First in Arms

IN the dark years that followed the French Revolution, Britain faced the possibility of an invasion by the French army. The government response, led by Prime Minister Pitt the Younger, was to raise troops of volunteer cavalry initially known as ‘Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry’, the word yeoman indicating a countryman of respectable standing. Ten troops of the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry were commissioned in 1794 at the Bear Hotel in Devizes, a town that still has strong links with the descendent squadrons. Its nearly 200 years of history – which eventually led to the regiment merging with two others (the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and the Royal Devon Yeomanry) in 1967 to form the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, the 50th anniversary of which falls this April – are peppered with interesting events and extraordinary characters.

The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry quickly developed an exclusive reputation, which grew