Household Cavalry Composite Regiment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Household Cavalry Composite Regiment was a cavalry regiment of the British Army which briefly saw service during the First World War.

When the British Expeditionary Force was mobilised, it had a war establishment of seventeen cavalry regiments - five cavalry brigades of three regiments each, and two regiments which would be broken up to serve as reconnaissance squadrons, one per division. The peacetime establishment in the United Kingdom was nineteen cavalry regiments - sixteen line regiments, and the three regiments of the Household Cavalry.

The sixteen regular regiments were earmarked for overseas service, whilst the seventeenth regiment was to be provided by a composite regiment formed with a troop from each of the three Household Cavalry regiments - the 1st Life Guards, the 2nd Life Guards, and the Royal Horse Guards - and assigned a mobilisation role in 4th Cavalry Brigade.

The regiment deployed to France with the Expeditionary Force, and saw action through 1914. It was broken up in November, with the squadrons returning to their parent regiments; these had since been deployed to the Continent, landing in October.