The history of the 1st Cavalry Division
Part of the original British Expeditionary Force, the division went to France in August 1914. Originally titled as the Cavalry Division, it was renamed as1st Cavalry Division on 16 September 1914 when a second division was formed. It remained on the Western Front in France and Flanders throughout the war. The division took part in most of the major actions where cavalry was used as a mounted mobile force, and also many others where the troops were dismounted and effectively served as infantry, including:
1914
Commanded by Major-General E. H. H. Allenby
- The Battle of Mons (23 August and the subsequent retreat, which for the division included the Action of Elouges and Rearguard Action of Solesmes)
- The Battle of Le Cateau (26 August, with subsequent Rearguard Affair of Etreux, Affair of Nery and Rearguard Actions of Villers-Cotterets)
- The Battle of the Marne
- The Battle of the Aisne (12 – 15 September and subsequent Actions on the Aisne Heights)
Commanded by Major-General H. de Beauvoir de Lisle from 12 October 1914 (Allenby having been promoted to command the Cavalry Corps, under which the 1st Cavalry Division was now placed)
- The Battles of Ypres 1914 (“First Ypres”)
1915
- Winter Operations 1914-15
- The Battles of Ypres 1915 (“Second Ypres”)
Commanded by Major-General Hon. C. E. Bingham from 27 May 1915 (promoted from command of 4th Cavalry Brigade, Beauvoir de Lisle having been moved to command 29th Division)
Commanded by Major-General Hon. R. L. Mullens from 24 October 1915 (Bingham having been promoted to command the Cavalry Corps)
1916
- The Battle of Flers-Courcelette (a phase of the Battles of the Somme 1916)
1917
- The First Battle of the Scarpe (9 – 12 April, a phase of the Arras Offensive)
- The Tank Attack (20 – 21 November, a phase of the Cambrai Operations)
- The capture of Bourlon Wood (24 – 26 November, a phase of the Cambrai Operations)
- The German counterattacks (30 November – 3 December, a phase of the Cambrai Operations)
1918
- The Battle of St Quentin (21 -23 March, a phase of the of the First Battles of the Somme in which the division was engaged until 1 April)
On 24 March 1918 each brigade and the machine gun squadron furinished a regiment to be constituted as a “Dismounted Division”. These units returned to 1st Cavalry Division two days later.
- The Battle of Bapaume (24 – 25 March, a phase of the of the First Battles of the Somme)
- The Battle of Rosieres (26 – 27 March, a phase of the of the First Battles of the Somme)
- The Battle of Amiens (8 – 10 August)
- The Battle of Albert (21 August, a phase of the Second Battles of the Somme 1918)
- The Battle of Cambrai 1918 (8 October, a phase of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line)
- The Pursuit to the Selle (9 – 12 October)
- The Final Advance in Picardy (17 October – 6 November) and in Artois (7 – 11 November)
The 1st Cavalry Division was selected to advance into Germany as an advance screen for Second Army and form part of the Occupation Force. The move began on 17 November 1918, and brigades reached the Rhine at Cologne and Bonn on 12 December.
The order of battle of the 1st Cavalry Division
All units and formations listed served with the division throughout the war unless otherwise stated.
Divisional headquarters
1st Cavalry Brigade
Brigade headquarters
2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays)
5th Dragoon Guards
11th Hussars
1st Signal Troop (Royal Engineers)
“L” Battery Royal Horse Artillery [until 5 September 1914]
“I” Battery Royal Horse Artillery [joined 17 September 1914]
1st Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron (Machine Gun Corps) [formed 28 February 1916]
2nd Cavalry Brigade
Brigade headquarters
4th Dragoon Guards
9th Lancers
18th Hussars
2nd Signal Troop (Royal Engineers)
“H” Battery Royal Horse Artillery [Joined 28 September 1914]
2nd Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron (Machine Gun Corps) [formed 28 February 1916]
3rd Cavalry Brigade [left to join 2nd Cavalry Division 13 September 1914]
Brigade headquarters
4th Hussars
5th Royal Irish Lancers
16th Lancers
3rd Signal Troop (Royal Engineers)
4th Cavalry Brigade [left to join 2nd Cavalry Division 14 October 1914]
Brigade headquarters
Composite Regiment of Household Cavalry
6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers)
3rd Hussars
4th Signal Troop (Royal Engineers)
9th Cavalry Brigade [formed 14 April 1915]
Brigade headquarters
15th Hussars
19th Hussars
1/1st Warwickshire Battery Royal Horse Artillery
9th Signal Troop (Royal Engineers)
1/1st Bedfordshire Yeomanry [joined 12 June 1915]
9th Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron (Machine Gun Corps) [formed 28 February 1916]
Divisional Troops
1/1st Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars Yeomanry [joined 31 October 1914, left for 2nd Cavalry Division 11 November 1914]
1st Cavalry Divisional Headquarters Company (27th (Horse Transport) Company Army Service Corps)
1st Cavalry Divisional Supply Column (57th and 58th (Mechanical Transport) Companies Army Service Corps) [57 absorbed 58 on 10 October 1916. No 3 (Ammunition) Section of this company left for Cavalry Corps Ammunition Park on 11 October 1918]
1st Cavalry Division Field Ambulance Workshop [joined 14 May 1915, absorbed into Divisional Supply Column 6 April 1916]
1st Cavalry Divisional Auxiliary Horse Transport Company (574th (Horsed Transport) Company) ]formed 26 September 1915]
8th Motor Machine Gun Battery [joined 18 March 1916, left 23 October 1917]
771st Divisional Employment Company (Labour Corps) [formed 16 September 1917]
Divisional artillery
III Brigade “(D” and “E” Batteries and III Brigade Ammunition Column, all of Royal Horse Artillery) [left for 2nd Cavalry Division 17 September 1914]
VII Brigade (“I” and “L” Batteries and VII Brigade Ammunition Column, all of Royal Horse Artillery) [Following very serious losses at Nery on 1 September 1914, “L” Battery was withdrawn from action, returning to the UK to be reformed. It was temporarily replaced by a battery made from various other units and designated “Z” Battery. “L”‘s permanent replacement, “H”, joined from VI Brigade in England in late September 1914. “I” Battery left for 1st Cavalry Brigade on 17 September 1914 and “H” Battery left for 2nd Cavalry Brigade on 28 September 1914]
Divisional Engineers
1st Field Squadron (Royal Engineers)
1st Signal Squadron (Royal Engineers)
Divisional Medical Units
1st Cavalry Field Ambulance (Royal Army Medical Corps)
2nd Cavalry Field Ambulance (Royal Army Medical Corps) [left for 2nd Cavalry Division 13 September 1914]
3rd Cavalry Field Ambulance (Royal Army Medical Corps)
4th Cavalry Field Ambulance (Royal Army Medical Corps) [left for 2nd Cavalry Division 16 October 1914]
9th Sanitary Section (Royal Army Medical Corps) [joined 9 January 1915]
Divisional Veterinary Units
1st Mobile Veterinary Section (Army Veterinary Corps)
8th Mobile Veterinary Section (Army Veterinary Corps) [left for 2nd Cavalry Division 13 September 1914]
9th Mobile Veterinary Section (Army Veterinary Corps) [left for 2nd Cavalry Division 13 September 1914]
10th Mobile Veterinary Section (Army Veterinary Corps) [left for 2nd Cavalry Division 16 October 1914]
Divisional memorials
There is no memorial to the 1st Cavalry Division as such.
Divisional histories
There appears to be no published history of the 1st Cavalry Division but it receives much coverage in Anglesey’s history of the British cavalry on the Western Front.