The Rank and File

Hay, George

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65539-0_3

George Hay⁵

Part of the book series: War, Culture and Society, 1750-1850 ((WCS))

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Abstract

Just as there remains an assumption that Yeomanry regiments were commanded by gentry, it continues to be accepted that its ranks were filled with tenant farmers and estate workers. As the preceding chapter demonstrates for the officer corps, the composition of the Yeomanry’s other ranks was similarly nuanced. This chapter again relies on a detailed prosopographical study to answer why men chose to serve with the Yeomanry as well as how social and environmental pressures affected its potential membership. As with the officer corps, the Yeomanry experience is contextualised within the broader amateur military movement, in addition to the changeable socio-economic climate that the United Kingdom experienced from the middle of the nineteenth century.

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Notes

1.
The rate of depopulation was not actually that startling. In simple terms, Britain went from an even urban-rural population in 1851, to one just over 40% rural in 1881. Howkins, A. Reshaping Rural England—A Social History, 1850–1926 (Harper Collins, London, 1991), p. 7.
2.
The Home Office and War Office records are inconsistent, as are those of the Board of Ordnance which armed the force.
3.
DHC, D/DOY/A/7/4. Regulations and Allowances, 1833.
4.
BPP: 547, 1864: Abstract of Correspondence: Uxbridge Yeomanry Cavalry Case. Captain de Burgh of the Uxbridge corps was accused of returning as efficient men who were employed differently or who were not serving at all.
5.
Captain George Wyndham of the Petworth troop of Sussex Yeomanry, for instance, personally checked returns made by his Quartermaster. WSRO, PHA/5522. Letter: George Wyndham to QM Winder, C.1834.
6.
Gash, N. ‘After Waterloo: British Society and the Legacy of the Napoleonic Wars’ Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, series 5, Vol. 28, 1978, p. 147.
7.
The revolutionary debate is extensive, with the post-Napoleonic period, the 1840s and the years either side of the Great War cited as favourite candidates. Problems arise with what is meant by revolution, but the violent protest that coloured these earlier periods in British history spurred the creation of police forces to contain them; the government’s reaction might then be considered an intervention to curtail this potential and is what interests this discussion. See Stevenson, J & Quinault, R. (Eds.) Popular Protest and Public Order—Six Studies in British History, 1790–1920 (St. Martins, NY, 1975), pp. 22–23 and 37.
8.
TNA, WO 32/7238. Revised Table of Precedence, December 1884.
9.
‘Yeomanry Cavalry’ Journal of the United Services Institute, July 1861, p. 339.
10.
Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 17 June 1889. Vol. 337, Para. 91.
11.
For a detailed analysis of interpretations see Carpenter, D.A. ‘The Second Century of English Feudalism’ Past & Present. No. 168, 2000, p. 30–71.
12.
Hales, M.R. ‘Civilian Soldiers in Staffordshire, 1793–1823’ (Ph.D. thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 1995), p. 147.
13.
Ibid., p. 141.
14.
Sebag-Montifiore, C. A History of the Volunteer Forces from the Earliest Times to the Year 1860 (Constable, London, 1908), p. 236.
15.
Colonel Piers Egerton Warburton served notice on Mr. Joseph Knowles of Yew Tree Farm, Appleton, Cheshire, to quit after his refusal to serve personally in his Arley troop. Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 9 March 1893. Vol. 9, Para. 1444; Verdin, The Cheshire (Earl of Chester’s) Yeomanry, 1898–1967 (Wilmer Bros., Birkenhead, 1971), p. 2; and Leary, F. The Earl of Chester’s Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry—its Formation and Services, 1797–1897 (Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1898), p. 43.
