After Britain was drawn into the French Revolutionary Wars, the government of prime minister William Pitt the Younger proposed on 14 March 1794 that the counties should form Corps of Yeomanry Cavalry that could be called on by the King to defend the country against invasion or by the Lord Lieutenant to subdue any civil disorder within the county.

[5] In 1803, when the shortlived Peace of Amiens broke down and the Napoleonic Wars began, there was a resurgence in recruiting for the Yeomanry, and by December that year there were 23 Troops in Essex, with a strength of 1251 men.

[6][7][8] However, just two years later a wave of unrest swept the country and the government restored Yeomanry pay for drills and periods of service in aid of the civil power.

George Palmer of Nazeing Park raised a new Troop known as the West Essex Corps of Yeomanry Cavalry, whose primary purpose was to protect the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills and the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock.

[6][7][8] Yeomanry activity in the county did not entirely disappear: Captain Richard Colvin raised an Essex Troop of the Loyal Suffolk Hussars in 1889.

[7][10][11] Following a string of defeats during Black Week in early December 1899, the British government realised that it would need more troops than just the regular army to fight the Second Boer War.

In addition, Capt (now Lt-Col) Colvin of the Essex Troop commanded the 20th (Rough Riders) Battalion IY, which was raised on 17 March 1900 in the City of London and landed in South Africa on 3 May.

The Lord Lieutenant of Essex, the Earl of Warwick (who became the unit's Honorary Colonel), appointed Lt-Col Colvin to raise and command the new regiment.

[10][22] Colvin arranged the squadrons on the basis of fox hunts in the county, giving the following organisation:[6][9][10][23][24] The Boer War was still going on, and further volunteers went out to South Africa with the second contingent of the IY.

[24] After mobilisation the Essex Yeomanry reorganised on a three-squadron basis:[45] The CO reported that the men were all medically fit, fully trained, and aged 19 years or older, and the regiment was accepted for overseas service.

[24][52] The regiment saw its first action at the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge on 13 May, when in pouring rain it made a dismounted bayonet charge that recaptured the disputed German front line trench.

Most of the dead, including Lt-Col Deacon, were buried in unmarked graves and are now commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing at Ypres.

A Regular Army officer, Lt-Col Wickham of the KDG, was brought in as CO to train and integrate the replacement drafts into the regiment.

[47] On 11 April, the second day of the Battle of the Scarpe that launched the Arras Offensive, 8th Cavalry Bde was ordered to advance mounted, over open country, to occupy high ground east and northeast of Monchy-le-Preux, a key position between the rivers Scarpe and Sensée.

C Squadron, leading, came under heavy machine gun fire while crossing a bridge and the Stortford and Dunmow Trps were almost annihilated.

The two regiments and machine gun sqn held their positions in and around the town against determined German attacks for 18 hours before being relieved by infantry.

In March 1916, as a member of the regiment's machine gun section he was transferred to the 8th Squadron, MGC, which supported 8th Cavalry Brigade.

After the brigade had taken Monchy on 11 April 1917, L/Cpl Mugford placed his machine gun in an exposed forward position and drove off the enemy who were massing for a counter-attack.

His No 2 was killed almost immediately and Mugford was severely wounded, but he refused to go to the dressing-station and continued to operate his gun, inflicting further losses on the enemy.

It was equipped with Sexton Self Propelled 25 Pounder guns and fought with the British 8th Armoured Brigade as a spearhead unit through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and into Germany.

[63][64] The Essex Imperial Yeomanry adopted the same colours for its full dress uniform as the neighbouring Loyal Sussex Hussars: green with scarlet facings.

In the TF, brass dragoon helmets with scarlet plumes, worn with white gauntlet gloves, were introduced in full dress for the 1911 Coronation.

[9][65] On becoming Royal Artillery the regiment retained its Yeomanry cap and collar badges and buttons, which were worn by all ranks until 1975.

[1][55] When the Essex RHA joined in 1933, the whole regiment adopted RHA-style ball buttons, but they bore the Yeomanry badge.

In 1943, 147th Field Rgt adopted an embroidered regimental badge worn on both arms, consisting of three seaxes with green blades and yellow hilts on a red diamond.

[55] Post World War II, all ranks wore Rifle green berets with the Yeomanry badge in brass (embroidered gold wire for officers).

[69] The Essex Yeomanry was awarded the following battle honours:[6] Ypres 1915, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Loos, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Somme 1918, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Cambrai 1918, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914–18 The Royal Artillery was present in nearly all battles and would have earned most of the honours awarded to cavalry and infantry regiments.

[70] The regimental war memorials to the Essex Yeomen who died in the two world wars are in St Peter's Chapel in Chelmsford Cathedral,[69][71][72] together with individual memorials to L/Cpl Harold Mugford, VC, (unveiled in June 2006)[54][69] to Brig-Gen Sir Richard Colvin[73] and to Col Sir Francis Whitmore.

A memorial to the men of 3 Troop, D Sqn, Essex Yeomanry, and other local Territorials who died in World War I was at the Army Reserve Centre at Romford.