The British yeomanry was formed as a home defence force in 1790s . Each yeoman , then mostly farmers or agricultural workers , was expected to supply his own horse and saddle . They were , however , notoriously better known to the population for their involvement in the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 and the Bristol riots in 1831 . In the early years , the standard and number of men in a troop or troops in a regiment differed from county to county with no standard formation . By the 1800s , nationally there were only around 1,500 men , but fear of renewed French militarisation saw a large increase in their numbers by the middle of the century . By that time , the yeomanry volunteer had to provide their own weapons and equipment and attend twenty-four days drill a year . However , from 1896 , the yeomanry were issued Lee – Metford or Lee – Enfield carbines , which had an effective range of . The Mauser that would be used by their opponents in the Second Boer War had a range in excess of
Peterloo Massacre
Peterloo Massacre
British yeomanry during the First World War