In 1794, a group of volunteers — made up largely of Oxfordshire’s landed gentry and their tenants — gathered at the Star Inn, an 18th century coaching inn in Cornmarket, Oxford. They were responding to a call by the Lord Lieutenant, following an appeal by the Government for a new home defence force to be established in every county to offset the growing threats of civil unrest and invasion by Napoleon’s troops. For the next century-and-a-half, these volunteers played an important role in maintaining peace in the shires, and later on active service in the Boer and two world wars.
The first Oxfordshire troop was the County Fencible Troop, based at Watlington and raised by the Earl of Macclesfield in 1798. Further units were quickly established, representing Wooton, Bloxham and Banbury, and Bullingdon, Dorchester and Thame.
By 1803, troops had also been raised at Woodstock, Oxford and Bicester. Over the next few years, most of these were amalgamated to form the First Regiment of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry Cavalry, under the command of Francis Almeric Spencer, the first Lord Churchill and brother of the 5th Duke of Marlborough.
That early connection with the Churchill family continued right through to the times of Sir Winston Churchill, who led the Henley Squadron from 1905-13, had direct influence on the troops’ involvement in both world wars, and controversially left instructions that they should lead his state funeral ahead of more senior military figures.
Before that, many of the family led or served in the regiment, most notably the 6th Duke of Marlborough, who appointed himself Commanding Officer, despite having no previous military experience, and the 9th Duke, who enlisted as a Cornet in 1892, served in the Boer War and became Lieutenant Colonel in 1910.
It was the visit of Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV, in 1835, that gave the regiment Royal recognition. Jackson’s Journal described how the Queen’s cavalcade “was escorted by two small bodies of Lord Churchill’s Regiment of Oxfordshire Cavalry and swept forward at a most rapid pace” and that when she arrived at the Angel Hotel, in Oxford’s High Street, “the main body of the Oxfordshire Cavalry was drawn up before the hotel”. The regiment continued to escort the Queen throughout her three-day visit, after which she sent thanks for the service by “this fine corps”, and granted them the use of the title The Queen’s Own.
Eventually, they became known as the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars — which gave rise to the nickname Queer Objects on Horseback, unkindly bestowed on them by the regular army.
In the early days, the troops were used to quell local troubles. The events of Revolutionary France sparked unrest in England among the rural labourers, many of whom were destitute due to low wages and unemployment, and Oxfordshire was no exception.
In the absence of a regular police force, it was the Yeomanry who were called upon to keep the peace. Unfortunately, they were often unsuccessful. As many were drawn from the nobility and landed classes, they were already hated by those who sought to cause trouble, and proved to be no match for them in a confrontation.
During the 1830s, riots at Banbury and Otmoor saw the rebels claim decisive victories over the troops. The Bloxham and Banbury Troop of Yeomanry, called to a disturbance at a farm at Neithrop, beat a hasty retreat as the insurgents bombarded them with stones and threatened them with burning poles.
According to a contemporary report, the troops “mounted and rode off into the town as if the Devil was after them”. The First Regiment of Oxfordshire Yeomanry Cavalry looked set to fare slightly better during the Otmoor Enclosure Riots of September 1830.
Protestors against the Enclosures Act, which saw landowners closing off common land for their private use, destroyed the hated fences to reclaim their ancient rights.
Around 40 of them were rounded up by the Cavalry and carted off to Oxford gaol. But on entering St Giles, where the annual fair was in full swing, angry mobsters attacked the Cavalry and tried to drag them from their horses. The troops fled in fear of their lives, and their prisoners escaped.
The outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 saw the establishment of the Imperial Yeomanry, with the Duke of Marlborough and Viscount Valentia, CO of the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars, involved in organising this new force. Around 20,000 men from Yeomanry regiments across England answered the call for volunteers, among them around 250 from Oxfordshire. It was their first taste of real warfare, and some never returned.
The harsh reality of war was reinforced for the QOOH when, at the instigation of Winston Churchill, they became the first Territorial unit to see action in the First World War. In August 1914, they were attached to Churchill’s Naval Brigade and sent to Flanders, later also taking part in the campaigns at Ypres and Amiens.
For much of this time, they were fighting alongside the regular troops in the trenches. Yet they reportedly kept their spirits up, and it was the QOOH that introduced the game of polo to the other units at Flanders.
After the war, the QOOH became an artillery unit, and by the outbreak of the Second World War had become the 63rd (Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment, serving on the home front in England and Ireland before being despatched to France in October 1944, on Churchill’s orders.
The 251 Battery was unfortunate enough to be sent to Singapore to help the defence against the Japanese, only to find themselves among the 60,000 prisoners forced to labour on the notorious Burma Railway.
After the Second World War the QOOH underwent a number of reincarnations, including amalgamation with the Royal Bucks Yeomanry in 1947 and the Berkshire Yeomanry in 1956. Major defence cuts forced the disbanding of the QOOH in 1967, but they re-formed in 1971 as a Royal Signals unit based in Banbury. In 1998, they were granted the Freedom of Banbury to mark the bicentenary of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry.
The Star Inn, alas, has long gone, its former site now occupied by the Clarendon Centre. But a blue plaque, unveiled in November 2003 by the Duke of Marlborough, marks the spot where the original yeomen assembled, spurred into answering their country’s call by a shared sense of community spirit.
The Oxfordshire Yeomanry features in an exhibition, Bugles and Busbies, at the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm and Sunday 2pm-5pm. Admission free. Call 01993 811456.
‘Queer Objects on Horseback’ is an online exhibition marking the bicentenary of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry 1798-1998. Visit the website: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk Further information about the Oxfordshire Yeomanry is available from the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust. Call 01869 874352 or visit the website: www.sofo.org.uk
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