104th (Essex Yeomanry) RHA.
| In 1794 six troops of the 'Loyal Essex Regiment of Fencible Cavalry' (later to be renamed 'The Essex Light Dragoons') were formed from the Harlow area against threats of a French invasion with landings on the Essex coast. In 1797 the 1st Essex Yeomanry Cavalry Troop was raised in Coopersale, followed by the Chelmsford Hundred Yeomanry: by 1798 there were fifteen such Yeomanry Cavalry Troops throughout Essex named, in many cases, after the village, district or landowner where they raised. During 1813 the independent Yeomanry Troops in Essex formed themselves into the Essex Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment. The last of the old Essex Yeomanry Troops disbanded in 1828, but in 1830 the West Essex Yeomanry Cavalry was raised to help the civil powers cope with the widespread agitation in Essex caused by the proposed Reform Bill. In the 1850s this regiment expanded to comprise three cavalry and two artillery troops and a band, but was disbanded in 1877, the nadir of volunteering. In 1889 however, Captain RB Colvin (later Brigadier General Sir Richard Colvin, Lord Lieutenant of Essex) raised an Essex Troop of the Loyal Suffolk Hussars, in which served many of the Essex men who subsequently fought in South Africa with the Imperial Yeomanry from 1899 - 1902. It was in 1901 that he raised the Essex Imperial Yeomanry as a fullscale regiment with four squadrons. In 1908 the regiment, as the Essex Yeomanry, became part of the Territorial Force, and in 1909 received from Edward VII its guidon and regimental motto 'Decus Et Tutamen' (Shield and Protection). Also in 1908, the Essex Royal Horse Artillery Battery, based at Colchester, was raised out of the Essex Yeomanry. In 1914 the regiment went to France, where it was in continual action in the 8th Cavalry Brigade until 1918, during the last three years under the command of Lieutenant Colonel FHDC Whitmore (later Sir Francis Whitmore, Lord Lieutenant of Essex 1936-50). During World War I, 467 officers and men of the Essex Yeomanry were killed and wounded (the seventh highest total of all the Yeomanry Regiments of the United Kingdom), and a total of 134 honours and awards were made to Essex Yeoman, including a Victoria Cross. In 1920 the Essex Yeomanry was formed again as a cavalry regiment of the Territorial Army, but converted to artillery in 1921, becoming the 104th (Essex Yeomanry) Brigade RFA. In 1932 the Essex Royal Horse Artillery Battery joined the regiment, which became the 104th (Essex Yeomanry) RHA. In 1939 the Territorial Army was doubled and a second Essex Yeomanry regiment was formed as the 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Regiment RHA, later to be re-designated as Field Regiment Royal Artillery. The first line regiment went to the Middle East in 1940 with the 1st Cavalry Division, and served with them in Palestine before transferring to the 2nd Armoured Division and later the Tobruk garrison. The regiment took part in most of the Western Desert battles (notably El Alamein and the Siege of Tobruk) and in the Italian campaign, until it was disbanded in Austria in 1946. The 147th Regiment landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day 1944, and fought with the 8th Armoured Brigade as a spear-head unit through France, Belgium and Holland and on into Germany, before being disbanded in 1946. In 1942 an Essex Yeomanry battery from 104th Regiment RHA was sent to Burma with the 7th Armoured Brigade to cover the withdrawal from Rangoon to Imphal. This battery was subsequently expanded into another RHA Regiment (147 RHA). In 1942 the 147th Regiment and the 86th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment RA jointly provided the basis for a new 191st (Herts and Essex Yeomanry) Field Regiment RA which fought from Normandy to Holland before being disbanded in 1945. |