History

5th Canadian Mounted Rifles

During the Great War 1914-18, the two cavalry regiments of Montreal incorporated to form the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles which saw service in France. Meanwhile the nature of the Western Front gave rise to the need for motorised machine gun units. Canada’s first armoured unit the “No.1 Motor Machine Gun Brigade” was formed and equipped with armoured cars. At war’s end it had won twenty-one battle honours.

At the end of the war the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade became a Militia unit in the Montreal Garrison. It is to the 1st Motor Machine Gun Brigade that the Regiment owes its First World War Battle Honours. In 1920 the Canadian Militia was re-organised. The 6th Duke of Connaught’s Royal Canadian Hussars became inactive and remained so for over a decade. The 17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars maintained regular training.

17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars

In 1925 an alliance was approved between the 13th/18th Hussars of the regular British army and the 17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars. In 1926 His Royal Highness the Duke of York (later to become His Majesty King George VI) consented to become Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment bearing his title as part of their own. In 1934 the present Royal Canadian Hussars Armoury was built for the 17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars. To this date it is the only cavalry Armoury in Canada incorporating stables and a riding school.

In 1936 the Canadian Militia was re-organised. The 6th Duke of Connaught’s Royal Canadian Hussars was reactivated and amalgamated with the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade to form an armoured car regiment. An Alliance was approved between the 6th Duke of Connaught’s Royal Canadian Hussars and the 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars which like the 13th Hussars took part in the celebrated charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854.