Surrey Yeomanry

The Surrey Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army first formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794. It was reformed in 1901 and saw varied service in the First World War. During the interwar period, it converted to artillery and during the Second World War one of its regiments distinguished itself during the retreat to Dunkirk, saw action during the Second Battle of El Alamein, and also saw service in Sicily and Italy. Its other regiment served in East Africa, the Siege of Tobruk, and in Iraq and Persia. The regiment's lineage is maintained today by 2 (Surrey Yeomanry) Field Troop, 579 Field Squadron (EOD), part of 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) (Volunteers).

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Following Britain's entry into the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger proposed on 14 March 1794 that the counties should form a force of volunteer yeoman cavalry (which became known as the Yeomanry Cavalry) that could be called on by the Crown to defend the country against foreign invasion or by the Lord Lieutenant to suppress civil disorder within the county. Four troops of yeomanry were raised in Surrey on 9 May 1794, and were formed into a regiment in 1797 under the command of Lord Leslie. It was headquartered at Clapham and recruited from London and its suburbs, with many of those in its ranks being men of standing in the City of London. The troops were distributed as follows:

Battersea Troop

Clapham Troop

Wimbledon Troop

Deptford Troop (actually in Kent)

Lambeth Troop

In the spring of 1798 the threat of a French-led invasion seemed more acute, and the government encouraged the formation of local armed associations of cavalry and infantry for purely local defence. Although their terms of service were more limited, there was little difference between the Volunteer Cavalry and the Yeomanry.