From Charging into Battle to Falling From the Sky!

On the 29th April 1794 an important meeting was held at the Guildhall in Worcester to discuss the defence of the County. At the time the French had executed their King and a Quarter of a million Frenchmen were now armed!

Britain was worried about the events across the Channel and so £6,000 was raised by subscriptions to boost the local Militia. With permission from King George III, money was also spent to form a Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment.

Over the summer, the Worcestershire Yeomanry was created. By the 25th October Captain John Somers-Cocks and Lieutenant Thomas Spooner were parading this new force in front of the Unicorn Inn in Angel Place, Worcester. The Worcestershire Yeomanry trained regularly on Kempsey Ham and Pitchcroft Meadow in Worcester.

They were ready to charge into action if there was a French Invasion or if civil unrest broke out in the County. They were called out numerous times to deal with riotous mobs in Worcestershire, including dispersing Nail Makers in Bromsgrove and angry groups in Dudley.

In 1837 Queen Victoria gave the Regiment its ‘Royal’ status - The Queens Own Worcestershire Hussars. This was recognition of the time they had escorted the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria through Worcestershire in 1832.

However, every time French Invasion threats subsided the Regiments future looked bleak! Many units were being disbanded all the time. However local gentry paid out of their own pockets to equip and recruit one of the strongest Yeomanry units in Britain.

In 1899 the Yeomanry were called on to join the Imperial Yeomanry Cavalry, as it was being sent abroad to fight in what would be called the Second Boer War. The Countess Dudley handed each volunteer a sprig of Pear Blossom, to remind them of their beautiful and fruitful County whilst they were away. When they returned from Active Service abroad, she handed the Regiment the famous and precious Faberge Pear Blossom Jewel (Valued on the Antiques Road Show at £1 Million Pounds.) The County prepared for future wars by continuing to train regularly and building a new riding school in Worcester, in Barbourne in 1912.

A global, Industrial War arrived in the summer of 1914 and despite the Yeomanry not requiring Swords, the Earl of Dudley purchased swords for every man! After a short period in Norfolk, the Regiment ended up in Egypt and there then followed a short period acting as Infantry during the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign.

In 1916 the Regiment was tasked with guarding the important Suez Canal and then pushing East across the Sinai Desert towards Palestine. This saw the Yeomen take part in some vicious fighting at Oghratina and Qatia on Easter Sunday 1916. A small force of Yeomen held out against over 3,000 Turks and suffered greatly. A year later at Huj, the Regiment took part in one of the last Cavalry Charges in history, mirroring the Charge of the Light Brigade.

When the war ended only 3 Officers and 27 Other Ranks from the Original Regiment that went to war in 1915 returned! Warfare had changed dramatically from the days of being a Policing Force in 1794. In the 1920s the Yeomanry began to retrain as Artillery and in 1938 become the 53rd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery.

As a Second World War began the Regiment joined the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium, to stem the German Blitzkrieg. The Regiment fought heroically to protect the retreat to Dunkirk and were praised for having destroyed the most enemy tanks in the entire Expeditionary Force.

In 1943 the Regiment was then made into the 53rd Air Landing, Light Regiment, Royal Artillery. This saw the Regiment deployed with the 6th Airborne Division, landing on D Day. One Battery landed by Gliders and were firing at enemy targets in Normandy almost straight away. 77 years ago this month, the Brave Yeomen were helping to Liberate Europe.

As the war drew to a close, the Regiment became the first British Artillery unit to drop shells on German Soil, after landing by Gliders to take part in the Rhine Crossing.

In the years that followed, the Worcestershire Yeomanry took to Policing Palestine, as they had done in Britain in the 18th Century and then with a number of reforms, amalgamations and cut backs the Regiment began to lose most of its County links.

However the Regiment lives on within a number of modern day units including the 54th (Queens Own Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry) Support Squadron based in Redditch, part of 37 Signals Regiment and B Squadron of the Royal Yeomanry.

The Regiment has a Comrades Association, a fantastic Museum in Worcester and a supportive Friends of the Worcestershire Yeomanry Museum group. n By Paul Harding Discover History Facebook and YouTube - Discover History Instagram and Twitter -DiscoverHISTPH www.discover-history.co.uk

Discover History is an award winning education and Living History Performance Company based in Worcester. They specialise in the local history of Worcestershire and deliver school workshops and history days, living history performances and talks across Britain.