City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders)

The City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Territorial Army, formed in 1901 from veterans of the Second Boer War. In the First World War it served dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign but reverted to the mounted role in the Senussi campaign, at Salonika and in Palestine. It ended the war as a machine gun unit on the Western Front. In the interwar years it was reduced to a battery in a composite Royal Horse Artillery unit in London, but in the period of rearmament before the Second World War it was expanded into a full regiment of light anti-aircraft artillery. It served in this role during The Blitz and later in the Tunisian and Italian campaigns. Postwar it became an armoured regiment. It amalgamated with the Inns of Court Regiment to form the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry in 1961. The lineage is maintained by 68 (Inns of Court & City Yeomanry) Signal Squadron, part of 71 (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment.

Imperial Yeomanry

Following a string of defeats during Black Week in early December 1899, the British government realised that it would need additional troops to help the Regular army fight the Second Boer War. On 13 December, the decision to allow volunteer forces to serve in the field was made, and a Royal Warrant was issued on 24 December. This officially created the Imperial Yeomanry (IY). The force was organised as county service companies of approximately 115 men signed up for one year, and volunteers from existing Yeomanry Cavalry regiments and civilians (usually middle and upper class) quickly filled the new force, which was equipped to operate as Mounted infantry.Dunlop, pp. 104–18.Rogers, p. 228.Spiers, p. 239.

The 20th (Rough Riders) Battalion, IY, was raised on 17 March 1900 in the City of London by the Earl of Lathom as a corps specially suited to combating the Boers' 'Rough Rider' irregular cavalry tactics (the title referenced Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders who served in the Spanish–American War of 1898). The battalion consisted of 72nd, 76th, 78th and 79th (Rough Rider) Companies, IY, under the command of Lt-Col Richard Colvin, of the Essex Troop, Loyal Suffolk Hussars, with Capt Viscount Maitland (formerly of the Scots Guards) as adjutant. It embarked in April after only one month's training.Foakes & McKenzie-Bell, p. 8.Frederick, p. 41.Amery, Vol IV, Appendix.London Gazette, 20 March 1900.

The battalion landed in South Africa on 3 May, where the companies were posted to separate formations during the guerrilla war phase of the campaign.IY Companies at Roll of Honour. For example, at the end of July the 72nd and 79th Companies of 'The Roughs' joined Col Bryan Mahon's force at Pretoria alongside the 20th (Fife and Forfar Light Horse) Company and a composite squadron formed from the depleted 7th Battalion, IY (25th (West Somerset), 26th (Dorset), 27th (Devon), 48th (North Somerset) and 69th (Sussex) Companies) and saw action at Olifant's Nek in August during the pursuit of Christiaan de Wet. 'The Roughs' were popular among their fellow yeomen because of the large quantities of food and comforts they received from family and friends in the city. In September 1900, 72nd Company was serving alongside the composite squadron in a column under Maj-Gen R.A.P. Clements pursuing Koos de la Rey. In October the company was ordered back to Pretoria.Ross, 'With Mahon'.Ross, 'With Clements part 1'.Ross, 'With Clements part 2'.Ross, 'With Clements part 3'.

During the campaign, the 20th (Rough Riders) Battalion lost three officers and 27 other ranks killed or died, and 18 seriously wounded, and its members received a number of decorations, including Lt-Col Colvin who was Mentioned in dispatchesLondon Gazette 10 September 1901. and awarded a Companionship of the Bath (CB).London Gazette, 27 September 1901.

The First Contingent of the Imperial Yeomanry completed their year's term of service in 1901; however, enough of the Rough Riders signed on for a second term for two companies (76th and 78th) of the battalion to continue in service. Meanwhile, the 22nd (Rough Riders) Battalion, IY, had been raised in London on 27 March 1901 for the Second Contingent of the IY, consisting of 84th, 85th, 86th and 87th (Rough Riders) Companies. The 2nd Rough Riders sailed from Southampton aboard the German on 31 March under the command of Lt-Col Hugh Houghton Stewart of the 3rd (Fermanagh Militia) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, with Maj Viscount Dungarvan (lieutenant-colonel of the North Somerset Yeomanry) as his second-in-command. On arrival in South Africa, the battalion was joined by 76th and 78th Companies from the First Contingent. The battalion was disbanded at the end of the war in 1902.London Gazette, 30 May 1893.April 1901 shipping records at Anglo-Boer War.Burke's: 'Cork' and 'Stewart of Athenree'.

The Imperial Yeomanry concept was considered a success: before the war ended the existing Yeomanry regiments at home were converted into Imperial Yeomanry, and some of the war-raised battalions were established as permanent regiments. The Rough Riders were established on 27 July 1901 as 1st County of London Imperial Yeomanry (Rough Riders) under the command of Viscount Maitland, promoted to lieutenant-colonel, while Lt-Col Colvin was invited to raise and command a separate new regiment of Essex Imperial Yeomanry.Monthly Army List, various dates.London Gazette, 15 November 1901.CoLY at Long, Long Trail. In 1902 the Lord Mayor of London and other influential City people successfully petitioned for the unit's name to be changed to City of London Imperial Yeomanry (Rough Riders).CoLY at Regiments.org. Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) was established at the London Guildhall, later transferring to Finsbury Square. The establishment of a regiment of the IY was four squadrons and a machine gun section, totalling 596 men. The new regiment was granted the Battle honour South Africa 1900–02 in view of the service of its predecessor units.