16.
Wood, R.E. Records of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry, 1819–1910 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 139–140.
17.
Captain. George Wyndham (later Baron Leconfield) was the son of George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont and Lord Lieutenant of Sussex. WSRO, PHA/5537.
18.
BPP: 80, 1831–1832.
19.
BPP: 364, 1839.
20.
BPP: C. 1352, 1875: Stanley Committee on Certain Questions that have Arisen with Respect to the Yeomanry Cavalry, pp. 178–179.
21.
Gladstone, E.W. The Shropshire Yeomanry—A Story of a Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (Whitehorn. 1953), p. 70.
22.
SA, WWM/G/24/6. Letter: Lieutenant Faber to Captain Viscount Milton, c.1821.
23.
Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 44.
24.
SA, WWM/G/24/13. Letter: Faber to Milton, c.1822.
25.
CKS, EKY/AG5. Letter: William Deeds to Ordnance Office, c.1863.
26.
WSRO, PHA/5521. Letter: Earl of Egremont to Viscount Sidmouth, c.1826.
27.
The number in both troops was declining through the 1820s. WSRO, PHA/5515.
28.
Thompson, Records of the Dorset Yeomanry, p. 56.
29.
SRO, D593/K/1/3/5. Condition of the poor and distress on the Stafford estates, 1817.
30.
This was presumably the Militia given the ‘second panic’ and 1852 legislation. SRO, D603/O/4/4. Letter: Ian K. Beer to Mr. Landor, 16/06/1852; and Beckett, I.F.W. The Amateur Military Tradition, 1558–1945 (MUP, 1991), pp. 147–148.
31.
SRO, D603/O/4/4. Copy of letter: Anglesey to Mr. Landor 26 February 1853.
32.
SRO, D603/O/4/4. Letter: Landor to Beer, 28 February 1853; and copy of letter: Beer to Landor, 5 March 1853.
33.
The extent of the ‘demand’ was debated, though it is clear that many felt obliged to leave to remain safely on their farms and in Darnley’s favour. The Times, 5 November 1875.
34.
See, for example: Glasgow Herald, 19 October 1875; Freeman's Journal, 20 October 1875; Liverpool Mercury, 22 October 1875; Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 20 October 1875; and The Pall Mall Gazette, 20 October 1875.
35.
The Times, 5 November 1875.
36.
Reynolds's Newspaper, 24 October 1875; and Liverpool Mercury, 22 October 1875.
37.
CRO, DSen 11/3/5. Standing Orders, 12 May 1910.
38.
‘Q. L.’ The Yeomanry Cavalry of Worcestershire, p. 77.
39.
Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 9 March 1893. Vol. 9, Para. 1444.
40.
Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 144.
41.
When addressing the social composition of the nineteenth century Yeomanry Gilks relies on Paul Morgan’s 1994 article on the Warwickshire regiment mid-century, and for the Volunteer cavalry, John Anstruther-Thomson’s book on the Fife Light Horse. Gilks, A.D. ‘A History of Britain’s Volunteer Cavalry, 1776–1908.’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Birmingham. 2005), p. 159–160.; Morgan, P. ‘The Warwickshire Yeomanry in the Nineteenth Century: Some Fresh Aspects’. Dugdale Society Occasional Papers, No. 36; and Anstruther-Thomson, J. A History of the Fife Light Horse (Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1892).
42.
Gee, A The British Volunteer Movement, 1794–1814 (OUP, 2003), p. 86.
43.
Ibid., pp. 86–87.
44.
Gee, The British Volunteer Movement, pp. 85–105; and Beckett, The Amateur Military Tradition, p. 76.
45.
In many cases simpler lists that do not mention occupation but do mention names and addresses were cross-referenced with the relevant decennial census.
46.
Beckett, I.F.W. Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908 (Pen & Sword, 2007), pp. 83–84.
47.
Figures calculated from a sample of 22 men. Individually the figures were: 9.1% artisans and 13.6% professionals. See Appendix A for occupational groups.
48.
57.9% farmers, 18.4% artisans, 13.2% small businessmen. The remaining 10.5% was made up of professionals, merchants and those of independent means. CKS, EKY/AG3.
