British Volunteer Corps The Volunteer Corps were a British voluntary part - time organization for the purpose of home defence in the event of invasion , during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . History . Establishment . At the start of the War of the First Coalition , the Secretary of State for War , Henry Dundas , began to receive " a great number of Letters " , from people living in coastal areas , requesting arms and equipment so that they could defend their localities against any French incursions . The government firmly rejected proposals from Kent and Chichester to form " military associations " but similar bodies were formed in Brighton , Rye , Lindfield and Penzance without any official sanction . Dundas had also received more practical proposals for volunteer forces from the Marquess of Buckingham , Arthur Young and General Sir William Erskine . All this led Dundas together with Lord Amherst , to formulate plans for volunteer forces , which were sent to the king for approval in February 1794 . On 14 March , the " Plan of Augmentation for the Forces for Internal Defence " were circulated to the lords lieutenant , who would have a central role in creating the new forces . William Pitt the Younger ' s government ensured the passage of the Volunteer Act 1794 through Parliament in the same month . The lords lieutenant were tasked with organising committees and obtaining subscriptions from wealthy donors , to raise and support the Volunteers . Local companies or " corps " of Volunteers fulfilled three roles ; to man coastal artillery batteries , to augment the regular Militia in the infantry role , and to form cavalry troops , which were called Yeomanry . The government became concerned that there were too few Volunteer or Yeomanry Cavalry and passed the Provisional Cavalry Act 1796 . This act established the Provisional Cavalry , a unit liable for service anywhere in the country . The members of this unit were recruited by requiring one man to be provided for service by each man who owned ten or more horses ( those who owned fewer horses were collected into groups which were each required to provide one man ) . Later in 1797 an amendment was passed by parliament which removed the requirement to raise a Provisional Cavalry unit in counties where the Yeomanry already amounted to 75 % of the strength required by the Provisional Cavalry Act . This proved to be the case in the majority of counties owing to the strength of the Yeomanry which was a more popular option for the country gentry . Initially recruitment was slow but the invasion of Belgium and the 1794 Treason Trials caused an increase in volunteers . Further recruits were brought in by Pitt ' s appeal for volunteers in 1798 , which came as Britain was facing the loss of Europe , failed peace negotiations , manpower shortages in the army , financial problems and potential rebellion in Ireland . At its height more than 300 , 000 men were members of the Corps and other volunteer units , a number matched by the regular army and militia only at the very end of the Napoleonic Wars . The success of the volunteer corps partly enabled Britain to avoid the costly and unpopular measure of mass conscription . Composition . The Volunteer Corps typically drew its members from the propertied classes . Officers were usually members of the gentry ( though some junior officer s were members of the professional or middle classes ) and the enlisted rank s tended to be from the lower middle classes ( for example shopkeepers and publicans ) . The failed Expédition d ' Irlande of 1796 and invasion at Fishguard caused the expansion of the corps , including the formation of workplace units such as the 863 - strong Cyfarthfa Ironworks unit in South Wales , in which the enlisted ranks were filled by the workmen and the officers were drawn from the clerks and foremen . Such units , made up of working - class men , became more common in the late 1790s and early 1800s due to the increased fear of invasion . Indeed there was at least one case of de facto conscription , in which a factory - owner decreed that all his workers must join the corps or else be sacked . The volunteer corps were occasionally used to keep the peace in Britain but proved unreliable . One unit in Wolverhampton refused to act against food rioters and several volunteers in Devon actually led riots directed at farmers and millers in the winter of 1800 – 01 . Termination . The infantry Volunteers were disbanded at the Peace of Amiens in 1802 , but reformed the following year when Napoleon ' s planned invasion became a serious threat . By the end of 1803 , more than 340 , 000 had enrolled , far more than Henry Addington ' s government had planned for , and there were initially insufficient weapons and equipment for them . William Pitt , then in opposition , became the Colonel of the Volunteer corps at Walmer despite his frail health . The Volunteer Act and Provisional Cavalry Act were allowed to lapse by the government in 1806 . They were disbanded again during 1813 , except for the Yeomanry , who were retained in case of civil insurrection .