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Royal Devon Yeomanry

The Royal Devon Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1920. It participated in the Second World War and now forms a squadron of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.

Royal Devon Yeomanry

7 June 1920–present day

 United Kingdom

British Army

Yeomanry

Challenger 2 replacement

Squadron

Royal Armoured Corps

Widdecombe Fair

Monte Cassino

Second World War

Major Charles S. Fowle, TD[1]

Maple Leaf

RDY

History[edit]

Formation[edit]

Following the experience of the First World War, it was decided that only the fourteen most senior yeomanry regiments would be retained as horsed cavalry,[2] with the rest being transferred to other roles.[3] As a result, on 7 June 1920, the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry was amalgamated with the Royal North Devon Yeomanry to form the Royal Devon Yeomanry and simultaneously transferred to the Royal Artillery to form 11th (Devon) Army Brigade, RFA.[4][5]

Pre war[edit]

The brigade / regiment underwent a number of redesignations before the outbreak of Second World War. In 1921 it was renumbered and regained its yeomanry title as 96th (Devon Yeomanry) Army Brigade, RFA and in 1922 became 96th (Devonshire Yeomanry) Army Brigade, RFA. In 1923 it regained its royal title as 96th (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Brigade, RFA. Another title change came in 1924 as the Royal Field Artillery was reamalgamated back into the Royal Artillery and the regiment became 96th (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Field Brigade, RA. The final change came in 1938 as artillery brigades became regiments, hence 96th (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA.[4][5][6] In 1939, the Territorial Army was duplicated – existing units formed a second unit.[7] 96th (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA formed 142nd (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA.[4][5][8]

Second World War[edit]

Field regiments were organised in 1938 into two 12-gun batteries. The experience of the BEF in 1940 showed the problem with this organisation: field regiments were intended to support an infantry brigade of three battalions. This could not be managed without severe disruption to the regiment. As a result, field regiments were reorganised into three 8-gun batteries.[9]

Regimental museum[edit]

The Royal Devon Yeomanry Museum is incorporated in the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon in The Square, Barnstaple.[20]

1967–1968: [24]

Peter Acland

1968–1984: Lewis Hugh Clifford, 13th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh

[25]

1984–1992: [26]

Sir John Acland

Yeomanry

List of British Army Yeomanry Regiments converted to Royal Artillery

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

ISBN

Gen Sir , History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Years of Defeat: Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988/London: Brasseys, 1996, ISBN 1-85753-080-2.

Martin Farndale

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

Norman E.H. Litchfield, The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992,  0-9508205-2-0.

ISBN

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

ISBN

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).

British Army units from 1945 on

Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth – Regiments.org (archive site)

Royal Artillery 1939–1945

Graham Watson, The Territorial Army 1947