The North Somerset Yeomanry was a part-time cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1798 to 1967. It maintained order in Somerset in the days before organised police forces, and supplied volunteers to fight in the Second Boer War. It served on the Western Front in the First World War. At the outbreak of the Second World War, it continued to operate in the mounted role and then as a specialist signals unit. Postwar it joined the Royal Armoured Corps and later became infantry. Its lineage today is maintained by 93 (North Somerset Yeomanry) Squadron 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars After Britain was drawn into the French Revolutionary Wars, the government of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger proposed on 14 March 1794 that the counties should form Corps of Yeomanry Cavalry 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 county. A meeting of householders at Frome in Somerset on 2 May 1798 resolved to form a military association to defend the town. Its services were accepted on 2 June, and the Frome Troop of Cavalry was formed. A condition of service was that it should not be required to march more than 10 miles from the town. Other troops were formed at about the same time at Road, Wolverton, Mells, Beckington and Bath. These independent troops all served until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 when they were disbanded. The peace was short-lived and Britain declared war on France again in May 1803, beginning the Napoleonic Wars. The Frome Volunteers offered their services again in July and were accepted on 17 August as the Frome Selwood Troop of Volunteer Cavalry. The volunteers formed two troops, becoming a squadron in June 1804 when they united with the East Mendip Cavalry to become the Frome and East Mendip Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry. The regiment became the North Somerset Yeomanry in 1814 with six troops:
Frome (two troops) Mells (two troops) Shepton Batcombe Further troops were then added:
Bath Cavalry, January 1814 Ston Easton May 1815 East Harptree (two troops) March 1817 Keynsham, April 1817 Bedminster, after 1817 Bath Rifles, attached
19th Century Although the Yeomanry generally declined in importance and numbers after the end of the French wars, the North Somerset unit continued at strength, and was regularly called out to suppress riots, in 1810, 1812 and 1817 at Bath, among miners at Radstock in 1813 and 1817, and weavers at Frome in 1816 and 1822. The actions of the Yeomanry in the 'Battle of Frome' in 1816 were discussed in Cobbett's Political Register. In 1817 the regiment adopted a squadron organisation, with the Bath and Keynsham Troops forming the Right Squadron, the two Frome Troops the Frome or Right Centre Squadron, Ston Easton and East Harptree the Centre Squadron, the Mells Troops the Mells or Left Centre Squadron, while the Shepton and Batcombe Troops formed the Left Squadron. Two years later this organisation was abandoned in favour of two divisions: Bath Division:
A Bath B Ston Easton C Keynsham D & E East Harptree F Bedminster Frome Division:
G & H Frome I & K Mells L Shepton M Batcombe From 1820 to 1840 the regimental headquarters was at Mells Park, home of Thomas Strangways Horner, commanding officer (CO) from 1804 to 1839, when he was succeeded by his son. Another long-serving CO was Richard Boyle, 9th Earl of Cork and Orrery, Lt-Col Commandant 1867–93, who afterwards became Honorary Colonel, while his son, Viscount Dungarvan, took over as CO.
For some years the Keynsham Troop was without any officers, and although its members were keen and turned out promptly when required, their appearance and discipline had deteriorated to the point where they were known locally as 'The Cossacks'. It was disbanded in May 1842, but many of its members transferred to other troops of the regiment or joined the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1854 on the outbreak of the Crimean War, 342 out of 398 men in the regiment volunteered to serve in any part of the United Kingdom. Following the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned Yeomanry units to places in an order of battle of corps, divisions and brigades for the 'Active Army', even though these formations were entirely theoretical, with no staff or services assigned. The North Somerset Yeomanry was assigned as 'divisional troops' to 2nd Division of V Corps based at Warminster, alongside Regular Army and Militia units of infantry, artillery and engineers. This was never more than a paper organisation, but from April 1893 the Army List showed the Yeomanry regiments grouped into brigades for collective training. They were commanded by the senior regimental commanding officer (CO) but they did have a Regular Army Brigade major. The North Somerset Yeomanry together with the West Somerset Yeomanry formed the 4th Yeomanry Brigade, headquartered at Taunton. The Yeomanry brigades disappeared from the Army List after the Second Boer War.
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