The 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of the 15th The King's Hussars and the 19th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it was amalgamated with the 13th/18th Royal Hussars to form the Light Dragoons in 1992.

History

Interwar

thumb|[[Covenanter tanks of 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars on parade at Wellingborough for inspection by Alexander Cadogan, 1 November 1941]]

thumb|A [[Cromwell tank of 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars advances through the rubble of Uedem, 28 February 1945]]

The regiment was created, as part of the reduction in cavalry in the aftermath of the First World War, by the amalgamation of the 15th The King's Hussars and the 19th Royal Hussars on 11 April 1922 to form the 15th/19th Hussars. It briefly dropped the 19th numeral from its title in October 1932, becoming the 15th The King's Royal Hussars, before regaining it in December 1933. The regiment was deployed with the division as part of the British Expeditionary Force, and fought in the Battle of France: it suffered heavy losses during the German advance and, having left all its armour and vehicles behind, took part in the Dunkirk evacuation.

Following the withdrawal, the regiment was assigned to the 3rd Motor Machine Gun Brigade, which was redesignated as the 28th Armoured Brigade and assigned to the 9th Armoured Division. It subsequently deployed to Palestine in December 1945, returning to Egypt in 1947, before onward transfer to Sudan in November 1947. It was the first cavalry regiment to be stationed in the Sudan since the 21st Lancers fought at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.

The Regiment moved to Knightsbridge Barracks in Lübeck in October 1949 and to McLeod Barracks in Neumünster in November 1951. The Regiment was based at Lisanelly Camp in Omagh in November 1974.

Battle honours

The regiment's battle honours were those of its predecessor regiments plus:

  • 1959–1961: Lt.-Col. J. Michael Barton
  • 1961–1963: Lt.-Col. A. George Lewis
  • 1963–1965: Lt.-Col. Peter Hodgson
  • 1965–1968: Lt.-Col. John R.D. Sharpe
  • 1968–1970: Lt.-Col. John C.F. Inglis
  • 1970–1973: Lt.-Col. J. Simon F. Murray
  • 1973–1976: Lt.-Col. Richard A. Coxwell-Rogers
  • 1976–1978: Lt.-Col. Rupert H.G. McCarthy
  • 1978–1980: Lt.-Col. C. Anthony G. Wells
  • 1980–1983: Lt.-Col. James S. Knox
  • 1983–1985: Lt.-Col. Peter V. Hervey
  • 1985–1988: Lt.-Col. D. Stewart Balmain
  • 1988–1991: Lt.-Col. Tresham D. Gregg
  • 1991–1992: Lt.-Col. Christopher H. Braithwaite

Colonels-in-Chief

  • 1922 Queen Alexandra
  • 1958 The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, CI, GCVO

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the Regiment were:

  • 1922–1931: Gen. Sir William Eliot Peyton, KCB, KCVO, DSO ( ex 15th Hussars)
  • 1922–1925: F.M. Sir John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG (ex 19th Hussars)
  • 1931–1944: Brig-Gen. Anthony Courage, DSO, MC
  • 1944–1947: F.M. Sir Philip Walhouse Chetwode, Bt., 1st Baron Chetwode, GCB, OM, GCSI, KCMG, DSO
  • 1947–1957: Brig. Sir Henry Robert Kincaid Floyd, Bt., CB, CBE
  • 1957–1964: Maj-Gen. Sir William Robert Norris Hinde, KBE, CB, DSO
  • 1964–1970: Col. Anthony Donnithorne Taylor, DSO, MC
  • 1970–1978: Maj-Gen. Francis Brian Wyldbore-Smith, CB, DSO, OBE
  • 1978–1983: Lt-Col. Peter Hodgson
  • 1983–1988: Brig. John Rowe Dutton Sharpe, CBE
  • 1988–1992: Lt-Col. Richard Annesley Coxwell-Rogers, DL
  • 1992: Regiment amalgamated with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), to form The Light Dragoons

Notable soldiers

The following are notable former members of the regiment:

  • Major General Sir Michael Creagh (1892–1970), former General Officer Commanding 7th Armoured Division
  • Brigadier Sir Henry Floyd (1899–1968), former Chief-of-Staff of the Eighth Army
  • Major Ian Gow (1937–1990), former Treasury Minister assassinated by the IRA
  • Brigader Viscount Head (1906–1983), former Secretary of State for War
  • Colonel Sir Walter Luttrell (1919–2007), former Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
  • Captain Gerald Maitland-Carew (born 1941), current Lord Lieutenant of Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale
  • Lieutenant General Simon Mayall (born 1956), former Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff
  • Captain Lord Peyton (1919–2006), former Minister of Transport
  • Captain Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf (born 1933), former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

"A" Squadron of the 15th/19th Hussars appears in Episode 4 "Replacements" of the TV miniseries Band of Brothers during the assault on Nuenen.

References

Sources