A Fine County Tradition
An Insight to the Yeomanry Regiments
The Volunteer Cavalry of Great Britain
A collection of volunteers from the various counties of Great Britain, the Yeomnary regiments can trace their origins to the late 18th century. During this time, the threat of invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte's Army across the channel from France was high and it was decided to raise cavalry to act as local defence.
The name Yeomanry came from the recruitment of yeomen, a term which meant a small farm owner or
tenant, as troopers.
The officers of the regiment weredrawn from the nobility or landed gentry of whom the troopers usually worked for or were tenents of.
Members of the yeomanry regiments had no obligation to serve overseas without their individual consent. Mostly, these regiments were used for support of the civil authorities during the first half of the 19th century until police forces were created to take over the role.
The second half of the century saw a great deal of change for the yeomanries with the onset of the Second Boer War. The British Army had suffered a string of defeats in 1899 and it was realised, by the government, that there would be a need for more troops. Thus it was decided to allow volunteer forces to serve overseas and the Imperial Yeomanry was created with contingents from all of the Yeomanry Regiments. By the end of the conflict in 1902 over 30,000 yeomen had seen action in South Africa.
In 1908, the Imperial Yeomanry was merged with the Volunteer Force to form the Territorial Force which was to go on to serve with distinction during the First World War. Of the 57 Yeomanry Regiments at the wars end, due to the experience gained, only the 14 senior regiments retained their horses. All the rest were re-roled into armoured car companies, artillery, engineers or signals bar 2 which disbanded.
During the 1920s the Territorial Force was renamed the Territorial Army which, with the onset of the Second World War in 1939, was doubled in size. A large portion of the Yeoman Regiments were eventually converted to armoured roles, although there were corps roled Yeomanry and members also served in the Long Range Desert Group in 'Y' Patrol. Having served with distinction, the Territorials suffered major reductions after the war, including restructuring and amalgamations. Right up to the present day there are still significant changes occuring such as the Territorial Army's renaming in 2014 to the Army Reserve. However, the Yeomanry Regiments have continued to provide valuable service and support to the Regular Army both at home and abroad. The Yeomanry have strong community ties and even in our ever changing modern world they manage to continue to fullfil a fine county tradition.
The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry parading for the regiments centenary review, 1893