London Imperial Yeomanry (Rough Riders) under the command of Viscount Maitland, promoted to lieutenant-colonel, while Lt-Col Colvin was invited to raise and command a separate new regiment of Essex Imperial Yeomanry.''Monthly Army List'', various dates.CoLY at Long, Long Trail.
/ref> In 1902 the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

and other influential City people successfully petitioned for the unit's name to be changed to City of London Imperial Yeomanry (Rough Riders).CoLY at Regiments.org.
/ref> Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) was established at the London Guildhall, later transferring to

Finsbury Square Finsbury Square is a square in Finsbury in central London which includes a six-rink grass bowling green. It was developed in 1777 on the site of a previous area of green space to the north of the City of London known as Finsbury Fields, in the pa ...

. The establishment of a regiment of the IY was four squadrons and a machine gun section, totalling 596 men. The new regiment was granted the

Battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

South Africa 1900–02 in view of the service of its predecessor units.

Territorial Force

Under the

Haldane Reforms The Haldane Reforms were a series of far-ranging reforms of the British Army made from 1906 to 1912, and named after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane. They were the first major reforms since the "Childers Reforms" of the e ...

of 1908, the Imperial Yeomanry was subsumed into the new

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

(TF) and the regiments dropped the 'Imperial' part of their titles.CoLY at Stepping Forward London.
/ref> The regiment formed part of the

London Mounted Brigade London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

of the TF.Becke, pp. 9–17.2nd Mounted Division at Long, Long Trail.
/ref> The regiment also provided the personnel for the London Mounted Brigade Signal Section.

World War I

Mobilisation

On the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914 the regiment mobilised at Finsbury Square under the command of Lt-Col O.E. Boulton, TD.James, pp. 22–3. In accordance with the

Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (''7 Edw. 7, c.9'') was an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the auxiliary forces of the British Army by transferring existing Volunteer ...

(''

7 Edw. 7 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

, c.9'') which brought it 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, the units were invited to volunteer for Imperial Service on 10 August and most did so. TF units were therefore split in August and September 1914 into 1st Line units for overseas service and 2nd Line reserve units composed of recruits under training and those unable or unwilling to serve overseas. In 1915 the 2nd Line were prepared for active service (though not all went overseas) and 3rd Line units were formed to provide trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line, while the home service-only men were transferred to provisional brigades for home defence.

1/1st City of London Yeomanry

The 1st Line regiment concentrated with the London Mounted Brigade at its war station of

Cavalry Barracks, Hounslow Cavalry Barracks is a former British Army installation located north of Hounslow Heath in Hounslow, west London. Hounslow was one of 40 new barracks established around the country in the wake of the French Revolution, to guard against the dual t ...

. It joined

2nd Mounted Division The 2nd Mounted Division was a yeomanry ( Territorial Army cavalry) division that served in the First World War. At the outbreak of war it was assigned to defence of the Norfolk coast. In March 1915 it formed a 2nd Line duplicate of itself, ...

on 2 September at Streatley, Berkshire, where the brigades dispersed for training and because of lack of water supplies. The division moved to

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

in November 1914, with the London Mtd Bde stationed round

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district. Demography The civil parish has an area of and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the pa ...

. Early in March 1915 the division was warned to prepare for overseas service.

Gallipoli

On 11 April 1915, the regiment embarked on the ''

Scotia Scotia is a Latin placename derived from ''Scoti'', a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century.Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around ...

'' and departed from

Avonmouth Docks The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avo ...

for the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

. It arrived off Cape Helles on 28 April, three days after the Allied landing had begun the Gallipoli Campaign, and it stood by to land, watching the naval bombardment and shrapnel bursting. However, on 1 May it departed again for

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, arriving at

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

on 6 May, where it rejoined the 2nd Mounted Division. It was posted to the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...

Defences (near

Ismaïlia Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

) by the middle of May and its parent brigade was designated 4th (London) Mounted Brigade.Westlake, pp. 263–4. The division was dismounted in August 1915 for service at Gallipoli. Each regiment left a squadron

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 ...

and two

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Tr ...

s (about 100 officers and men) in Egypt to look after the horses.James, Appendix II, p. 34. The dismounted regiment embarked at Alexandria aboard the ''Caledonia'' on 14 August and sailed for

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

where it transshipped to HMS ''Doris'' and continued to

Suvla Bay View of Suvla from Battleship Hill Suvla () is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros. On 6 August 1915, it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as par ...

where a fresh landing on the Gallipoli peninsula was under way. The regiment landed on the morning of 18 August and went into reserve positions at Karakol Dagh. It moved to 'C' Beach, Lala Baba, on 20 August. On 21 August it advanced to Chocolate Hill under heavy fire and took part in the attack on the Turkish positions on Hill 112 (the Battle of Scimitar Hill). The Yeomanry brigades advancing in squadron columns 'presented such a target as artillerymen dream of' and suffered heavy casualties as they 'stumbled blindly forward into battle'. The 1/1st CoLY reached Green Hill and occupied the trenches there, finding them 'chock full of dead and dying' from the earlier attack by 86th Brigade. It was ordered to retire during the night and the survivors were back at Lala Baba by 04.30. Due to the losses at Hill 112 and from battle

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