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2nd Cavalry Brigade (United Kingdom)

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2nd Cavalry Brigade
Active1815
1899–1902
1914–1919
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeCavalry
SizeBrigade
Part of1st Cavalry Division (World War I)
EngagementsNapoleonic Wars
Battle of Waterloo

Second Boer War

Battle of Paardeberg

World War I

Western Front
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Sir William Ponsonby
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
Cecil Edward Bingham
Beauvoir De Lisle

The 2nd Cavalry Brigade was a brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars (2nd Union Cavalry Brigade), the Boer War and in the First World War when it was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division.

Prior to World War I the brigade was based at Tidworth Camp in England; and originally consisted of three cavalry regiments and a Royal Engineers signal troop. After the declaration of war in August 1914, the brigade was deployed to the Western Front in France, where an artillery battery joined the brigade the following September and a Machine Gun Squadron in February 1916.[1]

History

Napoleonic Wars

Charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo.

From June 1809, Wellington organized his cavalry into one, later two, cavalry divisions (1st and 2nd) for the Peninsular War.[2] These performed a purely administrative, rather than tactical, role;[3] the normal tactical headquarters were provided by brigades commanding two, later usually three, regiments.[4] The cavalry brigades were named for the commanding officer, rather than numbered.[a] For the Hundred Days Campaign, he numbered his British cavalry brigades in a single sequence, 1st to 7th.[b] The 2nd Cavalry Brigade consisted of:

As the brigade consisted of regiments from England (1st Dragoons), Scotland (2nd Dragoons) and Ireland (6th Dragoons), it was known as the 2nd (Union) Cavalry Brigade.

Boer War

The brigade was reformed for the Boer War. During the Battle of Paardeberg, the brigade commanded:[11]

World War I

A patrol of the 18th Hussars attempting to obtain information from the local population, 21 August 1914.

Commanders

The commanders of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade during the First World War were:[13]

  • Brigadier-General H. de B. de Lisle (At mobilization)
  • Brigadier-General R. L. Mullens (12 October 1914)
  • Brigadier-General D. J. E. Beale-Browne (26 October 1915)
  • Brigadier-General A. Lawson (16 April 1918)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ This could be a source of confusion as brigades acquired new commanders, or they moved between brigades. For example, Fane's Brigade became De Grey's Brigade from 13 May 1810 when Henry Fane went to Estremadura;[5] De Grey's Brigade was broken up 29 January 1812.[6] On 20 May 1813, Fane took over Slade's Brigade;[7] the second Fane's Brigade was unrelated to the original one although coincidentally, and to add to the potential confusion, the 3rd Dragoon Guards served in both.[8]
  2. ^ The British cavalry included five regiments of the King's German Legion.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b "1st Cavalry Division". The Long Long Trail. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  2. ^ Reid 2004, p. 79
  3. ^ Haythornthwaite 1990, p. 103
  4. ^ Reid 2004, p. 75
  5. ^ Reid 2004, p. 80
  6. ^ Reid 2004, p. 83
  7. ^ Reid 2004, p. 85
  8. ^ Reid 2004, pp. 79–86
  9. ^ "The Anglo-Allied Army at napoleonic-literature.com". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  10. ^ "Wellington's Army in 1815". Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Battle of Paardenburg". British Battles.com. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  12. ^ Clarke 1993, p. 55
  13. ^ Becke (1935), p. 2.

Bibliography

  • Becke, Major A.F. (1935). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 1. The Regular British Divisions. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 1-871167-09-4.
  • Clarke, W.G. (1993). Horse Gunners: The Royal Horse Artillery, 200 Years of Panache and Professionalism. Woolwich: The Royal Artillery Institution. ISBN 09520762-0-9.
  • Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1990). The Napoleonic Source Book. London: Guild Publishing.
  • Reid, Stuart (2004). Wellington's Army in the Peninsula 1809–14. Vol. 2 of Battle Orders Series. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-517-1.
  • Smith, Digby (1998). The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
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