Buckinghamshire Yeomanry (Royal Bucks Hussars)

This post will look at numbering in the Royal Bucks Hussars between 1908 and 1914.

The regiment was headquartered in Buckingham and had four squadrons deployed throughout the county. A Squadron was located in Buckingham with drill stations at Stony Stratford, Bletchley, Newport Pagnell and Akeley. B Squadron was based in Aylesbury with drill stations at Kimble, Quainton and Wing. C Squadron was in High Wycombe with drill stations at Stokenchurch, Taplow and Beaconsfield. D Squadron was based in Chesham with drill stations at Cholesbury, Chalfont St Peter and Great Missenden.

Men transferring from the old Buckinghamshire Imperial Yeomanry (Royal Bucks Hussars) at first kept their old numbers when the Territorial Force came into existence on 1st April 1908.  However, this appears to have been addressed early on and these men - as well as new recruits - were issued with a new number from a new series which commenced with the number 1. It is common though, on early Royal Bucks Hussars attestation papers (and indeed many other yeomanry attestations from 1908) to see the original Imperial Yeomanry number clearly stated, as in William Collier's example below (click on the image to view full size):

436 joined on 27th January 1909
577 joined on 1st March 1910
695 joined on 1st April 1911
740 joined on 27th February 1912
824 joined on 1st March 1913
872 joined on 14th February 1914
1009 joined on 7th August 1914
1526 joined on 15th September 1914
1758 joined on 20th October 1914
2061 joined on 9th November 1914

The regiment recruited over 200 men in November 1914 but then the pace slowed down to a virtual standstill with only 27 new recruits joining over the next three months. This may reflect the fact that the regiment had reached its establishment and did not need to recruit more men. A 2/1st Battalion had been formed in September 1914 and a 3/1st Battalion would be formed in 1915.

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