Provisional Cavalry

The Provisional Cavalry was a mounted military reserve force raised in Great Britain in 1796 for internal security duties. Organised at the county level, the force was raised by an act of Parliament instigated by Secretary of State for War Henry Dundas, who viewed light cavalry as especially effective in countering foreign invasions. The Provisional Cavalry's ranks were filled by means of an obligation from British horse owners, who had to provide one trooper for every ten horses they owned, a method which drew comparisons to the feudal system. Each county had a quota of cavalrymen that it was expected to provide. The act was unpopular and the number and quality of recruits was low.

Dundas preferred the Yeomanry Cavalry to the Provisional Cavalry and in 1798 instigated measures to increase the former's numbers, exempting counties from the obligation to raise men for the Provisional Cavalry where the Yeomanry could provide at least 75% of the demanded quota. This proved highly effective, with the number of Yeomanry recruits exceeding Dundas' expectations. The Provisional Cavalry's embodied units were disbanded by 1800 and the force as a whole was disbanded in 1802 following the Peace of Amiens; the enabling act was allowed to lapse in 1806.