9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles on:
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The 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles Regiment was officially raised on March 17, 1911. It was one of 12 regionally based mounted rifles regiments formed as part of the new Territorial Force (TF) organisation that came into existence on that day. This part-time Territorial Force and a tiny regular force of professional soldiers formed the basis of New Zealand’s army at the outbreak of the First World War.
Instead of mobilising the TF, however, the government decided to raise a separate force to send overseas to fight – the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). In 1914 the new mounted regiments of the NZEF were given provincial names corresponding to the military district in which they were raised – Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury or Otago. This gave them some sense of regional identity.
The NZEF mounted regiments were instructed to affiliate each of the three squadrons under their command with a TF mounted rifles regiment from their military district, and to issue the regiment’s badge to the squadron. The idea was to foster linkages with the established TF regiments that were not being sent overseas. So the badge of the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles Regiment, TF, was worn by the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Squadron of the
Initially The New Zealand Mounted Rifles regiments were not authorised to carry a standard of any kind, with the result that it was necessary to request permission from the Imperial authorities. In 1927 the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Regiments received permission from King George V to carry guidons.
The guidon was presented to the regiment during a unit camp at Marewa, Napier on 12 May 1935. The guidon was designed, paid for, and presented by Major General Sir Andrew Russell, the former commanding officer of both the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, the brigade commander of the Mounted Rifles Brigade at Gallipoli and the general officer commanding the 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force in France 1916-1918.
The consecration of the guidon was conducted by the Reverend R. H. Williams Bishop of Waiapu. The Commanding Officer for the parade was Lieutenant Colonel H. B. Maunsell, a former officer of the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Squadron who had been wounded at Gallipoli in 1915. A crowd of up to 4000 people attended the parade.
The guidon of the 9th Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles Regiment is unique for its distinct New Zealand design and incorporation of the regional black and white of Hawke’s Bay. The guidon is made of black and white silk damask embroidered and fringed with gold. The tassels and cord of crimson and gold mixed. The sleeve at the pole end is crimson silk.
The guidon is divided horizontally into five white and four black bands. In the centre is the badge of the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in gold, surrounded by a wreath of green New Zealand ferns. The whole centrepiece is surmounted by the Kings Crown in full colour. The Regimental Badge is of a horse rampant surmounting the Regimental Motto “FORTES FORTUNA JUVAT” ''Fortune Favours The Brave''.
The battle honours of the unit are emblazoned on both sides of the guidon with black lettering on gold scrolls, and placed in sequence from left to right down the Guidon. A gold scroll with Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in black is at the base of the guidon.
The following battle honours and campaigns are emblazoned on the Guidon:
SOUTH AFRICA 1900-1902
HILL 60 (ANZAC)
RUMANI
EGYPT 1915-1917
JAFFA
PALESTINE 1917-1918
JORDAN (AMMAN)
GAZA BEERSHEEBA
MAGHDABA RAFFA
SARI BAIR
DEFENCE OF ANZAC
Over the years the guidon has been retrieved by the successive units of the Armoured Corps that have to be paraded for official occasions, charter parades and other ceremonial events. For some time the guidon was also used by the Queen Alexandra’s Squadron because no replacement guidon had been sourced since it was laid up in Hawera.
The guidon was most recently retrieved by the Wellington East Coast Squadron,
The 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles Regiment was officially raised on March 17, 1911. It was one of 12 regionally based mounted rifles regiments formed as part of the new Territorial Force (TF) organisation that came into existence on that day. This part-time Territorial Force and a tiny regular force of professional soldiers formed the basis of New Zealand’s army at the outbreak of the First World War.
Instead of mobilising the TF, however, the government decided to raise a separate force to send overseas to fight – the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). In 1914 the new mounted regiments of the NZEF were given provincial names corresponding to the military district in which they were raised – Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury or Otago. This gave them some sense of regional identity.
