Amalgamation with The 7th Queen’s Own Hussars The Regiment returned home to amalgamate with The 7th Queen’s Own Hussars at Tidworth on the 3rd of November 1958 to form The Queen’s Own Hussars after 18 years of unbroken Foreign Service. To pretend that two old and proud Regiments could be united without some difference of opinion would be foolish, but what differences did exist on November 3, 1958, were soon settled in a frank and friendly atmosphere, when common sense…

The Second World War Initially during the “Phoney War” the 3rd Hussars were brigade in the 1st Armoured Brigade alongside their old friends The 4th Hussars. After France had fallen the Regiment was sent to Cairo to join The 7th Armoured Brigade of 7th Armoured Division, “The Desert Rats”. Why not discover about the Western Desert campaign, 1940-42. Buq Buq, 11 December 1940 The 3rd King’s Own Hussars and the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars were both in the 7th…

Between the Wars In 1921 the title of the Regiment changed for the final time to “3rd The King’s Own Hussars”, a few months before it embarked for two years in Turkey as part of the allied army of occupation. from there it proceeded to Egypt until 1927 when it moved to India. Lucknow was a quiet tour and in 1932 The 3rd Hussars returned home to York. On transferring to Tidworth in 1935 the Regiment had been selected and…

The Great War Within the context of the 1914-18 Great War, the part played by any one unit among hundreds must be obscured by the grand strategy. The 3rd Hussars fought only in Northern France and Flanders, yet they gained twenty-five battle honours, double the amount they had won in the previous two centuries. The regiment arrived in Rouen on 17 August 1914, and by 21 August was actively opposing the German cavalry at Mons. Mons, 23-24 August 1914 The…

Home Service In 1854 the 3rd was ordered to recruit men and buy horses for the 4th Light Dragoons in the Crimea providing 253 and 300 respectively. In 1861 the title of the regiment changed once more to “The 3rd King’s Own Hussars”, during the fourth year of a six-year tour in Ireland. In 1868 they sailed again for India spending eleven peaceful years there before another nineteen in England and Ireland, equally without incident. The 3rd provided its share…

India In 1837 the 3rd Dragoons set sail for India, brought up to the strength of 420 men, of whom only 47 would return to England in 1853. For four years the 3rd Dragoons had no enemy except the intense heat; then in the January of 1842, they set out to avenge the complete slaughter of the British garrison in Kabul, butchered on their attempted return to India. Cabool 16 September 1842 The 3rd Dragoons were involved in this punitive…

The Peninsular War To appease political pressure yet another ill-fated expedition was sent to the Low Countries in 1809 to destroy French shipping on the Scheldt. Known as the Walcheren expedition the plan failed and disease took many casualties. In 1811 The King’s Own joined Wellington’s Army in the Peninsula, taking part in the campaign of the following year including many unremarkable skirmishes until the major battle at Salamanca. Salamanca 22 July 1812 Both The 3rd King’s Own Regiment of…

The Gordon Riots Conditions in cities in Britain in the second half of the 18th century were unsanitary and overcrowded. High taxes, unjust and repressive laws, government profiteering and impressiveness in the army and navy were among the issues that inflamed the working classes and bred discontent. Civil disorder bubbled just under the surface of British society, waiting for a reason to explode. The fuse was lit in 1780 when Lord George Gordon called for the repeal of the Catholic…