Territorial Force

Under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the Imperial Yeomanry was subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) and the regiments dropped the 'Imperial' part of their titles.CoLY at Stepping Forward London.London Gazette 20 March 1908.

The regiment formed part of the London Mounted Brigade of the TF.Conrad.Becke, pp. 9–17.2nd Mounted Division at Long, Long Trail. The regiment also provided the personnel for the London Mounted Brigade Signal Section.Army Council Instructions for 1917, Appendix 65D.

First World War Mobilisation On the outbreak of war, on 4 August 1914, the regiment mobilised at Finsbury Square under the command of Lt-Col O.E. Boulton, TD.James, pp. 22–3. In accordance with the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (7 Edw. 7, c.9), which brought it into being, the TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, the units were invited to volunteer for Imperial Service on 10 August and most did so. TF units were therefore split in August and September 1914 into 1st Line units for overseas service and 2nd Line reserve units composed of recruits under training and those unable or unwilling to serve overseas. In 1915, the 2nd Line were prepared for active service (though not all went overseas) and 3rd Line units were formed to provide trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line, while the home service-only men were transferred to provisional brigades for home defence.James, Appendix IV, p. 130.

1/1st City of London Yeomanry The 1st Line regiment concentrated with the London Mounted Brigade at its war station of Cavalry Barracks, Hounslow. It joined 2nd Mounted Division on 2 September at Streatley, Berkshire, where the brigades dispersed for training and because of lack of water supplies. The division moved to East Anglia in November 1914, with the London Mtd Bde stationed round North Walsham. Early in March 1915 the division was warned to prepare for overseas service.

Gallipoli On 11 April 1915, the regiment embarked on the Scotia and departed from Avonmouth Docks for the Mediterranean. It arrived off Cape Helles on 28 April, three days after the Allied landing had begun the Gallipoli Campaign, and it stood by to land, watching the naval bombardment and shrapnel bursting. However, on 1 May it departed again for Egypt, arriving at Alexandria on 6 May, where it rejoined the 2nd Mounted Division. It was posted to the Suez Canal Defences (near Ismaïlia) by the middle of May and its parent brigade was designated 4th (London) Mounted Brigade.Westlake, pp. 263–4. The division was dismounted in August 1915 for service at Gallipoli. Each regiment left a squadron headquarters and two troops (about 100 officers and men) in Egypt to look after the horses.James, Appendix II, p. 34.

The dismounted regiment embarked at Alexandria aboard the Caledonia on 14 August and sailed for Lemnos where it transshipped to HMS Doris and continued to Suvla Bay where a fresh landing on the Gallipoli peninsula was under way. The regiment landed on the morning of 18 August and went into reserve positions at Karakol Dagh. It moved to 'C' Beach, Lala Baba, on 20 August. On 21 August, it advanced to Chocolate Hill under heavy fire and took part in the attack on the Turkish positions on Hill 112 (the Battle of Scimitar Hill). The Yeomanry brigades advancing in squadron columns 'presented such a target as artillerymen dream of' and suffered heavy casualties as they 'stumbled blindly forward into battle'.North, pp. 182–6. The 1/1st CoLY reached Green Hill and occupied the trenches there, finding them 'chock full of dead and dying' from the earlier attack by 86th Brigade. It was ordered to retire during the night and the survivors were back at Lala Baba by 04.30.Aspinall-Oglander, pp. 350–4.

Due to the losses at Hill 112 and from battle wastage during August 1915, the 2nd Mounted Division had to be reorganised. On 4 September 1915, the regiments of 4th (London) Mtd Bde combined to form '4th London Regiment' in 2nd Composite Mounted Brigade. The combined regiment rotated between the firing line and the reserve trenches during September and October, but its strength continued to decline from battle casualties and sickness. By mid-October the 2nd Composite Mtd Bde was too weak to carry out its duties. The survivors of 1/1st CoLY embarked in the Ermine for Mudros on 2 November and returned to Egypt in December where it was reformed and remounted.MacMunn & Falls, p. 87.

Egypt The composite regiment was immediately engaged with the Western Frontier Force (WFF) in the minor Senussi campaign. The WFF made a surprise night attack on the Senussi force in the 'Affair of the Wadi Majid' on 25 December 1915, when two troops of Rough Riders were in the mounted Left Column that made a wide outflanking move. Although the Senussis broke and ran from the direct attack, communication difficulties meant that the mounted column was too late to cut them off.MacMunn & Falls, pp. 107, 113–8.

The 2nd Mounted Division was broken up early in 1916 and 4th (London) Mtd Bde with 1/1st CoLY left on 18 January 1916 for Abbassia to serve once again in the Canal Defences. In March 1916, the brigade was redesignated as 8th Mounted Brigade. In October, the regiment took part in a raid from the Canal defences upon a Turkish post at Bir el Maghara in the Sinai Desert. The force marched out on the evening of 13 October, and after two night marches it attacked on the morning of 15 October and drove the Turks from their advanced position. After a two-hour engagement, the British commander decided that taking the second position would incur unacceptable losses, and withdrew to the Canal.MacMunn & Falls, pp. 245–6.

Salonika