With the British Cavalry in 1914

by Matthew Richardson

The opening months of the First World War were the golden sunset for the horsed regiments of the British army. Whether they were Lancers, Hussars or Dragoons, their names were redolent of glory and grandeur. Trained for shock tactics as well as scouting and reconnaissance, several times in 1914 they clashed dramatically with their German counterparts on the battlefields of France.

Yet at the same time, the role of the cavalry was shifting inexorably away from these romantic charges, with trumpets, gleaming lances and swirling sabres. In the new warfare of the Twentieth Century, the true value of these regiments was as an intensively trained, highly mobile reserve.

Despite their misgivings about the role, the Regular cavalry (latterly with Yeomanry alongside them) were also a highly effective force when fighting on foot. Able to arrive quickly at trouble spots, they were equally skilled with the rifle, and on more than one occasion in 1914 they were able to retrieve a critical situation.

199 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 4, 2025

About the author

Matthew Richardson was born in 1990 and graduated with a First in English from Durham University in 2011. He then went on to postgraduate research at Merton College, Oxford, specialising in intellectual history. He was a freelance journalist, a speechwriter and a researcher in Westminster while also starting work on his debut novel, My Name is Nobody. In the summer of 2015, at the age of 24, Matthew Richardson was signed by Penguin in a six-figure pre-empt deal.

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