The Surrey Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army first formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794. It was reformed in 1901 and saw varied srvice in World War I. Postwar it was converted to artillery and during World War II one of its regiments distinguished itself defending the 'Canal Line' during the retreat to Dunkirk, later serving at Alamein, in Sicily and Italy. Its other regiment served in East Africa, the Siege of Tobruk, and in Iraq and Persia. The regiment's lineage is maintained today by 2 (Surrey Yeomanry) Field Troop, 579 Field Squadron (EOD), part of 101 (London) Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) (Volunteers). 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. Four Troops of Yeomanry were raised in Surrey on 9 May 1794, and were formed into a regiment in 1797 under the command of Lord Leslie (later 13th Earl of Rothes). Its headquarters was at Clapham and it recruited from London and its suburbs, many of those in its ranks being men of standing in the City of London. The troops were distributed as follows: Battersea Troop Clapham Troop Wimbledon Troop Deptford Troop (actually in Kent) Lambeth Troop In the spring of 1798 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. Although their terms of service were more limited, there was little difference between the Volunteer Cavalry and the Yeomanry. The following cavalry units were on parade when King George III reviewed the Surrey Yeomanry and Volunteers on Wimbledon Common on 4 July 1799: Left Wing Holmesdale Volunteer Cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel John Petrie, MP for Gatton – 45 men, recruited from Reigate and Dorking Clapham Volunteer Cavalry, Lt-Col Samuel Thornton, MP – 40 Croydon Volunteer Cavalry, Captain John Brickwood – 40 Wimbledon Volunteer Cavalry, Capt Francis Fowke – 29 Lambeth Volunteer Cavalry, Lt-Col Sir Robert Burnett – 39 Wandsworth Volunteer Cavalry, Capt Charles Semple – 25 Southwark Volunteer Cavalry, Capt John Collingdon – 54 Woking Volunteer Cavalry, Capt John W. Weston – 40 Right