Denbighshire Yeomanry - Roll of Honour of Officers of the Denbighshire Yeomanry Who Died in the Great War

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Roll of Honour of Officers of the Denbighshire Yeomanry

Who Died in the Great War

Formation and Early History of the Denbighshire Yeomanry

The Regiment was founded in 1794 as a County Regiment of light cavalry in a Home Defence role, in response to the growing fears of invasion from Napoleonic France. This Regiment, like all Yeomanry Regiments, was not intended to serve overseas, but due to the string of defeats during the Second Boer War in December 1899, the British Government realized that there was a requirement for more troops to reinforce the Regular Army in South Africa. A Royal Warrant was issued on 24th December 1899, to allow volunteer forces to serve in South Africa, requesting Yeomanry Regiments to provide each up to 115 men in Company strength units, to be attached to the Imperial Yeomanry (IY), equipped and deployed as Mounted infantry. The Denbighshire Yeomanry provided the 29th (Denbighshire) Company for the 9th Battalion, IY, in 1900. The mounted infantry experiment was considered a success and the existing Yeomanry Regiments were converted to IY in 1901, the Regiment becoming the Denbighshire Hussars Imperial Yeomanry . The title 'Imperial' was dropped in 1908 when the Yeomanry were transferred to the Territorial Force (TF) and the Regiment was retitled as the Denbighshire Yeomanry (Hussars).

The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, which brought the Territorial Force (TF) into being, established the TF as a Home Defence force for service during wartime, and members could not be compelled to serve outside the UK. However, on the outbreak of war on 4th August 1914, many members volunteered for overseas Imperial Service. Therefore, in August and September of 1914, TF units were split into the 1st Line (liable for overseas service) and the 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. Later, a 3rd Line was formed to act as a reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line units.

During the Great War the Denbighshire Yeomanry (Hussars) was organised into three separate units as described below.

Regimental Details of the Denbighshire Yeomanry

(As Published in the Army List of August 1918)

Column 339

Those Officers of the Denbighshire Yeomanry

Who Died in the Great War

No	Date Died	Surname	Forenames	Rank	Decs	Age	Cause	Country	Location	Cemetery/Memorial	Notes
Died in 1917
1	16th June	ALLISON	Robert Stafford	2Lt	-	25	DOW	Palestine	Hospital at Gaza	Gaza War Cemetery (XVI.G.10)	(1)
2	3rd July	SANDBACH	Gilbert Robertson	Capt	-	24	DOW	Egypt	Nasrieh Military Hospital, Cairo	Cairo War Memorial Cemetery (F.271)	(2)
3	9th October	ROOPER	William Victor Trevor	Capt	C de G (B)	20	KIAA	Belgium	Over Polygon Wood, east of Ypres	Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extn (III.F.43)	(3)
4	19th October	HARLEY	Robert Alexander	Major	-	35	A	UK	Hotel at Southampton	Liverpool (Allerton) Cemetery (VIII.CE.173	(4)
5	27th December	THOMAS	Llewellyn	2Lt	-	26	KIA	Palestine	Jerusalem	Jerusalem War Cemetery (E.25)	(5)
Died in 1918
6	24th March	JAMES	Alyn Reginald	Capt	-	23	KIAA	France	East of Amiens	Arras Flying Services Memorial	(6)
7	19th September	MILLER	John Kingsley	Lt	-	34	KIA	France	"Queuchettes Wood", near Ronssoy	Unicorn Cemetery Vendhuile (III.B.30)	(7)
Notes: 1. ALLISON was attached to 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was wounded at Gaza on 16th June 1917. 2. SANDBACH was attached to 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was wounded at Gaza on 16th June 1917. 3. ROOPER was seconded to 1st Squadron Royal Flying Corps and was shot down by Xavier Dannhuber of Jasta 26 over Polygon Wood. 4. THOMAS was attached to 12th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. 5. HARLEY. According to newspaper reports Major Harley was found dead in his room at a Southampton hotel due to a wound from a revolver. 6. JAMES was seconded to 62nd Squadron Royal Flying Corps. He and his observer, Lt J M Hay, were shot down by ground fire in their aircraft, a Bristol F2.b fighter, whilst on a trench strafing mission. 7. MILLER was attached to 25th (Montgomeryshire and Welsh Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was originally buried in a battlefield grave near "Queuchettes Wood", east of Ronssoy, and was reburied at Unicorn Cemetery in August 1919.

Regimental History and Battle Honours of The Great War

A detailed history of the Denbighshire Yeomanry can be viewed here.

