The South Eastern Mounted Brigade was a formation of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry in ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, organised in 1908. After service in the Gallipoli Campaign, it was absorbed into the 3rd Dismounted Brigade in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in February 1916.

Formation

Under the terms of the

Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 ( 7 Edw. 7. c. 9) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the auxiliary forces of the British Army by transferring existing Volunteer and Yeomanry units into a new Territor ...

(7 Edw.7, c.9), the brigade was formed in 1908 as part of the

. It consisted of three

yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. History Origins In the 1790s, following the ...

regiments, a

horse artillery Horse artillery was a type of light, fast-moving, and fast-firing field artillery that consisted of light cannons or howitzers attached to light but sturdy two-wheeled carriages called caissons or limbers, with the individual crewmen riding on h ...

battery and ammunition column (provided by the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

), a transport and supply column and a

field ambulance A field ambulance (FA) is the name used by the British Army and the armies of other Commonwealth nations to describe a mobile medical unit that treats wounded soldiers very close to the combat zone. In the British military medical system that deve ...

. The

Surrey Yeomanry The Surrey Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army first formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794. It was reformed in 1901 and saw varied service in the World War I, First World War. During the interwar period, it converted to artillery and during the ...

was attached for training in peacetime. As the name suggests, the units were drawn from

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

, predominantly

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

World War I

The brigade was mobilised on 4 August 1914 at the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and concentrated in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

area of

. The

(attached for training, pre-war) was detached in November 1914 and split up as divisional cavalry squadrons. The rest of the brigade remained in the Canterbury area (under Second Army of Central Force) until September 1915, the Field Ambulance detachment occupying the St Lawrence cricket ground.

Gallipoli

In September 1915 the brigade was dismounted and left Kent for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. On 24 September it boarded and sailed the next day. It arrived at

Lemnos Lemnos ( ) or Limnos ( ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos (regional unit), Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean modern regions of Greece ...

on 1 October. The Brigade landed in

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

on 8 October and was attached to the

42nd (East Lancashire) Division The 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division was an infantry Division (military), division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force (TF), originally as the East Lancashire Division, and was redesignat ...

. On 30 December it was evacuated to

Mudros Moudros () is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lemnos, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the entire eastern peninsula o ...

with 42nd Division; it left the Division at Mudros on 2 January 1916. In this period, the brigade consisted of the three yeomanry regiments, a signal

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...

and the

under the command of Br.-Gen. H. Clifton-Brown.

Egypt

In February 1916, the brigade landed in

and on 22 February was absorbed into the 3rd Dismounted Brigade (along with the

Eastern Mounted Brigade The Eastern Mounted Brigade was a formation of the Territorial Force of the British Army, organised in 1908. After serving dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign, it was absorbed into the 3rd Dismounted Brigade in Egypt in February 1916. Format ...

). 3rd Dismounted Brigade was later renamed as 230th Brigade in the

74th (Yeomanry) Division The 74th (Yeomanry) Division was a Territorial Force infantry division formed in Palestine in early 1917 from three dismounted yeomanry brigades. It served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War, mostly as part of XX Corp ...

Commanders

At the outbreak of the war, the South Eastern Mounted Brigade was commanded by

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

H. Clifton-Brown. Like all of the mounted brigade commanders, he was promoted to brigadier general on 5 August 1914. He was still in command when the brigade was absorbed into 3rd Dismounted Brigade.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{cite book , last = Westlake , first = Ray , year = 1996 , title = British Regiments at Gallipoli , publisher = Leo Cooper , location = Barnsley , isbn = 0-85052-511-X SE11 Military units and formations established in 1908 Military units and formations disestablished in 1916