The Glamorgan Yeomanry was a Welsh auxiliary cavalry regiment of the British Army originally raised in the late 18th century as a result of concern over the threat of invasion by the French. It was used for aiding the civil powers in South Wales in the early part of the 19th Century until it was disbanded in 1831. Re-raised in the Second Boer War it saw service in both World War I and (as artillery) World War II. The lineage is maintained by C (Glamorgan Yeomanry) Troop, 211 (South Wales) Battery, 104th Regiment Royal Artillery.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars After Britain was drawn into the French Revolutionary Wars, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger proposed on 14 March 1794 that the counties should form a force of Volunteers that could be called on by the King to defend the nation against invasion or by the Lord Lieutenant to subdue any civil disorder within the county. The government was particularly interested in units of Gentlemen and Yeoman Cavalry (Yeomanry) both for their mobility and their political reliability as landowners and their tenant farmers. By the end of the year 27 counties had raised Yeomanry, but Glamorgan was backward, only one infantry unit being formed by 1796. However, the attempted French landing in South Wales in February 1797 (the Battle of Fishguard) gave renewed impetus to the recruitment of yeomanry. The following units were raised in Glamorgan:
Neath Troop of Gentlemen and Yeomanry, raised by Captain John Nathaniel Miers, accepted May 1797 (1 Troop of about 40 men) Swansea Troop of Gentlemen and Yeomanry, first proposed 1792; raised 1 May 1797 by Capt John Llewelyn of Penllergaer but not accepted until May 1798 when commanded by Capt Thomas Morgan (1 Troop of 40–50 men) Cardiff Troop of Gentlemen and Yeomanry, raised 26 June 1798 by Capt William Vaughan (1 Troop of 47 men) Fairwood Troop of Gentlemen and Yeomanry, raised in the Gower Peninsula 27 June 1798 by Capt Sir Gabriel Powell (1 Troop of 30–50 men) In April 1800 the Swansea Troop was called out in aid of the civil power when corn riots broke out in Neath and Swansea, and its arrival on the scene was sufficient to persuade the rioters to disperse. There was more trouble at Merthyr Tydfil, and here the Cardiff Troop used the flats of their swords and assisted other military units in arresting 50 rioters with no loss of life. On 25 July 1800 the Swansea Troop was combined with three companies of infantry volunteers in the area to form the Swansea Legion, with Capt Morgan being promoted to lieutenant-colonel to command it, handing over the yeomanry troop to Capt Edward Hughes. The Treaty of Amiens signed on 25 March 1802 appeared to have ended the war, and the yeomanry and volunteers were stood down, though shortly afterwards the government offered new terms to yeomanry units that were prepared to continue. All the volunteer infantry units in Glamorgan disbanded. Amongst the yeomanry, the Neath Troop disbanded in April 1802 but the Swansea Legion Cavalry continued in service, as did the Cardiff and Fairwood Troops. When the Peace of Amiens broke down and the war was resumed in 1803, new volunteer infantry were formed and the three yeomanry units continued as the Cardiff Cavalry (Capt John Wood), Fairwood Cavalry (Sir Gabriel Powell) and the Swansea Cavalry (two troops under Capt Edward Hughes) in the reformed Swansea Legion. Lieutenant-Col Morgan died in March 1804 and the Legion broke up into its constituent units. Over the following years the yeomanry carried out paid training or 'permanent duty' most years. In 1804 the Swansea Legion (which now also included artillery) combined with the West Glamorgan Infantry Volunteers and the Glamorgan Riflemen in a realistic anti-invasion exercise at Swansea, exchanging blank fire with a landing force provided by Royal Navy warships in the bay. In 1808 the volunteer infantry were replaced by the Glamorgan Local Militia, leaving the yeomanry troops as the only entirely volunteer force in the county. In the round of annual inspections and training the two Swansea troops and the neighbouring Fairwood cavalry tended to act together. In 1813 the government encouraged smaller yeomanry corps to amalgamate into larger regiments and the Swansea & Fairwood Troops under Major Edward Hughes combined with the Cardiff Troop to form the Glamorgan Yeomanry Cavalry, though the three captains-commandant exercised almost total autonomy.
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