Reginald Seager Hunt
Born February 14th, 1874 in Kensington. He attended Haileybury School and went on to a long and distinguished career in the army.
Reggie served with several regiments :-
- February 1883 to May 1897, 3rd Battalion Norfolk Regiment as 2nd Lt. and Lt.
- May 1897 to June 1911, 3rd King’s Own Hussars as 2nd Lt., Lt., Capt. and Major
- June 1911 to September 1921, 1st King’s Dragoon Guards as Major
- June 1916 to October 1916, attached to 1/4th Seaforth Highlanders as 2nd in command
- October 1916 to March 1918, attached to 8th King’s Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment as temporary Lt. Col. in command
- March 1918, reverted to rank of Major in the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards
- At retirement in September 1921, granted rank of Lt.Col. in the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards
During his time with the 3rd Hussars, he fought in the Boer War (where family legend has it that he was laid out for dead and was saved only by waggling a finger).
The 1st King’s Dragoon Guards were stationed in Lucknow when the Great War broke out and they travelled to the Western Front via Marseille in late 1914. They were involved in action at Festubert in May 1915. In June 1916, Reggie was attached for a short period to the 1st/4th Seaforth Highlanders as 2nd in command and fought at High Wood on the Somme. Later in that year he was promoted to temporary Lt.Col. and given his own command of the 8th Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment which he held until March of 1918 serving with them at the Battle of Arras and the 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). After a spell training the Iraqi army in the U.K., Reggie was requested to join the Middlesex Yeomanry with the Desert Mounted Corps and fought up through Palestine ending up at the Capture of Damascus.
Reggie was mentioned in dispatches twice and was awarded the D.S.O. for his actions during the war. His poignant account of life in the trenches survives. At retirement in 1925, he was promoted to the full rank of Lt.Col. of the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards. Reggie returned to Felmingham and spent his later life in Walcott, Norfolk where he died on April 1st, 1942.
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