| 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) | |
|---|---|
 Badge of the 11th Hussars | |
| Active | 1715–1969 |
| Country |  Kingdom of Great Britain (1715–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1969) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Cavalry |
| Role | Line cavalry |
| Size | Regiment |
| Nicknames | The Cherry Pickers,The Cherrybums, from which the more genteelCherubims |
| Mottos | Treu und Fest (Loyal and Sure) |
| Anniversaries | Balaclava (25 October) |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan |
The11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) was acavalry regiment of theBritish Army established in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including theFirst World War andSecond World War but then amalgamated with the10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales' Own) to form theRoyal Hussars in 1969.
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The regiment was formed atColchester in July 1715 byPhilip Honeywood asHoneywood's Regiment of Dragoons, one of 16 raised in response to the1715 Jacobite rising. It fought in theBattle of Preston that ended the revolt in England and while many of these formations were disbanded in 1718, Honeywood's remained in being.[1]
During theJacobite rising of 1745, the regiment took part in the December 1745Clifton Moor Skirmish, allegedly the last military engagement on English soil, as well asBattle of Culloden in April 1746, often cited as the last pitched battle on British soil.[2] After 1751, regiments were numbered, rather than being named after the current Colonel, and it became the11th Regiment of Dragoons.[3]
When theSeven Years' War broke out in 1756, the regiment took part in the 1758 raids onSt Malo andCherbourg.[4] Attempting to divert French forces fromHanover, they failed to achieve this aim and the regiment was shipped to Germany in May 1760 as part of theMarquess of Granby's cavalry corps, winning its firstbattle honour in July atWarburg.[5] It was also present in the Allied victory atVillinghausen in July 1761, which forced the French onto the defensive and ultimately led to theTreaty of Paris in 1763.[6]
In 1755, each dragoon regiment added a reconnaissance or 'light' troop; in February 1779, these were detached, that from the 11th helping form the19th Light Dragoons, which in 1862 became the19th Royal Hussars.[3] While dragoons had previously been mounted infantry, as part of a tactical rethink, the 11th was re-designated in 1783 as 'light cavalry' and became the11th Regiment of Light Dragoons.[3]
During theFrench Revolutionary Wars, two squadrons of the 11th Light Dragoons took part in the Duke of York'sLow Countries campaign in 1793-95, including the action atFamars and the sieges ofValenciennes andLandrecies.[7] It was also involved in theAnglo-Russian invasion of Holland, including the October 1799 battles ofAlkmaar andCastricum.[8]
With the exception of a short spell inEgypt during the victorious campaign of 1801, the regiment did not see active service again until it was sent toPortugal in April 1811, where it joined thePeninsular War campaign.[8] In August, a ten-man piquet was surprised and captured atSan Martín de Trevejo in Spain, an incident that may have given rise to the regiment's nickname,The Cherry Pickers, which tradition associates with a mishap occurring in the vicinity of a cherry orchard.[9] It fought atBadajoz in April 1812 and theBattle of Salamanca in July 1812 before returning to Britain.[10] During the campaign of 1815, it arrived at Ostend as part ofVandeleur's brigade, and went on to fight atQuatre Bras andWaterloo.[9]
In 1819, the regiment moved to India, where it remained until 1836.[11] It was deployed at theSiege of Bharatpur between 1825 and 1826.[12] Shortly before returning to Britain, theEarl of Cardigan became lieutenant-colonel; embarked on a series of changes, which were intended to increase regimental prestige but resulted in a number of highly publicised disputes, including the so-called 'Black Bottle' affair.[13]
In 1840, the 11th Light Dragoons served as escort toPrince Albert on his arrival in England to marry Queen Victoria. She appointed Prince Albertcolonel of the regiment.[3] and granted them the title11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars. Prince Albert's interests included military tactics and equipment and he helped design the regiment's new uniforms.[14]
The regiment served in theCrimean War, as part of theLight Brigade commanded by Cardigan, now a Major General and fought at theBattle of Alma in September 1854.[15] It was also involved in theCharge of the Light Brigade in October 1854; due to miscommunication, Cardigan led the brigade against unbroken and more numerous Russian forces and while able to withdraw to its starting position, it suffered heavy losses as a result.[16]
