World War 2

154th (Leic. Yeo.) Field Regt. R.A 

8th Army, 13 Corps, 50 Div. SP Regt for 151 Brigade.

Oct 1942: Middle East Forces, North Africa

November 1942: Briefly in support of the 154 Brigade of the Highland Division

21st Nov 1942: Beni Yusef Camp, Cairo, Egypt.

Jan 1943: 6th Indian Div, Persia

April 1943: 7 AGRA, North Africa

May 1943 to March 1944: 10th Indian Division, North Africa, Palestine ('43), Syria ('43), Italy ('44)

July 1945: 78th Infantry Division, Austria 

RHQ

Brig. R A G (Dolly) Tilney DSO

(Pictured above as a Lieutenant)

Commanding Officer [1]

He took over command of the ill fated island of Leros in the Autumn of 1943 and when the island fell to the Germans, 16th November 1943,  was taken prisoner.

This photograph was published in the Express, February 1999, and shows Brigadier Dolly Tilney surrendering the Garrison on the Greek Island of Leros to the German army. The nonchalant pipe smoking Brigadier does not look like a defeated man, but the Nazis distributed it widely as propaganda. The action which led to the fall of Leros was ill fated from the start. Nearly the whole of 243rd Brigade was lost, 1st Btn Durham Light Infantry, 2nd Btn Royal West Kents and 2nd Btn Royal Irish Fusiliers. Only some survivors remained from the Brigades endeavours and only those that could swim the distance to Turkish shores.

Below is a Christmas card sent to relatives by Col. Tilney (Dolly & Francis Tilney). Inside is a drawing of a field gun and quad tractor leading to a mounted Yeoman. Col Tilney was captured on, Leros, Crete and spent time as a POW.

Lt.Col. I O'B  MacGregor

A "regular" Gunner from the M.G., R.A. in Cairo. October 1943 [2]

Lieutenant Colonel 18220 IAIN O'BRIEN MacGREGOR 154 (The Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regiment., Royal Artillery. Who died in a motorcycle accident on Friday 16 June 1944 . Age 43 . Son of Colonel John MacGregor, Indian Army, and Mabel MacGregor; husband of Diana Evelyn MacGregor, of Camberley, Surrey. Cemetery: CASSINO WAR CEMETERY Italy Grave or Reference Panel Number: XVIII. D. 10 

Lt.Col. Norman Foster

Commanding officer. 3rd July 1944 [3]

He took command whilst fighting was taking place at Monte Acuto in Italy. He was CO for thirteen months until his departure in a field in Venezia Guilia, Colonel Foster never failed to give the Regiment all he had: he quickly won the respect of everyone and is remembered with grateful affection. 

Major GE Bouskell-Wade

Commanding Officer, October 1944 [4]

Mjr. E L Thwaites

(153500) Mjr. E V E White MiD

Died 20th August 1944, aged 35.

The photo above is of a memorial on his fathers grave.

Lt. D H Whyte

Lt. David henderson Whyte In 1940 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery and was commissioned in 1941 into the Leicestershire Yeomanry. 1942 saw him serving in the Middle East. In 1943 he was transferred to the Raiding Support Regiment where he served in Yugoslavia and Albania.

Lt. W R H Joynson

Cpt. L Watt (R.A.M.C)

Lt. M P M Ollard (R.C.S)

Lt. (Q.M.) W I Simmonds

Lt. H E Skelson

The photo was taken in 1943 in Jerusalem, and it was that year he went to OCTU.

Sgt. Eric Hoare, BSM Harry Skelson, Sgt. Harlod Hacking

Giza, Cairo, Egypt, 9th of December 1942.

154th on a practice shoot near Lebanon in June 1943. 

W.O. (R.S.M) L Lumb

Sgt. Dormer

Cpl. O F (Ossie) Jordan

RHQ Office Staff

Reg Heasman

154 RHQ Survey Party

Gnr. Fisher

L/Bmdr H E SUTHERLAND

 Herbert Elijah  154 (The Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regt. Royal Artillery. Died 27/9/1943 Age 29. Son of Charles Elijah & Rose Sutherland. Husband of Lucy Mary Sutherland of Brancaster. Beirut War Cemetery, Lebanese Republic. Brancaster (St Mary) Church Cem.

