Inns of Court and City Yeomanry

Inns of Court & City and Essex Yeomanry
Active 1961 - Present Day
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Type Signals
Role National Communications
Size Squadron
Part of The Royal Signals
Nickname The Ice Cream, Chocolate and Eclair Yeomanry
Motto Salus Populi Suprema Lex ([our] paramount law is the wellbeing of the people)
Mascot The Devil with spur
Battle honours South Africa 1900-02, France and Flanders 1918, Gallipoli 1915, Gaza
Insignia
Identification
symbol
Arms of the four Inns of Court overlaid by Arms of the City

Known by its new title since 2009, the Inns of Court & City and Essex Yeomanry (ICCEY) is a Royal Signals squadron in the British Territorial Army (TA) with its headquarters in Chancery Lane, London. It is the successor to three historic volunteer units, namely The Inns of Court Regiment (ICR), The City of London Yeomanry (COLY) and The Essex Yeomanry (EY).

History

The Inns of Court & City Yeomanry (IC&CY) was formed in 1961 through the amalgamation of The Inns of Court Regiment (The Devil's Own) and The City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders). It can therefore trace its roots back to the first written records of the former in 1584, when 95 members of the Inn entered into a solemn pledge to defend Queen Elizabeth I against the threat of Spain. From then onwards, in times of national peril, volunteers were recruited among the legal community of The Inns of Court. It was at an inspection in Hyde Park in 1803, during the Napoleonic Wars, that George III is reputed to have styled such a body as 'The Devil's Own', a title that lives on today. By mid-century, the Inns of Court Regiment (ICR) had evolved from a Volunteer Rifle Corps. By its name, it has always been very closely associated with the legal community. The other half of the unit, The City of London Yeomanry was raised from volunteers of the 20th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, and served with distinction in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Its nickname, The Rough Riders was taken from a famous body of volunteer horsemen who fought in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Further details can be seen at the appropriate links (above).

During the period up to 1967, the IC&CY served as an armoured car regiment (as did many other Yeomanry units). The 1967 reorganisation of the TA then led to the regiment being reduced in size to an infantry company, assigned as A Company (Inns of Court and City Yeomanry), the London Yeomanry and Territorials. In 1968, the London Yeomanry and Territorials was disbanded, but a cadre of the Regiment, consisting of 3 officers and 5 other ranks, was retained in the Royal Armoured Corps, thereby ensuring the continuation of the Regiment's name in the Army List, and the retention of its headquarters and historical mess at Lincoln's Inn. Its spirit and purpose were kept alive by the active participation of its personnel, until it was re-constituted as a TA unit under its present name, with Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, gracious in her acceptance of the Royal Honorary Colonelcy. Personnel from A Company were then used to form 68 (Inns of Court and City Yeomanry) Signal Squadron, in the newly-formed 71st (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment. The cadre itself was disbanded in 1975.

There was a Home Service Force Squadron badged as IC&CY and designated as 348 (IC&CY) Signals Squadron HSF from 1986 to 1993. The squadron was based at Lincolns Inn and wore the original IC&CY cap badge. 348 Squadron was organised on the lines of an infantry rifle company and had a key point defence role. The HSF unit ran on for another 12 months as a semi-official Defence Platoon, its final parade being in 1994.

Following the reorganisation of the Royal Signals TA in 2009, the Squadron merged with the Essex Yeomanry to form The Inns of Court & City and Essex Yeomanry (ICCEY).

Present day

Today, the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry maintains two distinct sub-units in the TA: 68 (ICCEY) Signal Squadron remains in 71st (City of London) Yeomanry Signal Regiment, which is part of 2 (National Communications) Signal Brigade, while the IC&CY Band, which was formed along with the regiment in 1961, has become the band of the Royal Yeomanry. The Band still retains its distinctive original uniform, however.

The squadron operates out of three locations: its HQ is in a Georgian townhouse in Lincoln's Inn, in Holborn; more austere post-war premises in Whipps Cross, Leytonstone some 17 kilometers away in East London; and at the TA Centre housing 907 (Essex Yeomanry) Signal Troop at Chelmsford. It is a Close Support Squadron within 71st (City of London) Yeomanry Signal Regiment (Volunteers).

Both Band and Mounted Detachment of the Sabre Squadron are publicly most visible in providing an escort to the Lord Mayor of the City of London in the annual Lord Mayor's Show, as a mounted detachment of five officers and eight other ranks processes through the City of London on the first Saturday of November. The Band also performs a large number of charitable performances both nationally, and at its Clifton Street HQ.

Although their primary role remains UK Operations-focused, providing radio operators and equipment to assist in communications roles, squadron members have raised significant sums for charitable causes in recent years. Individual members of the Signal Squadron have also deployed overseas to support UK military operations: members of 'The Inns' were among the first mobilisation of the TA since the Korean War when sent to the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. More recent individual deployments have included Op Telic in Iraq, Op Tosca in Cyprus, and Op Herrick in Afghanistan.

The unit is also affiliated with an Army Cadet Force unit - 35 Signal Squadron - from the City of London and North East Sector ACF. They parade at the Whipp's Cross site, and share the same name and cap badge as the squadron.

External links