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YEOMANRY

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 916 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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YEOMANRY , the name given to the volunteer mounted troops of the See also:

home See also:defence See also:army of See also:Great See also:Britain, ever since their See also:original formation; it indicated that recruiting, organization and command were upon a See also:county basis, the county gentlemen oflicering the force, the farmers and yeomen serving in its ranks, and all alike providing their own horses. Although the yeomanry was created in 1761, it was not organized until 1994. Under the stimulus of the See also:French See also:War recruiting was easy, and 5000 men were quickly enrolled. A little later, when more See also:cavalry was needed, the Provisional Cavalry See also:Act was passed, whereby a sort of revived See also:knight-service was established, every owner of ten horses having to find and equip a horseman, and all who owned fewer than ten, grouped by tens of horses, similarly finding one. But an amending act was soon passed, by which yeomanry cavalry could be substituted for provisional cavalry in the county See also:quota. This gave a great stimulus to yeomanry recruiting, as similar enactments had done in the See also:case of the See also:infantry See also:volunteers. But even so the provisional cavalry, which was embodied only in counties that did not See also:supply the quota in yeomanry, was stronger than the yeomanry at the See also:peace of See also:Amiens. At that peace, partly with a view to preserving See also:internal See also:order, partly because of the probable renewal of the war, the yeomanry was retained, although the provisional cavalry was disbanded. There was thus a See also:nucleus for expansion when See also:Napoleon's threatened invasion (1803–5) called out the defensive See also:powers of the See also:country, and as See also:early as See also:December 1803 there were in See also:England, See also:Scotland and See also:Ireland 44,000 yeomen. At the same See also:time the limitations as to See also:place of service (some undertaking to serve in any See also:part of Great Britain, some within a specified militarydistrict, most only in their own county) were abolished. The unit of organization was the See also:troop of 8o-roo, but most of the force was grouped in regiments of five or more troops, or in " See also:corps " of three or four troops. Permanent paid adjutants and See also:staff sergeants were allowed to corps and regiments, but no assistance was given in the shape of See also:officers on the active See also:list and serving non-commissioned officers of the army and See also:militia.

Equipment, supply and mobilization arrangements were purely regimental, and through all the war years most of the troops and squadrons were ready to take the See also:

field, with equipment, See also:food and See also:forage, See also:complete at a See also:day's See also:notice. They were trained as See also:light cavalry, and armed with sabre and See also:pistol. But a few See also:town corps had mounted riflemen, and several corps, both in town and country, had one or more dismounted troops, who were carried on vehicles similar to the " Expedition or Military See also:Fly " pictured by See also:Rowlandson. From the extinction of See also:Chartism to the See also:South See also:African War the See also:history of the yeomanry is uneventful. The strength of the force gradually sank to 1o,000. But when it became apparent that mounted troops would See also:play a decisive part in the war against the Boers, the yeomanry again came to the front. Of its ro,000 serving officers and men, 3000 went to South See also:Africa in newly formed battalions of " Imperial Yeomanry," armed and organized purely as mounted rifles, and to these were added over 32,000 fresh men, for whom the yeomanry organization at home and at the seat of war provided the cadres and training, while the home yeomanry not only filled up its gaps but See also:expanded. In 1901 the yeomanry, now all styled " Imperial," was re-modelled; and the strength of regiments was equalized on a four-See also:squadron basis. In the prevailing conditions practically all regiments were able to recruit up to the increased See also:establishment, and the strength of the force was more than trebled. Fresh regiments were formed, some in the towns, others on the nucleus of See also:special corps disbanded at the See also:close of the South African War. In 1907 the yeomanry became part of the new Territorial Force (see See also:UNITED See also:KINGDOM, § Army).

End of Article: YEOMANRY

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