Add MS 76346-76368

Northamptonshire Yeomanry

Althorp Papers. Vols. mxlvi-mlxviii. Correspondence and papers relating to the Northamptonshire Yeomanry regiment of cavalry, consisting of thirteen troops, which was originally established in 1793 to act as a mounted volunteer force to support the militia. The troops had been created from eight districts namely, Northampton, Peterborough, Kettering, Oundle, Daventry, Brackley, Wellingborough and Towcester. Three more troops were added by 1800, as Northampton troop had to be split due to over subscription, thereby forming Althorp, Chipping Warden and Wymersley. The Thrapston troop was formed later still whilst the Deene troop was formed in 1819 by James Brudenell, the 7^th Earl of Cardigan. Brudenell joined the regular army after leaving the Yeomanry and led the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. The local nobility and country gentry acted as officers whilst the tenants farmers and labourers made up the troops. The second Earl Spencer acted as the commanding officer and was known as Lieutenant Colonel. The cavalry had to supply their own horses and arms, although the government later supplied these. The troops took part in weekly exercise drills that were rigorously enforced except at times of harvest. County subscriptions paid for the uniforms and saddlery. See Harry de la Cazenove, Northamptonshire Yeomanry 1794-1964, Vic Lawrence and Peter Hill, 200 Years of Peace and War: a History of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry (1994) and The Royal Kettering Troop of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry (1994). See also G118-G119.

Twenty-three volumes.