West Somerset Yeomanry
| West Somerset Yeomanry | |
|---|---|
| Active | June 1794 – 9 November 1988 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 British Army
|
| Type | Yeomanry |
| Size | Regiment |
| Part of |
Boer War Imperial Yeomanry World War I Yeomanry Infantry World War II Royal Artillery |
| Garrison/HQ | Taunton |
| Engagements |
Boer War World War I World War II |
Boer War
World War I
World War II
The West Somerset Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. First raised in 1794, it participated in the Second Boer War and World War I before being converted to an artillery regiment. It served in World War II (as two field artillery regiments). Post-war it was gradually reduced in strength until the yeomanry lineage of the successor unit was discontinued on 9 November 1988.
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 West Somerset Yeomanry was first raised in June 1794 as an independent troop at Bridgwater. George IV commissioned Lieutenant William Bellett (c. 1754–1831) of the 22nd Regiment of Foot to form the militia. Bellett was awarded captaincy of the regiment by brevet by the king upon its formation. Three more troops followed in 1794 before being regimented in 1798 as the West Somersetshire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry.
Despite the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Yeomanry was retained by the government "for Military Service in aid of the Civil Power" in the absence of organised police forces. The establishment of police forces (in London in 1829 and in the counties in 1855) reduced the need for Yeomanry to be called out. The last occasion was during the food riots in Devon in 1867 when 112 members of the 1st Devonshire Yeomanry Cavalry mustered in Exeter.
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Wikipedia