page_title: British cavalry during the First World War
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: British cavalry during the First World War / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: 17th Lancers at the Battle of Modderfontein. Painting by Richard Caton Woodville, Jr. (1856-1927)
context_page_description: The British cavalry were the first British Army units to see action during the First World War. Captain Hornby of the 4th Dragoon Guards is reputed to have been the first British soldier to kill a German soldier, using his sword, and Drummer Edward Thomas of the same regiment is reputed to have fired the first British shot shortly after 06:30 on 22 August 1914, near the Belgian village of Casteau. The following Battle of Mons was the first engagement fought by British soldiers in Western Europe since the Battle of Waterloo, ninety-nine years earlier. In the first year of the war in France nine cavalry brigades were formed for three British cavalry divisions. Other regiments served in six brigades of the two British Indian Army cavalry divisions that were formed for service on the Western Front. Three regiments also fought in the campaign in Mesopotamia, the only other theatre of the First World War where British cavalry served.
  The doctrine of the British cavalry had been highly influenced by their experiences in the Second Boer War fifteen years earlier, during which one commander had preferred using irregular units to the professional cavalry regiments.
context_section_description: The traditional role of cavalry in war is scouting—gathering information about the enemy's location, strength, and movements—while denying the enemy the same information about one's own forces. Other tasks include raiding into enemy territory and damaging their infrastructure and economy while avoiding conflict with enemy forces. On the field of battle, cavalry were expected to charge into and break up enemy infantry and cavalry formations. The prestige gained by participating in a cavalry charge was such that additional officers would attempt to join one whenever possible. Notable examples of this include Louis Nolan of the 15th Hussars joining the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War and Winston Churchill of the 4th Hussars joining the 21st Lancers for their charge during the Battle of Omdurman.
  Since 1880 British cavalrymen had been armed with only carbines and swords, although some carried a lance; it was not until 1903 that the cavalry were issued rifles, the same ones used by the rest of the army, although a version of the standard infantry rifle, the shorter-barreled LEC or "Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mark I" had been introduced in 1896.
  The normal peacetime British Army cavalry formation was the brigade, but twice a cavalry division had been formed. The first time was during the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882.
  The second time was during the Second Boer War (1899–1901) in South Africa, the last major conflict fought by the British Army before the First World War. During the fighting in South Africa, it was the 7,000-strong colonial mounted contingents, not the 5,000-strong regular cavalry, that led the way in tactical development. They were better trained, better armed, and more efficient, if only because they had been correctly trained to use the right weapons and tactics for the conflict.  The regular cavalry regiments were considered so poor in quality that General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, commanding the advance into Northern Natal, left his six cavalry regiments behind at Ladysmith, trusting in the irregular mounted forces to carry out patrols in their stead.
  Their Boer opponents taught not only the cavalry but the whole army some lessons. In one engagement at Dronfield, 150 Boers held off the British cavalry division, which was then supported by several artillery batteries, and at Bergendal 74 men held up the entire British Army. So effective were their tactics that they forced the British cavalry, if only for a short time, to leave their swords and lances behind and concentrate on their firepower. This proved to the British Army the value of a full size rifle over a carbine. Soon the cavalry were practising working dismounted and advancing in open order. Their change in tactics was evidenced during the charge at Klip Drift. On their way to relieve the siege of Kimberley, the cavalry used their horses and rifles instead of swords and lances to get behind the defending Boers. The charge was later described as "an ideal cavalry operation, but not a cavalry charge as the term is generally understood." Nevertheless, it would prove to be the last time that a full British cavalry division conducted a mounted charge.
  Following the Boer War there were calls for the disbandment of the cavalry by such notable persons as the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces Lord Roberts and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Between 1900 and 1903 the cavalry's share of the army budget was cut from six to under 4.5%, and recruiting for the cavalry was suspended for a year. Added to this, the Commonwealth Defence Act 1903 proposed a force of nine brigades formed by a militia, with six of the brigades planned to be mounted infantry known as light horse. In the same year, Lord Roberts appointed Robert Baden-Powell of the 5th Dragoon Guards to the position of Inspector General of Cavalry, a surprising choice as Roberts had earlier described him as being "certainly not a General". Within the year, Baden-Powell was endorsing a change in policy, recommending that instead of countering an enemy charge with a countercharge of their own, the cavalry 
caption: A painting of the 17th (The Duke of Cambridge's Own) Lancers at the Battle of Moddersfontein, 1901
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5292", "Image ImageLength": "3678", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2016:09:05 16:47:36", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7391", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4852", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3234"}