"P" (594) Battery

"Peter" Battery

10th Indian Div:- Supporting 1/2nd Punjabis Btn then 1st D.L.I.

Major The Hon. J P Phillips

Battery Commander

Capt. R Tom D Wilmot

Born in 1915, the younger son of an army doctor, he was educated at Tonbridge. His career began with the Alliance Insurance Company during the Depression. By the outbreak of war he had risen to secretary’s assistant. Having joined the Inns of Court Regiment as a Territorial in 1936 (Inns of Court Regiment (3rd Cavalry Officer Cadet Training Wing) [personal number 55284?])
 he was commissioned into the Leicestershire Yeomanry on 22/10/1939 (Emergency Commission) and spent most of the war in North Africa, including Alamein, the Middle East and Italy. 15/2/1940 he transferred, Royal Regiment of Artillery. In 1944 he volunteered to act as liaison with the partisans and during street fighting in Florence was wounded when the partisan leader he was assigned to was killed. He ended the war in Germany, back with the Leicester Yeomanry as part of the Guards Armoured Division.

He became chief executive of the British Insurance Association after the industry moved to establish its first professional organisation.

Major. The 2nd Lord Hazlerigg MC

(86777) Major T H Hazelrigg

Photo:- While attending a course at Camberley in 1943.

The 2nd Lord Hazlerigg, who has died aged 92, was awarded an MC in Italy in 1944; he also captained Leicestershire and Cambridge at cricket.
In the last six months of 1944, Hazlerigg, a major in 154 (Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regiment Royal Artillery, was responsible for controlling the artillery and other supporting arms of the 1st Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry. His fire plans played a key role in the capture of two strategic features overlooking the Tiber valley, Monte Acuto and Monte Cedrone, in the defence of the Anghiari ridge, and at the crossing and holding of the bridgehead over the Montone river. His courage, coolness and organisation in these successful actions, in circumstances of considerable personal danger, were recognised with the award of the Military Cross.
The Hazleriggs have been prominent in England's affairs since 1066, when Simon de Hesilrige came over with William the Conqueror. A baronetcy was created for Sir Thomas Hesilrige in 1622, and the spelling of the surname was altered to Hazlerigg by Royal Licence in 1818. The Noseley estate in Leicestershire came into the family by marriage in the late 13th century; Noseley Hall itself was built in 1729 by the 7th baronet shortly after his marriage to Hannah Sturges, said to have been the inspiration for Samuel Richardson's Pamela.
advertisementThe most celebrated member of the family was the 2nd baronet, Sir Arthur Hesilrige. In 1642, with his guardian John Pym, Hesilrige was one of the five Members of Parliament whom King Charles I attempted to arrest for treason, so sparking the Civil War. Oliver Cromwell is believed to have stayed at Noseley for several days in 1645, having concealed his horses in the chapel in the grounds, while he made his preparations for the decisive battle at Naseby. Sir Arthur Hesilrige's descendant, the 13th baronet, was raised to the peerage as Lord Hazlerigg in 1945 for services to Leicestershire.
His eldest son, Arthur Grey Hazlerigg, was born at South Kensington, London, on February 24 1910. Arthur was educated at Eton, where he was in the cricket XI for three years, captaining the side in his last two years before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read Land Management. A right-handed batsman and a medium-pace off-spinner, he took seven wickets for 66 runs in the Varsity match as a freshman, and was captain in 1932. He went on to play for Leicestershire and, in 1934, like his father before him, he captained the county side. Between 1930 and 1934 he played in 66 first-class matches, taking 112 wickets at an average of 31.03 and scoring 2,515 runs, including three centuries, at an average of 25.92.
In 1939 Hazlerigg was commissioned into the Leicestershire Yeomanry. This converted from cavalry to field artillery the following year, and divided into 153 and 154 Field Regiments. With the latter, Hazlerigg saw service in North Africa, Syria, Palestine and Italy as a battery commander.
In September 1944, in the rugged, mountainous terrain of central Italy, an officer of the 1st Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry, led a patrol of 20 men to the village of Bulciano to reconnoitre the strength of the enemy there, and to occupy it if it was not held. Just short of the village, the patrol came under intense small arms and artillery fire which caused several casualties.
Hazlerigg, in command of "P" Battery, directed his guns with such skill that the patrol was subsequently able to withdraw without further loss. In thanking him for the magnificent support provided by his battery, which had saved many lives, the commanding officer of the DLI paid Hazlerigg the compliment of saying: "Arthur, you shoot guns even better than you play cricket."
Having finished the war in Austria, Hazlerigg retired from the Army in the rank of colonel, then qualified as a chartered surveyor. He joined the firm of John German at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire; Guy German, one of the partners, had been the senior British officer at Colditz.
Hazlerigg succeeded to the peerage and in the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1949. He retired in 1972, but retained his enormous zest for life into great old age. A passionate golfer, he was still playing at the age of 85.
In 1999 Hazlerigg sold seven paintings at auction to pay for pressing repairs to Noseley but, much to his frustration, a planning inspector later decided that, as they had been in the family's possession for 270 years, they were part of the fabric of the house and therefore could not be disposed of.
Hazlerigg was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1946.
Arthur Hazlerigg died on September 30. Patricia Pullar, whom he married in 1945, died in 1972. They had a son and two daughters. Their son, Arthur Grey Hazlerigg, who was born in 1951, succeeds to the titles.

