The Museum of The Queen's Royal Hussars - Churchill's Own
This page will take you to two virtual tours for the Museums of our antecedent Regiments – The Queen’s Own Hussars and The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars. Both Museums ceased to exist several years ago but both will be brought together in a new display we are designing and building for The Museum of The Queen’s Royal Hussars – Churchill’s Own. You will now have the opportunity to view either or both of those previous Museums on a virtual tour. This will hopefully whet your appetite and keep your interest alive whilst we continue to build our new Museum in these quite extraordinary times. The opening date was originally planned for late summer this year, 2020 – who knows now!
The Queen’s Own Hussars
The Origins
The Regiment was formed at Tidworth in November 1958 from the amalgamation of 3rd The King’s Own Hussars and 7th Queen’s Own Hussars, which had both existed as independent Regiments since the 1680s. It was the senior Light Cavalry Regiment of The British Army.
It inherited a number of battle honours from the two antecedent Regiments. The White Horse of Hannover worn as the cap badge by all ranks came from the 3rd Hussars. The right to wear the Warsaw city crest, The Maid of Warsaw, on the sleeve of all ranks was given to the 7th Hussars after fighting alongside Polish troops in Italy from 1944 to 1945. The Fern Leaf borne by all Regimental vehicles was awarded in memory of Regimental sacrifices alongside the New Zealand Division at El Alamein.
The Queen’s Own Hussars remained the senior light cavalry Regiment in the British Army until it amalgamated with The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars on 1st September 1993 to become The Queen’s Royal Hussars who assumed that title.
You are about to undertake a virtual tour of one of The Regiment’s antecedent Museums. Please sit back and navigate yourself around the history it offers until we can update it with the creation of the new Museum of The Queen’s Royal Hussars – Churchill’s Own when times have become more ordered.
QOH Museum Tour
The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars
The Origins
In October 1958, the 4th Hussars and the 8th Hussars amalgamated in Hohne, Northern Germany forming The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars. As His Royal Highness, Prince Philip said on presenting the new Guidon to the Regiment on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, this brought to an end “270 years of unfailing service which have seen great victories, a few defeats and many months of unspectacular slogging in many parts of the world”.
The 4th Hussars were raised in 1685 by the Honourable John Berkeley and named after him as “Berkeley’s Dragoons”. Its recruiting area was Wessex in the south of England. Its full title was “The Princess Anne of Denmark’s Regiment of Dragoons” after King James II’s youngest daughter who was a great friend of John Berkeley’s wife.
Ireland had always been a great producer of horsemen and the Irish provided a number of distinguished cavalry regiments. The 8th Hussars were such a regiment raised in 1693 by Colonel Henry Conyngham and named after him as “Conyngham’s Dragoons”.
Both regiments have a long history of fighting alongside one another. Both had charged side by side at the Battle of Balaklava in the second line of the Light Brigade and there both had suffered appalling losses of men and horses. Eighty eight years later, they fought again together as the 4th/8th Hussars in the Western Desert having both suffered terrible casualties in the earlier desert battles.
On 1st September 1993, The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars paraded for the last time. It stood alongside The Queen’s Own Hussars with whom it was to be amalgamated. Both Regiments advanced in Review Order for 35 symbolic paces – one for each year of their existence as separate regiments – before crashing to a halt in front of the Reviewing Officer. They now faced the future together as a new Regiment: The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish).
You are about to undertake a slide show tour of The Museum of The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars. Please sit back and view the artefacts on virtual display and the history of The Regiment until you can visit the new Museum of The Queen’s Royal Hussars – Churchill’s Own.
QRIH Museum
Thank you for watching our virtual tours. We now very much hope to welcome you to the Museum of The Queen’s Royal Hussars – Churchill’s Own in Trinity Mews, Warwick CV34 4NA when we can complete its design and build and open it.
Return now to The Queen’s Royal Hussars Website