We use the photograph with kind permission of David Sanderson, whose father, Trooper Eric Sanderson, is pictured sixth from the left on the second-to-back row.
It was taken at Beverley, David believes by a local photographer called Hollingsworth (this is most likely T Hollingsworth, whose studio was at 18 North Bar Within).
The 4th Queen’s Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment, first raised (as The Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Dragoons) in 1685; its number included Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, who commanded it in the early 1800s, some six years before his famous victory at Waterloo in 1815, and Winston Churchill, who was commissioned as a cornet in the regiment in 1895.
The Hussars saw plenty of battle action, including being part of the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 (by then it was known as the 4th (The Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, not taking its final name until 1861).
In 1939, the regiment was stationed at the Dalton Estate. David provides us with this informative extract from the excellent history Fourth Hussar by David Scott Daniell (which has a foreword by Winston Churchill):
“The regiment went to the Market Weighton area in Yorkshire at the beginning of November. It has a threefold role: to deal with German parachutists, to defend Hull north of the Humber if the enemy invaded, and to protect the widely scattered aerodromes. Roadblocks were manned and anti-aircraft defence and air raid precautions also took up the time. The main oocupation, however, was strenuous training, and the regiment worked hard. The only relief was an occasional hunt with the Holderness, and a memorable brigade mounted reconnaissance which was in fact an old-style point-to-point, every officer who could raise a horse competed.”
The regiment was in the area for just a year – in November 1940, it left for the Middle East, where it fought in the Greek Campaign as part of the 1st Armoured Brigade in the 6th Australian Infantry Division.
As the rearguard in the Corinth Canal Bridge action the regiment was overrun and surrendered, and all senior officers and over 400 men became prisoners of war – so at least some of the men in our picture ended up in PoW camps.
David Sanderson met recently with the 101-year-old widow of Fourth Hussar Cyril Cooper, driver for Major Dollar. She told him that the officers often visited the Pipe and Glass. We’d love to hear from anyone who has any memories or photographs of those visits.