Royal North Devon Hussars
| Royal North Devon Yeomanry | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1798 – 7 June 1920 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 British Army
|
| Type | Yeomanry |
| Size | Regiment |
| Garrison/HQ | Barnstaple |
| Engagements | |
Second Boer War
First World War
The Royal North Devon Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. First raised in 1798, it participated in the Second Boer War and the First World War before being amalgamated with the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry in 1920 to form the Royal Devon Yeomanry.
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 Royal North Devon Yeomanry was first raised in 1798 as independent troops, one of the main organisers of which process was Col. John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1751-1842), of Stevenstone near Great Torrington, Devon. In 1803 it was regimented as the North Devonshire Mounted Rifles.
Col. Henry II Beavis (1736-1813), of Yeotown in the parish of Goodleigh, North Devon, was appointed on 5 July 1803 by the King as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant (of 441 men) of the "Barnstaple Volunteer Infantry". He was the son of Henry I Beavis, Mayor of Barnstaple in 1738 and 1751, whose portrait survives in Barnstaple Guildhall. He died on 7 December 1813, and his small mural monument survives in Pilton Church inscribed as follows:
...
Wikipedia