The 15th The King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment

Cavalry regiments of the British Army

There are currently nine regular cavalry regiments of the British Army, with two tank regiments provided by the Royal Tank Regiment, traditionally classed alongside the cavalry, for a total of eleven regiments. Of these, five serve as armoured regiments, and five as formation reconnaissance...

 in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. First raised in 1759, it saw service over two centuries, before being amalgamated into the 15th/19th Hussars in 1922.

Formation

The regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 was raised as the first of the new regiments of light dragoons in 1759, and named Elliots Light Horse, after George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield

George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield

George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield, KB was a British Army officer who took served in three major wars during the eighteenth century. He rose to distinction during the Seven Years War when he fought in Germany and participated in the British attacks on Belle Île and Cuba...

 who had raised the regiment. It was then renamed the 15th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons. In 1759 the 15th was the first unit in the British Army to be awarded a battle honour

Battle honour

A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....

 "Emsdorf" for the Battle of Emsdorf

Battle of Emsdorf

The Battle of Emsdorf was fought on 14 July 1760 during the Seven Years' War at Emsdorf in present-day Hesse, Germany, between forces of British, Hanoverian and Hessian troops under the Prince of Hesse-Kassel against German troops in French service under Marechal de Camp Glaubitz...

 in the Seven Years War. Other more senior units then applied to be awarded battle honours for previous campaigns and battles.

In 1766 they were renamed for George III

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

 as the 1st (or The King's Royal) Regiment of Light Dragoons, the number being an attempt to create a new numbering system for the light dragoon regiments. However, the old system was quickly reestablished, with the regiment returning as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1769. They became hussars in 1807, as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars).

Peterloo

In 1819, the 15th played a pivotal role in the notorious Peterloo Massacre

Peterloo Massacre

The Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation....

, where a 60,000 strong crowd calling for democratic reform were charged by the Yeomanry. Panic from the crowd was interpreted as an attack on the Yeomanry and the Hussars (led by Lieutenant Colonel Guy L'Estrange) were ordered in. The charge resulted in 15 fatalities and as many as 600 injured.

The title was simplified in 1861 to the 15th (The King's) Hussars.

World War I

At the start of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 in August 1914, the 15th The King's Hussars was stationed at Longmoor

Longmoor Military Camp

Longmoor Military Camp is a British Army training camp and training area on the A3 road between Liss and Liphook in Hampshire, England. The village of Greatham lies to the south....

. They moved to France on 18 August 1914, landing at Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

. The squadrons were attached to different Infantry divisions to form the divisional reconnaissance element:

• A Squadron was attached to 3rd Division
• B Squadron was attached to 2nd Division
• C Squadron was attached to 1st Division

On 14 April 1915, the Squadrons returned to regimental control and the regiment was placed under the command of the 9th Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division.

The regiment remained on the Western Front

Western Front (World War I)

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...

 throughout the war. It participated in most of the major actions where cavalry were used as a mounted mobile force. They were also used as dismounted troops and served effectively as infantry.
On November 11, 1918, orders were received that the 1st Cavalry Division would lead the advance of the Second Army into Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, by December 6, having passed through Namur

Namur (city)

Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....

, the Division secured the Rhine bridgehead at Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

.

Post war

After service in the First World War, the regiment, retitled as the 15th The King's Hussars in 1921, was amalgamated with the 19th Royal Hussars (Queen Alexandra's Own) to form the 15th/19th Hussars the following year.

Battle honours

The Regiment was awarded the following battle honours

Battle honours of the British and Imperial Armies

The following battle honours were awarded to units of the British Army and the armies of British India and the Dominions of the British Empire. From their institution until the end of the Second World War, awards were made by, or in consultation with, the British government, but, since 1945, the...

:

• Emsdorf, Villers-en-Cauchies, Willems, Egmont-op-Zee, Sahagun, Vittoria, Peninsula, Waterloo, Afghanistan 1878-80
• The Great War: Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914 '15, Langemarck 1914, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Rosières, Amiens, Albert 1918, Bapaume 1918, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18