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- 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays) during the Great War -


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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays)



   2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays) saw action on the Western Front during the Great War, serving as part of 1st Cavalry Division.

4th Aug 1914 Orders Received

4th Aug 1914 Mobilization

7th Aug 1914 Mobilisation

10th Aug 1914 Horses

11th Aug 1914 Horses

12th Aug 1914 Mobilisation Complete

13th Aug 1914 Route March

14th Aug 1914 Queen's Bays depart for France  The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) depart from Aldershot, marching to Farnborough station to entrain for Southampton.

http://www.qdg.org.uk/diaries.php?dy=43


14th Aug 1914 Move Begins

15th Aug 1914 Queen's Bays sail for France  The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) arrived at Southampton Docks and embarked for Le Harve on the SS Minneapolis.

http://www.qdg.org.uk/diaries.php?dy=43


15th Aug 1914 On the Move

15th Aug 1914 On the Move

16th Aug 1914 Queen's Bays arrive France  The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) disembarked at Le Harve from the SS Minneapolis, having spent the night anchored in the bay. The horses were stabled in a large store at the docks until noon, then the regiment moved to a large cotton store near the railway. The men spent most of the morning conversing with French soldiers who were guarding the docks.

Lieutenant A. J. R. Lamb recorded in his diary:- "Sailed into Le Harve docks and began disembarking about 5:30 a.m., All the horses of the regiment were put into a large store shed, and stood there from about 6:30 a.m. till noon. A party of French soldiers are guarding the docks, and it does not take our men long to become on speaking terms with them. They seem to quite interest each other in spite of not being at all acquainted with each other’s languages. Left these docks about noon and then moved on to a huge store shed near the railway (the biggest thing of its kind I have ever seen), where the horses were fastened up in lines."

http://www.qdg.org.uk/diaries.php?dy=43


16th Aug 1914 On the Move

17th Aug 1914 Queen's Bays at Le Havre  The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) having spent the night in a large cotton store near the railway, underwent exercise and grazed the horses by the coast. That evening Headquarters mess dined aboard the Dieppe of the Newhaven-Dieppe line, which was engaged in bringing ammunition across from Newhaven. A Squadron left at 9pm to entrain for the concentration area.

http://www.qdg.org.uk/diaries.php?dy=43


17th Aug 1914 Entraining

18th Aug 1914 Queen's Bays depart Le Havre  The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) left cotton store near the railway, with Headquarters minus the Machine Gun section departing just after midnight with ‘C’ Squadron and MG section following at 3:30am. They gathered at point ‘S’ entraining place, where there was an hour's wait to entrain then a further three hours before departing. They enjoyed a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, jam and tea and had a good wash in buckets beside the train before leaving at 8:15am for the concentration area. They traveled via Rouen where they stopped to water and feed the horses, and the men had hot coffee made by the French soldiers. The train moved slowly with frequent stops where the locals handed over flowers and cigarettes. They traveled via Amiens and Busigny to Mauberge on the Belgian frontier.

http://www.qdg.org.uk/diaries.php?dy=43


18th Aug 1914 On the Move

18th Aug 1914 Orders Received

18th Aug 1914 On the Move

19th Aug 1914 In Billets

20th Aug 1914 In Billets

21st Aug 1914 In Defence

22nd Aug 1914 Gun Fire

23rd Aug 1914 Retreat

23rd Aug 1914 Maps

24th Aug 1914 Fighting Withdrawal

25th Aug 1914 Fighting Withdrawal

26th Aug 1914 Fighting Withdrawal

26th Aug 1914 In Action

27th Aug 1914 Rear Guard

28th Aug 1914 Rear Guard

29th Aug 1914 Enemy Active

30th Aug 1914 On the March

31st Aug 1914 On the March

1st Sep 1914 A Sharp Fight

1st Sep 1914 In Action

1st Sep 1914 Fog

1st Sep 1914 Under Attack

1st Sep 1914 Counter Attack

1st Sep 1914 Attack

13th Sep 1914 Battle Commencing

13th of September 1914 A Showery March

23rd Sep 1914 At Rest

20th Oct 1914 In Action  location map

21st Oct 1914 In Action  location map

22nd Oct 1914 Shelling  location map

23rd Oct 1914 Reliefs  location map

13th Nov 1914 Lieutenant's Funeral

13th May 1915 

23rd May 1915 Queens Bays suffer losses

4th Jan 1916 Dismounted Cavalry in the Trenches

8th Jan 1916 In the Trenches

10th Feb 1916 Snipers Active

If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.



