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The Cavalry Carrier was an early version of a personnel carrier, designed to turn cavalry regiments into a version of mechanized mounted infantry. The idea was that each vehicle would be able to carry eight men and their rifles, allowing them to get into combat quickly.
The prototype was produced in September 1936 by converting a Machine Gun Carrier No.1 Mark I. The crew compartment remained the same as on the Machine Gun Carrier, but carried a Bren gun instead of the Vickers gun of the Machine Gun Carrier. The vehicle also carried a Boys gun in the rear for use by the dismounted troops.
Padded seats for six men were installed on top of the track guards, with a narrow backrest on the outside. One storage locker was added at the rear and two above the engine. The men’s rifles could be clipped to one of the central lockers. A frame was provided to allow a canvas cover to be erected over the rear compartment. There was no other protection for the six men in the rear.
This prototype was tested by the 9th Royal Lancers in 1937. They reported that the heat from the engine made the rear seats very unpleasant, so the design was modified. It was then approved for production, and 50 were built by Nuffield in Birmingham in 1937-38.
The Cavalry Carrier probably served in France in 1940, but not in its original role. Instead the 1st Army Tank Brigade appears to have used them to transport spare crews. The lack of protection for the passengers made it unpopular. In addition the former cavalry regiments it had been intended for were mainly turned into armoured units, so the role it was intended for disappeared.
Bren Gun Carrier – Britain’s Universal War Machine, Robert Jackson.
A look at one of the most numerous tracked vehicles in British service during the Second World War, originally designed to carry machine guns to the location where they were needed, but soon adapted to fulfil a much wider range of functions. Found wherever British and Commonwealth forces fought during the Second World War, this was one of the most flexibly vehicles in British service
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