Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

 

 

Other Ranks, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

 Review Order, c. 1911

In 1794, fearing insurrection and faced with the threat of invasion during the French Revolutionary Wars, British Prime Minister William Pitt made the first ever recorded mention of yeoman cavalry when he called for an augmentation of the cavalry for internal defence. The first yeomanry troop raised in Gloucestershire was the 60-strong First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentlemen and Yeomanry, formed in 1795 by Powell Snell. In total, eight troops had been raised by 1798. All except the Cheltenham Troop were disbanded in 1802 following the Peace of Amiens, and it too was disbanded in 1827.

New troops of yeomanry were raised in the 1830s in response to the Swing Riots. The first such troop established in Gloucestershire was the Marshfield and Dodington Troop, raised in 1830 by William Codrington. Six further troops – officered by nobility and gentry, and recruited largely from among landholders and tenant farmers – were subsequently raised in Gloucestershire, and in 1834 they came together to form the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry.

In 1847, the regiment adopted a hussar uniform and the name Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. The yeomanry's first deployments were ceremonial and as mounted police during times of civil unrest. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars' first battle honour was won in South Africa during the Second Boer War, when a contingent of Gloucestershire yeomanry served as mounted infantry in the Imperial Yeomanry.

 

 

Sergeant Major, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, 1895

By Colonel Philip Henry Smitherman

Lieutenant Colonel Richard A. Flower, OBE MC

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel Richard A. Flower, OBE MC

 1926-1993

 Service Dress Cap, c. 1943

 

 Flower joined The London Rifle Brigade of the Territorial Army in 1938 and received an emergency commission to The Rifle Brigade on August 24, 1940. He was advanced to W.S. (War Substantive) lieutenant in early 1942 and made a temporary captain by October. Whilst leading a carrier platoon at the Snipe position during the Second Battle of El Alamein, Flower was awarded the Military Cross and mentioned in despatches for overrunning an infantry position, assaulting a tank laager consisting of forty tanks and setting fire to three vehicles, dispersing an infantry attack, and destroying two enemy guns. Flower was made a W.S. captain in September of 1943 and a temporary major that December. He was attached to headquarters of the British 8th Army in 1945. Flower remained in the army after the war and was made a permanent captain in 1947 with a date of seniority commencing on July 1, 1946. The Rifle Brigade was reduced to one battalion in 1948 and brigaded with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps as the Green Jackets Brigade. Owing to this, when Flower received his majority on March 4, 1952, it was in the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He was assigned to General Headquarters East Africa from 1955 to 1956, during the time of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. The Rifle Brigade was renamed the 3rd Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade in 1958 and Flower was assigned to The Green Jackets Depot (a training barracks) as deputy commander. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 12, 1959. Flower retired from the army in 1961 as commander of The Green Jackets Depot and was made an Officer of the British Empire for his service in the 1962 New Year Honours.

Major Claude Victor Noble Percival

 

 

Major Claude Victor Noble Percival

 1872-1914

 Dress Tunic, c. 1909

 

 Percival was the son of Major General Lewis Percival, late of the Rifle Brigade. He entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1889 and was gazetted to the Rifle Brigade in 1892. Percival became a lieutenant in 1895 and served in British Central Africa in 1899. He earned his captaincy in 1900 and served in Southern Nigeria from 1901 to 1902. From 1905 to 1912, Percival was employed with the Egyptian Army as part of the Soudan Civil Administration. He was promoted to major in 1909 and served as Acting Governor of Halfa Province in 1911. Percival went to France with the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade in November of 1914. On December 14, 1914, he was shot through the heart and killed instantaneously, while superintending a digging party at night near Laventie. Percival was buried in the Tilleloy cemetery.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Charles Shakerley, DSO

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Charles Shakerley, DSO

 1869-1915

 Dress Busby, c. 1891

 

 Shakerley attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and was gazetted to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps on November 29, 1890. He was advanced to lieutenant in 1893. Shakerley obtained his captaincy in December of 1898 and served in the Second Boer War (1899-1902) with the Mounted Infantry. Taking part in operations in Natal and the Orange River Colony, along with the defense of Ladysmith, Shakerley was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Queen’s medal with six clasps. He then served in East Africa (1903-1904), again with the Mounted Infantry, taking part in operations in Somaliland and the action at Jidballi. Shakerley was mentioned in despatches four times in East Africa, severely wounded, and awarded the Distinguished Service Order on September 7, 1904. He was promoted to major with the 1st Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps on December 18, 1907. Shakerley arrived with his battalion at Rouen, France, for service on the Western Front in August of 1914. Whilst participating in an attack on the German trenches near La Bassee on May 15, 1915, Shakerley was mortally wounded in the advance. He was laid to rest in the Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery. Shakerley was granted the rank of temporary lieutenant colonel in November of 1915 for his sacrifice, with a date of rank of March 28, 1915.

 

6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons

 

 

Major, 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons

 Dress Tunic, c. 1890

 

The 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons was first raised in 1689. That year James II, the dethroned King of England, landed in Ireland with aid provided by the French in an attempt to overthrow William of Orange. During the Defence of Enniskillen the Governor of the town Gustav Hamilton raised three regiments to fight for William of Orange. One of those three regiments was Sir Albert Cunningham's Regiment of Dragoons. The regiment later became known as the "Enniskillen Dragoons," after Hamilton's headquarters at Enniskillen Castle. The regiment was renamed the 6th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Dragoons in 1751.

The regiment fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with The Union Brigade, which included The Royal Dragoons and The Scots Greys. The regiment also participated in the charge of the Heavy Brigade during the Battle Balaclava in 1854. In 1861 the regiment was renamed the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons.

The regiment saw action in response to the Indian Rebellion in 1857 and the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, the regiment was sent to South Africa. In 1921 the regiment was renamed The Inniskillings (6th Dragoons). It amalgamated with the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards to form the 5th/6th Dragoons in 1922.

 

---

 

 Departed the collection in 2023.

Lord George Wellesley, MC

 

 

Lord George Wellesley, MC

 1889-1967

 Full Dress, c. 1912

 

Wellesley was the great-grandson of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on February 3, 1909 and promoted to lieutenant in September of 1912. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in June of 1914 and was mentioned in despatches in June of 1916. Wellesley received the Military Cross that year for his service in France. He was appointed wing commander in 1917 with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel. Wellesley became a squadron leader with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1939. He served during WWII and relinquished his commission in 1954.

 

Lieutenant Colonel John Sandbach Noel Harrison, DSO

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel John Sandbach Noel Harrison, DSO

 1877-1949

 Full Dress, c. 1904

 

 Harrison commissioned into the Fourth Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry in 1898. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in 1900, Captain in 1904, and Major in 1915. Harrison was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1918 whilst attached to the Loyal North Lancashire regiment for “services rendered in connection with Military Operations in Mesopotamia.” As a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel at the time, he was in command of the Sixth (Service) Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire and was wounded in action. Harrison was made Lieutenant Colonel in 1924 and commanded the First Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry until retirement in 1929.