TOPIC:

Hi, My Great Grandfather was a member of the 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars (Private 4809 W McCombe) in the Boer War, i had a couple of questions i was hoping you could help me with as follows.

1) Is there a representative photo of a uniform for a Private in the 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars that someone could point out to me as being close to what he would have been wearing in 1901.

2) Whats the difference between a Private and a Trooper, i assume a Trooper is on horseback but i assume a Private in this context in the Boer was also on Horseback or is that not the case? Do they have 100 Troopers on horseback scouting and leading and protecting the rear with 300 Privates marching on Foot?

3) If someone was a member of the Kings Royal Irish Hussars the prefix of unit eg 8th or 10th just denotes a division within this regiment and they would have had the same uniform other than 8th / 10th numerals to denote a unit within the larger regiment, is this correct?

Thanks
Aaron

Aaron,

I'll leave the answers you have requested to someone who knows more about cavalry regiments, but here are some links you may find useful.

The Regiment's Boer War diary:
www.naval-military-press.com/product/8th...rican-war-1900-1902/

Details from this website:
www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/im...rs?showall=1&start=0

I hope this helps.

Ian

Aaron, you can see typical 8th Hussars uniforms here:
www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/im...rish-hussars?start=1

As far as I know, Trooper and Private were the same, some units used one designation and some the other, for reasons lost in tradition.

The regimental badge is as shown here..

Rob

Aaron




8th Hussars crossing the Vaal River 1900.



10th Hussars crossing Klip Drift 1900


Dave.......

Aaron

Hussar regiments that were present during the ABW conflict from 1899 to 1902.


3rd The Kings Own Hussars
7th Queens Own Hussars
8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars
10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales Own)
11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars **
13th Hussars
14th / 15th Kings Hussars
18th ( Queen Mary's Own) Hussars
19th ( Queen Alexandra's Own) Hussars
20th Hussars




**Ref the 11th Hussars
1899 Captain Harrison and Lieutenant FitzGerald and 108 men of the 11th served in the Boer war. They were dismounted and were present at Ladysmith during the siege. The regiment spent much of the war in Egypt.

Dave.......

Question 1.
Attached image reference 1901 Hussars uniform in the field.
The slouch hat has been adopted, the pith helmets were used throughout the war as shown in previous images. This uniform also had many similarities to the Imperial Yeomanry configuration.




Question 2.
Trooper (abbr. Tpr) from the French "troupier" is the equivalent rank to private in a regiment with a cavalry tradition in the British Army. Hussars were broken down into squadrons. The role was for a quick deployment of mounted troops, reconnaissance patrol's, outpost duties. Although at the beginning of the conflict there was indeed a lack of mounted infantry which caused many problems for the British forces.


Question 3.
The field uniforms of the Hussar regiments would have been similar. The insignia would denote the regimental number. Collar and shoulder insignia for example. The pith helmets would also reflect the chosen regimental design with the use of a helmet flash. The size, shape, colour and design in my humble opinion were left to the individual regiment or Corps.