World War II The Denbighshire Hussars was a Welsh Yeomanry regiment of the British Army formed in 1794.
After Britain was drawn into the French Revolutionary Wars, the government of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger proposed on 14 March 1794 that the counties should form Corps of Yeomanry Cavalry that could be called on by the King to defend the country against invasion or by the Lord Lieutenant to subdue any civil disorder within the county.
[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] By 26 January 1820, when the regiment became the Denbighshire Yeomanry Cavalry, there were five troops under Colonel-Commandant Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet.
[2][7][9] Although the Yeomanry generally declined in importance and numbers after the end of the French wars,[10] the Denbigh regiment was sometimes called out to suppress riots in the 1820s and 1830s.
On their return march the Yeomanry passed Cinder Hill, a pile of blast furnace waste from which thousands of people were watching.
Lloyd joined the regiment after his return to Wales and as a captain in December 1830 had played a prominent role in defusing the difficult situation at 'Cinder Hill'.
[3] Sir William Lloyd died on 16 May 1857 and Lieutenant-Colonel Charles John Tottenham of Plas Berwyn (late of the 2nd Life Guards and High Sheriff of Denbighshire) was appointed to the command on 12 June 1857.
The Denbighshire, Derbyshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry were assigned to the Cavalry Brigade of VI Corps based at Crewe, alongside a Regular Royal Horse Artillery battery.
This was never more than a paper organisation, but from April 1893 the Army List showed the Yeomanry regiments grouped into brigades for collective training.
[13] In 1885 Capt Sydney Platt began recruiting for the Denbighshire Hussars in neighbouring Caernarfonshire, which had no yeomanry.
The Royal Warrant asked standing Yeomanry regiments to provide service companies of approximately 115 men each.
7, c.9) which brought the TF into being, it was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country.
On 15 August the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units.
[47][32][45][46][51][52] At first this brigade was placed in the Suez Canal defences under 53rd (Welsh) Division, with 1/1st Denbighshire Hussars at Moghara, but in April it came under the command of Western Frontier Force (WFF).
[55][56][62][63] The German spring offensive in March 1918 led to an urgent call for the EEF to supply reinforcements for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front,.
[55][56][59][61][64][65] Due to a lack of replacements, British[a] infantry divisions on the Western Front had been reduced from 12 to nine battalions at the beginning of 1918.
[55][56][59][61][67][68][69][70] The battalion remained with 94th (Y) Bde in 31st Division for the rest of the war, taking part in the Action of Le Becque (28 June), the Capture of Vieux-Berquin (13 August) and the Final Advance in Flanders, including the Fifth Battle of Ypres (28 September–2 October) and the Action at Tieghem (31 October).
After a period in reserve, the division was pushing forward through Belgium from Avelghem to Renaix when the Armistice with Germany came into force on 11 November.
[2] The 2nd Line regiment was formed in September 1914 and joined the 2/1st Welsh Border Mounted Brigade in the Newcastle area of Northumberland in January 1915.
The regiment was disbanded in about February 1917 with the personnel transferring to the 2/1st Denbighshire Hussars or to the 4th (Reserve) Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Oswestry.
Wartime experience showed that the army had too many mounted units, and so only the 14 most senior Yeomanry regiments were retained in the TA as horsed cavalry, the remainder being converted to other roles,[e] mainly as artillery.
This had been reformed in 1920 from the prewar Welsh (Carnarvonshire) Heavy Battery[f] as 12th (Carnarvon and Denbigh) Medium Brigade',[g] in the TF and then renumbered in the TA.
After the German invasion of the Low Countries in May 1940 it played a distinguished part in the Battle of France before being evacuated from Dunkirk with the loss of all its equipment.
[89][92][93] The regiment continued with 8th AGRA through the subsequent campaign in North West Europe, culminating in the crossing of the Rhine (Operation Plunder) in March 1945.
[5][79][103] Finally, on 1 April 1971 the cadre was disbanded to reform as infantry, finding B (Flintshire and Denbighshire Yeomanry) Company in 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
[104] From the beginning the regiment wore a blue jacket with three vertical rows of silver buttons; there may have been lace loops across the front, but they had gone by 1820.
[3] In 1856 the regiment adopted a Hussar uniform with six white loops across the front and a black Dragoon helmet with red plume.
[7][8][13][105][106] The full dress uniform of the Denbighshire Hussars Imperial Yeomanry reflected the Boer War experience of the IY alongside Colonial units.
The head dress was a drab felt Slouch hat with a scarlet pagri and white feather Hackle; the left side was turned up and displayed the regimental cap badge.
[79] The following served as Honorary Colonel of the unit:[13] There is a memorial to the 17 men of 29th (Denbighshire) Company Imperial Yeomanry who died on active service during the Second Boer War inside St Giles' Church in Wrexham.