Dorset Yeomanry

Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry
Cap badge of the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry (c. 1914)
Active	1794 – 1802 1803 – 1814 1830 – 1967 1997 – present
Country	Great Britain
Allegiance	British Army
Branch	Yeomanry
Role	Yeomanry (Second Boer War) Yeomanry (First World War) Artillery (Second World War)
Size	One Company (Second Boer War) Three Regiments (First World War) Two Regiments (Second World War) One Squadron (Current)
Engagements	Second Boer War First World War Second World War See battle honours below

The Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army founded in 1794 as the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry in response to the growing threat of invasion during the Napoleonic wars. It gained its first royal association in 1833 as The Princess Victoria's Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry, and its second, in 1843, as the Queen's Own Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry.

Under threat of invasion by the French Revolutionary government from 1793, and with insufficient military forces to repulse such an attack, the British government under William Pitt the Younger decided in 1794 to increase the Militia and to form corps of volunteers for the defence of the country. The mounted arm of the volunteers became known as the "Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry".

The Dorset Yeomanry was first raised on 9 May 1794 as the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry of six troops. In 1796, it became the Dorsetshire Rangers and now consisted of ten troops. In 1802, it was disbanded as a result of the Treaty of Amiens and the consequent peace.

With the ending of the Peace of Amiens in 1803, the regiment was re-raised as the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry, consisting of seven troops. In 1814, it was once again disbanded.

The next, and longest lived, incarnation came in 1830 when the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry was reformed from troops at Wimborne, Blandford, Isle of Purbeck, Wareham and Charborough. In 1833 it gained royal patronage as The Princess Victoria's Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry and in June 1843 became the Queen's Own Regiment of Dorset Yeomanry Cavalry. At some point thereafter it was renamed as the Dorset Yeomanry (Queen's Own) with headquarters at Dorchester.