The Yeomanry Regiments

Yeomanry is a designation used by some units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve.  They are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Volunteer companies or militias had existed for years but were disbanded when the American War of Independence ended in 1783. Yeomanry regiments have a history probably unique in the world. Raised for duty at home, the yeomanry was raised at the end of the 18th century when the country was drained of troops by the wars in America and threatened by invasion from the continent, a threat increased by the French Revolution in 1793.  Since Thomas Cromwell’s Republican Commonwealth (1653-1659) parliament had distrusted large standing armies. But the new threat of invasion from France led, on 24 March 1794, to the British Prime Minister, William Pitt, passing a bill inviting Lords Lieutenant of Counties to raise volunteer troops of cavalry composed of gentlemen and the yeomanry. Often chaotic and distinctly unorthodox, recruitment accelerated following the mutiny in the Royal Navy at Nore and Spithead in 1797. It was estimated there were over 410,000 men in the volunteer forces between 1794 and 1804.
For over 100 years, with one minor exception, the Yeomanry saw no service at all except for the suppression of rioting. The mounted troops raised in accordance with these regulations were called yeomanry cavalry and came into being without delay amid considerable enthusiasm. The members of each troop were gentlemen and yeoman farmers, and they elected their officers. The control of the troops of yeomanry in each county was vested in the Lord Lieutenant, and they could be called out by him or by the High Sheriff for the suppression of riot in the county. In the case of invasion, or for duty in another country, they were to be called out by royal warrant. While they were under arms they were paid as cavalry and subject to military law. In some troops it was customary for all the pay thus received to be pooled and distributed equally to all members. The militia, recruited from the lower classes, was considered unreliable so the ruling class, aristocrats, believed men of class and education were needed to protect each county from invasion, spies and collaborators. By 1795 there were 30 yeomanry corps.  Yeomen provided their own horse and uniform.  The government provided arms and ammunition. Organised in Troops, they were based in the principal towns.
Robert Peel had established the first police in London in 1822.  In 1856 an act mandating national policing was passed. Until then the Yeomanry had supported the civil authorities with law enforcement duties. The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, at a demonstration in support of parliamentary representation reform in 1819, the local Yeomanry caused the death of a child, which damaged their reputation.  In 1827 the Yeomanry was reduced to remove units not involved with or capable of civil law enforcement. Some units were raised during the 1830 ‘Swing’ riots by agricultural workers over mechanisation and working conditions and again during the rise of the Chartists (1834-1857), another working-class movement for political reform.
Until the mid 1800’s the Yeomanry Force was retained as a second line of support for the regular cavalry within Britain. Recruiting difficulties led to serious consideration being given to the disbandment of the entire force in 1870, but instead, measures were taken to improve its effectiveness including regular and that units be maintained at a specific strength. Yeomanry officers and permanent drill instructors were required. While these reforms improved the professionalism of the Yeomanry Force, numbers remained low. The Yeomanry were not created for foreign service, but in December 1899 the army suffered three devastating defeats[1] in one week (Black Week) in the South African Boer War. A larger, reinforced army with mounted troops was needed. The Yeomanry, which suited this requirement, had to be reorganised. Volunteers joined with men from existing regiments.  Yeomanry units became platoons, companies and battalions instead of troops, squadrons and regiments. But the numbered Imperial Yeomanry companies retained their county identities (e.g.  34th and 35th Companies were the Middlesex Yeomanry). 174 companies in 38 battalions served in South Africa. The men of the Yeomanry were enthusiastic and useful soldiers. As Mounted Infantry they were not armed with swords and were expected to dismount for action, but this applied to many regular cavalry regiments as well. A Private Jones of the Pembroke Yeomanry won a DCM during their charge against a Boer commando, and Lieutenant English of 2nd Scottish Horse won the VC at Vlakfontein. In May 1901 sixty men of 48th Company (North Somerset) Imperial Yeomanry lost their lives in a Boer attack.

After the Boer War the Imperial Yeomanry continued as such. Fourteen new Yeomanry units had been raised during that war, some, like the East Riding Yeomanry had their roots in the early days while others like the Scottish Horse were raised mostly from ex-pat Scots living in South Africa. In 1908 the Haldane reforms incorporated the Yeomanry into the Territorial Army. In the First World War the Yeomanry were sent to the East Coast as a mobile reserve in case of invasion. Many yeomen fought at Gallipoli as infantry and then became cavalry again in Egypt and Palestine. Those sent to the Western Front were in the role of motor machine gun battalions. Some of the last horse-mounted cavalry charges were made by the Yeomanry in Palestine; the Dorset Yeomanry charged the Senussi tribesmen at Agagia in Northern Egypt in Feb 1916 (see picture right) and made another attack on the Turks, with the Bucks Hussars, at the Battle of Mughar Ridge, Palestine (now Israel) in Nov 1917. The Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry made a famous charge at the Battle of Beersheba, Palestine (now Israel) in Oct 1917.
1947 saw the first of many reorganisations with 26 Yeomanry regiments serving in the Royal Armoured and 24 in the Royal Artillery. In the reorganisation of 1967, the surviving twenty RAC regiments were reduced to one, the Royal Yeomanry. Each of its 5 squadrons was found by a former Yeomanry regiment which retained its former regimental identity at squadron level. This concept was repeated in subsequent reorganisations with the formation of a second armoured car regiment, the Queen’s Own Yeomanry, and 3 home reconnaissance regiments. It was also extended successfully to other arms, particularly the RA and Signals so that by 1994, the bicentenary, 39 Yeomanry regiments and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) survived in squadron or battery form.
(Parts of the above from Colonel W.H. Smitherman, part from Wikipedia and parts from Stephen Luscombe Stephen@britishempire.co.ltd)

[1] Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso.