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Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry

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.

History[edit]

Formation and early history[edit]

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".[2]


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[3] as a result of the Treaty of Amiens and the consequent peace.[4]


With the ending of the Peace of Amiens in 1803,[4] the regiment was re-raised as the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry, consisting of seven troops. In 1814, it was once again disbanded.[3]


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.[3]

Uniforms[edit]

During the period 1830 to 1847, the regiment wore a shako with scarlet coatee and blue facings. After 1850, a dark blue tunic was introduced and in 1883 a hussar style uniform, complete with white looped braiding and busby, was adopted. Following the Boer War a khaki uniform with green facings replaced the blue uniforms, to be worn with a slouch hat. This practical dress proved unpopular for recruiting purposes and, by 1908, officers had for full dress reverted to the 19th century dark blue hussar uniform, with silver braiding, scarlet facings and plumed busby. Other ranks had plainer "blues" for parade and walking out dress.[39] Subsequently, khaki service and battle dress of standard British Army pattern was worn for nearly all occasions.[40]

Imperial Yeomanry

List of Yeomanry Regiments 1908

Yeomanry

Yeomanry order of precedence

British yeomanry during the First World War

Second line yeomanry regiments of the British Army

List of British Army Yeomanry Regiments converted to Royal Artillery

Becke, Major A.F. (1936). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2A. The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42-56). London: His Majesty's Stationery Office.  1-871167-12-4.

ISBN

Becke, Major A.F. (1937). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2B. The 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th-69th) with The Home-Service Divisions (71st-73rd) and 74th and 75th Divisions. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office.  1-871167-00-0.

ISBN

Bellis, Malcolm A. (1995). Regiments of the British Army 1939-1945 (Artillery). London: Military Press International.  0-85420-110-6.

ISBN

Forty, George (1998). British Army Handbook 1939-1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited.  0-7509-1403-3.

ISBN

Frederick, J.B.M. (1984). Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660-1978. Wakefield, Yorkshire: Microform Academic Publishers.  1-85117-009-X.

ISBN

Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1996). The World War One Source Book. London: Arms and Armour Press.  1-85409-351-7.

ISBN

James, Brigadier E.A. (1978). British Regiments 1914–18. London: Samson Books Limited.  0-906304-03-2.

ISBN

Norman E.H. Litchfield, The Territorial Artillery 19081988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992,  0-9508205-2-0.

ISBN

Mileham, Patrick (1994). The Yeomanry Regiments; 200 Years of Tradition. Edinburgh: Canongate Academic.  1-898410-36-4.

ISBN

Rinaldi, Richard A (2008). . Ravi Rikhye. ISBN 978-0-97760728-0.

Order of Battle of the British Army 1914

Titles and Designations of Formations and Units of the Territorial Army, London: War Office, 7 November 1927 (RA sections also summarised in Litchfield, Appendix IV).

Westlake, Ray (1996). British Regiments at Gallipoli. Barnsley: Leo Cooper.  0-85052-511-X.

ISBN

Baker, Chris. . The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 6 April 2015.

"The Dorset Yeomanry"

at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 July 2007)

Dorset Yeomanry (Queen's Own) at regiments.org by T.F.Mills

Roll of 26th Company, 7th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry