Cavalry regiments of the British Army There are currently nine regular cavalry regiments of the British Army , with two tank regiments provided by the Royal Tank Regiment , traditionally classed alongside the cavalry , for a total of eleven regiments . Of these , five serve as armoured regiments , and five as formation reconnaissance regiments , with one in a specialist role . All are part of the Royal Armoured Corps , with the exception of the Household Cavalry , nominally a separate corps . A further four regiments of the Territorial Army are classed as yeomanry , and serve in the cavalry role . This will change as of Army 2020 . Modern cavalry . There are currently eight regiments of cavalry and two tank regiments in the regular Army , and a further four Yeomanry regiments in the Territorial Army . They retain the traditional distinctions between household and line cavalry , " heavy " and " light " cavalry regiments , though these have no contemporary significance ; light and heavy regiments serve interchangeably in reconnaissance and heavy armour roles . It should be noted that in British terminology , a " regiment " of cavalry or of armour is a battalion - sized unit ; this leads to the unusual situation of the Royal Tank Regiment consisting of two full regiments . However , it is still only one regiment for ceremonial purposes - battle honours and the like are held by the Royal Tank Regiment as a whole , and prior to the 1920s the individual units were titled as subordinate battalions . Formation reconnaissance regiments . The formation reconnaissance regiment is the descendant of traditional light cavalry , intended to provide reconnaissance for a higher - level formation , usually a division or a heavy brigade . In a large - scale defensive operation , they would delay attacking forces , while screening heavier units as they moved to engage the enemy . The regiments are , currently , almost entirely equipped with vehicles of the CVR ( T ) family . Following the 2003 Defence Review , five regular army regiments are equipped for the formation reconnaissance role : Armoured regiments . The armoured regiment is the descendant of traditional heavy cavalry , intended to provided massed armour for use in a major conflict . As the likelihood of a major Cold War confrontation died down , and the Army has been deployed to lower - intensity conflicts , the role of heavy armour has become less well - defined , focusing more on infantry co - operation and support rather than pure armoured conflict . Armoured regiments are currently equipped with the Challenger 2 main battle tank . Following the 2003 Defence Review , five regular army regiments are equipped for the heavy armoured role : Specialist roles . The eleventh regiment is the 1st Royal Tank Regiment , which serves in two separate roles . One of its two squadrons is based at Warminster , as part of the Combined Arms Training Centre , while the other squadron forms part of the Joint Chemical , Biological , Radiation and Nuclear Regiment . This is an unusual unit , both in role and in structure ; it is intended to provide a specialist organisation for identifying and responding to the use of weapons of mass destruction , and is equipped with detection vehicles and decontamination equipment . Organisationally , it is operated jointly by the Army and by the Royal Air Force ; the other constituent unit , in addition to the 1st RTR , is No . 27 Squadron of the RAF Regiment . The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment is not formally a regiment , but rather the mounted squadrons of the Household Cavalry Regiment . It is administered separately and has a ceremonial role , providing horse guards for public duties in London . Yeomanry . The Territorial Army currently includes four regiments of Yeomanry . None are intended to mobilise as separate units , but rather to reinforce existing regular regiments . The Royal Yeomanry is intended to provide additional squadrons to the Joint Chemical , Biological , Radiation and Nuclear Regiment ; the Queen ' s Own Yeomanry is tasked for the formation reconnaissance role ; on mobilisation , it would provide a fourth squadron to each of the existing line cavalry reconnaissance regiments ( the Household Cavalry Regiment has a permanent fourth squadron ) . The Royal Wessex Yeomanry and Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry will provide replacement crews for tanks in the armoured regiments . History . Early regiments . The British Army , in the modern sense of the standing army under the Crown , was formed following the Restoration of King Charles II in 1661 . At this point , the small standing forces included the 1st , 2nd and 3rd Troops of Horse Guards and the Royal Regiment of Horse ; some of these had been raised in exile and some as part of the New Model Army . The horsemen of the period were equipped as cuirassiers , with armour on the head and the body ; the regulations of Charles II , in 1663 , provided for them to be armed with " a sword and a case of pistolls . . . each Trooper of our Guards to have a carbine besides " . By the start of the eighteenth century , the cavalry establishment had been divided into household and line units . The household establishment consisted of four troop s of Horse Guards and two of Horse Grenadier Guards , while the regular establishment was composed of nine regiments of Horse and eight of Dragoons . The " horse " regiments would in theory fight mounted as cavalry , while dragoons were originally mounted infantry - they would fight dismounted , but were provided with horses for swift movement . By the middle of the century , the term had come simply to mean light cavalry . Regiments were , at this time , known by semi - permanent nicknames or by the names of their colonels ; in 1751 , in an attempt to reduce confusion , regiments were assigned numbers in order of their seniority . The cavalry regiments of the line were numbered in three separate sequences ; 1st through 4th Horse , then 1st through 3rd Dragoon Guards , then 1st through 14th Dragoons . " Dragoon Guards " was a new title , and did not denote a Guards ' role ; it was adopted by the three senior horse regiments in 1746 , when George II reduced them to the status of dragoons in order to save money . The first " light horse " regiment was raised in 1745 , for service in the Second Jacobite rising , and proved so successful that light troops were added to most cavalry regiments in 1755 . In 1759 , five complete regiments ( the 15th to 19th ) of Light Dragoons were formed , and the distinction was made between the light cavalry ( Light Dragoon regiments ) and the heavy cavalry ( Dragoon and Dragoon Guard regiments ) . Henceforth , all newly raised regiments of cavalry would be denoted Light Dragoons . By 1783 , the 7th to 14th Dragoons had become the 7th to 14th Light Dragoons , changing from heavy to light roles . The various troops of Horse Guards and Horse Grenadier Guards were regimented in 1788 , forming the 1st Regiment of Life Guards and 2nd Regiment of Life Guards ; together with the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards they formed the Household Cavalry . The same year , the remaining four Horse regiments were retitled as the 4th through 7th Dragoon Guards . The yeomanry and fencible cavalry . Some thirty - four regiments of fencible cavalry — regiments raised for home service only — were raised in 1794 and 1795 , in response to an invasion scare ; all had disbanded by the end of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1802 . At the same time , a large number of troops of volunteer cavalry were raised on a county level , consisting of local gentry and yeoman farmers ; from the latter they took the description yeomanry . These troops formed into yeomanry regiments , organised broadly by county , around 1800 ; their history thereafter is complex , with many disbanding , reforming , and changing title intermittently . However , most remained in existence throughout the nineteenth century , seeing occasional service quelling riots and helping to maintain public order . Nineteenth century . By the turn of the century , in 1800 , the Household Cavalry establishment consisted of three regiments of guards , while the line cavalry had some twenty - seven regiments of dragoons and dragoon guards . The heavy cavalry consisted of twelve regiments , the 1st to 7th Dragoon Guards and the 1st to 6th Dragoons - the missing regiment was the 5th Dragoons , disbanded for mutiny in 1799 without renumbering younger regiments - while the light cavalry consisted of the 7th through 29th Light Dragoons and two regiments of German cavalry on the British establishment . Many of the light cavalry regiments were disbanded after the Napoleonic Wars ; at their peak in 1794 , there had been some 33 regiments of light dragoons , but by 1822 the most junior regiment was the 17th Light Dragoons . In 1806 , the 10th Light Dragoons became the 10th Hussars , taking a title made popular by Continental cavalry ; the 5th , 15th and 18th followed in 1807 . In 1816 three more regiments changed their title to " Lancers " , and in 1818 two more dragoon regiments became light dragoons . By 1861 , the last light dragoons retitled as hussars , leaving three regiments of dragoons and seven of dragoon guards in the heavy cavalry , with nine regiments of hussars and five of lancers in the light cavalry . By this point , the distinction between heavy and light cavalry regiments had effectively vanished , as both fought in the same manner and were equipped in the same way - with the exception of the lancers , who retained their lance s . In 1862 the army received a further four regiments of cavalry , the European light cavalry regiments formerly part of the forces of the Honourable East India Company . Imperial Yeomanry . The outbreak of the South African War in 1899 caused some sharp setbacks for the British forces , leading to a high demand for additional troops to be despatched , especially light cavalry . However , it was not possible to embody the Yeomanry for overseas service ; they were only liable for service in the British Isles , to resist invasion or for internal security . As a result , the Imperial Yeomanry was created in January 1900 as a volunteer cavalry corps . Some 34 , 000 men were sent to South Africa on one - year enlistments through 1900 and 1901 , most coming initially from existing regiments of yeomanry . Many companies were raised and sponsored by yeomanry regiments - for example , the Leicestershire Yeomanry sponsored the 7th ( Leicestershire ) and the 65th ( Leicestershire ) Companies - and these regiments later took the battle honours of their sponsored companies . All Imperial Yeomanry battalions were equipped as mounted infantry , using infantry organisation and terminology ( note " battalion " and " company " , rather than " regiment " and " squadron " ) ; this proved highly useful in South Africa , where fast - moving infantry was invaluable for a fluid war spread over enormous areas . As the first contingent of volunteers returned , and the lessons of the war were absorbed by the Army , it was decided to convert the Yeomanry into mounted infantry along the same lines . The new Yeomanry regiments , appropriately retitled as " Imperial Yeomanry " , comprised four companies of mounted infantry with carbines , and a machine - gun section ; by 1903 , an additional nineteen regiments of Imperial Yeomanry had been raised , with several perpetuating the lineages of volunteer units in South Africa or of previously disbanded Yeomanry regiments . In 1908 , the reserve forces were reformed ; the Yeomanry and the infantry Volunteers were consolidated into the Territorial Force . The Yeomanry dropped its designation of " Imperial Yeomanry " , and most regiments converted back from the mounted infantry role to become lancers , hussars or dragoons . Four regiments were assigned to the Special Reserve , rather than the Territorials , and were no longer considered Yeomanry . Twentieth century . The last major use of conventional cavalry by the Army was in the First World War . However , the anticipated war of manoeuvre on the Western Front never took place , and the cavalry forces were never employed in their intended role ; instead , many saw intermittent service as dismounted infantry . This was especially true of the yeomanry regiments ; indeed , the 74th ( Yeomanry ) Division was composed entirely of yeomanry regiments serving as infantry , and in 1918 many regiments began to be formally converted to infantry units . However , mounted cavalry did play a major role in the Sinai and Palestine theatre , most notably at the Battle of Beersheba . While it generally appears that no new regiments of cavalry were raised during the War , this is not entirely accurate . All of the yeomanry units raised second - and third - line regiments from new recruits , and on the outbreak of war some seventeen Cavalry Reserve Regiments were formed . Few of these units saw active service , instead serving to train and equip men for the front - line regiments , or as reserve units for home defence . The Tank Corps - the forerunner of the Royal Tank Regiment - was formed in 1917 , but was not considered as " cavalry " until the 1940s . Following the War , and the subsequent reduction in the strength of the Army , it was apparent that future warfare would involve much less of a role for cavalry . As such , the regular force was reduced from 31 regiments of cavalry to 22 . Unlike previous reductions , however , this was carried out by the amalgamation of regiments rather than the disbanding of junior regiments ; this allowed the traditions and honours of both " parents " to be perpetuated . Before the Second World War , cavalry recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall , but could not exceed 5 feet 9 inches . They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a further six years with the reserve . Mechanisation . In October 1928 , a new era began as the 11th Hussars became the first regular cavalry regiment to " mechanise " , to change from a horsed cavalry role to a motorised one , re - equipping with armoured cars previously used by the Royal Tank Corps . Other regiments followed suit ; in April 1939 , the Royal Armoured Corps was formed to encompass the eighteen mechanised cavalry regiments of the line alongside the eight battalions of the Royal Tank Regiment , but did not include the Household Cavalry . The remaining two regular cavalry regiments were based in Palestine , and following the outbreak of war retained their horses until 1940 ( the Royal Dragoon Guards ) and 1941 ( the Royal Scots Greys ) . Following mechanisation , the few remaining distinctions of unit type became meaningless ; cavalry regiments moved between the heavy and light armoured roles regardless of their names . Seven regiments of the Yeomanry , previously affiliated with the Royal Tank Regiment , were taken into the Royal Armoured Corps on its formation , and a number more would convert to the armoured role during the Second World War . However , in the reorganisation of the reserve forces in the late 1930s , many Yeomanry regiments were reorganised as artillery units , and transferred into the Royal Artillery . The Royal Armoured Corps itself formed a number of armoured regiments , converted from territorial infantry battalions , and the Reconnaissance Corps ( taken into the Royal Armoured Corps in 1944 ) several mechanised reconnaissance units , all of which were classed with the cavalry . Other war - formed units included twelve Territorial Army battalions of the Royal Tank Regiment , converted from infantry in 1938 and 1939 , and six new line cavalry regiments , the 22nd through 27th . These were arbitrarily termed as hussars , lancers or dragoons , but with no meaning ; none would survive past 1948 . After the war , the regular cavalry was quickly reduced to its pre - war establishment , and reduced further by the 1957 Defence White Paper ; as a result of this , seven regular cavalry regiments were lost through amalgamation , leaving two household , sixteen line , and ( by 1960 ) five regiments of the Royal Tank Regiment . The subsequent round of cuts , in 1969 - 71 , saw a further three line regiments disappear , and the 1990 Options for Change defence review reduced the establishment by another five line regiments and two regiments of the Royal Tank Regiment , along with amalgamating the regiments of the Household Cavalry . The Yeomanry had been reduced even further in the post - war years ; most regiments were amalgamated in the 1950s and then reduced to cadres in the late 1960s , with a sizable fraction being converted to infantry , artillery , or support roles . By the end of the Cold War , there were five regiments of " pure " Yeomanry in the Territorial Army , all in the light reconnaissance role , with five regiments of the Royal Artillery , eight of the Royal Engineers and eleven of the Royal Signals titled as " Yeomanry " and retaining lineages from a yeomanry regiment .