Formation and early history In 1793, the prime minister,
William Pitt the Younger, proposed that the
English Counties form a force of Volunteer Yeoman 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 country. Various independent troops were raised in Lincolnshire in 1794 but disbanded in 1828. The yeomanry in Lincolnshire was re-raised as the North Lincoln Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry in 1831 but was disbanded again in 1846. Although there were strict requirements, many volunteers were accepted with substandard horsemanship/marksmanship; however, they had significant time to train while awaiting transport. The first contingent of recruits contained 550
officers, 10,371 men with 20
battalions and 4
companies, which arrived in
South Africa between February and April 1900. The
Mounted infantry experiment was considered a success and the existing Yeomanry regiments at home were converted to Imperial Yeomanry, while new regiments were formed. The
Lincolnshire Imperial Yeomanry was formed on 25 June 1901, based at the "
old barracks" on Burton Road, Lincoln. When the Yeomanry were transferred to the
Territorial Force (TF) in 1908, the word 'Imperial' was dropped from their titles.
1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry The regiment was mobilised in August 1914, and formed a part of the
North Midland Mounted Brigade. In September, it was attached to the
1st Mounted Division. In 1915, the brigade was ordered overseas and departed for
Salonika but en route it received orders to divert to
Egypt. replacing the 1st Line brigade. On 31 March 1916, the remaining Mounted Brigades were ordered to be numbered in a single sequence and the brigade became the
3rd Mounted Brigade. In July 1916, there was a major reorganization of 2nd Line yeomanry units in the United Kingdom. All but 12 regiments were converted to
cyclists and as a consequence the regiment was dismounted and joined the
3rd Cyclist Brigade (and the division became
1st Cyclist Division) in the
Holt area. A further reorganization in November 1916 saw the regiment remounted along with the rest of the brigade which was redesignated as the new
2nd Mounted Brigade in the new 1st Mounted Division (originally
3rd Mounted Division) at
Bishop's Stortford. By May 1917 it was at
Leybourne near
West Malling in
Kent. The regiment was once again converted to cyclists in August 1917 and joined
12th Cyclist Brigade in
The Cyclist Division. By the end of 1917, it was at
Tonbridge and early in 1918 to
Canterbury where it remained until the end of the war.
3/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry The 3rd Line regiment was formed in 1915 and in the summer was affiliated to a
Reserve Cavalry Regiment at
Aldershot. In the summer of 1916, it was attached to the
12th Reserve Cavalry Regiment, also at Aldershot. Early in 1917 it was absorbed into the
1st Reserve Cavalry Regiment at
The Curragh.
Post war On reforming the Territorial Army after the war, the 14 senior Yeomanry Regiments would remain as horsed cavalry regiments (forming the 5th and 6th Cavalry Brigades). Other Yeomanry Regiments were converted into
Royal Artillery Regiments. The Lincolnshire Yeomanry decided they did not want to convert to artillery so the regiment was disbanded in 1920. ==Regimental museum==