The 11th lost three officers and 55 men in the debacle,[17] while Lieutenant Dunn was awarded theVictoria Cross for rescuing two members of his troop.[18]Edward Woodham of the 11th Hussars later acted as chairman of the organising committee for the 21st Anniversary dinner held atAlexandra Palace for survivors of the Charge.[19][20] The regiment was renamed the11th (or Prince Albert's Own) Hussars in 1861.[3] A detachment took part in the 1884Nile Expedition and during theSecond Boer War, it participated in the February 1900Relief of Ladysmith.[21]
In 1911 Prince Albert's great-grandsonCrown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia becamecolonel-in-chief of the regiment.[22] He was removed in October 1914 following the outbreak of the First World War.[23]
The regiment landed in France as part of the1st Cavalry Brigade in the1st Cavalry Division in August 1914 for service on theWestern Front with theBritish Expeditionary Force.[24] The regiment took part in theGreat Retreat and the regiment, working with the2nd Dragoon Guards, conducted a cavalry charge which led to the capture of eightguns atNéry in September 1914.[9] In an action during theBattle of Messines in October 1914 a squadron from the regiment endured a heavy German bombardment that left many of its soldiers buried in a trench while another squadron from the regiment used a vantage point at the top of a building to train amachine gun on the Germans.[9] At theSecond Battle of Ypres in April 1915 the regiment, working with theDurham Light Infantry and9th Lancers, held the village ofHooge despite being under attack from the German forces using poison gas.[9] In spring 1918 the commanding officer of the regiment Colonel Rowland Anderson led a bayonet assault atSailly-Laurette which, taking the Germans by surprise, led to them being completely repulsed.[9]
The regiment was renamed the11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) in 1921;[3] it became the first British cavalry regiment to becomemechanized in 1928 and it became involved in suppressing theArab revolt inPalestine in 1936.[9]
The regiment, which had been located inEgypt when the war started, deployed as part of the divisional troops of the7th Armoured Division and conducted raids on Italian positions inItalian Libya using armoured cars during theWestern Desert Campaign. It capturedFort Capuzzo in June 1940[25] and, in an ambush east ofBardia, captured General Lastucci, the Engineer-in-Chief of theItalian Tenth Army.[26]
Following theItalian invasion of Egypt in September 1940, the regiment took part in the Britishcounterattack calledOperation Compass, launched against Italian forces first in Egypt, then Libya. It was part of anad hoc combat unit calledCombeforce, commanded by Lieutenant-ColonelJohn Combe, that cut the retreating Tenth Army off and led to their surrender at theBattle of Beda Fomm in February 1941.[27] The regiment fought at theSecond Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. The regiment took part in theAllied invasion of Italy in September 1943 and, after theNormandy landings in June 1944, took part in theNorth-West Europe Campaign.[28]
The regiment was posted to Wavell Barracks inBerlin in 1945 and, after tours at various locations inLower Saxony includingJever,Delmenhorst,Osnabrück andWesendorf, it returned home in March 1953.[29] It deployed toJohor Bahru inMalaya in July 1953 during theMalayan Emergency.[29] After returning home, it moved toHadrian's Camp in Carlisle as an Armoured Basic Training Unit in August 1956, then to Lisanelly Barracks inOmagh back into the armoured reconnaissance role in August 1959, and then deployed toAden in November 1960 shortly before theAden Emergency.[29] It returned to England in November 1961 and then moved to Haig Barracks inHohne in October 1962 where, after becoming the first regiment to useChieftain tanks in regular service in 1967, it remained until returning home again in January 1969.[29] The regiment was amalgamated with the10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own), to form theRoyal Hussars on 25 October 1969.[3]
The regimental collection is held byHorsePower: The Museum of the King's Royal Hussars which is based atPeninsula Barracks inWinchester.[30]
The battle honours of the regiment were as follows:[3]
 |
The Commanding Officers have been:[31]
The colonels of the regiment were as follows (theKerr family provided the colonels for two-thirds of the regiment's first century):[3]
A royal warrant provided that in future regiments would not be known by their colonels' names, but by their "number or rank" on 1 July 1751
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