From the beginning

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In 1838, Queen Victoria bestowed the title “Royal” upon the regiment in recognition of its valuable work, and it became known as the Queen’s Own Royal Regiment, The Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry.

The activities of the regiment at this period were not always unpleasant. There were often royal and other distinguished visitors to the county, for whom ceremonial escorts and parades would be laid on. Impressive events were arranged on such occasions as the return from Waterloo of the Marquess of Anglesey to his home at Beaudesert, and the visit of the Queen to Wolverhampton in 1866 – the first royal visit she chose to make following her long period of mourning for Prince Albert in 1861.

By the 1860s, soldiering in the regiment had begun to take on a more professional military character, and it took its place beside the newly formed Rifle Volunteers as part of the Auxiliary Forces of Great Britain. By this time, as a result of the prevailing patriotic spirit, troops of the regiment were to be found in Lichfield, Stafford, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Newcastle (two troops), Uttoxeter, Burton, Himley, Leek, Tamworth and Cheadle. 

Arranged to fit in with harvest, the annual training fortnight, usually held at Lichfield, saw more emphasis being placed on up-to-date military training, such as musketry and sword drill. An increasingly significant feature was the prizes the men competed for each year for proficiency on swordsmanship, musketry, smartness of kit and mount, etc. After all the hard work was done each day, it does appear, however, from contemporary newspaper reports and memoirs, that the men liked the play hard too. The yeomen were, it appears, much given to hearty socialising and horseplay when off duty. Great complaints were voiced by the citizens of Lichfield in the 1880s over the late night carousing of the men. The city apparently later forgave the regiment as, in 1894, to celebrate its centenary, ‘Yeomanry Week’ was held there, the high point being a visit to the regiment by the Prince of Wales.  

The opportunity for these ‘citizen soldiers’ to do some real soldiering came in 1900, when many Staffordshire troopers answered the government’s call to join the Imperial Yeomanry, a corps specially raised to augment the hard-pressed Regular forces fighting the Boers in South Africa. The 6th (Staffordshire) Company of the 4th Battalion IY was to give a good account of itself in action at Thabanchu and Senekal, and a further two companies from the county were to serve before the end of the war in May 1902.

As a result of the army’s experience in South Africa, before the war ended, a tactical change was ordered for the British yeomanry force as a whole, and this went hand in hand with a change of title, and the Staffordshire became known as the Staffordshire Imperial Yeomanry. Henceforth, emphasis was to be placed on mounted infantry tactics, rather than the traditional cavalry role and, at training, emphasis on swordsmanship and the cavalry charge gave way to scouting, manoeuvre and marksmanship. Also around this time, the style of the annual training period changed radically. The billeting of yeomen within Lichfield was ceased, and training was undertaken under canvas each year, usually at one of the large county estates. Uniform also began to conform with the requirements of modern warfare, and khaki made its first appearance in the yeomanry. Recognition that recruits no longer came exclusively from rural backgrounds is evidenced by the fact that men were now permitted to hire horses from local dealers. 

At the outbreak of war (4th August 1914), the Yeomanry was mobilised and assembled initially at Tixall; later that year they moved to Diss in Norfolk for further training.

In October 1915 they embarked on board SS Nessian, initially bound for Salonika. However, when passing Gibraltar, orders were received to proceed to Alexandria and join the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. The Regiment was attached to the 22nd Mounted Brigade of the Yeomanry Mounted Division. On deployment, the Regiment consisted of 16 officers, 501 ORs, 512 horses and 39 mules.

1916 saw the Yeomanry carrying out patrols against the Senussi tribe in southern Egypt and the Nile valley. In March many men transferred to the Imperial Camel Corps. Later in the year moving north to the Sinai, mounted patrols defended the railway and water pipe line which ran from Egypt to Palestine. Conditions were hard in the desert, little water, sickness, heat, cold, great distances to cover, camels to get used to, etc. This time in southern Egypt proved a good acclimatising period and taught useful lessons.

The Palestine campaign commenced in 1917 with the battles for Gaza in March, April and October. The capture of Gaza led to the fall of Beersheba and the advance to Jerusalem. During this advance the Yeomanry were caught in a wide wadi and came under heavy fire. There being no other option, the order was given to draw swords and charge. This led to the capture of two field guns, a dozen MGs and 1000 prisoners. D Sqn lost one man and sustained a few minor wounds! In December 1917 Jerusalem was taken and the Yeomanry Mounted Division was withdrawn to near Gaza for R&R.

Later in March 1918 they were ordered to cross Palestine and deploy to the Jordan valley where in July 1918 the battle of Megiddo was fought. In September 1918 the Yeomanry were advancing across the coastal plain of Sharon, a distance of 60 miles in two days. Over the next few days they took 5800 prisoners.

Damascus was taken in October 1918. Remnants of the Staffordshire Yeomanry began a 200-mile trek to Aleppo, having been reduced to 75 all ranks. Aleppo was taken on 25 October and Turkey surrendered on 30 October. This in effect brought an end to the war in the Middle East.  However the Yeomanry remained on security duties for a further six months pending return home.