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Changes Resulting From The Boer War
The new and temporary 'Imperial Yeomanry' proved to be of great value as mounted infantry in southern Africa, and this led to changes in the official attitude towards the established yeomanry in Britain even while the war was in progress. In 1901 new regulations gave each regiment a fixed official strength and added 'Imperial' to their titles. These changes can be summarised as follows:
1. All regiments to be of uniform strength - 596 of all ranks divided into four squadrons and a machine gun section.
2. A horse allowance of £5 per man to be paid.
3. The standard rifle to be the Lee Enfield magazine rifle with bayonet.
4. All sword exercises to be abolished.
Drill was simplified and training was to be as mounted infantry with the accent on scouting techniques. It was also stipulated that any regiment failing after a reasonable time to maintain 420 'efficient enrolled members', or any squadron with less than a hundred 'efficients', would be liable for disbandment. The 'Duke's Own', in fact, had no difficulty in recruiting, especially after the horse allowance which encouraged recruitment of non-horseowners, who could now hire their mounts when required. A waiting list was apparently the norm for most troops.
The new legislation, whilst maintaining the liability of yeomanry volunteers to be called out at times of invasion or other national emergency, also extended this liability to all British possessions in Europe. Training periods were to be not greater than seventeen days' duration, or less than fourteen days, in anyone year.
Thus was created the 'Duke of Lancaster's Own Imperial Yeomanry', or 'DLOIY'. The War Office now involved itself closely with the Regiment, anxious that mounted infantry as well as cavalry skills should be brought into training. Now that a horse allowance was given, recruits increasingly came from the industrial centres and were taught to ride from scratch, rather than farmers' or tradesmen's sons
with their own or their employers' mounts. This trend also enabled the War Office to insist that the 'Duke's Own' be equipped with smaller and sturdier horses, 'cobs' that were less attractive than the previous 'chargers', but more suitable for long campaigning and rapid dismounting in action.
Problems Remain
Undoubtedly the Regiment became better organised and altogether more serious of purpose in the aftermath of the Boer War experience of so many of its members, although the turnover of recruits was high and the experienced men did not, it seems, generally stay for long. Between 1904 and 1908 an ‘Imperial Yeomanry Long Service and Good Conduct Medal’ was awarded to those with over ten years’ service and with an attendance at a minimum of ten annual camps - only twenty men in the DLOIY ever proved eligible.
Moreover, the numerous volunteer military units, including the yeomanry, remained only loosely organised between themselves. Standards of equipment and training might be rising generally but were still varied, and the precise wartime role of the volunteers was still not clear. In 1908 further large scale reforms of the volunteers sought to mould all together into a more obvious and effective military force. A new army, the 'Territorial Force', was created to embrace all the volunteer units.
The Territorial Force
With a strength of 300,000 men this was designed to defend the United Kingdom if the regular forces were overseas, and was militarily self-sufficient. It included its own infantry, artillery and mounted troops. Recruitment was locally based, with each region having its own division. The volunteers were committed to serve anywhere in the United Kingdom but service abroad at time of mobilisation was not compulsory. Attendance at an annual training
camp for a fortnight was required, meanwhile, in peacetime. The yeomanry, who now dropped 'Imperial' from their titles, became the cavalry-cum-mounted infantry of this force, with the same conditions of service and training. The DLOY thus became divisional cavalry to the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division (Territorial Force).
At an impressive ceremony in 1909 Edward VII presented the Regiment with its first standard. The venue was Worsley Park on 6th July; a crowd of over a hundred thousand gathered to see a Royal Review of the 42nd Division, during which colours were presented to the new infantry battalions, and the light cavalry equivalent, the Guidon, to the DLOY. Another change was the move of the Regimental Headquarters from Worsley, where it had been for over half a century; the new location from 1914 was on Whalley Road, Whalley Range, where a large residence was christened 'Lancaster House'.
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