The Thirteenth Hussars in the Great War

From a photograph by The Mendoza Galleries.
Lt. Col. J. J. Richardson. D.S.O. Commanding 13 th Hussars from August 1915 to the present time.
To the Unfading Memory of the OFFICERS, NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, AND MEN OF THE REGIMENT WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES DURING THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 .
“I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above, Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love; The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test, That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best; The love that never falters, the love that pays the price, The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.”
—( Ode to Duty , by the late Sir Cecil Spring Rice, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O.)
Thanks are tendered to Messrs. Elliott & Fry, to Messrs. Gale & Polden, and others, for permission to copy some of the portraits reproduced in this work.
The main object of this book is to give an account of the services rendered by the Thirteenth Hussars during the last ten years, especially in the war which has just come to an end.
The earlier history of the Regiment has already been written, and very fully written. On this subject the standard authority must always be Barrett’s valuable work, which takes up the story from the beginning and carries it on to 1910, a period of nearly two hundred years. In order that readers of the present narrative may start with a general knowledge of the Regiment and its past, a chapter relating to this period has been introduced. As will be seen, it touches upon most of the wars waged by Great Britain since the days of Marlborough. But it is a mere summary, chiefly drawn from Barrett, and contains little new matter.
In ordinary circumstances this summary would open the book, but any account of the part played by a British Cavalry regiment in the late war must of necessity have some bearing upon the larger question of the part likely to be played by the mounted arm in any wars of the future; and just now this question is of special interest, for it has been freely asserted that recent changes in military conditions, notably the vast increase in the size of armies and the development of the aeroplane, have made Cavalry an obsolete and useless arm; and it is important for us to know whether they have done so, or are likely to do so. Therefore it has been thought desirable to give at the beginning a brief review of the history of Cavalry before this war, and at the close a few remarks upon the lessons of the war with regard to the value of the arm under present conditions.