Consisting of four troops of cavalry, the corps was first raised in 1813 during the Peninsular War to deal with an excess of criminality and desertion in the Duke of Wellington's armies.

In January 1813 the Duke of York, commander in chief of the British Army, wrote to Earl Bathurst, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies to propose the formation of a new corps to help keep discipline.

[2] The two troops formed in Spain combined numbered four captains, four lieutenants, two cornets, six sergeants, six corporals and 120 privates, taken from cavalry regiments already in the theatre.

[2][5] The unit also provided orderlies to Wellington's staff,[nb 2] patrolled the line of march, guarded supply depots and prevented soldiers from entering towns and cities.

[3] Despite its intended purpose, the Cavalry Staff Corps were employed on reconnaissance duties in the lead up to the 21 June 1813 Battle of Vitoria.

[8] After the conclusion of the Siege of Pamplona in October 1813 Wellington sent the unit to scour nearby villages to look for 12,500 of his men who had failed to report for duty after the storming of the town and were presumed to have deserted.

[11] These officer's commissions were dated 10 August 1815, though the campaign had ended the previous month with the restoration of the Bourbon king Louis XVIII to his throne in Paris.

[2] As well as policing duties the corps was responsible for making compensation payments to French citizens affected by the army of occupation.

They distributed 19,000 francs to the inhabitants of Fontaine-Notre-Dame after a fire, originating in a British Army forge, destroyed 20 houses on 25 April 1816.

[13] The Cavalry Staff Corps acted as part of the "enemy" force during wargames of the allied armies near Valenciennes in the autumn of 1818.