Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars

The Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars were formed in 1794, as the Worcestershire Yeomanry, when King George III, was on the throne, William Pitt the Younger was the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and across the English Channel, Britain was faced by a French nation that had recently guillotined its King and possessed a revolutionary army numbering half a million men. The Prime Minister proposed that the counties form a force of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry which could be called on by the King to defend the country against invasion or by the Lord Lieutenant to subdue any civil disorder within the country.

Worcestershire responded quickly - the first troop paraded in front of the Unicorn Inn in Worcester on 25 October 1794 under the command of Captain John Somers-Cocks and Lieutenant Thomas Spooner.

With the threat of a French invasion having receded after the signing of the Peace of Amiens in 1802 the King commended the Worcestershire Yeomanry for their "honourable distinction in forming an essential part of the defence of the country against a foreign enemy in circumstances of extraordinary emergency".

Edwin Hughes served as Sergeant-Instructor with the Worcestershire Yeomanry starting from the day after his discharge from the 13th Hussars until his discharge for 'old age' on 5 January 1886. Edwin Hughes was the oldest survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

In 1887, Queen Victoria altered the title of the regiment which was for the future to bear the designation of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars.