8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
armoured regiment of the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army
The 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) (VIII CH) is a reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment in the Canadian Army, with two squadrons. It was formed on 4 April 1848 in the then-colony of New Brunswick, which remains the regiment's home to this day, its regimental headquarters (RHQ) and A Squadron being in Moncton, with B Squadron in Sussex.
In 1957, its name was chosen for the formation of a new Regular Force regiment to serve alongside the reserve regiment. The regular regiment served in Gagetown, New Brunswick, and Petawawa, Ontario, as well as the Sinai, Cyprus, Iserlohn (Fort Beausejour), Soest, and Lahr, West Germany. The Regular Force regiment was disbanded in 1998.
Structure
HQ Squadron
A Squadron in Moncton
B Squadron in Sussex, New Brunswick
Lineage
8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
Originated on 30 April 1869, in Apohaqui, New Brunswick, as the New Brunswick Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry
Redesignated on 31 May 1872, as the 8th Regiment of Cavalry
Redesignated on 18 July 1884, as the 8th Princess Louise's New Brunswick Regiment of Cavalry (named after Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne)
Redesignated on 1 January 1893, as the 8th Princess Louise's New Brunswick Hussars
Redesignated on 11 February 1941, as the 2nd (Reserve) Regiment, 8th Princess Louise's (New Brunswick) Hussars
Redesignated on 1 April 1941, as the 5th (Reserve) Armoured Regiment, 8th Princess Louise's (New Brunswick) Hussars
Redesignated on 4 February 1949, as the 8th Princess Louise's (New Brunswick) Hussars (5th Armoured Regiment)
Redesignated on 29 January 1957, as the 2/8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
Redesignated on 1 January 1960, as the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) (Militia)
Amalgamated on 15 April 1993, with the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) (Regular Force) and Redesignated as the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) (Regular Force)
Originated on 29 January 1957, in the Regular Force as the 1/8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
Redesignated on 1 January 1960, as the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
Amalgamated on 15 April 1993, with the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) (Militia) and Redesignated as the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
Lineage chart
Perpetuations
War of 1812
1st Battalion, Westmorland County Regiment
2nd Battalion, Westmorland County Regiment)
The Great War
6th Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles
History
The earliest beginnings of the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) have traditionally been traced to the year 1775 in the Colony of Virginia where Captain John Saunders, of Princess Anne County, raised a troop of cavalry at his own expense to fight for the Crown against the Colonial rebels. This unusual Regiment included riflemen, grenadiers, artillery and cavalry, and it never knew defeat during the American conflict for independence. In September 1783, the Regiment as an entity sailed for Nova Scotia and reached Saint John on 27 September 1783. A large number of these Loyalists soldiers settled in the Saint John and Kennebecasis valleys by Loyalist soldiers, had a military tradition and indeed an effective militia. In 1839, the York County Troop, known for a time as the York Light Dragoons, was mobilized for service in the Aroostook War, a conflict with American lumbermen that never quite came to open fighting.
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This entry incorporates text from “8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.