Capt. F R Bishop MC

Decorated for actions while serving in Italy in 1945, "for courage and resourcefulness over a long period of determined assaults on stubbornly held positions ideally suited for defence." 

Military Cross was Gazetted 13 December 1945 and full citation reads "Captain Bishop has commanded A Troop, P Battery, 154th (Leicester Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA for the past year. During this time he has been almost continually in action as a field observation officer or observation post officer in support of the first Battalion Durham Light Infantry. His courage, cheerfulness and resource have been outstanding and he has enjoyed the fullest confidence both of his battery commander and of the officers of the battalion.

"He acted as F.O.O. in a hard night attack by the first Battalion DLI on the to the Quarada feature, just north of the river Senio on 15 December, 1944, controlling fire and sending back valuable information in spite of almost continuous mortar and shellfire. When the river Senio was reached he occupied the most forward position in the sector at Tebano and between 22 December 1944 and 2 January 1945 carried out excellent shoots on to enemy houses and defences from it.

"Throughout the winter months he was continually manning observation posts on the hills and mountains where weather conditions were extremely bad. In spite of this, his work and enthusiasm never slackened. Finally he was with the DLI in the attacks across the rivers Sillaro and Quarderno from 16 to 20 April 1945, where, by his courage and experience, he was able to give valuable support."

Also mentioned in dispatches.

Cpt. Frank Hayton

Cpt. A B Harvie

Lt. S G Woolgar

2/Lt. B W Hagar

2/Lt. F G Hannell

2/Lt. C C Douglas-Jones

2/Lt. F H Walker

2/Lt. M C Terry

2/Lt. D L Hooker

A Troop

"A" Troop, P Battery at Burgess Hill 1941

B Troop

"Baker" Troop

"Q" (595) Battery 

"Queen" Battery

10th Indian Div:- Supporting 4/10th Baluch Btn

June 1942

Major Sir Eric O F Faulkener MBE TD

Battery Commander [1]

Note the Leicestershire PAO Yeomanry FFSCap with the "LIY" bullion wire cap badge.

Mjr. A B Harvie MC

His MC was awarded for his work in supporting his own infantry and also that of the 43rd Brigade. His battery was the only link in communications up to Corps. Q Bty were able to provide unfaltering support to the four battalions, on Strigara ridge, under his guns care. 6th-12th October 1944.

