2nd Cavalry Brigade (United Kingdom)


The 2nd Cavalry Brigade was a brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, the Boer War and in the First World War when it was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division.
Prior to World War I the brigade was based at Tidworth Camp in England; and originally consisted of three cavalry regiments and a Royal Engineers signal troop. After the declaration of war in August 1914, the brigade was deployed to the Western Front in France, where an artillery battery joined the brigade the following September and a Machine Gun Squadron in February 1916.

History

Napoleonic Wars

From June 1809, Wellington organized his cavalry into one, later two, cavalry divisions for the Peninsular War. These performed a purely administrative, rather than tactical, role; the normal tactical headquarters were provided by brigades commanding two, later usually three, regiments. The cavalry brigades were named for the commanding officer, rather than numbered. For the Hundred Days Campaign, he numbered his British cavalry brigades in a single sequence, 1st to 7th. The 2nd Cavalry Brigade consisted of:
As the brigade consisted of regiments from England, Scotland and Ireland, it was known as the 2nd Cavalry Brigade.

Boer War

The brigade was reformed for the Boer War. During the Battle of Paardeberg, the brigade commanded: