Hampshire Yeomanry

The Hampshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry cavalry regiment formed by amalgamating older units raised between 1794 and 1803 during the French Revolutionary Wars. It served in a mounted role in the Second Boer War and World War I, and in the air defence role during and after World War II. The lineage is continued by 295 (Hampshire Yeomanry) Battery and 457 (Hampshire Carabiniers Yeomanry) Battery, batteries of 106 (Yeomanry) Regiment Royal Artillery, part of the Army Reserve.

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

After Britain was drawn into the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger proposed on 14 March 1794 that the counties form a force of Volunteer Yeoman Cavalry (Yeomanry) that could be called on by the King to defend the country against invasion or by the Lord Lieutenant to subdue any civil disorder within the country. By the end of the year 27 counties had raised Yeomanry, including Hampshire. Between 1794 and the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, the following independent troops of Yeomanry were raised in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight:

North Hampshire Yeomanry Cavalry, troop raised at Basingstoke 31 May 1794, increased to three troops 1795, reduced to one troop 1799, disbanded 1802

South Hampshire Cavalry, troop raised at Christchurch 5 June 1794, increased to two troops 1798, disbanded 1802

New Forest Volunteer Cavalry, two troops raised 5 June 1794, redesignated New Forest Rangers 1797, disbanded 1802

South East Hampshire Cavalry, troop raised at Portsdown 28 April 1795, increased to two troops 1797, disbanded 1802

Alton and Petersfield Cavalry, raised 10 May 1796, disbanded 1802

Southampton Cavalry, raised 2 March 1797, disbanded 1802

Fawley Light Dragoons, raised March 1797, disbanded 1802

East Medina Cavalry, one troop raised 19 April 1798, disbanded 1802

Ringwood Cavalry, raised 12 May 1798, disbanded 1802

West Medina Cavalry, one troop raised 17 May 1798, disbanded 1802

Fordingbridge Cavalry, raised 31 May 1798, disbanded 1802

Bramdean Association Cavalry, raised 25 July 1798, disbanded later

Wickham Cavalry, raised 28 July 1798, disbanded later

Bere Forest Cavalry, raised 17 October 1798, disbanded 1802

Isle of Wight Cavalry, troop raised 27 March 1800, disbanded 1802

The Peace of Amiens was short-lived and Britain declared war on France again in May 1803, beginning the Napoleonic Wars. The county Yeomanry was quickly reformed, including the following units in Hampshire:

North Hampshire Yeomanry Cavalry, two troops reformed 6 September 1802, increased to four troops 1803, reduced to two troops 1806

South Hampshire Cavalry, eight troops reformed 6 September 1802

South East Hampshire Cavalry, four troops reformed 9 May 1803

North East Hampshire, or Alton Cavalry, reformed as two troops from Alton and Petersfield Cavalry 6 September 1802, increased to three troops 1803

Fawley Light Dragoons, troop reformed 6 September 1802

Isle of Wight Cavalry, formed 25 March 1805 from East and West Medina Cavalry (both reformed 13 August 1802)

Ringwood Cavalry, two troops reformed 1 September 1803

Fordingbridge Cavalry, troop reformed 1 September 1803

Bere Forest Cavalry, troop reformed 26 July 1803

Dogmersfield Cavalry, troop raised 8 August 1803

Whitchurch Cavalry, troop raised 8 August 1803

19th century

The Yeomanry declined in importance and strength after the end of the French wars. All the troops of Hampshire Yeomanry were disbanded in 1828, but civil unrest in 1830 led to the revival of the Yeomanry. The following new independent troops were raised in Hampshire in 1830–1:

North Hampshire Yeomanry Cavalry, raised 30 November 1830

Valley of Avon and North Avon Yeomanry Cavalry, raised 7 December 1830

South Avon Yeomanry Cavalry

Lymington Yeomanry Cavalry, raised 9 December 1830

Fordingbridge Yeomanry Cavalry, raised December 1830

Romsey Yeomanry Cavalry, raised 27 January 1831

New Forest East Yeomanry Cavalry, raised 22 January 1831

New Forest West Yeomanry Cavalry, raised 8 February 1831

Andover Yeomanry Cavalry, raised 27 December 1831

Charles Shaw-Lefevre of Heckfield Place, MP for North Hampshire, son of the first commanding officer of the North Hampshire Yeomanry, was appointed Commandant of that unit on 19 February 1831, and became the Yeomanry's Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel on 16 June 1868 (by which time he had been ennobled as Viscount Eversley).

In 1834 the troops in north Hampshire were regimented to form the North Hampshire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1838 the regiment and the troops at Andover and Lymington continued without pay, while all the other troops were disbanded.