The North Irish Horse was a yeomanry unit of the British Territorial Army raised in the northern counties of Ireland in the aftermath of the Second Boer War.

Raised and patronised by the nobility from its inception to the present day, it was one of the first non-regular units to be deployed to France and the Low Countries with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 during World War I and fought with distinction both as mounted troops and later as a cyclist regiment, achieving eighteen battle honours.

[1] The scope of the Militia was broadened by an act of the Dublin Parliament in 1796, which led to the raising of forty-nine troops of cavalry, later renamed yeomanry.

They were joined shortly afterwards by C Squadron of the North Irish Horse under the command of Major Lord Massereene and Ferrard DSO.

[18] After conversion to a cyclist battalion, the regiment became part of the "Great Retreat of 1918" during the Operation Michael phase of the German Kaiserschlacht (or Spring Offensive).

[19] Following the Armistice, on 13 November a supply of boot blackening and button polish was made available in the other ranks canteen and the regiment began handing in stores in preparation for moving back to Ireland.

On 13 May 1919, the rear party left Vignacourt en route for Pembroke Dock; in Antrim, the regimental depot was closed and the remaining men there were transferred to the Curragh Camp prior to being demobbed.

[22] The regiment's horses were transferred to the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars and the regiment was classed as "disembodied", which in British Army parlance meant that it no longer existed except as a name on the Army List with a complement (in this case) of an Honorary Colonel, Honorary Chaplain, a Brevet Colonel (EA Maude), six majors, six subalterns and the quartermaster although these officers had no peacetime training commitments.

[23] On 28 February 1924, the regiment held its first reunion in Thompson's Restaurant in Belfast, where it was agreed that a memorial to the dead of the Great War should be commissioned.

The sum of £500 was allocated and a memorial window was unveiled by the Earl of Shaftesbury and dedicated by the Right Reverend RW Hamilton MA, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church on 25 April 1925 on the occasion of the 2nd Regimental Reunion.

[24] Retirement and death eventually reduced the regimental strength in 1934 to just one combatant officer, Major Sir Ronald D Ross Bt, MC.

This state of affairs continued until 1938, when the British Government decided to increase the number of available regiments to meet the possible threat of war from the emergent Nazi regime in Germany.

Recruiting commenced and instructors were brought in from other RAC and Yeomanry units to raise the Horse from its "One Man Regiment" status from scratch.

[26] By January 1940, the regiment had received its vintage Rolls-Royce armoured cars fitted with Vickers machine guns and No 11 radio sets[27] and was able to form three sabre squadrons plus HQ Sqn.

[30] On 18 October 1941, the Horse left Northern Ireland and took up new accommodation at Westbury, Wiltshire with the squadrons billeted in the surrounding villages.

[31] The role was changed again at this point and the regiment handed in its Valentines to receive Churchill I – Mk IV's; it was assigned to the 34th Army Tank Brigade under the command of JN Tetley, son of the English brewing magnate.

[32] At this point, the tanks were given markings that corresponded to the formation, regiment and squadrons to which they belonged and, in a practice that was to become customary with all Irish units of the RAC, each tank was named after an Irish town or place beginning with the letter of the squadron designation:[33] Donegal, Downpatrick, Dromore, Drogheda, Dundalk, Dungannon Ardara, Aghadowey, Aghalee, Ahoghill, Aldergrove, Antrim, Ardara, Ardreagh, Ardstraw, Armoy, Ardress, Arklow, Artigavan, Augher, Aughnacloy, Annalong, Ardmore, Ards, Armagh, Ashbourne Ballina, Ballyclare, Ballykinlar, Ballyrashane, Belfast, Blackrock, Ballybay, Ballygawley, Ballymena, Banbridge, Benburb, Boyne, Ballycastle, Ballyjamesduff, Ballymoney, Bangor, Bessbrook, Bushmills Carnlough, Castlederg, Cavan, Clonmel, Cobh, Cookstown, Carrickfergus, Castlerobin, Claudy, Coagh, Coleraine, Cork, Carryduff, Castlerock, Clogher, Coalisland, Comber, Crossgar Edenderry, Enniscorthy.

Enniskillen, Edgeworthstown, Enniscrone, Ennistymon, Ennis, Enniskerry, Eyrecourt The regiment continued to be moved around the Home Counties and also spent time in Wales, exercising and becoming familiar with its Churchill tanks.

[36] On their return, the regiment's tanks were sheeted down so that all markings were hidden and all ranks had to divest themselves of identifying badges to prevent knowledge of their deployment becoming known.

The regiment was ordered to leave Le Kef at speed to counter the Axis Offensive – Operation Ochsenkopf in late February 1943.

[40] In the further advance north while attached to the 38th (Irish) Brigade, which was under the command of Brigadier Nelson Russell, the Horse showed the agility of the often underestimated Churchills by climbing heights regarded as safe from tanks and surprising the Germans occupying them, a fact noted by Spike Milligan in his account of the Tunisian Campaign in his book "Rommel?"

The German infantry did not expect tanks to be able to make the crest of the Djebel and as a result were thrown into panic when the Churchills of B Sqn appeared in their midst.

After a week in harbour, the regiment was sent on tank transporters to Mignano near Monte Cassino, which had fallen some days earlier along with the rest of the Gustav Line.

The crew were shaken but unhurt, and the incident gave them another chance to display the marvellous climbing skills of the Churchill as they crawled slowly up the almost sheer walls of the ravine to re-enter the battle.

[56] The race was on, however, to drive the Germans back, and the North Irish Horse was rushed in again to relieve the hard-pressed 142nd RAC Regt at Maria del Monte.

The Churchills once again proved their worth in their ability to cross natural obstacles such as rivers, mountains and the thick glutinous mud, which formed on the arable farmland during the rains and after it had been churned up by thousands of men and machines.

[60] In late March, the regiment was involved in the action south of the Senio river and by 2 April was facing the enemy's defences along the flood-banks and engaging them at close range.

[61] Following Operation Buckland[62] and the crossing of the River Po, the regiment was ordered to stand down on 30 April 1945 for the last time in the Second World War.

Eventually, most of the tanks were handed in except for three per squadron, and a move was made into Austria, where the Horse took on the role of armoured reconnaissance regiment for the 78th Division.

[66] During Options for Change in 1992, the Horse was re-established as an independent Reconnaissance Squadron, equipped with Land Rovers and working under the command of the Royal Irish Rangers.