Yeomanry Buttons 1830-2000, by Howard Ripley and Denis Darmanin

Published by the Military Historical Society in 2005, 56 pages. A5 size booklet (N6455)

Illustrated throughout with around 18 pages of black and white drawings of buttons and their designs (each page with around 15 individual buttons drawn), this booklet provides a fascinating account of English Yeomanry buttons. There are also 4 pages of colour illustrations, with each page containing one soldier in uniform.

From the introduction: The Yeomanry is a force which has survived because it has been able to adapt to the changing demands made upon it by British governments over some 200 years. It was original conceived as part ofthe nation's home defence against the threat of invasion from France. It existed for that purpose throughout the Napoleonic Wars, with the exception of the brief period following the Peace of Amiens. When the war with France was finally over, the Yeomanry was seen as a means of countering industrial and agricultural agitation at a time when there were no county police forces in existence.

We have chosen to start this work in the year 1830 because in that year a new king - William IV - ascended the throne and the Yeomanry saw one of its periodic expansions. In 1828, the Whig government had decimated the force by withdrawing financial support from all but a few units. This decision proved to be short sighted and, by the end of 1830, the government was looking to expand the force to deal with widespread unrest in agricultural communities in southern England. So, late 1830 and early 1831 saw a rapid flowering of Yeomanry regiments and independent troops across the country. Although this project began with the aim of recording all distinctive uniform buttons worn by yeomanry regiments since 1830 it soon took on an additional task. It became apparent that there was no clear, concise and accurate record of all the yeomanry units which had existed, some for a few years only. We have spent many hours at the National Archives in Kew and present, for the first time, a complete list of every yeomanry unit since 1830. In so doing, we have attempted to show major changes in unit titles but readers should keep in mind:-

i. Army Order 109 of 1901 instructed that all yeomanry regiments were to be part of The Imperial Yeomanry and, as a consequence, "Imperial Yeomanry" was included in every title. This designation continued until 1908 when "Imperial" was omitted from titles when the Territorial Force came into being. It would be tedious for readers if this change had been included for every regiment in the list.

ii. Many yeomanry regiments were transferred to the Royal Artillery after the First World War. We have not attempted to record every title change under the auspices of the Royal Artillery.

iii. We have only shown successor units in the year 2000 where distinctive, yeomanry buttons were being worn.

Condition of the booklet is generally very good. The cover has some minor scuffs and blemishes, and some light wear along the edges and corners, but the staple spine is intact, and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.

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