The NZEF mounted regiments were instructed to affiliate each of the three squadrons under their command with a TF mounted rifles regiment from their military district, and to issue the regiment’s badge to the squadron. The idea was to foster linkages with the established TF regiments that were not being sent overseas. So the badge of the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles Regiment, TF, was worn by the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Squadron of the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment
The Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment from New Zealand, raised for service during the First World War. It was assigned to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
Th ...
.
They served in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I saw action between 30 October 1914 and 30 October 1918. The combatants were, on one side, the Ottoman Empire, with some assistance from the other Central Powers; and on the other side, the British Em ...
and first saw action during the Battle of Gallipoli. As a part of the larger New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade
The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade was a brigade of the New Zealand Army during the First World War. Raised in 1914 as part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, it was one of the first New Zealand units to sail for service overseas.
T ...
(of the ANZAC Mounted Division) they went on to serve in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
The Sinai and Palestine campaign was part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, taking place between January 1915 and October 1918. The British Empire, the French Third Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy fought alongside the Arab Revol ...
.
The cap and collar badges for the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Mounted Rifles, a horse rampant over the regimental motto. The collar badges are a smaller version of the cap badge.
Motto: ''Fortes fortuna juvat'' (Fortune assists the brave).
Great War Battles
* Battle of Gallipoli *Battle of Romani
The Battle of Romani was the last ground attack of the Central Powers on the Suez Canal at the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine campaign during the First World War. The battle was fought between 3 and 5 August 1916 near the Egyptian town o ...
*Battle of Magdhaba
The Battle of Magdhaba took place on 23 December 1916 during the Defence of Egypt section of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the First World War.The Battles Nomenclature Committee assigned 'Affair' to those engagements between forces smalle ...
*Battle of Rafa
The Battle of Rafa, also known as the Action of Rafah, fought on 9 January 1917, was the third and final battle to complete the recapture of the Sinai Peninsula by British forces during the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the First World War. ...
*First Battle of Gaza
The First Battle of Gaza was fought on 26 March 1917 during the first attempt by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), which was a British Empire military formation, formed on 10 March 1916 under the command of General Archibald Murray from th ...
*Second Battle of Gaza
The Second Battle of Gaza was fought on 17–19 April 1917, following the defeat of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) at the First Battle of Gaza in March, during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Gaza was defended b ...
*Third Battle of Gaza
The Third Battle of Gaza was fought on the night of 1–2 November 1917 between British and Ottoman forces during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I and came after the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory at the Ba ...
* Battle of Beersheba
*Battle of Megiddo (1918)
The Battle of Megiddo was fought between 19 and 25 September 1918, on the Plain of Sharon, in front of Tulkarm, Tabsor and Arara in the Judean Hills as well as on the Esdralon Plain at Nazareth, Afulah, Beisan, Jenin and Samakh. Its name, ...
Post World War One
In 1921 they became the 7th New Zealand Mounted Rifles (Wellington East Coast) and later still became the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles, which was later absorbed into the 2nd Armoured Regiment, on the 29 March 1944. Hawke’s Bay was a big source for troops and leaders in the 2nd New Zealand Divisional Cavalry in the Second World War. They excelled, they supported each other, and they stuck together like glue. On 1 April 1956 the unit was renamed the 4th Armoured Regiment (Wellington East Coast) RNZAC with the Headquarters based in Hastings. On being granted the Freedom of the City of Hastings on 7 September 1958 the unit name was adjusted to 4th ARMOURED REGIMENT (WELLINGTON EAST COAST – CITY OF HASTINGS OWN) RNZAC. In 1963 the unit was amalgamated into 1 Armoured Squadron (Queen Alexandra’s) and on 1 September 1970 it was renamed Queen Alexandra’s (Waikato/Wellington East Coast) Squadron RNZAC with its Headquarters based in at Waiouru. On 4 June 1982 Waikato and Wellington East Coast Squadron (WaiWEC) RNZAC became part of the newly formed 1 Armoured Group and over the next 11 years was manned with a combination of both Regular Force and Territorial Force personnel. Upon the activation of Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles as a regiment in 1993, it was decided to rename the Squadrons to A, B, and Support Squadron with the Territorial Force component being WaiWEC Squadron. In 2003 WaiWEC Squadron underwent a title change to better identify the geographic location of its Territorial Force members and the title of Waikato Mounted Rifles was approved by the then Chief of Army. In this approval letter the Chief of Army also directed that the Wellington East Coast Guidon be formally laid up and kept in the preserve of Hastings District Council.9th Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles regimental guidon
Initially The New Zealand Mounted Rifles regiments were not authorised to carry a standard of any kind, with the result that it was necessary to request permission from the Imperial authorities. In 1927 the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Regiments received permission from King George V to carry guidons.
