2nd Cavalry Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 2nd Cavalry Brigade was a brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars (2nd Union Cavalry Brigade), the Boer War and in the First World War when it was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division.

The brigade was a pre-war formation based at Tidworth in England and originally consisted of three cavalry regiments, and an Royal Engineer signal troop. After the declaration of war in August 1914, the brigade was deployed to the Western Front in France, where an artillery battery joined the brigade the following September and a Machine Gun Squadron in February 1916.

Napoleonic Wars
During the Battle of Waterloo, the brigade commanded:
 * 1st (Royal) Regiment of Dragoons
 * 2nd Regiment of Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys)
 * 6th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Dragoons

As the brigade consisted of regiments from England (1st Dragoons), Scotland (2nd Dragoons) and Ireland (6th Dragoons), it was known as the Union Brigade.

Boer War
During the Battle of Paardeberg, the brigade commanded:
 * 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiners)
 * 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys)
 * 6th Dragons (Inniskillings)
 * New Zealanders
 * Australians
 * G and P Batteries, Royal Horse Artillery

World War I

 * 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards
 * 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers
 * 18th (Queen Mary’s Own) Hussars
 * 2nd Signal Troop Royal Engineers
 * H Battery, Royal Horse Artillery from 28 September 1914
 * 2nd Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron Machine Gun Corps