17th Lancers

[Harpist]

My uncle apparently served with the !7th Lancers during WW1, but so far I have not been able to find out anything about where they served. I do have a uniform button in mother of pearl with the brass skull and crossbones. It says "Death or glory" which was their motto.
As usual we don't know whether the stories we were told were true, but he was supposed to have been one of Earl Haig's bodyguards. Another story is that his unit were in Dublin during the Easter uprising of 1916.
Please can anyone shed light on any of these for me?
Thank you.

[KGarrad]

From The Long Long Trail (www.1914-1918.net):

17th (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Hussars
August 1914 : in Sialkot in India, part of the Sialkot Cavalry Brigade.
Moved with Brigade to France as part of 1st Indian Cavalry Division, landed Marseilles 7 November 1914.
26 November 1916 : Division renamed 4th Cavalry Division.
February 1918 : Division broken up; regiment transferred to 7th Cavalry Brigade in 3rd Cavalry Division, joining on 10 March 1918.

Details of the 1st Indian Cavalry division here: http://www.1914-1918.net/1cavdiv_indian.htm

[Harpist]

Thank you very much for your reply and information. I can now try to find out a bit more about my uncle's time in the war.

[KGarrad]

I found a reference to  Haig's bodyguard being "British Lancers", but no mention of which regiment?!

[Peter J]

Harpist,

Could you perhaps furnish us with your relative's name? This will assist in looking into his service.

The mother of pearl button you mention sounds like a sweetheart brooch. Does it have a pin fixing of some sort on the reverse?

Regards,

P.

[Harpist]

The button did have a fixing on the reverse at one time but it was for stitching onto a uniform, never a brooch. His name was Arthur Griffiths and he was born November 1898. We were told that he signed up under age, but I am not sure about that one.

Thank you .

[Peter J]

I have located Arthur's MIC. His service numbers were:

GS/18118 (the 'GS' prefix was used by many regiments 'General Service')

and

L/10935 (the 'L' prefix was used by many regiments also, but in this case would indicate his service with the Lancers Regiment).

He was awarded the following medals:
Victory Medal (authorised in 1919 and awarded to all eligible personnel who served on the establishment of a unit in an operational theatre).

British War Medal (authorised in 1919, and awarded to eligible service personnel and civilians. Qualifications for the award varied slightly according to service. The basic requirement for army personnel and civilians was that they either entered a theatre of war, or rendered approved service overseas between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918. Service in Russia in 1919 and 1920 also qualified for the award.

The absence of the 1914 Star or 1914-15 Star on his medal card indicates that he did not see service ashore in France and Flanders between 5 August and 22 November 1914, or service in France and Flanders from 23 November 1914 to 31 December 1915, or service in any other operational theatre from 5 August 1914 to 31 December 1915, which could possibly add further weight to the bodyguard theory.

Have not yet been able to locate his service records... chances are they did not survive the Blitz 

[Harpist]

Thank you Peter J, that is wonderful news. Maybe he was in Ireland at the time we were told as well.

Kind regards, Harpist.

[jbml]

Harpist -

I while ago, I acquired two British army 1917-pattern lances.

If you would be interested in seeing and handling a weapon of the type that he was trained to use (albeit probably never actually used in action) then send me a PM and we'll see what we can arrange.