The Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) was a mounted auxiliary unit of the British Army raised in 1794 to defend Great Britain from foreign invasion. It continued in service after the Napoleonic Wars, frequently being called out in support of the civil powers. It first sent units overseas at the time of the Second Boer War and saw distinguished service in Egypt and Palestine in World War I. During World War II it gave up its horses and became a tank regiment, serving in the Western Desert and landing in Normandy on D-Day. Postwar the Staffordshire Yeomanry became part of the Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry with one of the squadrons being designated 'Staffordshire Yeomanry' until 2021.
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 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 county. By the end of the year 27 counties had raised Yeomanry, including Staffordshire.Frederick, pp. vii–viii.Rogers, p. 145.Talbot.Webster, pp. 1–2. The first Troop in the county was raised on 4 July 1794 at the Swan Inn, Stafford, as the Stafford Troop of the Staffordshire Volunteer Cavalry and gained official recognition on 21 August. The leading figure in raising it was Francis Perceval Eliot of Elmhurst Hall, former captain in the 14th Foot. Soon there were five Troops or 'Divisions' in the county, which were loosely regimented on 20 September as the Staffordshire Regiment of Gentlemen and Yeomanry (one of the first counties to be regimented):Frederick, pp. 51–2.Sleigh, pp. 33–4.Smith & Coogan, Chapter 1.Staffs Yeomanry at Regiments.org.Webster, pp. 2–4.Webster Appendix. Newcastle-under-Lyme, commanded by Colonel Earl Gower Stafford, commanded by lieutenant-colonel the Hon Edward Monckton Lichfield, commanded by Major Francis Eliot Leek, commanded by Capt James Bulkeley Walsall, commanded by Capt William Tennant
The regiment was first employed when the Stafford Troop was called out on 6 August 1795 in support of the civil power in suppressing bread rioters who had intercepted a consignment of corn at Radford Bridge on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal; the rioters were dispersed without bloodshed.Webster, p. 6.
In 1798 the Staffordshire Yeomanry was fully regimented, and the troops were no longer independent. By now the threat of invasion seemed more acute, and the government encouraged the formation of local armed associations of cavalry and infantry for purely local defence. A number of these volunteer associations were formed in Staffordshire and accepted:'Staffordshire: independent yeomanry and association cavalry' at School of Mars.War Office, 1805 List.Webster, pp. 12–3. Loyal Pottery Volunteer Cavalry, raised 21 May 1798 in Hanley, as the cavalry division of the Loyal Staffordshire Pottery Association of Hanley, Shelton and Stoke-on-Trent, commanded by Capt Josiah Spode Walsall Loyal Volunteer Cavalry, raised 31 May 1798 initially as part of the Walsall Loyal Volunteer Association, later independent as the Loyal Walsall Light Dragoons, commanded by Capt John Scott Tamworth Volunteer Association Cavalry, raised 6 July 1798, commanded by Capt Thomas B. Paget Needwood Troop of Volunteer Cavalry, raised 6 June 1798, commanded by Capt Richard Meek Stone Gentlemen and Yeomanry, of the Stone Volunteer Association, raised 6 June 1798, commanded by Capt George Steedman Loyal Handsworth Association, raised (as cavalry only) 14 June 1798, commanded by Capt Nathaniel Gooding Clarke Loyal Bilston Cavalry, of the Loyal Bilston Association, raised 18 June 1798, commanded by Capt Thomas Loxdale Loyal Wolverhampton Cavalry of the Wolverhampton Loyal Volunteer Association: Wolverhampton Troop, raised 19 June 1798, commanded by Capt George Molineux Tettenhall Troop, recruited across seven outlying parishes, first meeting 28 June 1798, commanded by Capt Francis Edward Holyoake
Other than their more limited obligations, there was little difference between the mounted volunteers and the Yeomanry.
Earl Gower resigned the command of the Staffordshire Yeomanry in March 1800 and Lt-Col Monckton was promoted to succeed him. That year there were frequent disorders, and the Stafford and Newcastle Troops were regularly called out. Lord Bradford raised a sixth troop for the Yeomanry at Weston in October 1800 and was appointed its captain.Webster, pp. 14–6.
Most volunteer cavalry was disbanded after the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, including the Needwood Troop and the Wolverhampton Association, but the Staffordshire Yeomanry continued in existence. The peace was short-lived, and many volunteer troops were reformed or newly formed when war broke out again in 1803, including the following Staffordshire units:Webster, pp. 16–23, 38. Teddesley Troop of the Staffordshire Yeomanry raised in 1803 by Sir Edward Littleton, 4th Baronet, of Teddesley Hall, recruited mainly from Penkridge and Wolverhampton, and commanded by his brother-in-law Capt Moreton Walhouse of Hatheron Hall Bilston Volunteer Cavalry, reformed December 1803, under Capt William Smith Bickley from November 1804; became a troop of the Staffordshire Yeomanry in June 1805 Handsworth Volunteer Cavalry, continued as an independent troop from 1798 to the 1820s Staffordshire Pottery Cavalry, reformed 1803 under the command of Capt S.G. Simpson; became a troop of the Staffordshire Yeomanry in October 1803, but disbanded shortly afterwards Stone and Eccleshall Volunteer Cavalry Tamworth Volunteer Cavalry Uttoxeter Cavalry raised in 1803, commanded by Capt the Hon Claude Bagot Wolverhampton Troop offered to reform in 1803 but not accepted
The regiment was regularly trained and inspected, collectively or by troops, over the following years. In 1809, 13 days' regimental training was carried out at Derby. On 30 May 1810 there was a riot at Wolverhampton Market, and the Bilston Troop was called out to assist the magistrates and the Western Regiment, Staffordshire Local Militia, to suppress the trouble. Next day the Teddesley and Weston Troops arrived, but were not required. In 1813 it was proposed that the independent troops of Volunteer Cavalry should be incorporated into the Yeomanry regiment, and the Stone & Eccleshall, Uttoxeter and Tamworth Troops accepted. The war ended in 1814 and the Stone & Eccleshall Troop was disbanded shortly afterwards, having engaged only for the duration of the war; the Uttoxeter Troop also disbanded, except for 20 men who transferred to the Lichfield Troop. On 1 December 1814 the strength of the regiment was 428 men. The Newcastle-under-Lyme Volunteers (originally a full regiment of infantry) was attached to the Staffordshire Yeomanry, but was never called out and was disbanded in 1820.Webster, pp. 23–39, 65.
