The 5th (Cyclist) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment was a mobile coast defence unit of Britain's Territorial Force.

However, another meeting held on 21 May resolved to raise the East Yorkshire Rifle Volunteers, and 10 independent company-sized RVCs were quickly formed, their officers receiving their commissions the following year.

[5] Higher formations for the Volunteers were lacking, but from 1875 various mobilisation schemes for the Regulars and Militia began to be circulated, and by 1880 a number of Local Brigades had begun to appear in the Army List.

[3] Following the Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 a comprehensive mobilisation scheme was introduced for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war.

[3] The late Victorian era saw a craze for cycling and the Volunteer Force took a leading role in developing the new Safety bicycle for military use.

[5][9][10] After Black Week in December 1899, the Volunteers were invited to send active service units to assist the Regulars in the Second Boer War.

On 15 August 1914, the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units.

[31][32] At first, competition was keen to join the Cyclist Battalion, which was seen as rather glamorous, with distinctive knee breeches and black bugle buttons.

[33] However, the battalion lost out to the other units being formed in Hull, particularly the 'Hull Pals', a full brigade of whom were raised for Kitchener's Army by Lord Nunburnholme.

In January 1916 it adopted the modern four-company organisation in place of eight companies, and was allotted to the northern section of the Humber Defences.

However, the Vice Lord Lieutenant objected, asserting that the Battle of Inkerman had shown that the grey worn by Russian troops was less visible at shorter distances than Rifle green.