Hertfordshire Yeomanry Regimental History

J.D. Sainsbury

 

The Hertfordshire Yeomanry: An illustrated history 1794–1920 

ISBN 978-0-948527-03-6; April 1994, 250pp; Paperback; £12.50

 

The Hertfordshire Batteries, Royal Field Artillery: An illustrated history 1908–1920

ISBN 978-0-948527-04-3; November 1996, 126pp; Paperback; £7.50

 

The Hertfordshire Yeomanry Regiments, Royal Artillery: An illustrated history

Part 1 – The Field Regiments 1920–1946

ISBN 978-0-948527-05-0; September 1999, 300pp; Paperback; £15.00

 

The Hertfordshire Yeomanry Regiments, Royal Artillery: An illustrated history

Part 2 – The Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment 1938-1945 and the Searchlight Battery 1937–1945

Part 3 – The Post-War Units 1947–2002

ISBN 978-0-948527-06-7; June 2003, 360pp; Paperback; £15.00

 

These four volumes, together with two supplements listing officers and honours and awards respectively, constitute the official history of all Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery units. Their publication was overseen and financed by the Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery Historical Trust, which has deposited the substantial collections of contemporary documents, interview records, extracts from official publications and photographs that were assembled during research over thirty years with Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies.

Mounted troops known as Yeomanry Cavalry were raised in 1794 in response to the threat of French invasion. They were maintained during peacetime and provided volunteer mounted troops for service in the South African War. Large-scale reorganisation of Britain’s Auxiliary Forces in 1908 led to the incorporation of the Yeomanry in the Territorial Force, the legal predecessor of today’s Territorial Army. The Hertfordshire Yeomanry’s fortunes from raising in Napoleonic times are followed in Volume 1, which also details the national background. The regiment served in South Africa and throughout the First World War, where it fought in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine and Mesopotamia (now Iraq).

Two batteries of field artillery were raised in Hertfordshire as part of the new Territorial Force in 1908. They were mobilised with the East Anglian Divisional Artillery in August 1914 and soon moved to Egypt, where they played a distinguished part in the battles of Gaza in 1917 and in the subsequent advance through Palestine to the Turkish border. Volume 2 includes useful details on the field artillery equipment and tactics of the period.

Reorganisation after the First World War saw the amalgamation of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry and the two Royal Field Artillery batteries as a four-battery field artillery unit – initially brigade, from 1938 regiment – with centres at Hertford, St Albans, Hitchin and Watford. As preparations for war were undertaken in the later 1930s, the Watford battery was first expanded into a three-battery anti-aircraft regiment. Then, early in 1939, a second field artillery regiment was formed. The three regiments mobilised in August—September 1939 and served throughout the Second World War, one field regiment in the Normandy Landings and in the subsequent campaign in North-West Europe, the other in Malaya and Singapore, and the anti-aircraft regiment in France (1940), in Anti-Aircraft Command and in North Africa and Italy. A third field regiment formed during the war and the Barnet searchlight battery served in Anti-Aircraft Command.

In 1947 two regiments, one field and one anti-aircraft, were formed in the reorganised Territorial Army, both carrying on the Hertfordshire Yeomanry title. The post-war period up to the mobilisation of individuals for service in Iraq is assessed in detail, both nationally and locally, in Volume 4.

Supplements

A Biographical List of Officers of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry 1794-1920

ISBN 978-0-948527-07-4; November 2004, 76pp; Paperback; £5.00

This list sets out to demonstrate the military service, both Regular and in the Auxiliary Forces, of more than 350 officers of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry, so that it can be considered alongside their civilian careers and achievements. As such, it is of interest to local and family historians, who will find their subjects’ military careers very fully researched.

 

Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery: Honours and Awards

ISBN 978-0-948527-09-8; June 2006, 152pp; Paperback; £7.50

Second, revised edition A useful supplement to all four volumes of the history of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery units, this very fully researched account lists awards for gallantry, for meritorious service and for long and efficient service, giving citations for gallantry and meritorious service awards wherever possible. Awards of Coronation and Jubilee Medals are also listed, as are various forms of commendation, including the Lord-Lieutenant’s Certificate for outstanding service in the Territorial Army.