Seventeen Cavalry Reserve Regiments were formed by the British Army on the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914.The Cavalry Reserve Regiments The Long, Long Trail These were affiliated with one or more active cavalry regiments, their purpose being to train replacement drafts for the active regiments. In 1915, the 3rd Line regiments of the Yeomanry were also affiliated with the Cavalry Reserve and, in September 1916, the Household Cavalry Reserve Regiment was formed in Windsor, supplying replacements to the dismounted Household Battalion. In 1917, the regiments underwent major reorganization, being reduced to ten in number.
Although nominally cavalry, many of the drafts ended up being converted into infantry in order to satisfy the manpower demands of trench warfare.
Despite being training and not combat formations, several were involved in the putting down of the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916. A little after noon on Easter Monday, a mixed troop of 9th and 12th Lancers, attached to the 6th Cavalry Reserve Regiment at Marlborough Barracks in Phoenix Park, was dispatched to investigate a "disturbance" at Dublin Castle.Ciaran Byrne, The Harp and Crown, the History of the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers, 1902 - 1922, p. 105 As they cantered down Sackville Street, they were fired upon by rebels who had taken up positions in and on the roof of the General Post Office. Three troopers were killed instantly and one was mortally wounded, becoming the first military casualties of the rising. The same evening, 1,600 men of the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Brigade (consisting of the 8th, 9th and 10th Cavalry Reserve Regiments) arrived from their barracks at the Curragh to support the local Dublin garrison.General J.G. Maxwell, From the General Officer, Commanding-in-Chief, The Forces in Ireland. To the Field-Marshal, Commanding-in-Chief, The Home Forces. 25 May 1916
Original August 1914 Formations
Regiment Location Affiliated Regiments Remarks 1st Life Guards Hyde Park 1st Life Guards 2nd Life Guards Windsor 2nd Life Guards Royal Horse Guards Regent's Park Royal Horse Guards 1st Aldershot 1st Dragoon Guards5th Dragoon Guards3/1st Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry3/1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry Absorbed into 4th, 1917 2nd Aldershot 2nd Dragoon Guards6th Dragoons3/1st Essex Yeomanry3/1st Lothians and Border Horse Absorbed into 4th, 1917 3rd Canterbury 3rd Dragoon Guards6th Dragoon Guards3/1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry2/1st Surrey Yeomanry1/1st Sussex Yeomanry Absorbed into 6th, 1917 4th Tidworth 4th Dragoon Guards7th Dragoon Guards3/1st Warwickshire Yeomanry3/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars3/1st Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars Absorbed into 6th, 1917 5th York 1st Dragoons2nd Dragoons3/1st Northumberland Hussars3/1st Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons3/1st Yorkshire Hussars3/1st East Riding Yeomanry Absorbed into 6th, 1917 6th Dublin 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers12th Lancers3/1st City of London Yeomanry3/1st County of London Yeomanry B Sqn composed mainly of a draft of 160 NCOs and men from 3/1st Welsh Horse Yeomanry Absorbed into 1st, 1917 7th Tidworth 9th Lancers21st Lancers3/1st Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry3/1st Berkshire Yeomanry Absorbed into 1st, 1917 8th The Curragh 16th Lancers17th Lancers3/1st Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry3/1st Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars Absorbed into 1st, 1917 9th Shorncliffe 3rd Hussars7th Hussars3/2nd County of London Yeomanry3/3rd County of London Yeomanry Absorbed into 2nd, 1917 10th The Curragh 4th Hussars8th Hussars3/1st Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry2/1st Lancashire Hussars3/1st Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry Absorbed into 2nd, 1917 11th Tidworth 10th Hussars18th Hussars3/1st Hampshire Yeomanry3/1st North Somerset Yeomanry3/1st Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry Absorbed into 5th, 1917 12th Aldershot 11th Hussars13th Hussars3/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry3/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry3/1st Staffordshire Yeomanry Absorbed into 3rd, 1917 13th Colchester 14th Hussars20th Hussars3/1st Bedfordshire Yeomanry3/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry Absorbed into 5th, 1917 14th Longmoor 15th Hussars19th Hussars3/1st Derbyshire Yeomanry3/1st South Nottinghamshire Hussars Absorbed into 3rd, 1917
Formed in 1916 Regiment Location Affiliated Regiments Remarks Household Cavalry Windsor Household Battalion
After 1917 re-organization
Regiment Location Affiliated Regiments Remarks 1st Life Guards Hyde Park 1st Life Guards 2nd Life Guards Windsor 2nd Life Guards Royal Horse Guards Regent's Park Royal Horse Guards Household Cavalry Windsor Household Battalion Disbanded early 1918 1st The Curragh 5th Lancers9th Lancers12th Lancers16th Lancers17th Lancers21st Lancers3/1st Bedfordshire Yeomanry3/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry3/1st City of London Yeomanry2/1st Surrey Yeomanry3/1st East Riding Yeomanry 2nd The Curragh 3rd Hussars4th Hussars7th Hussars8th Hussars3/1st Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry2/1st Lancashire Hussars3/1st County of London Yeomanry3/3rd County of London Yeomanry3/1st South Nottinghamshire Hussars3/1st Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars3/1st Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry 3rd Aldershot 11th Hussars13th Hussars15th Hussars19th Hussars3/1st Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry3/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry3/1st Staffordshire Yeomanry3/1st Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry3/1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry 4th Aldershot 1st Dragoon Guards2nd Dragoon Guards5th Dragoon Guards6th Dragoons3/1st Derbyshire Yeomanry3/1st Essex Yeomanry3/1st Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry3/1st Hampshire Yeomanry3/2nd County of London Yeomanry3/1st Lothians and Border Horse 5th Tidworth 10th Hussars14th Hussars18th Hussars20th Hussars3/1st Northumberland Hussars3/1st Yorkshire Hussars3/1st Warwickshire Yeomanry3/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars3/1st Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars 6th Tidworth 3rd Dragoon Guards4th Dragoon Guards6th Dragoon Guards7th Dragoon Guards1st Dragoons2nd Dragoons3/1st Berkshire Yeomanry3/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry3/1st Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry3/1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry3/1st North Somerset Yeomanry3/1st Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons
Notes
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