Wellington's Rifles: The Origins, Development and Battles of the Rifle Regiments in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo

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nd Brigade: commanded by Major General John Ormesby Vandeleur: 1 st/52 nd Foot, 2 nd/95 th Rifles (6 companies) and 1 st Caçadores Trooper McWhirter is wearing a ‘type 6’ basic frame A/10 hat badge and NZMR ‘type 1’ collar badges.

Wellington spent the winter of 1812/13 re-organising his forces and bringing in re-inforcements from Britain. He also meticulously planned his 1813 offensive against the French. Due to enormous pressure from the British Government for New Zealand to send more troops, the accelerated supply of troops became impossible for the Otago and Canterbury districts to keep up with supply. Fewster, Kevin; Basarin, Vecihi; Basarin, Hatice Hurmuz (2003). Gallipoli: The Turkish Story. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 1-74114-045-5. Manawatu) Squadron. Cap and collar badges: The number of the Regiment ‘6’ within a wreath of laurel leaves, surmounted by a crown with a scroll below bearing ‘Manawatu Mounted Rifles. Motto: He kawau maro (Unyielding as the shag) That unit mark denotes the 30th Wellington Battalion of Rifles (Active Militia unit formed in 1866, headquartered at Guelph, Ontario)... which is, of course, consistent with it being a Short Rifle (i.e. 2-band) - Sergeants in regular Infantry units were the other "foot troops" who were also issued this type, so you sometimes see them referred to as a "Sergeant's Model" ....The then optimal period of training a Mounted Rifles reinforcement draft was 18 weeks (4 months), so it is also worth mentioning that at the express request of the Imperial Government, the 8th and 9th Reinforcement Drafts were also accelerated to only 3 months training before embarking. The following shows the percentage of men supplied by the four military districts to the 9th Mounted Rifles reinforcements: —

rd Brigade: commanded by Colonel O’Callaghan: 1 st/28 th, 2 nd/34 th, 1 st/39 th Foot and 1 company of 5 th/60 th Foot a b c d "1915-Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment timeline". New Zealand History . Retrieved 13 November 2013. Trooper Sidney Myers, Serial No. 11/1729, 7th Reinforcements, Wellington Mounted Rifles, Embarkation Date: 9 October 1915 (Killed in action 29 May 1916)Unfortunately we have been unable to find a photograph of a member of H Squadron (Otago MR), however I have found an interesting report from "H" Squadrons Sergeant-Major W. Graham who states:- "that his squadron with the Otago Mounteds consists of all Gisborne men with the exception of three N.C.O.'s and the three officers. This is the first full squadron of Gisborn men in training to leave the country as one squadron." The brigade used their time training, which consisted of day and night marches through the desert, combined with rifle and machine-gun practice. [19] Culminating in The British rifle battalions (60 th and 95 th Rifles) carried the Baker rifle, a more accurate weapon but slower to fire and a sword bayonet.

The 6th and 7th Mounted Rifle Reinforcements have been reorganised and re-lettered as under, and in future will be known as the 6th Reinforcements: — In August 1959, after its many years of use, the Guidon was retired and after some time a decision was made for the Guidon to be transferred to the Council for safe keeping to represent the bond between the community represented by the Council, and the Regiment.These squadron designations were intended to represent each of the three Territorial Force mounted rifles regiments from which the WMR drew its personnel. As far as possible, each squadron drew its recruits from its geographical region until September 1917. From then on, men were sent overseas as generic mounted rifles reinforcements but were still generally assigned to their region’s unit. Further reading From some collections I have seen, the 7th & 11th Regiments have a lot of badge variations to collect. Trooper Perrett appears to be wearing a ‘type 5 or 6’? basic frame C/9 hat badge and ‘type 1’ C/9? collar badges. Clausel was operating against Spanish insurrectionists in Navarre in the north-east of Spain, with a significant part of the ‘Army of Portugal’.