49.
Sabin, C.W. ‘Agriculture’ in Page, W. (ed.) The Victoria History of the Country of Kent, Vol. I (Constable, London, 1908), p. 458.
50.
Howkins, Reshaping Rural England, pp. 16 and 142.
51.
Cookson, J.E. The British Armed Nation, 1793–1815 (OUP, 1997), pp. 129–130.
52.
Macnair, P. Perthshire (CUP, 1912), p. 75.
53.
Stanley Committee, 1875, pp. 96, 98, and 179; and Howkins, Reshaping Rural England, pp. 19–20.
54.
Robertson, A.F.F.H. ‘The army in Colchester and its influence on the social, economic and political development of the town, 1854–1914.’ (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Essex. 1991), p. 261.
55.
Howkins, Reshaping Rural England, pp. 141, 150 and 159.
56.
Gilks, ‘A History of Britain’s Volunteer Cavalry’, p. 147.
57.
Gee, The British Volunteer Movement, p. 87; and Beckett, The Amateur Military Tradition, p. 139.
58.
SRO, D603/K/17/73. Letter: Mr. Landor to Mr. Beer, 25 February 1853.
59.
The results also listed a single servant, a labourer and 21 members without occupations. Manchester Observer, 10 August 1822.
60.
Rowley, T. Villages in the Landscape (Dent & Sons, London, 1978), pp. 21–22.
61.
Howkins, Reshaping Rural England, pp. 140 and 147–148.
62.
Ibid., p. 143.
63.
See bibliography for annual returns.
64.
NAM, The Yeomanry Record—An Illustrated Paper Devoted Entirely to the Interests of the Yeomanry, No. 16 October 1897, p. 190.
65.
BPP: 2817, 1861: Lawrenson Committee on the Present Organization and Establishment of the Yeomanry Force, pp. 13 and 8.
66.
Unusually, the other Middlesex troop was in Brighton, there being no Sussex Yeomanry at that time. BPP: C.6675, 1892: Brownlow Committee on the Condition of the Yeomanry, pp. 15–16; and Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 54.
67.
TNA, WO 32/7238. Revised Table of Precedence, December 1884.
68.
Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 156.
69.
Ibid., p. 4.
70.
Beckett, I.F.W. ‘The Territorial Force’ in Beckett, I.F.W. and Simpson, K. (eds.) Nation in Arms (MUP, 1985), p. 145.
71.
Beckett, The Amateur Military Tradition, pp. 83 & 177–178.
72.
NAS, GD45/12/246. Copy of Letter: John Lindsay to Carnaby, 6 March 1831.
73.
Stonham, C. and Freeman, B. Historical Records of the Middlesex Yeomanry, 1797–1927 (Privately printed, 1930), pp. 55–56; and Brownlow Committee, 1892, p. 17.
74.
Brownlow Committee, 1892, p. 19.
75.
BPP: Cd. 2267, 1905.
76.
BPP: C.7606, 1895.
77.
BPP: Cd. 2267, 1905.
78.
Thompson, F.M.L. ‘Nineteenth-Century Horse Sense’ The Economic History Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, 1976, p. 80.
79.
Ibid., p. 69 and 77.
80.
BPP: C.1790, 1904: Elgin Commission, Minutes of Evidence, Vol. I, p. 284.
81.
Ibid.
82.
BPP: Cd. 466, 1901: Harris Committee on the Organization, Arms and Equipment of the Yeomanry Force, 1901, p. 3.
83.
Harris Committee, 1901, p. 11–12; and Elgin Commission, Minutes of Evidence, Vol. I, p. 284.
84.
Verdin, The Cheshire (Earl of Chester’s) Yeomanry, p. 9.
85.
The others: ‘B’ (East Wingham), 26; ‘C’ (Hatch and Hythe), 26.8; ‘D’ (West Wingham), 26.2; ‘E’ (Sittingbourne), 24.1; and ‘F’ (Lees Court), 28.8. CKS, EKY/AG/3.
86.
CKS, EKY/AG/3.
87.
CKS, EKY/AG5.
88.
May 1843; 1 July 1845; and 14 June 1863. CRO, D LONS/L13/14/1.
89.
10,410 of 23,587. BPP: Cd. 2696, 1906: General Annual Report, British Army, 1905, p. 132; and 9588 of 23,049. BPP: Cmd. 7252, 1914: General Annual Report, British Army, 1913, p. 127.
90.
Stanley Committee, 1875, pp. 41, 59, 107 and 112.
91.
Graham, H. The Annals of the Yeomanry Cavalry of Wiltshire, Vol. I (Marples, Liverpool, 1886), p. 93.
92.
The Morning Post, 17 May 1856.
93.
Daily News, 27 May 1853.
94.
SA, WWM/G/24/13. Letter: anon to Earl Fitzwilliam c.1821; and WSRO, PHA/5536. Letter: James Bishopp to Earl of Egremont c.1834.
95.