19th century
The Yeomanry generally declined in importance and strength after the end of the French wars,Spiers, p. 79. but this was not the case in industrial areas such as the Black Country and the Potteries where there was social unrest. The Staffordshire Yeomanry was regularly called out in support of the civil power twice in the years after the Battle of Waterloo, first on 14–18 November 1815 when Wolverhampton and Bilston ironworkers and coal miners rioted. The peacetime establishment of the Staffordshire Yeomanry was fixed at eight troops of 60 men in March 1816, and the regiment was re-clothed and re-equipped, 12 men per troop being issued with Light Dragoon pattern Carbines. While undergoing this reorganisation, the regiment was unable to assist the magistrates with a disturbance at Walsall in October, but the independent Handsworth Volunteer Cavalry did the duty. The Leek Troop intercepted the 'Blanket March' to Manchester in March 1817. The continued disturbances led to the regiment being expanded to 12 troops with 838 men enlisted by the end of 1819:Smith & Coogan, pp. 3, 6–7.Webster, pp. 41–57.
Stafford & Cheadle (1794) Lichfield (1794) Leek (1794) Walsall (1794) Weston (1800) Teddesley (1803)
Bilston (1805) Tamworth (1813) Newcastle & Pottery (1817) Burton (1819) Uttoxeter & Blithfield (1819) Himley & Enville (1819)
Future Prime Minister Robert Peel was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Uttoxeter Troop on 2 January 1820; he had left by the time he entered the Cabinet as Home Secretary in 1822, but several of his relatives served in the regiment.Peel at History of Parliament Online. In 1823 the Bilston Troop was renamed the Sandwell Troop when Capt Yates succeeded Capt Bickley in command, but was disbanded in December 1826 due to lack of recruits. The Weston and Leek Trps were also disbanded in March 1827 and December 1829 respectively; the independent Handsworth Volunteer Cavalry was disbanded in 1827. Colonel Monckton, aged 86, resigned the command in December 1829 and Lt-Col Edward Littleton, MP, was appointed Lt-Col Commandant. The Teddesley Trp under Capt Hordern was renamed the Wolverhampton Trp in January 1832.Webster, pp. 64, 69–72.Littleton at History of Parliament Online.
Aid to the civil power The Staffordshire Yeomanry was called out on the following occasions:Webster, pp. 60–93, 110–3, 116–21, 124–45. November 1820: Himley Trp called out as a precaution in case of trouble at Dudley April–May 1822: South Staffordshire mining unrest; Himley Trp on duty for 23 days, others for shorter periods 1823: Election riots at Newcastle-under-Lyme after the death of the MP, Capt Wiliam Shepherd Kinnersley of the Newcastle Trp;Kinnersley at History of Parliament Online. Stafford Trp also attended 1826: Coal miners' wage riots at West Bromwich and Wednesbury; Walsall, Sandwell and Himley Trps called out 1826: Election riots at Stafford 1831: Miners' riots in the Potteries June 1831: Prevention of looting at Tutbury; Burton Trp called out October 1831: Great Reform Act riots at Derby; Uttoxeter and Burton Trps called out November 1831: riots at Wolverhampton July 1837: Election riots in the Potteries; Newcastle, Stafford and Uttoxeter Trps deployed January 1839: firefighting at Walsall May–August 1839: Chartist riots in the Potteries and at Birmingham; whole regiment deployed by successive troops April–August 1842: Miners' riots in the Potteries and South Staffordshire; Troops embodied for an average of 22 days' service each, the Himley Trp completing 50 daysBathurst.
Queen's Own Royal Yeomanry In 1832 the regiment escorted the Duchess of Kent and her daughter Princess Victoria when they visited Lt-Col Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield (the regiment's second-in-command), at Shugborough Hall. Lieutenant-Col Littleton resigned the command in August 1833 when he became Chief Secretary for Ireland and the Earl of Lichfield was appointed Lt-Col Cmdt in his place.Webster, pp. 89–95. After Princess Victoria ascended the throne as Queen Victoria, the regiment was given the title of Queen's Own Royal Regiment of Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry (often referred to as the Queen's Own Royal Yeomanry (QORY)) on 12 February 1838 in commemoration of her earlier visit.Webster, p. 114. In 1840 Lord Paget succeeded to the command of the Burton Trp and obtained permission for it to be renamed the Anglesey Troop in honour of his grandfather Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey. After the regiment's service in the disturbances of 1842 it was decided to raise an additional troop in the Moorland area of north-east Staffordshire: enthusiasm was so great that a full squadron was raised, with troops at Cheadle and Leek. In 1844 the regiment was issued with percussion carbines in place of the old flintlock pistols.Smith & Coogan, pp. 7–8.Webster, pp. 123, 150–1, 160.