GENERAL MILITARY CAVALRY

First Edition. xviii, 666 p., 43 plates. illus. (some col.), maps, ports. 24 cm. #180723

The Cheshire Yeomanry of the Great War was a descendant of a volunteer tradition that dates back to 1797, when six independent mounted troops were raised in the county during the crisis of the Napoleonic era. In 1803 they were formed into the Western Cheshire Yeomanry Cavalry and by 1908, were the Earl of Chester’s Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry. In common with all such units, they were absorbed into the Territorial Force, when it was established in 1908 as part of wide-ranging reforms of the British Army in the light of experience of the South African war, and the growing international tension in Europe. The newly-named “Cheshire Yeomanry (Earl of Chester’s) (Hussars)” was composed of part-time soldiers. It was headquartered in the Old Bank Buildings in Chester, with squadron drill stations at Knutsford, Eaton, Northwich and Macclesfield.