During the Great War the Denbighshire Yeomanry was organised into three separate units as described below:

1/1st Denbighshire Yeomanry. Initially deployed in the UK for its mobilisation role of Home Defence duties and became a dismounted unit (infantry) in November 1915. Deployed to Egypt in March 1916 and fought in Egypt and Palestine in the dismounted role. All personnel of the Regiment were posted to the 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers when it was formed in February 1917, part of 231st Brigade, 75th (Yeomanry) Division, and fought in Palestine until re-deployed to France in May 1918.

2/1st Denbighshire Yeomanry. Formed in September 1914 as a UK Home Defence, depot and training unit providing reinforcements for the 1/1st. Between November 1916 and March 1917, with the 2/1st Montgomeryshire Yeomanry, became 3rd (Montgomery and Denbigh Yeomanry) Cyclist Battalion. The Regiment resumed its original identity in March 1917 and continued to serve in the UK until end of war when it was disbanded.

3/1st Denbighshire Yeomanry. Formed in April 1915 as a reserve/depot unit and affiliated to a Reserve Cavalry Regiment. In the summer of 1916 the unit was dismounted and transferred as infantry to the 3rd Line Groups of the West Lancashire Division in a Home Defence role. In February 1917 the unit was disbanded, personnel being posted to the 2/1st and to the 4th (Reserve) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers TF.

Battle Honours. The sheer scale of the Great War led to a previously unheard of number of Honours being awarded and it was simply impractical to emblazon every one of them on the Regimental Colour. In September 1922 it was ordered that Regiments should select up to 10 Honours to be emblazoned on their Regimental Colours along with previous awards, up to a total of 24. This led to a storm of protest, since many Regiments would have had to remove previous Honours. The order was therefore amended the following December, to allow each Regiment to select up to 10 Honours to be emblazoned on its King's/Queen's Colour, Honours from other conflicts continuing to be displayed on the Regimental Colour. Honours in bold are emblazoned on the Regimental Colours.

The Regiment earned the following Battle Honours during the Great War:

Somme 1918, Bapaume 1918, Ypres 1918, France and Flanders 1918, Egypt 1916–17, Gaza, Jerusalem, Jericho, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917–18

The Debt Of Honour Register

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) was established by Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission), and pays tribute to the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two World Wars. It is a non-profit-making organisation founded by Sir Fabian Ware.

The CWGC's principles are:

Each of the dead should be commemorated by name on the headstone or memorial.
Headstones and memorials should be permanent.
Headstones should be uniform.
There should be no distinction made of account of military or civil rank, race or creed.

Since its inception, the Commission has constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots, erecting headstones over graves and, in instances where the remains are missing, inscribing the names of the dead on permanent memorials. Over one million casualties are now commemorated at military and civil sites in some 150 countries.

Together with the tasks of structural and horticultural maintenance, the CWGC is charged with keeping records of the 1.75 million Commonwealth war dead. At each cemetery and memorial you will find a register showing the service details and, in some cases, family details, of the men and women buried or commemorated there. Much of the Commission’s day-to-day work is concerned with maintaining the integrity of the casualty database, the electronic version of the records, which can be accessed via the Debt of Honour Register (DoHR).

In December 2020, the Commission reviewed their policy on amendments to the Casualty Database. One of the outcomes of the review was that they would no longer add Honours and Awards to the database where there is no entitlement to post-nominal letters. Therefore the recording of "Mentioned in Despatches", for instance, would no longer be carried out. Listed in the table below are names of any officers awarded "Mentioned in Despatches" which will not be recorded in the Casualty Database.

Some apparent inaccuracies in the records of Officers of the Denbighshire Yeomanry may have been found in the DoHR. The Webmaster will investigate and report these errors to the CWGC as the project/website is progressed.

Below is a brief summary of apparent inaccuracies discovered so far and action taken or planned to take.

Name	Apparent Inaccuracy	Date Reported to CWGC	Agreed by CWGC
ALLISON, 2Lt Robert Stafford	Unit serving with at death 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers not recorded.
SANDBACH, Captain Gilbert Robertson	All details correct.
ROOPER, Captain William Victor Trevor	Unit serving with at death (1st Squadron RFC) not recorded. Parent Regiment incorrectly recorded as 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Award of C de G (B) not recorded.
THOMAS, 2Lt Thomas Llewelyn	All details correct.
HARLEY, Major Robert Alexander	Parent Regiment incorrectly recorded as 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
JAMES, Captain Alyn Reginald	Parent Regiment incorrectly recorded as 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
MILLER, Lt J K	Forenames (John Kingsley) not recorded. Parent Regiment of Denbighshire Yeomanry) not recorded. Serving with 25th (Montgomeryshire and Welsh Horse Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers at time of death.

Page last updated: 11th January 2025

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