Capt. P J E Male MC

16th April 1945, see page 127 of the 154ths book.

Cpt. W R N Maxwell

Cpt. A H Dunn

Cpt. E L Thwaites

Lt. L V Hurst

Lt. J M Donald

2/Lt. G N Stone

2/Lt. I C Blair-Fish

2/Lt. I L Lampitt

2/Lt. D Menzies

Gnr. V Buffrey

Note the RA FFSCap with the LY Cap badge. From his diary:-

Italian Ansaldo-Fiat Armoured Car AB41 3

16th November 1942

"Our souvenirs from the battle (2nd El Alamein) are many both in number and in type, ranging from the Italian armoured car "found" by the Battery Commander, which has more than once led our column, down to most useful items of cooking equipment etc, which almost everyone has managed to acquire."

154th's Book page 64:- "Queen Battery, after many anxious trials, finally started the engine of an abandoned Ansaldo-Fiat Armoured Car. Every known test for booby traps was tried and, when the starter button was finally  pressed the engine roared into life, everybody's relief  was intense: It was a fine vehicle, making a proud and dashing noise and it was kept for the next month or so until it had to be surrendered as "Captured enemy equipment" since it was far too conspicuous a trophy to hide from inquistitve eyes of the Enemy Equipment branch."

Driver/Op Bdr. Jack Hayto MM

16th April 1945, see page 127 of the 154ths book.

1099669 Gnr. William Foxley

Was a member of R Bty.

1083906 L/Bmdr. Ernest Furze

Pictured "then & now", we are delighted to report that Ernest is in his 100th year (2013) 

Ernest is pictured with Bert Woodward (left) and an image of Ernest's war medals. 

C Troop

Fred Barrett, Tony Felgale, Tubby Tunord, Stan Loach, Les Loach & Walter Smith.

Les, Reg & Stan Loach

Gnr. Reg Loach

D Troop

"Dog" Troop

Cpt. K Lomas

Dog Troop Leader [2]

"R" (596) Battery

"Roger" Battery

10th Indian Div:- Supporting 2/4th Gurka Btn

In 1939 Hazlerigg was commissioned into the Leicestershire Yeomanry. This converted from cavalry to field artillery the following year, and divided into 153 and 154 Field Regiments. With the latter, Hazlerigg saw service in North Africa, Syria, Palestine and Italy as a battery commander.

In September 1944, in the rugged, mountainous terrain of central Italy, an officer of the 1st Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry, led a patrol of 20 men to the village of Bulciano to reconnoitre the strength of the enemy there, and to occupy it if it was not held. Just short of the village, the patrol came under intense small arms and artillery fire which caused several casualties.

Hazlerigg, in command of "P" Battery, directed his guns with such skill that the patrol was subsequently able to withdraw without further loss. In thanking him for the magnificent support provided by his battery, which had saved many lives, the commanding officer of the DLI paid Hazlerigg the compliment of saying: "Arthur, you shoot guns even better than you play cricket."

Mjr. J Peter Du Croz MC

OC [2]

General Mark Clark of the US Army presented the Silver Star to Major Peter Du Croz in Vienna in 1945. He was throughout the the whole of the period 15th to 22nd April in close contact with the enemy and was frequently moving to his OPs and conducting shoots from positions exposed to Spandau and small arms. His courage leadership and determination earned him a Military Cross.

Cpt. K Lomas

Cpt. G P Smith

Lt. P A Mathews

Lt. W J Kerr

Lt. I P D Collett

2/Lt. G Lewis

2/Lt. P V W Score

2/Lt. R H Ellison

L/Bdr. E Livesey MM

Gnr. J Lavelle MM

E Troop

Lt. J A KINCAID MC

"Captain" Kincaid was one of the first Officers in the 154 to receive and award, it was the  Military Cross (see page 100 in the 154th's book), Gunner A Gooder (Bty Signaller) also received the Military Medal for operating two wireless sets with only the protection of a Jeep whilst under heavy shelling and Mortars at Monte Cedrone (A key "feature" for the 8th Army in July '44). 

