In 1794, King George III was on the throne, William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister of Great Britain and, across the Channel, Britain was faced by a French nation that had recently guillotined its King and possessed a revolutionary army numbering half a million men.

[5] The Yeomanry was not intended to serve overseas, but due to the string of defeats during Black Week in December 1899, the British government realized they were going to need more troops than just the regular army.

[9] The 1st Line regiment was mobilised in August 1914, at the Army Riding School in Newcastle upon Tyne,[10] and attached to the Yorkshire Mounted Brigade.

In April 1915, the regiment was split up This lasted until May 1916, when the squadrons were reunited in France to act as the Cavalry unit for XIII Corps.

[11] Four Northumberland Hussars, who died in the First World War and have no known grave, are commemorated on panel 5 of the Menin Gate.

[17] In February 1940, the regiment transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA) as the 102nd Light Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Tank Regiment, RA (Northumberland Hussars);[18][19] two batteries were equipped with 2 pounder Anti-Tank Guns (2pdr A/Tk Guns), the other two were light anti-aircraft (LAA) batteries.

[22] In April 1941, the 'Hussars', and other elements from the 2nd Support Group, joined the 1st Armoured Brigade for Operation Lustre, (the move to Greece).

[23] After their arrival, the regiment was deployed to hold the Metamorphos Pass in conjunction with the Greek Horse Artillery.

Many troops did get away, but owing to heavy shipping losses, the embarkation was stopped on 31 May and over 200 men from the regiment were left behind and ordered to surrender to the advancing German forces.

[26] In October 1943, the highly experienced 50th Infantry Division set sail for England, arriving at Liverpool on 5 November 1943; the regiment had returned to the UK after an absence of almost three years.

The Northumberland Hussars were, by this stage, a very experienced unit with six major battles, including two amphibious landings under their belts.

The 69th Brigade, supported by the 99th battery, would land at La Rivière and move south toward Crépon and Creully to Saint-Léger, which was on the strategically important Bayeux–Caen road.

It later played a minor role in Operation Market Garden, where the 231st Infantry Brigade was detached to help support the advance of the Guards Armoured Division.

[36] After the formation of the TAVR in 1967, the regiment was reduced to cadre strength at the Barrack Road drill hall in 1969.

[37] The unit was then reformed as Headquarters Squadron (The Northumberland Hussars), the Queen's Own Yeomanry at Fenham Barracks, Newcastle upon Tyne[38] and equipped with Ferret and Alvis Saracen Armoured Cars in 1971.

The historic fur busbies, with white over red plumes, were issued to all ranks for special occasions such as coronation parades.

Dark blue overalls (tight fitting cavalry trousers) with double white stripes were worn for off duty wear and dismounted parades.

[43] After 1914 the Northumberland Hussars wore the standard khaki service dress with regimental insignia for nearly all occasions.