British Cavalry in August, 1914

[Paul Byrne]

Can somebody please let me know exactly what a troop of cavalry comprised? The rank of the officer in command and the number NCO's and troopers. In addition, would welcome some information as to how many of them formed a squadron of cavalry.

Many thanks

[Terry]

Kate Caffrey's book "Farewell Leicester Square" has the following"

... A regiment of cavalry was commanded by a lieutenant-colonel with 25 officers and 497 men, divided into 3 squadrons. Each squadron was commanded by a major and consisted of 4 troops with a subaltern commanding each. Each troop was divided into sections under non-commissioned officers.

Sadly it doesn't say exactly how many men are in a troop, although you could probably guess that setting aside the CO and RHQ types (adjutant, RSM,etc.) the three squadrons would probably have about 160-170 all ranks. Then the squadron would have a small HQ element and four troops of about 40 men.

Sorry that I can't be more exact.

[Robert Dunlop]

From the Marquess of Anglesey:

"Each regiment consisted of three squadrons of 159 men and seven officers with nearly 200 horses. The regimental machine gun section with two Vickers guns had twenty-five men and four officers. The regimental headquarters numbered seven officers and thirty-five other ranks with twenty bicycles. Each brigade had with it one battery of Royal Horse Artillery with six 13-pounder quick-firing guns. The Cavalry Division was supported by one Field Squadron of Royal Engineers, a Signal Section and a Cavalry Field Ambulance for each brigade.

As a general rule, regiments were commanded by lieutenant-colonels, squadrons by majors or captains and troops by lieutenants or second lieutenants. Each troop numbered twenty-eight other ranks, divided into four sections of seven each."

Robert

[Terry]

I knew someone would have the numbers! Thanks Robert.

[Nick]

Always remembering of course that units on campaign were often under strength.

[Paul Byrne]

Many thanks to you all. I didnt think you would be found wanting.

Appreciatively,

Paul Byrne

[Hoplophile]

According to the official establishments for 1914, a cavalry troop consisted of a subaltern officer (lieutenant or second-lieutenant), two sergeants, two corporals, a shoeing smith (who, if he were the senior shoeing smith of the squadron would rank as a corporal) and some 22 fully qualified privates. In addition to these fully-qualified privates, a peacetime troop would have a number of additional men on its strength. These included recruits (at the regimental depot), men learning to ride (at the regimental riding school), men with other duties (signallers, grooms for officers' horses, officers' servants and the like) and men who helped the regimental roughrider train young horses.

Just how many of these extra men there were depended upon two factors. Regiments at home had a large number of men in training. Regiments overseas consisted chiefly of trained men. Regiments at home that were linked to regiments overseas had a particularly large allowance for men in training, for they were responsible for training the men for the overseas regiment as well. Upon mobilisation, the men who had yet to complete their training were moved to the reserve regiment associated with the service regiment. Thus, cavalry regiments were the only type of unit that actually shrank when mobilised.