The guidon was presented to the regiment during a unit camp at Marewa, Napier on 12 May 1935. The guidon was designed, paid for, and presented by Major General Sir Andrew Russell, the former commanding officer of both the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, the brigade commander of the Mounted Rifles Brigade at Gallipoli and the general officer commanding the 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force in France 1916-1918.
The consecration of the guidon was conducted by the Reverend R. H. Williams Bishop of Waiapu. The Commanding Officer for the parade was Lieutenant Colonel H. B. Maunsell, a former officer of the 9th (Wellington East Coast) Squadron who had been wounded at Gallipoli in 1915. A crowd of up to 4000 people attended the parade.
The guidon of the 9th Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles Regiment is unique for its distinct New Zealand design and incorporation of the regional black and white of Hawke’s Bay. The guidon is made of black and white silk damask embroidered and fringed with gold. The tassels and cord of crimson and gold mixed. The sleeve at the pole end is crimson silk.
The guidon is divided horizontally into five white and four black bands. In the centre is the badge of the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in gold, surrounded by a wreath of green New Zealand ferns. The whole centrepiece is surmounted by the Kings Crown in full colour. The Regimental Badge is of a horse rampant surmounting the Regimental Motto “FORTES FORTUNA JUVAT” ''Fortune Favours The Brave''.
The battle honours of the unit are emblazoned on both sides of the guidon with black lettering on gold scrolls, and placed in sequence from left to right down the Guidon. A gold scroll with Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in black is at the base of the guidon.
The following battle honours and campaigns are emblazoned on the Guidon:
SOUTH AFRICA 1900-1902
HILL 60 (ANZAC)
RUMANI
EGYPT 1915-1917
JAFFA
PALESTINE 1917-1918
JORDAN (AMMAN)
GAZA BEERSHEEBA
MAGHDABA RAFFA
SARI BAIR
DEFENCE OF ANZAC
Custodianship of the Hastings District Council
The guidon was placed in Saint Matthew’s Church Hastings from 1941-1958. Initially it had been placed in the church for safekeeping during World War II. In August 1959, after its many years of use, the guidon was retired and after some time a decision was made for the guidon to be transferred to the council for safekeeping to represent the bond between the community represented by the council, and the regiment. The town clerk reported the day the guidon was presented to council:
Over the years the guidon has been retrieved by the successive units of the Armoured Corps that have to be paraded for official occasions, charter parades and other ceremonial events. For some time the guidon was also used by the Queen Alexandra’s Squadron because no replacement guidon had been sourced since it was laid up in Hawera.
The guidon was most recently retrieved by the Wellington East Coast Squadron, Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles (QAMR) is an armoured regiment of the New Zealand Army and forms part of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps. The regiment was formed in 1864 and is currently an armoured cavalry unit equipped with NZLAV.
Hist ...
on Armistice Day 2021. The guidon was retrieved from its cases and paraded to the forecourt of the Hastings District Council Civic Administration Building before being encased and returned to Linton Camp in an armoured vehicle.
The guidon will be formally laid up with the Hastings District Council in 2025.
Alliances
* –7th Queen's Own Hussars
The 7th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first formed in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in ...
References
{{New Zealand Great War Mounted Regiments Military units and formations established in 1911 Military units and formations disestablished in 1921 New Zealand in World War I Cavalry regiments of New Zealand Military units and formations of New Zealand in World War I History of the Wellington Region 1911 establishments in New Zealand 1921 disestablishments in New Zealand