YEOMANRY, the name given to the volunteer mounted troops of the home defence army of Great Britain, ever since their original formation ; it indicated that recruiting, organization and command were upon a county basis, the county gentlemen officer ing 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 1794. Under the stimulus of the French War recruiting was easy, and 5,000 men were quickly enrolled. A little later, when more cavalry were needed, the Provisional Cavalry Act was passed, whereby a sort of revived 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. A great stimulus to yeomanry recruiting was given by an amend ing act which was soon passed by which yeomanry cavalry could be substituted for provisional cavalry in the county quota. At the peace of Amiens, the yeomanry was retained, although the pro visional cavalry was disbanded. There was thus a nucleus for expansion when Napoleon's threatened invasion (1803-5) called out the defensive powers of the country, and as early as December 1803 there were in England, Scotland and Ireland, 44,00o yeomen. At the same time the limitations as to place of service in Great Britain were abolished.
From the extinction of Chartism to the South African War the history of the yeomanry is uneventful. The strength of the force gradually sank to i o,000. But when it became apparent that mounted troops would play a decisive part in the war against the Boers, the yeomanry again came to the front. Of its io,000 serving officers and men, 3,00o went to South Africa in newly formed battalions of "Imperial Yeomanry," armed and organized purely as mounted rifles, and to these were added over 32,00o fresh men, for whom the yeomanry organization provided the cadres and training. In 1901 the yeomanry was remodelled; the strength of regiments was equalized on a four squadron basis, fresh regiments were formed and the strength of the force was more than trebled. In 1907 the yeomanry became part of the new Territorial Force.
At the outbreak of the World War in 53 regiments of yeomanry mobilized. The first to see active service was the Oxfordshire Yeomanry who accompanied the Royal Naval Divi sion in the Antwerp campaign, but it was not until the spring of 1915 that the employment of yeomanry was seen on any considerable scale. In France four regiments of yeomanry were brigaded with regular cavalry in the cavalry corps and proved in every way worthy of this distinction.
Only in the Palestine campaign was opportunity found for the successful employment of large cavalry formations. Fourteen regiments of yeomanry, nine of which had formed part of an im provised dismounted force in Gallipoli, served in the various divisions of the Desert Mounted Corps and contributed very ma terially to the success of Allenby's Jerusalem campaign and of the final advance on Damascus and Aleppo. The actions of Huj and El Mughar in the operations following the third battle of Gaza, both executed entirely by yeomanry, provided classic examples of the successful employment of the mounted attack in mobile warfare. In the spring of 1918 eight of these regi ments were grouped into machine gun battalions and sent to France, their places being taken by Indian Cavalry.
One complete infantry division was formed entirely of yeo manry units. This was the 74th Division (the "broken spur"division), so called from the divisional sign which they adopted. This division was formed in Palestine at the beginning of 1917 from 18 yeomanry regiments, 12 of which had previously seen service in Gallipoli. The 74th Division first saw service as a division at the second battle of Gaza, and served with consid erable distinction in the third Gaza campaign and in the opera tions attending the capture of Jerusalem, and afterwards in France and Flanders whither it was sent in the spring of 1918. The Scottish Horse and Lovat's Scouts Brigade served as infantry in Gallipoli, Macedonia and France and Flanders. The remain ing yeomanry regiments were employed as divisional cavalry.
Since the war much attention has been given to the training of the unit and efficiency has been largely increased by the presence in the force of so many officers with experience of war.