Catalogue description Royal Bucks Hussars: records of, or belonging to, the Lawson family, barons Burnham

This record is held by Buckinghamshire Archives

Details of D206
Reference: D206
Title: Royal Bucks Hussars: records of, or belonging to, the Lawson family, barons Burnham
Description:

These papers relating to the Royal Bucks Hussars are the property of the Lawson family, barons Burnham, several of whom served in the regiment

Date: 1802 - 1994
Related material:

For further information see:

 

Citizen Soldiers of Buckinghamshire 1795-1926 by

 

Major General J.C. Swan published Bucks T.A. Association 1930

 

Call to Arms by I.F.W. Beckett, Barracuda Books, 1985

 

Records of yeomanry and militia are found in T/A and include papers which overlap with this collection

Held by: Buckinghamshire Archives, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

Lawson family, barons Burnham

Physical description: 3 series
Access conditions:

Records are open for consultation unless otherwise indicated

Subjects:
  • Buckinghamshire Yeomanry Cavalry, 1803-1845
  • Buckinghamshire Yeomanry Cavalry, (Royal Bucks Hussars) 1845-1900
  • Imperial Yeomanry, 1900-1901
  • Buckinghamshire Imperial Yeomanry (Royal Bucks Hussars), 1901-1908
  • Buckinghamshire Yeomanry (Royal Bucks Hussars), 1908-1921
  • Royal Bucks Hussars Association
  • Buckinghamshire
  • Armed forces
Administrative / biographical background:

The collection includes papers of the Bucks Yeomanry, predecessors to the Hussars, 1804-1826, which appear to be strays from the archives of the Clayton family of Harleyford, Bucks.

 

The Buckinghamshire yeomanry was raised in 1794 in response to the threat of invasion from France. There were three regiments, the 1st/Southern, 2nd/Mid-Bucks and 3rd/Northern. The Grenville family were prominent in the raising and leading of the yeomanry and when it was officially disbanded Richard Grenville Marquess of Chandos (later 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos) kept the 2nd regiment in existence. He paid the men himself until 1830 and held training days every year at Stowe Park. It was this regiment which became the Bucks Yeomanry Cavalry later the Royal Bucks Hussars. The royal title was granted in 1845 after they had acted as escorts to Queen Victoria.

 

The yeomanry was originally used only in England to deal with civil unrest. In 1899-1902, however, men from the R.B.H. served in South Africa during the Boer War. On the outbreak of war in 1914 as the number of men in the R.B.H. was inadequate, second and third line units were raised. These were known as the 2/1st and 3/1st Royal Bucks Hussars and were used to recruit and train men to serve abroad. Recruitment was at first from Bucks but men were gradually drawn from other counties as the war progressed.

 

The R.B.H. were a cavalry regiment and served in the Middle East against the Turks as part of the 6th Mounted Brigade. They were moved to France in 1918 as part of the 101st Battalion Machine Gun Corps, as cavalry was no longer needed.

 

After the First World War the R.B.H. combined with the Berkshire yeomanry in the 99th (Bucks and Berks Yeomanry) Brigade Royal Field Artillery. They served as the 99th Field Regiment in the Second World War. In 1947 they became the 299th (RBY) Field Regiment R.A. This was disbanded in 1967.

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