1917 WW1 Cyclist Battalion Watercolour double Artwork piece

Title - The Second Ninth Hants (Hampshire) Cyclist Battalion
 
Date - Top piece - April 21st 1917
              Bottom piece- 19/8/17  
 
Medium - Both pieces are Watercolour on paper
 
Signed - Both pieces signed H.C.Dunn. - Sgt (Sergeant) Bugler
 
Picture size - Top piece - 11.5cm x 9cm / 4.5" x 3.5"    
                           Bottom piece - 13.5cm x 17.5cm / 5.5" x 7"
 
Outside frame size - 44cm x 34cm / 17.75" x 13.5"
 
Condition - Excellent
 
Frame - Antique Victorian / Edwardian oak picture frame with period glass
 
An incredibly rare WW1 double Watercolour artwork by the same Artist, a Sergeant Bugler in the Hampshire Volunteer Cyclist Battalion.
The Cyclist Battalions were established as volunteer formations in the U.K in the early 1880's. Cyclists were used for communications and reconnaisance during the Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902) as they were lighter, quieter and easier to support than horses in many areas.
At the outbreak of War in 1914 there were 14 Volunteer Cyclist Battalions now under the control of the Territorial Force. These Battalions were employed in the coastal areas of the U.K, mostly along the South Coast and in 1915 the Army established the Army Cyclist Corps who served in France and Belgium.
The Cyclist Corps was disbanded after the War ended and in 1922 the Territoral Force Battalions were either disbanded (including the 2nd 9th Hampshire's) or amalgamated into other conventional units of the Army.