Gnr. A GOODER MM

Arthur is seen above with Lt. Kincaid after receiving their medals. After the war Arthur became Dr. A Gooder MM and received the Long service medal from the University of Birmingham.

"OTTER" Light Recce Car, E Troop, O Party, La Verna, Italy in October 1944.

Upcraft, Webb, Lt. Kincaid, Brace (in the vehicle), Owen, Wall, Rodwell.

Otter Light Recce Car Mk.1

The markings, in this case, are for the 23rd Amd Bde on a car that was photographed near Rio Volturno, Italy, in October 1943.

E Troop, B Sub section, south of Talla, Italy, in September 1944.

James, Burdett, Sadler

Bliss, Crooks, Brinkley, Radford, Cook.

E Troop, C Sub Section, south of Talla, Italy, in September 1944.

Smith, Flint, Salter

Stafford, Buckley, Allsop, Turner, Farrow.

E Troop Line Signallers, La Verna, Italy, in October 1944.

Pawley, Brown, Pratt, Bamford.

F Troop

An F Troop Stuart Light Tank, possibly an M3A3 MkV, used for OP work.

Venafro Italy, June 1944.

Bdr. E D Staton MM (OPA), T Quarmby MM (Sig NCO), Bowler (Dvr), Capt. Collett

Miller (W/O), Clarkson (W/Op)

Bmdr. T Quarmby MM

Bombadier Quarmby, by his courage and determination, made it possible for the Infantry in his sector to hold their positions under heavy and sustained enemy pressure: he was awarded an immediate Military Medal for gallantryand devotion to duty in the face of the enemy. (See page 110 of the 154ths book.)

Bmdr. E D Staton MM

17th/18th July 1944 the Uppiano feature, Captain Collet, and his "O" Party reached the objective at first light with the leading company and after four counter attacks, at about 19:00 hrs that evening, Captain Collet was seriously wounded and the Company Commander killed. Bombadier E D Staton, his OP Ack, organised the evacuation of the wounded and himself carried out with conspicuous success the duties of F.O.O. with the remnants of the leading company of Gurkhas. This was one of several fine performances which eventually earned Bmdr. Staton his MM.

Unassigned (at the moment)

Lt. R F Wilson (LY, D Sqn) Battery Not known? 

Lt. Robert Filmer "Robin" Wilson, born 26 April, 1903, died 14 August, 1944 in a car accident in Italy while on active service as a Lieutenant in the Leicestershire Yeomanry, and is buried in the Military Cemetery at Assisi, Italy. He married 11 September, 1937 to Patricia, Countess of Jersey (only daughter of Kenneth Richards of Cowcumbla, Coota mundra, New South Wales, Australia).

Serjeant Edward Kenneth Hayward McAvoy, 326124, 29 April 1942, 154th (The Leicestershire Yeomanry), Field Regt., Royal Artillery - Grave Ref: Grave 54. Buried in Seagrave Cemetery, Leicestershire.

1126099 Gnr. Alan DOBBING
Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
Unit Text: 154 (The Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regt.
Age: 34
Date of Death: 01/06/1942
Service No: 1126099
Additional information: Son of John Alfred and Hannah Elizabeth Dobbing; husband of Isabella Dobbing, of New Herrington.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Row 10B. Grave 2.
Cemetery: HERRINGTON (ST. CUTHBERT) CHURCHYARD

Gunner I Prouse

A member of the "Easy Dog" Gun Crew, his medals below. His Battery or Troop are not known at the moment.

555988 Sgt. Thomas Henry OLIVER

Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
Unit Text: 154 (The Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regt.

Age: 23

Date of Death: 29th April 1942

Service No: 555988

Additional Information: Son of Thomas Henry and Polly Oliver.
Husband of Iris Margaret Oliver.

Grave/Memorial reference: Shepshed Cemetery, Plot 92 Grave 44.

Artificer Jack Maunder