Lanarkshire Yeomanry

The units which would become the regiment were first raised in 1819, as independent troops of yeomanry around Lanarkshire. The five existing troops were regimented in 1848 as the Upper Ward and Airdrie Corps of Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry, later retitled as the Lanarkshire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry.[1]

The Yeomanry was not intended to serve overseas, but due to the string of defeats during Black Week in December 1899, the British government realized they were going to need more troops than just the regular army. A Royal Warrant was issued on 24 December 1899 to allow volunteer forces to serve in the Second Boer War. The Royal Warrant asked standing Yeomanry regiments to provide service companies of approximately 115 men each for the Imperial Yeomanry.[2] With the Ayrshire Yeomanry, the regiment co-sponsored the 17th (Ayrshire and Lanarkshire) Company for the 6th (Scottish) Battalion in 1900; in 1901 it provided the 107th (Lanarkshire) Company.[3]

In 1901, the regiment was reorganized as mounted infantry as the Lanarkshire Imperial Yeomanry. In 1908 it was transferred into the Territorial Force, returning to a cavalry role and equipping as lancers, under the new title of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry.[4] The regiment was based at Broomgate in Lanark during the first half of the 20th century.[5][lower-alpha 1]

In accordance with the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (7 Edw. 7, c.9) which brought the Territorial Force into being, the TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, many members volunteered for Imperial Service. Therefore, TF units were split in August and September 1914 into 1st Line (liable for overseas service) and 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. Later, a 3rd Line was formed to act as a reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line regiments.[7]

The regiment mobilised into the Lowland Mounted Brigade in August 1914, but remained in England until 1915. They landed at Gallipoli in September 1915, serving as dismounted infantry, and were attached to 52nd (Lowland) Division in October; they were withdrawn in January 1916 and moved to Egypt. In early 1917 the regiment was amalgamated with The Ayrshire Yeomanry to form the 12th (Ayr and Lanark Yeomanry) Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 74th (Yeomanry) Division, seeing service in the Palestine campaign before moving to the Western Front in May 1918.[8] Whilst on the Western Front, Sergeant Thomas Caldwell of the regiment was awarded a Victoria Cross.[9]

The 2nd Line regiment was formed in 1914. In 1915 it was under the command of the 2/1st Lowland Mounted Brigade in Scotland (along with the 2/1st Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry[10] and the 2/1st Lothians and Border Horse[11]) and by March 1916 was at Dunbar, East Lothian.[12] On 31 March 1916, the remaining Mounted Brigades were numbered in a single sequence and the brigade became 20th Mounted Brigade, still at Dunbar under Scottish Command.[13]

In July 1916 there was a major reorganization of 2nd Line yeomanry units in the United Kingdom. All but 12 regiments were converted to cyclists[13] and as a consequence the regiment was dismounted and the brigade converted to 13th Cyclist Brigade. Further reorganization in October and November 1916 saw the brigade redesignated as 9th Cyclist Brigade in November, still at Dunbar.[14]

About May 1918 the Brigade moved to Ireland[14] and the regiment was stationed at Derry. There were no further changes before the end of the war.[12]

The 3rd Line regiment was formed in 1915 and in the summer was affiliated to a Reserve Cavalry Regiment at Aldershot. In June 1916 it left the Reserve Cavalry Regiment and went to Perth. The regiment was disbanded in early 1917 with personnel transferring to the 2nd Line regiment or to the 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) at Leven.[12]

Post war, a commission was set up to consider the shape of the Territorial Force (Territorial Army from 1 October 1921). The experience of the First World War made it clear that cavalry was surfeit. The commission decided that only the 14 most senior regiments were to be retained as cavalry (though the Lovat Scouts and the Scottish Horse were also to remain mounted as "scouts"). Eight regiments were converted to Armoured Car Companies of the Royal Tank Corps (RTC), one was reduced to a battery in another regiment, one was absorbed into a local infantry battalion, one became a signals regiment and two were disbanded. The remaining 25 regiments were converted to brigades[lower-alpha 2] of the Royal Field Artillery between 1920 and 1922.[17] As the 13th most senior regiment in the order of precedence, the regiment was retained as horsed cavalry.[18]

Future Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home, then Lord Dunglass, served in the regiment from commission as a Lieutenant in 1924,[19] rising to Major in 1933.[20]

The regiment apparently did not mechanise before the outbreak of the Second World War; after mobilisation, it was converted to the artillery role. It transferred into the Royal Artillery in February 1940 as 155th (Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA; in April 1940, 156th (Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA was formed as a second-line duplicate. Both served as field artillery regiments.[21][22]

The 155th moved to India in May 1941, and joined 9th Indian Division, equipped with 25 pounder guns; in August, it moved to Malaya with the division, leaving one battery behind to form the nucleus of 160th Field Regiment, RA. In September it re-equipped with 4.5" guns, and in October it was transferred into 11th Indian Division. It fought in the Battle of Malaya and the Battle of Singapore; with the surrender of Singapore, it was taken prisoner on 15 February 1942.[21]

The 156th moved to North Africa in July 1942, and was attached to 5th Infantry Division in August; it remained with the division through the remainder of the war, fighting in the Invasion of Sicily, the Italian Campaign and in North-Western Europe.[22]

After the War, the regiment reconstituted in the Territorial Army as a yeomanry regiment, under its old title of The Lanarkshire Yeomanry, and transferred into the Royal Armoured Corps. In 1956 it amalgamated with the Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry and the 1st/2nd Lothians and Border Horse to form The Queen's Own Lowland Yeomanry.[4]

The lineage of the regiment was revived with the formation of B (Lanarkshire and Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry) Squadron, the Scottish Yeomanry at East Kilbride in November 1992 but that regiment was disbanded a result of the Strategic Defence Review in July 1999.[23]