Other ranks’ collar badge, 14th King’s Hussars, 1900-04
NAM. 1964-04-85-21

Introduction

Like many of the British Army’s light cavalry regiments, this unit was raised in southern England in 1715 and immediately sent to Preston to face the First Jacobite Rebellion.

From 1717 to 1742 it was in Ireland and in 1745 it faced the Jacobites again, this time in Scotland. It then immediately returned to Ireland in 1746 for nearly 50 more years of peacekeeping.

In 1791 Crown Princess Frederica, the only child of the king of Prussia, landed in Dover to marry Frederick, Duke of York and second son of King George III. The regiment provided her escort to London and seven years later was named after her and granted the Prussian eagle as its cap badge – an honour abolished between 1915 and 1918 but retained by both of its successor regiments.

Its first overseas deployment came two years later when two of its troops were posted to the Low Countries and Germany in 1794. The few men from these troops who survived these campaigns were absorbed into the 8th Dragoons. Seven troops of the 14th were still left, however, and these were sent to Haiti in 1795. These troops also faced rebel slaves on Jamaica and garrisoned Santo Domingo, but their losses to tropical disease were so heavy that only 25 men returned to England in 1797.

A soldier of the 14th Light Dragoons, 1820
NAM. 1982-04-217-11

The regiment remained in England to recruit until 1808, when it sailed for the Peninsula. It fought in Spain, Portugal and France until May 1814, when it was shipped back to England. Yet within a few months it was sent to fight in the New Orleans campaign of the War of 1812.

It came straight back home in 1815 and alternated between England, Scotland and Ireland until its first Indian deployment in 1841. It remained there until 1860, fighting at Ramnuggur during the First Sikh War (1845-46). 1857 saw it in both the Anglo-Persian War and opposing the Indian Mutiny, before returning to Ireland two years later.

Between 1860 and 1914 the regiment spent 29 years in Ireland or England, interspersed with three Indian postings in 1876, 1881 and 1906 and two South African ones in 1881 and 1900. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 the regiment remained in India, seeing its first action a year later when it was deployed to what is now Iraq. It spent four of the next five years there – the exception being 1918, which it spent back in Persia.

In March 1919 it was ordered to Germany to join the Army of Occupation in Cologne. From there it also sent one squadron to occupy Silesia. The regiment was still in Germany in 1922, when it amalgamated with the 20th Hussars to form the 14th/20th Hussars.

Key facts

Nickname:

• The Emperor’s Chambermaids (after fighting at the battle of Vittoria in Spain in 1813, the regiment looted a silver chamber pot from the carriage used by Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain and Napoleon’s elder brother)

Titles to date:

• James Dormer’s Regiment of Dragoons
• 14th Dragoons
• 14th Regiment of Dragoons
• 14th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
• 14th (The Duchess of York’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
• 14th (The King’s) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons
• 14th (The King’s) Hussars
• 14th (King’s) Hussars
• 14th King’s Hussars
• 14th/20th Hussars
• 14th/20th King’s Hussars
• ‘B’ Squadron, The King’s Royal Hussars

20th Hussars

Other ranks’ collar badge, 20th Hussars, 1902-20
NAM. 1964-04-85-31

Introduction

In the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny (1857-59), the East India Company doubted the loyalty of Indians in its cavalry units and so recruited several units made up entirely of non-Indians. One of these was the 2nd Bengal European Light Cavalry, formed in 1858 and transferred to the British Army only three years later whilst still in India.

On its transfer, it was converted into hussars and took over the then-vacant numeral 20 in the cavalry order of precedence. Five unconnected regiments with that numeral had been raised and disbanded between 1706 and 1818 and in 1890 the 20th Hussars were officially recognised as their successor.

The regiment remained in India until 1872, serving on both the Umbeyla (1863) and Black Mountain (1868) expeditions. It then mostly served in England from 1872 to 1895, broken only by a period in Ireland from 1879 to 1884. During the 1880s it sent four troops to the Sudan, along with a detachment to the Egyptian Frontier Force.

Sabretache, 20th Hussars, c1880
NAM. 1966-09-52-1

The next overseas posting for the regiment as a whole only came in 1895, when it returned to India. From there it moved to the Boer War in 1901, then Egypt the following year and England in 1904. Another Irish posting came from 1908 to 1911, but it was from England that the regiment deployed to the Western Front in 1914. There it mainly fought in a dismounted role, only serving on horseback for the first and last months of the conflict.

Following the Armistice with the Ottoman Empire, the regiment was sent to Palestine in 1919 and to Anatolia in 1920 where it fought against the Turkish Nationalists at Ismid and made what some regard as the last ever British cavalry charge. The regiment was disbanded in 1921, but the following year it was re-formed as a single squadron to amalgamate with the 14th King’s Hussars, forming the 14th/20th Hussars.

Key facts

Nickname:

• Nobody’s Own (unlike most other regiments, it never had a royal colonel or colonel-in-chief)

Titles to date:

• Bengal European Light Cavalry
• 2nd Bengal European Cavalry
• 20th Regiment of Hussars
• 20th Hussars
• 14th/20th Hussars
• 14th/20th King’s Hussars
• ‘A’ Squadron, The King’s Royal Hussars

 

14th/20th King’s Hussars

Cap badge, 14th/20th Hussars, 1932
NAM. 2008-10-25-8

Introduction

This regiment was formed as the 14th/20th Hussars in Germany in 1922 by merging the 14th King’s Hussars with the 20th Hussars. The latter had been disbanded in Palestine the previous year and was re-formed as a single squadron especially for the merger.

When it was a year old the new unit moved to England, where it remained until 1931. It then went on its first foreign posting, to Egypt. From there it moved straight to India in 1933 where it remained until 1941.

The regiment was mechanised in 1938 with light tanks, while still in India. The honorific ‘King’s’ was then reintroduced to its title in 1936. In February 1941 part of the regiment was split off to form the 26th Hussars, which was disbanded two years later.

Later in 1941, the 14th/20th saw its first action of the Second World War (1939-45) in Iraq and Persia (now Iran). It remained in the Middle East for three years to guard the oil fields and supply routes and while there switched to Sherman tanks.

Last mounted parade, 14th/20th King’s Hussars, Lucknow, 1938
NAM. 1963-09-106

In 1944 the regiment moved to Italy. There it helped the 6th Gurkha Rifles capture the town of Medicina, gaining it the honour of crossed kukris as a sleeve badge. At the end of the war it deployed back to Britain as a tank training regiment. It was later equipped with armoured cars, then tank destroyers and finally a combination of scout cars and main battle tanks.

Its post-war deployments included Libya, Malaya, Aden and Northern Ireland, while single squadrons also served in Cyprus and Hong Kong. However, the regiment mainly alternated between England and Germany, spending over 20 years in the latter between 1946 and 1991. Indeed, between 1985 and 1991 one squadron was always deployed to West Berlin.

The regiment also fought in the Gulf War in 1990. Two years later it amalgamated with The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own) to form The King’s Royal Hussars.

Key facts

Titles to date:

• 14th/20th Hussars
• 14th/20th King’s Hussars
• ‘B’ Squadron, The King’s Royal Hussars