Cooper, W.S. A History of the Ayrshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Douglas, Edinburgh, 1881), forward.
96.
CKS, EKY/AG5; DRO, 5124/Z/LM/1; DHC, D/DOY/A/4/7; ERO, L/L/1/11.
97.
Stanley Committee, 1875, pp. 49–50.
98.
‘Q. L.’ The Yeomanry Cavalry of Worcestershire, 1794–1913 (Simpson, Devizes, 1914), p. 96; and WRO, CR1886/Box833/77. Programme: Centenary of the Queen’s Own Royal Regiment of Staffordshire Yeomanry and of the Warwickshire Yeomanry, 1894.
99.
Beckett, The Amateur Military Tradition, p. 121.
100.
This does not include money spent getting to and while at camp, or the amount forfeited by being away from work. The Horse Duty reimbursement was a saving rather than a profit. Ibid., p. 51.
101.
‘Q. L.’ The Yeomanry Cavalry of Worcestershire, p. 95.
102.
Brownlow Committee, 1892, p. 20.
103.
CKS, EKY/Z2. Circular sent to parish churches of the East Kent recruiting area, 2 September 1902.
104.
Punch, 10 August 1850; 15 July 1865; 11 July 1868; 18 September 1869; and 7 January 1871.
105.
Parliamentary Debates, Commons. 9 August 1890. Vol. 348, Para. 402; Lawrenson Committee, 1862, p. 12; Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 42; and Brownlow Committee, 1892, p. 18.
106.
IWM Sound Archive (737), Fred Dixon, Tapes 1 and 2. Recording date unknown; and Picture M813, Box 2. Hampshire Carabiners Yeomanry Museum, Winchester.
107.
Despite being wiped from the statute book in 1875, the last attempted Militia ballot failed during the reform upheavals of 1831. Beckett, The Amateur Military Tradition, p. 131; comments of Sergeant. James Milne. Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 166.
108.
Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 51.
109.
Parliamentary Debates, Lords, 24 May 1892, Para. 1641.
110.
Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 7 February 1881. Vol. 258, Para. 253–254; and Brownlow Committee, 1892.
111.
Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 208.
112.
See the chapter “ The Yeomanry and the State ” for more details.
113.
Stanley Committee, 1875, p. 165.
114.
Ibid., p. 192.
115.
Ibid., p. 208.
116.
Ibid., p. 53.
117.
CCA, CC-W/13/3. Diary: F.S. Maxted, 1902–1920.
118.
The Essex Standard, 10 October 1834; The Sporting Gazette, 6 June 1863; The Sporting Gazette, 16 May 1863;
119.
Sporting Gazette, 9 July 1864; Fellows, G. History of the South Notts. Yeomanry Cavalry, 1794–1894 (Forman, Nottingham, 1895), p. 155; Nottinghamshire Guardian, 24 July 1856; Nottinghamshire Guardian, 6 August 1857; The Lancaster Gazette, 22 June 1861; and The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, 22 April 1878.
120.
Beckett, The Amateur Military Tradition, p. 178.
121.
DHC, D/DOY/A/11/3. Dorset Yeomanry Regimental Orders, 15 December 1909.
122.
Sassoon, S. Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (Faber & Faber, London, 1929), p. 231–234.
123.
BPP: Cd. 891, 1902; and Cd. 1415, 1903.
124.
BPP: Cd. 1417, 1903: Annual Report of the Inspector-General, 1902, p. 21.
125.
All ranks were given until 30 June 1908 to volunteer for Haldane’s conditions. Verdin, The Cheshire (Earl of Chester’s) Yeomanry, p. 25; Memoranda Relative to the Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry, Now the Queen’s Own (London, Bentley, Wilson and Fley, 1843), p. 115.
126.
BPP: Cd. 1417, 1903: Annual Report of the Inspector-General, 1902, p. 23; and BPP: Cd. 1778, 1904: Annual Report of the Inspector-General, 1903, p. 19.

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George Hay

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Hay, G. (2017). The Rank and File. In: The Yeomanry Cavalry and Military Identities in Rural Britain, 1815–1914. War, Culture and Society, 1750-1850. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65539-0_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65539-0_3
Published: 25 November 2017
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