Corps of Hussars 1907-1914

As I have noted elsewhere, in December 1906, Army Order 289 changed the numbering for cavalry of the line. Prior to this, all cavalry regiments had numbered individually by regiments. Now, line cavalry and household cavalry were separated; each of the three line cavalry corps – dragoons, hussars, and lancers – beginning a new number series which started at 1 and was to extend to 49,999.

The Corps of Hussars consisted of twelve individual regiments, each of these with long and proud histories:

3rd (King's Own) Hussars
4th (Queen's Own) Hussars
7th (Queen's Own) Hussars
8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars
10th (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars
11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars
13th Hussars
14th (King's) Hussars
15th (King's) Hussars
18th (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars
19th (Queen Alexandra's Own Royal) Hussars
20th Hussars

Now, numbering by regiment was abandoned and the corps of Hussars allocated numbers from a single series.  Here are some numbers from that series which, as they were issued chronologically, should help to provide pointers towards likely enlistment dates for other Hussars recruits.

The H/ (Hussars) prefix appears on some attestation papers but there appears to be no consistency to its usage and my own research shows that more often than not this was not used.

7 joined on 5th January 1907
1096 joined on 13th September 1907
1954 joined on 15th January 1908
2635 joined on 27th June 1908
3901 joined on 28th January 1909
4648 joined on 27th August 1909
5192 joined on 14th January 1910
5869 joined on 28th July 1910
6789 joined on 6th January 1911
7546 joined on 14th October 1911
8146 joined on 8th January 1912
8837 joined on 25th May 1912
9589 joined on 16th January 1913
10287 joined on 25th June 1913
H/10942 joined on 21st January 1914

A future post will look at numbering in the Corps of Hussars from August 1914.

The photo on this post shows my paternal great-grandmother's brother, Bertrand (Bert) Elam, who enlisted with the 20th Hussars in 1894.  He had previously served briefly with the Wiltshire Regiment but had purchased his discharge for £10, as he was entitled to do, having served with the regiment for less than three months.  He served 12 years with the Hussars, re-enlisted with the Rifle Brigade in September 1914, transferred to the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1917 (he wears the Gloucestershire Regiment cap badge in this photo, along with his QSA and 1914 Star ribbons) and finished the war with the Royal Defence Corps. Throughout his army career he served under the alias Herbert Richard Hellam (although to further confuse matters, some papers give hsi surname as Hallam). He has extensive service records which survive in WO 97 (four pages relating to his brief service with the Wiltshire Regiment) and WO 364 (40 pages).

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19th (QAOR) Hussars 1881-1906

This post will look at numbering in the 19th (Queen Alexandra's Own Royal) Hussars between 1881 and 1906.  The cavalry regiments, of course, were unaffected by Cardwell's reforms which saw the majority of the infantry regiments being redesignated along territorial or county lines.  However, I'll stick to my convention of using 1881 as a starting point for these line cavalry regiments although my data goes back a good deal further than this. 

The database and information on this blog have been compiled as a result of studying service records in WO 97 (British Army pensions to 1913), WO 363 (WW1 service records) and WO 364 (WW1 pension records).  All of these series are now online.  Click on the links for further information.

2096 joined on 10th January 1881
2122 joined on 19th January 1882
2455 joined on 4th April 1883
2467 joined on 23rd February 1884
2669 joined on 9th April 1885
2868 joined on 25th January 1886
2896 joined on 7th January 1887
3074 joined on 11th April 1888
3319 joined on 3rd January 1889
3533 joined on 3rd February 1890
3711 joined on 23rd July 1891
3814 joined on 1st February 1892
3938 joined on 19th January 1893
4009 joined on 20th January 1894
4179 joined on 28th August 1895
4413 joined on 3rd February 1896
4525 joined on 3rd February 1897
4557 joined on 7th December 1898
4592 joined on 16th December 1899
4876 joined on 4th May 1900
5118 joined on 28th January 1901
5516 joined on 9th June 1902
5598 joined on 25th March 1903
5609 joined on 1st June 1904
5930 joined on 6th April 1905
6203 joined on 8th March 1906

My last number on my 19th Hussars database prior to the change in numbering is 6300 on 4th October 1906. In late 1906 or early 1907 numbering in the cavalry changed and numbers were allocated to corps rather than to individual regiments within those corps. For further reading see:

1. Queen's & King's Regulations: regimental numbering.
2. Cavalry numbering in 1906.

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Cavalry numbering 1906

In my post the other day concerning Queen's and King's Regulations and changes in regimental numbering, I drew attention to the Army Order 289 of December 1906 which changed the numbering as far as cavalry of the line was concerned.

Prior to this Army Order, all cavalry regiments had numbered individually by regiments. Now, line cavalry and household cavalry were differentiated, and each corps of line cavalry was to use a separate number series extending to 49,999.

The image above (click on it to see a readable version) illustrates this point nicely. Albert Beech joined the 8th Hussars on 30th October 1901 and was given the army service number 5494. He was posted to the 15th Hussars on 15th January 1903 and given a new number, 4372 (same Corps of Hussars, but different regiment, hence the new number). He then remained with the 15th Hussars until 1st November 1909 (picking up two good conduct stripes along the way - the first issued after two year's good conduct, the second issued after three years' good conduct). He was then transferred back to the 8th Hussars. By now, the numbering had changed to numbering by corps rather than regiment and so Albert was issued with the next number in use, 4840. (4822 had gone to a 20th Hussars man, 4837 to a 13th Hussars man).

4840 Corporal Albert Beech was discharged as medically unfit from the now demolished Netley Military Hospital on 21st April 1911. His service record survives in the WO 363 series at the National Archives. Click on the link below to view Albert's service record and thousands of other records like his.

British Army WW1 Records


I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information.