|
Roll of Honour of Officers of the Pembroke Yeomanry Who Died in the Great War |
 Copyright and source: britishmilitarybadges.co.uk |
Formation and Early History. The Regiment was founded on 22nd April 1794 as the Castlemartin Troop when Lord Milford, Lord Lieutenant of Haverfordwest and Pembrokeshire, raised a County Regiment of light cavalry in the Local Defence and militia role, in response to the growing fears of invasion from Napoleonic France. The Regiment was retitled on 17th July 1794 as the Pembroke Yeoman Cavalry. In February 1797 a French Republican fleet and landing force was spotted off the West of England and the coast defences were alerted. Unable to enter the Bristol Channel because of adverse winds, the French made for Cardigan Bay, appearing off Fishguard in Pembrokeshire on the afternoon of 22 February 1797. A landing force under Chef de Brigade William Tate consisting of the Légion Noire, around 1300 strong. At dawn on 23 February 1797 the French ships left, while the Legion posted an advance guard and patrols in the Carn Wnda hills and completed the unloading of stores on Goodwick Sands. Meanwhile, Lord Cawdor was gathering the Regiment with other troops at Haverfordwest, including the Castlemartin Troop, a company of the Cardiganshire Militia , a company of the Pembroke Volunteer Infantry from Milford Haven, and 7 officers and 150 seamen with two 9-pounder guns from the Revenue Cutters based there. The ad hoc Force was marched to Fishguard and joined the Fishguard and Newport Volunteer Infantry arriving at 1700hrs and set up a headquarters at the Royal Oak Inn. The Legion Noire's outposts reported an enemy force approaching, its numbers inflated by the numerous onlookers on the surrounding hills, some armed with pitchforks, and including some hundreds of Welsh women in their traditional red shawls and tall black hats, whose appearance at a distance resembled redcoated infantry. Faced with the total breakdown of discipline amongst his Legion, who were looting every farm in the vicinity, and believing that he was facing a superior force, Brigadier Tate sent a message to Cawdor that night offering to surrender on terms. Bluffing, Cawdor demanded unconditional surrender by 1000hrs next morning, which Tate and his officers accepted. The Legion Noire surrendered on Goodwick Sands, ending the Battle of Fishguard, 'the last invasion of Britain. Thirty years later in 1827 the Government withdrew funding for the Yeomanry and the Regiment was disbanded. However, the two Pembrokeshire Troops continued without pay until the revival of the Yeomanry in 1830 to deal with the growing civil unrest. The Troops were formally raised in 1830 to form the Castlemartin Yeomanry Cavalry, being retiutled the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry in 1871.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 111 men in Company strength units, to be attached to the Imperial Yeomanry (IY), equipped and deployed as Mounted infantry. The Pembrokeshire Yeomanry provided the 30th (Pembrokeshire) Company for the 9th (Welsh) 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 Pembroke Imperial Yeomanry (Castlemartin). The title 'Imperial' was dropped in 1908 when the Yeomanry were transferred to the Territorial Force (TF). 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 PembrokeshireYeomanry was organised into three separate units as described below. |
|
Regimental Details of the Pembroke Yeomanry (As Published in the Army List of August 1918) |
|
Those Officers of the Pembroke Yeomanry Who Died in the Great War |