2nd/10th Dragoons Battle Honours

[Gorgo]

For those who have access to the old battle honours listings for the CEF units in WW1, a quick question:

The 2nd Dragoons (which, after amalgamating with the 10th Brant Dragoons in 1936 to form the 2nd/10th Dragoons, were transformed into an artillery regiment in 1946) supplied personnel to the 4th, 75th and 84th Battalions of the CEF, the 4th and 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles and raising the 176th (Niagara Rangers) Battalion practically by themselves.  Atop that, the 10th Brant Dragoons (then numbered the 25th; the unit was re-numbered in 1920) sent personnel to the 4th, 75th, 84th, 125th and 215th Battalions as well as the 4th and 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles.

Out of this, would any sort of battle honours be awarded to the 2nd/10th before their conversion to artillery?  My book on the regiment, Rounds Complete, doesn't say anything towards that end.

 

[Michael OLeary]

I cannot find any evidence that either the 2nd Dragoons or the 10th Brant Dragoons carried any battle honours.

You can review my pages here to see which regiments perpetuated the CEF battalions you mentioned - http://regimentalrogue.com/cef_perpetuation/cef_perpetuation.htm

 

[Gorgo]

Thanks, Michael.  I did check it out.  I guess Rounds Complete was a little on the biased side when it came to the 176th; your website states the Lincoln and Welland Regiment perpetuates that unit but the book I had said the 2nd Dragoons pretty much formed the battalion up on its own.

 

[Bill Smy]

As a general rule perpetuation of a CEF Battalion was determined by the pre war militia regiment which had provided the largest number of men on mobilization.

It is difficult to rationalize the decision that governed the perpetuation of the 176th Battalion.

1152 Officers and Men joined the 176th Battalion, but not all went overseas with it. An examination of the Attestation Papers of the 176th show that those which record previous military service, few had come from the 2nd Dragoons, but then again few had come from the Lincoln Regiment and Lincoln and Welland Regiment:-

2nd Dragoons - 35
19th Lincoln - 49
44th Lincoln and Welland - 48
77th Wentworth - 2
2nd Regt -2
26th Regt - 2
24th Horse - 1
39th Regt - 1
109th Regt -2
GGFG - 1
Cdn Militia - 1
British Army - 83
British Territorials - 8
Zulu Mounted Rifles - 1
Royal Navy - 2
Russian Army - 4
US Navy - 76
US Amy - 76

However, in 1920 a newspaper report stated that the Lincoln Regiment claimed the 19th had sent over 500 men to the 176th Battalion.

The following Battle Honours which had been awarded to the 176th Bn were subsequently awarded as follows:--

The Great War, 1917                        Not awarded to post war militia

Arras, 1917                                      The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
                                                      The Lincoln Regiment

Hill 70                                              The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
                                                      The Lincoln Regiment

Ypres, 1917                                      The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
                                                      The Lincoln Regiment


Amiens                                              The Lincoln Regiment

Arras, 1918                                        The Lincoln Regiment


Hindenburg Line                                  The Lincoln Regiment


Pursuit to Mons                                    The Lincoln Regiment

The claim that the 2nd Dragoon raised the 176th may have originated from the fact that LCol Sharpe and a number of officers were old 2nd Dragoons, but it does not appear that the numbers support the claim.