Yeomanry
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2014) |
Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles.
History
Origins
In the 1790s, following the
Early 19th century
During the first half of the nineteenth century, Yeomanry Regiments were used extensively in support of the
During the 1830s, the number of yeomanry units fluctuated, reflecting the level of civil unrest in any particular region at any particular time. The Irish Yeomanry, which had played a major role in suppressing the
Mid and late 19th century
For the next thirty years, 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 the following year to improve its effectiveness. These included requirements that individual yeomanry troopers attend a minimum number of drills per year in return for a "permanent duty" allowance, and that units be maintained at a specific strength. Yeomanry officers and permanent drill instructors were required to undergo training at a newly established School of Instruction and the Secretary of State for War took over responsibility for the force, from individual Lords Lieutenant of counties. While these reforms improved the professionalism of the Yeomanry Force, numbers remained low (only 10,617 in 1881).
In 1876, the role of the Yeomanry Force was fixed as that of light cavalry. During the previous decades, horse artillery troops had been raised to be attached to a number of yeomanry regiments and dismounted detachments appeared where horses were not available in sufficient numbers. These supernumerary units were now abolished.
Boer War
During the
World War I and later
On the eve of World War I in 1914, there were 55 Yeomanry regiments (with two more formed in August 1914), each of four squadrons instead of the three of the regular cavalry. Upon embodiment, these regiments were either brought together to form mounted brigades or allocated as divisional cavalry. For purposes of recruitment and administration, the Yeomanry were linked to specific counties or regions, identified in the regimental title. Some of the units still in existence in 1914 dated back to those created in the 1790s, while others had been created during a period of expansion following on the Boer War.
After the First World War, the Territorial Force was disbanded and later reformed and redesignated as the Territorial Army. Following the experience of the war, only the fourteen senior yeomanry regiments retained their horses, with the rest being re-designated as armoured car companies, artillery, engineers, or signals. Two regiments were disbanded. The converted units retained their yeomanry traditions, with some artillery regiments having individual batteries representing different yeomanry units.
World War II
On the eve of the Second World War in 1939, the Territorial Army was doubled in size, with duplicate units formed; this led to some regiments being de-amalgamated. The last mounted regiment of yeomanry was the Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons, who were converted to an armoured role in March 1942, and later converted into an infantry battalion of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry—KOYLI. Volunteers from the Yeomanry served in the Long Range Desert Group from 1940 through to 1943, incorporated into "Y Patrol".[1]
Post-war
There were reductions in the size of the TA in both 1957 and 1961, which led to the amalgamation of some pairs of yeomanry regiments. There was a major reduction in reserve forces in 1967 with the formation of the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve; all existing yeomanry regiments were reduced to squadron, company or battery sub-units. A number of further reorganisations have taken place since then.
Current Yeomanry regiments
In the current Army Reserve, several remnants of former Yeomanry regiments are still serving, usually as a sub-unit of a larger unit:
- F (Westminster Dragoons) Squadron
- A (Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry) Squadron
- B (Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry) Squadron
- C (Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry) Squadron (Croydon)
- D (Shropshire Yeomanry) Squadron
- E (Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry) Squadron
- The Royal Yeomanry Band (Inns of Court & City Yeomanry)
- B (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Squadron
- A (Dorset Yeomanry) Squadron
- C (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Squadron
- D (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Squadron
- Y (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Squadron
- A (Yorkshire Yeomanry) Squadron
- B (Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry) Squadron
- C (Cheshire Yeomanry) Squadron
- C & S (Command and support) (Northumberland Hussars) Squadron
- A (Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry) Squadron in Ayr[2]
- B (North Irish Horse) Squadron in Beflast and Coleraine[3]
- C (Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse) Squadron in Cupar[4]
- E (Lothians and Border Yeomanry) Squadron in Edinburgh[5]
Other remnants of yeomanry units
Royal Signals
- 32 (Scottish) Signal Regiment
- 40 (North Irish Horse) Signal Squadron
- 37 Signal Regiment
- 54 (Queen's Own Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry) Support Squadron
- 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment
- 93 (North Somerset Yeomanry) Support Squadron
- 94 (Berkshire Yeomanry) Signal Squadron
- 71st (City of London) Yeomanry Signal Regiment
- 31 (Middlesex Yeomanry) Signal Squadron
- 36 (Essex Yeomanry) Signal Squadron
- 68 (Inns of Court & City Yeomanry) Signal Squadron
- 265 (Kent and County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)) Support Squadron
Royal Artillery
- 104 Regiment Royal Artillery
- C (Glamorgan Yeomanry) Troop
- 106 (Yeomanry) Regiment Royal Artillery
- 457 (Hampshire Carabiniers Yeomanry) Battery
- 295 (Hampshire Yeomanry) Battery
Army Air Corps
- 6 Regiment, Army Air Corps
Royal Engineers
- 2 (Surrey Yeomanry) Field Troop
- 1 (Sussex Yeomanry) Field Troop
- 71 Engineer Regiment
Royal Logistic Corps
- 224 (Pembroke Yeomanry) Squadron
- 398 (Flint & Denbighshire Yeomanry) Squadron
- 710 (Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars) Operational Hygiene Squadron[6]
- 142 (Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars) Vehicle Squadron
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps)
In 1907 the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry was established as an all female volunteer organisation to provide a link between field hospitals and the front line, with their primary role being to rescue the wounded, rather than provide nursing care. Because the organisation as initially formed was mounted it adopted the yeomanry name. The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry is an independent charity that is not part of the Armed Forces, today it provides teams to aid civil agencies.
See also
- Imperial Yeomanry
- Yeomanry order of precedence
- List of Yeomanry Regiments 1908
- List of British Army Yeomanry Regiments converted to Royal Artillery
Other uses of yeoman:
- Yeomen Warders of His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London
- Yeomen of the Guard, the King's Body Guard
References
- ^ Arthur Taylor, Discovering British Cavalry Regiments, Aylesbury, 1973
- ^ "A (Ayrshire (EOCO) Yeomanry) Sqn". MOD. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "B (North Irish Horse) Sqn". MOD. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "C (FFY/SH) Sqn". MOD. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "E (Lothians and Border Yeomanry) Sqn". MOD. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "The Royal Bucks Hussars". Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2014.