Owner Comments:
Wiltshire County DH #1
Obverse: A horseman galloping left holding the reigns with his left hand and a drawn sword in his right WILTSHIRE YEOMANRY CAVALRY Ex: 1794
Reverse: Three horsemen galloping left, the nearest one bearing the Union Jack THEIR TOKEN. Ex: P.A.ET.F
Edge: Milled /////
Engraver: Arnold of Birmingham
Manufacturer: William Lutwyche
Issuer: Markes Lambe, the Bath trader and numismatist
Rarity: Rare
On 4 June 1794, at a meeting at the Bear Hotel in Devizes, the decision was taken to create bodies of yeomanry cavalry throughout Wiltshire; the first troop, of 56 yeomen, had already been formed at Bishops Cannings on 12 May. Initially consisting of ten troops acting independently and mustered over the following 12 months, they combined to form a single regiment, the Wiltshire Yeomanry Cavalry, on 15 April 1797. It is suggested that these tokens were struck at about that time. Command of the new body was given to Sir Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury (1773-1856), the captain of the Marlborough troop and MP for the borough from 1796 to 1814. In June 1798 all ten troops paraded for the first time at Devizes and marched to Beckhampton Down, where Lady Bruce presented five standards; the regiment then comprised 28 officers and 595 NCOs, a total figure not unadjacent to the numbers of tokens struck, whether by accident or design.
Atkins: Wiltshire 1