• 1584: Origins

    Inns of Court Lawyers form armed Associations to defend London against the Spanish Armada's threatened invasion.

  • 1600 – 1800: Civil War & uprisings

    Civil War - lawyers join the Royalists, their clerks the Parliamentarians. The Inns are called out against the Jacobite invasion of 1745 and the Gordon riots of 1780. Future Prime Minister, William Pitt, serves in the Lincoln's Inn Company.

  • 1803: Becoming The Devil's Own

    King George III uses his dislike for lawyers – particularly ones carrying arms - to name massed ranks of the Law Association as "The Devil's Own"

  • 1900: Boer War

    The Inns of Court forms a contingent of mounted infantry nicknamed the "Rough Riders" to join the City Imperial Volunteers for service in South Africa.

  • 1914-18: World War I

    The Inns of Court Officer Training Unit commissions over 11,000 officers. Three Victoria Crosses and numerous other decorations are awarded.

  • 1940 – 45: World War II

    The Inns of Court see action across Northwest Europe, including, as an Armoured Car Squadron, landing on Juno Beach on D-Day.

  • Present day

    Volunteers serve on operations around the world including Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and other theatres.

  • Battle Honours

    The Inns of Court & City Yeomanry has 26 battle honours dating from the Boer War.

The Regimental Association of the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry: Celebrating the history of the Regiments associated with the IC&CY, its unique links with the law and lawyers and uniting past members.


As Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, our late Honorary Colonel, remarked following her visit to the Regiment in 1959 "I was pleased to meet not only those serving in the Regiment but also the old comrades on whose loyalty its future so greatly depends."