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 and a desire to compromise produced answers satisfactory to all.
That there were so few differences when the old Regiments joined was due to the great efforts made by the then colonels of the Regiments, and the two commanding officers, who took great pains to ensure that all should be settled beforehand. The Queen’s Own Hussars today owes them all a great debt of gratitude, and we can only hope that they feel some satisfaction from the little we have done to justify their efforts.
November 7, 1958, was inevitably a sad day for all, when on a private Ceremonial Parade at Tidworth the flags of the 3rd and 7th Hussars were lowered for the last time. The ceremony was a moving one, but its significance was only relative, as when the flag of The Queen’s Own Hussars was broken it bore proudly the White Horse of Hanover and the cypher of the 7th, which only seconds before had seemingly disappeared forever.
The significance of this ceremony was simply one of uniting the past and showing the path for the future.
Major David Watts commanded the returning party, and described poignantly the “hollow merriment” of the journey and lowering of the Regimental flag for the last time. Two hundred and seventy-three years of valour, sacrifice, tradition and identity was about to be lost.
