Just for our Coloinal Members. bet you didn't know this.
"Possible forerunners of the Carbineers include the Pietermaritzburg Yeomanry Corps (1848) and the Umgeni Rangers (1851). The Carbineers were initially formed as the Pietermaritzburg Irregular Horse, but within a few weeks, after the establishment of the Richmond Troop, the name was changed to the Natal Carbineers because the Regiment was no longer an exclusively Pietermaritzburg one. By 1905 the Regiment had grown to seven squadrons throughout the colony, of which numbers 1 and 2 (the Right Wing) were based at the Regiment's Headquarters in Pietermaritzburg; while the remainder, (the Left Wing) were drawn from the Midlands and based in Ladysmith. The Regiment's most famous squadron during the nineteenth century was possibly that of the Karkloof Troop. According to the 1912 Defence Act, these wings became separate regiments, the 1 and 2 Mounted Rifles, with continuity of name ensured by the suffix 'Natal Carbineers'. The title 'Natal Carbineers' was restored in 1934. Between 1935 (when the Carbineers became a Royal Regiment as part of King George V's Silver Jubilee celebrations) and 1961, the Regiment proudly bore the title 'Royal Natal Carbineers'. In 1954 the 2 RNC was disbanded, and since 1961 the Regiment has been known as the Natal Carbineers. Source: Pietermaritzburg 1838-1988: a new portrait of an African city, edited by John Laband and Robert Haswell (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press and Shuter & Shooter, 1988), pp 117"
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