The army changed the way that it issued numbers to men serving in the cavalry by issue of an order in December 1906. This led to a position where the same number may appear for an enlistment before and after that time, so if you are researching a man who was serving before the Great War do be aware of this and make sure you are not confusing a pre-1907 number with a post-1906 one.
Paul Nixon’s excellent website on army numbering gives good details.
For the new system, each of the Corps of Cavalry of the Line (that is, Dragoons and Dragoon Guards; Hussars; and Lancers; but not the Household Cavalry) had its own new numeric sequence starting from 1. It did not matter which of the regiments of the Corps the man was joining. So for example, Pte XYZ Albert Smith of the Corps of Dragoons might be joining either the 1st (Royal) Dragoons, 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), or 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons.
Men’s records sometimes show a letter prefix to their number: H for Hussars, for example. Its use seems inconsistent and as far as I can tell there is no significance regarding whether a man had a prefix or not.
The table below picks out some examples based on men’s service records, and is to provide you with a rough guide as to when you soldier’s number was issued. He would keep this number even if transferred to a different regiment within the same Corps.
Numbering of cavalry recruits before the Great War
Examples of late issue in the old series are indicated thus*
| Corps of Dragoons number | Date | Corps of Lancers number | Date | Corps of Hussars number | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4823* | 4 Jan 1907 | ||||
| 186 | 5 Feb 1907 | 104 | 12 Feb 1907 | 66 | 21 Jan 1907 |
| 1285 | 12 Oct 1907 | 597 | 26 Sep 1907 | 1094 | 7 Sep 1907 |
| 1577 | 27 Jan 1908 | 1192 | 1 Jul 1908 | 1462 | 21 Oct 1907 |
| 2025 | 9 May 1908 | 1505 | 9 Dec 1908 | 2030 | 29 Jan 1908 |
| 2527 | 15 Sep 1908 | 2006 | 20 May 1909 | 2582 | 21 Jun 1908 |
| 3071 | 1 Mar 1909 | 2500 | 13 Jan 1910 | 3019 | 12 Sep 1908 |
| 3577 | 12 Aug 1909 | 3007 | 6 Oct 1910 | 3533 | 4 Dec 1908 |
| 4004 | 11 Nov 1909 | 3503 | 19 Jun 1911 | 4075 | 25 Feb 1909 |
| 4523 | 18 Apr 1910 | 4002 | 7 May 1912 | 4545 | 16 Jul 1909 |
| 5054 | 12 Sep 1910 | 4505 | 1 Jan 1913 | 5005 | 6 Dec 1909 |
| 5513 | 3 Jan 1911 | 5005 | 12 Nov 1913 | 5574 | 21 Apr 1910 |
| 6009 | 27 Jun 1911 | 5534 | 30 Jun 1914 | 6053 | 3 Aug 1910 |
| 6599 | 16 Jan 1912 | 5589 | 3 Aug 1914 | 6510 | 14 Nov 1910 |
| 7013 | 8 Jul 1912 | 7030 | 26 Jun 1911 | ||
| 7598 | 28 Oct 1912 | 7546 | 17 Oct 1911 | ||
| 8036 | 7 Apr 1912 | 8056 | 30 Dec 1911 | ||
| 8515 | 24 Nov 1913 | 8542 | 26 Mar 1912 | ||
| 8950 | 13 Apr 1914 | 9088 | 16 Jul 1912 | ||
| 9025 | 9 Sep 1914 | 9598 | 20 Jan 1913 | ||
| 10021 | 8 Apr 1913 | ||||
| 10584 | 20 Oct 1913 | ||||
| 11092 | 30 Apr 1914 | ||||
| 11412 | 13 July 1914 |
Numbering of cavalry recruits during the Great War
A GS prefix was introduced for men who enlisted under the “Short Service” terms (three years or the duration of the war)
I am building up a table of dates and numbers similar to thatabove and will add it here when I am happy with it.
The men of the cavalry who were still serving were renumbered when a new scheme was implemented in August 1920 (see link below)
Links
Researching the men of the cavalry