Like most militia in Canada during this period, the Dragoons were raised and financed by wealthy gentry, in this case the Denison family, as volunteers were not part of a regular army.

The Dragoons began as a local mounted infantry company linked to the parent West York Regiment of Militia.

This peculiar organization was a practice that started during the American Revolution with the Loyalist militia regiment the "Queen's York Rangers".

Operating alongside the local Markham Troop, forming a squadron, the QLD participated in a number of actions during the rebellion to include Gallows Hill, Navy Island and Town of Scotland.

[5] In 1866, the troop was the only cavalry in Upper Canada to be placed on active duty, engaged and employed against the Fenian Irish Republican Army invasion from the United States.

[1][5] The GGBG was mobilized as a full squadron and participated in the North-West Rebellion in 1885 as rear area security for General Middleton's force.

[2][3][5] The GGBG, as a regiment, supplied some 50 men to augment the small Canadian Regular Army for service in South Africa in 1900.

Lieutenant Hampton Cockburn earned the Victoria Cross while serving as a volunteer with the Royal Canadian Dragoons during the war.

[2][3][5][6] The GGBG, like all of the militia during the First World War, was not activated for duty, but rather assisted in raising numbered battalions for the Canadian Expeditionary Force and recruiting to fill the CEF ranks.