YEOMAN, YEOMANRY CAVA RY. Of the various derivations propma, for the word yeoman—jung man, young man; jemand, any one ; gemein, common ; goodman—perhaps " gemem " or " com mon" is the most probable. A yeoman is at the head of the classes beneath gentle men ; he is in legal sense a probes et legs lis homo, who may dispend of his own freehold 40s. yearly. In an antient statute (20 Ric. II. c. 2, 1326) they (" Vadlez appellez yomen") are prohibited, in com mon with all other persons under the rank of an esquire, from wearing any lord's livery unless they form part of the lord's household ; and Fortescue (c. 29), who wrote somewhat more than half a cen. tury after the passing of that act, says that there are yeomen (valecti) who can spend out of their patrimony 600 skutes a-year, a sum equal, according to some computa tions, to 130/. The term yeoman is used in inferior offices about the palace ; and there is a bodyguard called the yeomen of the king's guard, established by Henry VII., and by some writers considered the first approach towards a standing army, which attends the king upon state occa sions. It consists of 100 men habited in the costume of the sixteenth century, and commanded by a captain and other officers. The vulgar name of beef-eaters, by which they are known, is a corruption of buffetiers, from their having been stationed in state banquets at the buffet or sideboard. During the long war conse quent on the French revolution, and whilst this country was threatened with invasion, there was embodied in almost every county a mounted force under the name of Yeomanry Cavalry. It was subject to the same regulations, when on service, as the militia, and consisted of volunteers, of whom a large proportion were gentlemen or wealthy farmers; they were mounted and in most respects equipped at their own expense ; but they received pay whilst in actual service, and there was some small allowance made by the crown towards the regimental ex penses, such as the permanent pay of non commissioned officers. They were com manded by the lord-lieutenant of the county, who granted commissions to the subaltern officers.
The first act for embodying corps of volunteers was passed in the spring of 1794 (34 Geo. III. c. 31). It enacts that all persons who may, during the war then raging, voluntarily enrol themselves under officers holding commissions for that purpose from the king or from the lieutenants of counties, shall be entitled to receive the pay, and shall be subject to the same discipline by courts martial, composed of volunteer officers, as troops of the line, if, on being called upon by the king in case of actual invasion or appearance of invasion, they shall march out of their own counties or assemble within it to repel such invasion ; or if they shall march at the command of the king or of the lieutenant or the sheriff of the county to suppress riots or tumults Within it Or the adjacent counties. The
act exempts volunteers from the militia• it gives power to magistrates to billet the non-commissioned officers and drummers on tavern-keepers; and grants to com missioned officers a right to half-pay, and to non-commisioned officers the benefit of Chelsea Hospital if they are disabled when on actual service.
In the year 1798 another act was passed (38 Geo. III. c. 51), to facilitate the training of volunteer corps of cavalry, who are called in the title to the act, though not in the body, "yeomanry cavalry." It authorizes the billeting of the privates when called out to be trained, and it exempts from taxation the horses used in the service. After the short peace in 1802, the provisions of the preceding acts were renewed (42 Geo. III. c. 86), and the existence of the volunteer corps of cavalry (called by this act for the first time " yeomanry cavalry ") was revived or continued, without reference, as in the previous statutes, to the then existing war.
Of late years, although many of these yeomanry regiments still exist, they are rather maintained for the purpose of amusement and good fellowship than for any practical service.
According to a Parliamentary Return, there were, in 1836, 338 troops of yeo manry cavalry, including 1155 officers and 18,120 men, at a cost of about a-year to the nation. In 1838, the number of troops was reduced to 251, and the privates to 13,594. Between the years 1816 and 1838, the average annual expense of maintaining the yeo manry corps was 128,0001. ; the greatest cost being in the years 1820, 1821, and 1822, when the annual average exceeded 192,0001.