Cheshire Yeomanry - World War I

World War I

In the First World War the regiment spent 1914–15 training in Norfolk before being sent to fight dismounted in Egypt in 1916–17. There they met up with the Duke of Westminster, (a veteran of South Africa, who had been posted away from the regiment) with his Rolls-Royce Armoured Car, the prototype of which he had produced at his own expense in 1914.

In February 1916, after the battle of Mersa Matruh, the Duke mounted a raid against the Senussi using the cars. He was instructed to pursue the guerrillas with ‘reasonable boldness’. Driving across the desert at high speed, the Duke and his 12 cars caught the fleeing enemy, killing many of the Senussi and all of their Turkish companions, returning with three captured artillery pieces, nine machine guns and 30 prisoners.

In March 1916 the Duke and the Rolls Royce-mounted Cheshire Yeomanry rescued the survivors of two British merchant ships, HMT Moorina and HMS Tara, which had been torpedoed off the coast of what is now Libya, earning the Duke worldwide praise and the DSO.

The regiment moved to Palestine in 1917, this time as a half battalion of the 10th King's Shropshire Light Infantry and saw fierce fighting against the Turks in battles for Jerusalem, Jericho and Tel Azur, before embarking for France in April 1918. The KSLI saw action at the Somme, Bapaume and Epehy, suffering heavy casualties. The battalion was disbanded in June 1919, the Cheshire Yeomanry was reconstituted as a cavalry regiment in March 1920.