Want to know more about the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays)?


There are:6635 items tagged 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays) available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.


Those known to have served with

2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays)

during the Great War 1914-1918.

  • Bates Eustace. Pte. (d.1st Sep 1914)
  • Biddulph Robert Assheton. 2nd Lt. 2nd Btn. (d.19th November 1916)
  • Bloomer James. Pte
  • Grant John Brabazon. Capt.
  • I'Anson Christopher. (d.19th June 1915)

All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please. Add a Name to this List

More 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays) records.


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250066

Pte James Bloomer 2nd Dragoon Guards

James Bloomer was my grandfather. He was born 28th of Nov 1897 in Kilkenny, Ireland. He served with the Queens Bays.

Gary Bloomer




240384

2nd Lt. Robert Assheton Biddulph 2nd Btn. Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) (d.19th November 1916)

Second Lieutenant Biddulph was the son of Florence C. Biddulph, of Pan's Garden, Warnham, Sussex, and the late Assheton Biddulph.

He was 25 when he died and is buried in south-west entrance of the Killoughy Church of Ireland Churchyard, Killoughy, Co. Offaly, Ireland.

S Flynn




223888

Pte. Eustace Bates 2nd Dragoon Guards (d.1st Sep 1914)

6328 Private Eustace Bates was killed aged 25 on the 1st of September 1914, in the Picardie village of Néry. The village was the site of a largely cavalry-versus-cavalry action early in World War; which occurred as the overwhelmed British Expeditionary Force retreated from Mons in August 1914. Eustace Bates was in the 2nd Dragoon Guards (The Bays) part of the British 1st Cavalry Brigade. He would fall that fateful Friday along with 17 of his comrades in ‘The Bays’ – the exact details of his death at Néry are not recorded.

The British Cavalry and their Royal Horse Artillery battery at Néry were caught largely unawares, but managed to repel a surprise attack by the German 4th Cavalry Division (twice the number of cavalrymen and guns). The British defence against the odds resulted in the stemming of the German cavalry advance, the capture of 12 German guns and three Victoria Crosses awarded to soldiers of L Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, as well as numerous other decorations.

Eustace was the son of a soldier, although he would not have known him; as his father (a retired bandmaster of the 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment) died shortly after Eustace was born in the Sabathu Cantonment, India – his father was aged 40. His father, Robert David Yates, was originally from Canada; he had joined the 100th Regiment of Foot in 1864, whilst they were stationed in Malta (probably as a drummer boy aged 13). Robert eventually transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment whilst stationed in India. Prior to his military service the 1901 census records him as being a pupil at the Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Chelsea, London. Eustace Bates was then recorded in the 1911 census as serving as a private in the “The Bays” - well before the outbreak of the Great War. The regiment would leave Aldershot and embark for France in August 1914 via troopship from Southampton docks.

Eustace was not married and his listed next of kin was his mother Jane Bates (nee Fletcher). She would live till 1930 and died not far from where she was born in North Lincolnshire. Eustace was the youngest of eight children (although not all eight seemed to have survived to childhood).

Chris Tomlinson




219790

Christopher I'Anson 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays) (d.19th June 1915)

Christopher I'Anson was my 1st cousin 3x removed, the son of Christopher I'Anson and Martha Heslop and was from Ripon. He served in the 2nd Dragoon Guards, (Queens Bays), Household Cavalry and Cavalry of the Line. He joined in Harrogate and his service number was 6464. He was a Shoeing Smith.

Christopher died of wounds on 19th June 1915 and it appears that he died in this country as the record states 'Home', his place of residence at the time of death was Snelston so maybe he was in hosptial there. He is remembered in Nunhead All Saints Cemetery, South London, panel 3. Maybe his body was taken back to Ripon for burial but as yet I haven't looked for him there.

I don't have a photograph of him and unfortunately haven't been able to find one.

Amanda Wass








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