Queen Mary's Surrey Lancers

The Surrey Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1901 the Regiment was granted the title Princess of Wales's which was changed to Queen Mary's when George V became the King. Converted to artillery in 1922, they were later reduced to battery strength and merged into the Queen's Regiment.

Formation and early history
The Surrey Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry was raised in 1794, but disbanded in 1828. A Southwark Troop was raised in 1831 and became a full Regiment in the same year. That too was disbanded in 1848. The Surrey Imperial Yeomanry was raised in 1901 for service in the Boer War. In 1908 the Regiment became part of the Territorial Force

World War I
During World War I the Surrey Yeomanry formed second and third line regiments known as the 2/1st and the 3/1st Surrey Yeomanry.

1/1st Surrey Yeomanry
On mobilisation the Surrey Yeomanry now known as the 1/1st Surrey Yeomanry was attached to the South Eastern Mounted Brigade of the 1st Mounted Division. In late 1914 they regiment was split up with the Regimental Head Quarters and A Squadron being attached to the 27th Division ; B Squadron joined the 28th Division while C Squadron joined the 29th Division. C Squadron would see service in the Dardanelles campaign at Gallipoli in 1916 moved to France as the XV Corps Cavalry squadron which lasted until July 1917 when they were dismounted and sent to be retrained as infantry, before being drafted into the 10th Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment in September 1917. In December 1916 the regiments A and B Squadrons reformed to become the XVI Corps Cavalry Regiment in Salonika.

2/1st Surrey Yeomanry
The second line regiment the 2/1st Surrey Yeomanry was formed in September 1914,they converted into a cyclist unit in July 1916 and remained in the United Kingdom until being moved to Ireland in May 1918. They did not see any active service before the end of the war.

3/1st Surrey Yeomanry
The third regiment was formed in 1915 they also remained in the United Kingdom until being drafted into the 1st Cavalry Reserve Regiment in Ireland, in January 1917.

Between the wars
In February 1920 The Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary's Regiment) (TF) was reformed, Headquarters once again opened at 73 King's Avenue, Clapham, S.W.4. With the South-Eastern Mounted Brigade (TF) having been disbanded, the Surrey Yeomanry was reformed as an Army Troops unit within Eastern Command. In November 1921 the Territorial Force was renamed as The Territorial Army.

However, the post-war reorganisations of the Territorials made most of its Yeomanry Cavalry Regiments surplus to requirements and in early 1922 it was announced that the Surrey Yeomanry would convert to Royal Field Artillery and provide two batteries to an existing Brigade, 98th (Sussex Yeomanry) Army Brigade, RFA (TF). This had been formed in 1920 by the conversion to Artillery of the Sussex Yeomanry and comprised Headquarters and 389th (Sussex Yeomanry) Battery at Brighton and 390th (Sussex Yeomanry) Battery at Chichester. The Surrey Yeomanry would then form 391st (Surrey Yeomanry) and 392nd (Surrey Yeomanry) (Howitzer) Batteries, both at Clapham. As a result of this merger the Brigade was redesignated as 98th (Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Brigade, RFA (TA).

In 1924 the Brigade Headquarters moved to Clapham and the Brigade was renamed 98th (Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry, Queen Mary's) Army Field Brigade, RA (TA). Although still a unit of Army Troops, not allocated to any particular formation, it was attached for training to 44th (Home Counties) Division (TA).

A reorganisation of TA Field Forces was announced in February 1938 and as part of this the Brigade redesignated 98th (Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry, Queen Mary's) Army Field Regiment, RA (TA). It was ordered to reorganise and reduce to two Batteries, in line with the new establishment for TA Field Artillery, but this reorganisation did not immediately come into effect.

In March 1939 the War Office ordered the doubling of the Territorial Army and this enabled the Regiment to shed its two surplus Batteries. The Sussex Yeomanry Batteries were withdrawn and formed into a duplicate Regiment, 144th (Sussex Yeomanry) Army Field Regiment, RA (TA), leaving the original Regiment comprising Headquarters, 391st and 392nd Field Batteries.



98 Field Regiment (Surrey & Sussex Yeomanry Queen Mary's)
On mobilisation in 1939, the Regiment was part of the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) that was sent to France, initially attached to the 1st Infantry Division in the Lille area. In May 1940 it would be attached in turn to the 46th Infantry Division and the 44th infantry Division during the German advance the regiments Guns and vehicles were caught in a traffic jam and had to be destroyed, with the troops proceeding on foot to Dunkirk for evacuation. Back in the United Kingdom the regiment was attached to the 1st Infantry Brigade while it reformed it remained in the United Kingdom until September 1942 when it was sent out to the Middle East and attached to the 10th Armoured Division in Egypt where it participated in the Second Battle of El Alamein, when 10th Armoured was disbanded the regiment was part of the 8th Army Artillery and served in Sicily and Italy being involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino amongst others before leaving Italy in March 1945 and joining the 2nd Army in France and Belgium ending the war in the Netherlands. In April 1945 the Regiment moved to the Lübeck area of Germany as occupation forces and demobilisation was started in October 1945 with the Regiment being placed in suspended animation in June 1946.

144 Field Regiment (Surrey & Sussex Yeomanry Queen Mary's)
The 144 Field Regiment remained in the United Kingdom in the early war years as part of the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division and later the British 4th Infantry Division. In November 1940 they were sent to Egypt and then attached to the 5th Indian Division seeing service in the Sudan, Abyssinia and Eritrea it was at Keru Gorge that 390 Battery were charged by about 60 Eritrean cavalry, almost certainly the last cavalry charge on the British Army. The Regiment returned to Egypt with the division before being attached to the 70th Infantry Division during the Siege of Tobruk in September 1941. After being withdrawn from Tobruk they were briefly attached to the 4th Indian Division in early 1942 and the British 1st Armoured Division in February to April 1942. In May 1942 they were sent to Iraq with the 10th Army attached to the 17th Indian Infantry Brigade, 31st Indian Armoured Division they remained with this formation until the end of the war serving in Syria, Persia, Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon.

Post war
In 1947 The Regiment was re-formed as the 298th (Surrey Yeomanry, Queen Mary's) Field Regiment R.A and Successor units eventually became 200 (Sussex Yeomanry) Field Battery RA (V) and D Company 6/7th Bn The Queen's Regiment (V). In April the Regiment was reduced to a cadre "The Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary's Regiment) RA" at Sutton, of the 100 Medium Regiment RA (V), with some personnel being transferred to 'C' Squadron, Royal Yeomanry Regiment (V). In April 1971 they were reformed as infantry becoming 'D' (Surrey Yeomanry, Queen Mary's) Battery 6th (V) Battalion The Queen's Regiment in April 1975 this Battalion was disbanded and amalgamated with the 7th (Volunteer) Battalion to form 6th/7th (Volunteer) Battalion.

The title Surrey Yeomanry continues in use as the designation of one troop of 579 Field Squadron (EOD). Part of 101 (London) Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) (Volunteers), 2 (Surrey Yeomanry) Field Troop at Reigate TA centre.

The Surrey Yeomanry Band
In 1964, Captain Basil Payne persuaded the Colonel that the regiment should have a band and the Surrey Yeomanry Band was thus founded. Despite the regiment itself no longer operating, the band was kept together by its members and became afflicated to the Regimental Association and continues to this day as a concert band.