Who were the Shropshire Dragoons

[Sgt Stripes]

GNR 91448 J DODD RA was sent home from Salonika on 28/8/1918 suffering from Malaria. On 15 April 1921 he was called out and joined the Shropshire Dragoons ( Shropshire Defence Force) until 4 July 1921. Does anyone have information on the Shropshire Dragoons and why they were active in that period . Many Thanks   

[Ron Clifton]

The Shropshire Yeomanry, a TF cavalry regiment, were affiliated to the Corps of Dragoons and served in the Great War, latterly being merged with the Cheshire Yeomanry to form an infantry battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. They were reconstituted after the war and eventually became part of the Royal Armoured Corps.

 

I cannot find any trace of a separate unit called the Shropshire Dragoons, nor any specific reason for the reconstituted regiment being embodied in 1921. The most likely answer is in connection with the troubles in Ireland.

 

Ron

[Sgt Stripes]

Thanks for the reply Ron. I have just been told that the defence force was formed in April 1921 due to mines strikes . After the war the coal mines were passed back to there owners who then because of a slump,  wanted to cut the miners wages . Each man of the defence force who served would enlisted for 90 days and have no uniform. It looks like the Shropshire Dragoons only lasted for 90 days. However as I say I was only told this.       

[Bordercollie]

Gladstone's "The Shropshire Yeomanry 1795-1945" has this to say about the formation of the Shropshire Dragoons in 1921.

 

“The first annual camp [after the Great War] was to have been held at Brogyntyn in May 1921, but did not take place because early in April that year the Defence Force was formed to assist in the preservation of civil order during the coal strike. Lieutenant-Colonel H H Heywood-Lonsdale [then CO of the Shropshire Yeomanry] was invited to form a regiment and undertook to do so, with the result that a body sometimes known as the “Shropshire Dragoons” was raised from the permanent staff and the existing volunteers, who thus automatically ceased to be members of the Territorial Army. By this method political friction was avoided, for the Yeomanry, as such, was not called to aid the civil power as had been the case in the nineteenth century.”

 

Service was for a maximum of 90 days at regular army rates of pay. A and B squadrons were mounted on bicycles while C squadron, which had re-enlisted almost to a man, served with their horses. The regiment concentrated at Park Hall, Oswestry on 12^th April but they were not used for strike duty and remained at Park Hall until they were demobilized after 85 days service.

[Sgt Stripes]

Thanks Bordercollie . That's the most information I have found on this unit. Great to know they were never used.  

[Bordercollie]

It looks as though Gnr Dodd, who lived in Wellington, was recalled to help fill the gaps in A and B squadrons. Gladstone only says that almost all of C squadron volunteered and as a reward for that response was chosen to serve mounted. From that I infer that more of A and B squadrons did not volunteer and I suppose recalling a Z reservist was considered more politically acceptable than mobilising a yeoman.