Introduction

The following introduction is as supplied by Pen and Sword.

The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish) (QRH) traces its origins back to 1685 when King James II formed a standing army. The Regiment was created in 1993 with the amalgamation of the Queen’s Own Hussars and the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars.

The Author tells the history of these celebrated regiments who fought alongside each other at Dettingen, Balaklava, the Peninsula, in India and during the two World Wars.

Recently the QRH have seen action in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan where the Regiment provided the first cavalry-led ground-holding battlegroup. Currently stationed in Athlone Barracks, Sennelager, the QRH is the only cavalry regiment equipped with the Challenger tank, which they expect to retain on return to the UK in 2019.

In Peace and War is a superbly researched record of over 300 years’ distinguished service to the Crown. While the demands facing officers and men today may have changed over the years, what remains constant are the dedication, bravery, commitment and sense of humour of those who serve.

Review

This offering from Pen and Sword is a hard backed book offering of 287 pages. The book is a very well constructed and so a quality book, I say this as the pages are stitched rather than glued. Robin Rhoderick-Jones is the author of this offering and this is his first regimental history title.

The contents of this title are laid out as follows:
List or Plates
List of Maps
Foreword by HRH The Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Early Day
2. Colonial Campaigns and the Great War
3. Mechanization and Peace in Europe
4. The Second World War
5. Thirteen Years to Amalgamation
6. The Parent Regiments
7. The Troubles
8. On to the Tercentenaries
9. The Gulf War and Amalgamation Again
10. The Queen's Royal Hussars - The First Five Years
11. Athlone Barracks - New Home, New Tanks, New Adventure
12. Iraq Again and Afghanistan
13. What Next?
Appendices:
A. Colonels-in-Chief, Colonels and Name Changes
B. Battle Honours: the Guidon
C. The Victoria Cross
D. Regimental Music and Nicknames
E. Commanding Officers and Regimental Sergeant Majors
F. Affiliated Regiments
Bibliography
Index.

European Regiments have long histories going back many centuries. With the UK being an island most of our forces were Navel in nature and why the Royal Navy is the Senior Service. With that said Regiments in the British Army do have long and colourful histories covering events such as Waterloo and the Charge of the Light Brigade; plus of course the very large Empire built up by the British adds to that history.

This offering from Robin Rhoderick-Jones looking at the Queen's Royal Hussars and the amalgamated regiments that are this units history makes for an informative and enjoyable read. I was particularly interested in their involvement during the charge of the Light Brigade and felt a little robbed that more of the regimental history from that time and earlier was not told. With that said what is provided gives the reader a good insight into the actions these earlier regiments were involved in.

The actions of these earlier units during The Great War is told, but to my mind this is another area where a lot more meat could have been put on the bone. This is followed by the reduction of man power in the British Army generally due to the fact that the War to end all Wars was over. There is a picture in this section that marks the end of an era in my mind and that is a photograph of the last mounted parade of the 8th Hussars in Aldershot 1932.

World War two saw the units in action again most notably in North Africa. The end of WW2 saw the Hussars in Palestine during the troubles that saw the birth of the Jewish State of Israel. We then bounce along to the Korean War. The end of the British Empire after WW2 saw many conflicts in which units of the Queen's Royal Hussars took place and makes for interesting reading. The story of the Queen's Royal Hussars comes to an end in the present day with the various concerns about what next for them.

Conclusion

This offering from Robin Rhoderick-Jones is well written and interspersed with pictures of various qualities. I would have liked to read more on the early conflicts that the regiments that make up the Queen's Royal Hussars took part, but the author did have a long story to tell in a limited amount of space and he has done a fair job of that task. The book as a whole does tell an interesting history of a Regiment that has been around in one form or another for over 350 years.