Answer: 11025: Albert Evans, Hertfordshire Yeomanry (Hertfordshire Genealogy)

Hertfordshire Yeomanry, First World War

June, 2011

Carol Hinsley.(carolhinsley@gmail.com) of Sheffield writes: My father Albert Evans was born in June 1898 in Sheffield, Yorkshire. he enlisted in WW1 when he was 17 years of age. I have a photo of my Dad showing his cap badge and HY on his epaulette. I have had checked and was told he is wearing the cap badge of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry. My eldest brother who is 88 years old recalls Dad saying that he was put into a regiment he couldn't settle in the Yeomanry for very long. I cannot find a record for him at all on the Ancestry website and I think his service record was amongst the "burnt records". I know when he left the army he was in the Durham Light Infantry and served most of the war in France. The history of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry is described in detail in The Hertfordshire Yeomanry by J.D. Sainsbury The cap badge is definitely the Hertfordshire Yeomanry, and I wonder why a Yorkshire lad would have joined a cavalry regiment in the Territorial Army. Joining in 1915 he would probably have gone for training in Hertford, although later in the year he may have been trained in Essex. He may never have fought with them as there was not much demand for a cavalry regiment in France and for most of the war the Hertfordshire Yeomanry were in the Middle East (Gallipoli and later Egypt and Palestine) although one squadron was held in reserve in France for a time and never saw action there. If he was not with them for long you might do best to follow up the Durham Light Infantry. If you decide to follow up the Hertfordshire Yeomanry side I understand there are relevant records at HALS, and I assume the war diaries will be in the National Archives. Despite having written the book The London Gunners come to Town I have no up-to-date experience of tracking down ordinary soldiers. However I know that the National Archives have some excellent leaflets which I believe are available on their web site. For my own researches twenty years ago I also found some interesting private war diaries and reminiscences at the Imperial War Museum.