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Review of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment,
Kempsey Ham, 1838 - by W. J. Pringle. Click
on parts of the image for a more detailed look. |
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The Worcestershire
Yeomanry Cavalry was raised in 1794 when the Napoleonic Wars broke
out as a part-time cavalry unit, to be used in time of civil unrest
or invasion (for example, in 1818 was called out to Pitchcroft to
subdue a riot, but the rioters turned on them and chased them until
the Yeomanry took refuge in the courtyard of the Star In (now the
Whitehouse), Foregate Street.). They were disbanded in 1827 because
of defence cuts, but were re-raised in 1831 due to civil unrest and
were called out to subdue riots in Dudley, along the Severn and in
Upton.
In 1832 the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria visited Worcestershire
and were escorted across the County by Yeomanry. The different Troops
took turns to escort them through their particular area, until the
Tardebigge Troop escorted them in to Hewell Grange, where they stayed
for a few days with Lord Plymouth (Colonel of the Yeomanry).
In December 1837, after Victoria had become Queen, she showed her
thanks by making the Yeomanry a 'Royal' Regiment, to be called the
Queen's Own Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry (QOWYC). As a Royal Regiment,
the QOWYC was entitled to wear Royal Blue facings (cuffs and colours)
on their uniforms as a distinction. These were immediately applied. |
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year the Yeomanry mustered for two weeks for drills and parades,
including a 'Review' on either Pitchcroft or Kempsey Ham. For
these a local high-ranking regular Army officer would inspect
the men, and people from all over the County would gather to
watch. These inspections were usually in September or October,
and so it was until September 1838 that the Regiment could show
off it's new Royal status. To mark the occasion, they commissioned
the Birmingham-based artist W. J. Pringle to paint the review
on Kempsey Ham. |
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| The detail on the painting
is superb. The uniforms are near-perfect, and the details of the fashions
in the crowd are fantastic. It is a very active picture, with all
of the different Troops, the artillery detachment firing (causing
one lady in the crowd to cover her ears), the Surgeons (with their
black plumes) watching, children climbing the tree to the left, someone's
horse bolting in the background, the sail of a barge going up the
Severn, and the band playing in the only record or depiction that
we have of them before the 1890's. As a Regimental and Social History
document, it is unsurpassable. |
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Traditionally this painting
was believed to have been painted in 1842. This date has been
queried several times in the last 10 years, and only in the
last month have we been able to confirm that it is indeed
wrong. Extensive research has produced much new information
and enabled us to say with 100% assurance that the review
was that of the 29th September, 1838, and that this work was
created over the following months and completed in the spring
of 1839.
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