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

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Roll of Honour of Officers of the Welsh Horse Yeomanry

Who Died in the Great War

Formation and Early History of the Welsh Horse Yeomanry

The Welsh Horse Yeomanry was raised on 18th August 1914 in South Wales by the Glamorganshire Territorial Force Association, with the Regimental HQ at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. Later in the year, the Regiment was transferred to Montgomeryshire County Territorial Force Association, with its HQ at Newtown. The Regiment was trained and equipped as lancers (a lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance). Despite being the last Yeomanry Regiment to be raised, it was accorded precedence after the Glamorganshire Yeomanry due to its connection to the Glamorganshire Territorial Force Association at the time of its formation.

In accordance with the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, which brought the Territorial Force into being, the TF was intended to be a Home Defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4th August 1914, many members volunteered for Imperial Service, overseas. Consequently, TF units were split in August and September 1914 into the 1st Line Unit (liable for overseas service) and the 2nd Line unit (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) . Later, in 1915, a 3rd Line unit was formed to act as a depot and reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line units.

During the Great War the Welsh Horse Yeomanry was organised into three separate units as described below.

Regimental Details of the Welsh Horse Yeomanry

(As Published in The Army List of August 1918)

Welsh Horse Yeomanry Regimental Details

Those Officers of the Welsh Horse 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	8th June	SHIRLEY	Archibald Vincent	2Lt	-	30	KIAA	France	Over the Somme Sector	Arras Flying Services Memorial	(1)
2	21st August	THOMAS	Owen Richard	Capt	-	37	DOI	Palestine	Deir el Belah, south west of Gaza	Deir el Belah War Cemetery (A.234)	(2)
Died in 1918
3	11th March	ROCH	William Protheroe	Capt	-	35	KIA	Palestine	Near Jerusalem	Jerusalem War Cemetery (U.17)	(3)
4	24th March	JONES	Herbert Wynn	Lt	-	22	DOW	France	CCS near Rosieres	Rosieres British Cemetery (Plot 22)	(4)
Notes: 1. SHIRLEY was seconded to 66th Squadron Royal Flying Corps 2. THOMAS was attached to HQ 54th Division as Assistant Provost Marshal. 3. ROCH was attached to 25th (Montgomery and Welsh Horse Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. 4. JONES was attached to 1st Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron MGC. He was wounded south of Bapaume on 23rd March 1918.

Regimental History

A detailed history of the Welsh Horse Yeomanry can be viewed here.

1/1st Welsh Horse Yeomanry

The Regiment did not exist before the Great War. By early 1915 the unit had moved to Diss (Norfolk) in the Home Defence role and had been placed under the command 1st North Midland Mounted Brigade, part of the 1st Mounted Division. In February 1915 the Regiment moved from Diss to Woodbridge, Suffolk, and joined 1st Eastern Mounted Brigade, within the same Division.

On 25th September 1915 the unit was dismounted (horses being taken away for other prioroties) and sailed from Liverpool on SS ‘Olympic’ for service at Gallipoli. The unit landed at Anzac Cove on 10th October 1915 and was allotted to 163rd Brigade, under command of 54th (East Anglian) Division, in the dismounted infantry role. In December 1915 the unit was evacuated from Gallipoli and moved to Egypt. On 22nd February 1916 the Eastern and Southern Mounted Brigades were reorganised and formed the 3rd Dismounted Brigade and was deployed to the Suez Canal Defences.

In July 1916 the Brigade was deployed with 42nd (East Lancashire) Division to the Western Frontier Force for operations during the Senussi Campaign in the Egyptian Western Desert but was back in Suez by the end of the year. On 4th March 1917, at Helmieh, Cairo, the unit merged with 1/1st Montgomeryshire Yeomanry to form 25th (Montgomery and Welsh Horse Yeomanry) Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The Battalion was placed under command of 231st Brigade of the 74th (Yeomanry) Division for operations in Palestine.

In May 1918 the 74th (Yeomanry) Division was redeployed to France where it remained for the remainder of the war on the Western Front, taking part in the Hundred Days Offensive including the Second Battle of the Somme (Second Battle of Bapaume) and the Battles of the Hindenburg Line (Battle of Épehy). In October and November 1918, it took part in the 'Final Advance' in Artois and Flanders. By the Armistice it was north of Ath, Belgium, still part of 231st Brigade, 74th (Yeomanry) Division.

2/1st Welsh Horse Yeomanry

Formed at Newtown in September 1914 initially as the Regimental Second Line unit acting as the depot, training and draft-supplying reserve for the 1/1st. In July 1915 the unit moved to the Dorchester area and came under command of 2/1st South Wales Mounted Brigade in the Home Defence role when the 3/1st unit was formed. By September 1915 the Brigade moved to Yoxford, Suffolk, and came under command of 1st Mounted Division. The unit was absorbed by the 2/1st Montgomeryshire Yeomanry in mid 1916.

3/1st Welsh Horse Yeomanry

Formed at Newtown in 1915 as the Regimental Third Line unit, acting as the depot, training and draft-supplying reserve for the 1/1st and 2/1st. In the summer of 1916 the unit was attached to Third Line Groups of Units of Welsh Division at Oswestry. In February 1917 the unit was disbanded. Troops were either posted to 2/1st Montgomeryshire Yeomanry or 4th (Reserve) Battalion TF Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Battle Honours of the Great War

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, Hindenburg Line, Epehy. Pursuit to Mons. France and Flanders 1918, Gallipoli 1915. 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, where applicable, 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 Welsh Horse 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
ROCH, Capt William Protheroe	Serving with 25th (Montgomery and Welsh Horse Yeomanry) Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers at the time of his death. (WO 374/58698)
JONES, Lt Herbert Wyman	No Parent Regiment recorded, though Welsh Horse incribed on headstone. Serving with 1st Cavalry Squadron Machine Gun Corps at time of death. Second forename may well be Wynn. (WO 374/49310)

Page last updated: 11th January 2025

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