The Yeomen of the Guard 

A Brief History of the Royal Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard!
      The Beginning While very few records exist of the Kings Body Guard and their inception, there are still some records that are traceable back to the "Battle of Bosworth".

    Henry VII, after being in exile in Vannes in Brittany, played out a plan to take the throne of England back to the Lancastrians from the ever disliked Richard III of the House of York. Henry's plans had been in the making for two years and he often made his way back and forth between Wales and England to gather support to carry out these plans. These plans were fulfilled on August 22, 1485 when Richard III and Henry Tudor fought at the Battle of Bosworth and Richard was killed. Henry was proclaimed King of England on the 25th day of August in Northumberland with the remaining armies, a host of nobles and the people of the town and countryside in witness.

From the 22nd of August until the 16th of September of 1485 there were only five warrants issued constituting the "Yeomen of the Guard of the our Lord the King". These first warrants were given to those men that followed Henry from his exile and guarded him during the battle. Twenty-eight more were to follow all the way up until January 27, 1486. While there is not an exact date as to the formation of the Guard, it has been assumed that the first warrants were given while still on the Bosworth battlefield and therefore August 22, 1485 is considered as the date of the institution of the Guard.

Yeomen of the Guard of the King
(Valecti Garde Domini Regis)

In the first warrants the wording changes several times. The warrant issued to John Frye on Sept. 16, 1485 is worded as "Warrant to John Frye, one of the yeomen of the Kings Guard", while another to Robert Wallshe is worded as such "19th September, 1485. Robert Wallshe, one of the Yeomen of the Guard". It is not known if these were task specific for these two men or if the second was just an abbreviated version of the warrant as the wording changed from Yeomen of the Guard to Yeomen of the Kings Guard several times.

In the older warrants there were several variations of the old Latin designation, "vn valect garde d'ni Regis", "vnus valect Garden nre", "Vnum Valectorum Guarde nre ordinar" and "Valectis Garde (Corporis) Nostri", collectively the obvious meaning is "The Yeomen of the Guard of the Body of our Lord the King". In only one instance is the word "Corporis" mentioned and is therefore not always used in the description of the Guard. Valecti Garde (Corporis) Domini Regis is translated from Latin to the English as "Yeomen of the Guard of the Body of (our Lord) the King"

The title of "Yeomen" refers to a class of people that were not of noble birth but men that were of the land. The word "Yeo" literally means
"District" and "Men or Man" means just that. In other words, these men were of status of those that were of preeminence
of laborer or rather owned a small parcel of land and hired
men to work it for them all the way up to gentlemen. This would serve to be a proclamation to the people of England that he had selected, not people of nobility, but just below them, for the protection of his person.

The First Captain of the Guard

Again, we have no state documentary evidence of the appointment.The historians record that Henry instituted a guard-"A certaine number of choise Archers with allotment of fees and maintenance which under a peculiar Captaine and the name of Yeomen of the Guard he assigned for that service for him and his successors, Kings and Queens of England" ; they also state that John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was the first Captain at the Coronation." John de Vere, Earl of Oxford had been Henry's staunchest friend while he was in exile, his most able and trusted commander of his army on the march, and the brilliant captain of the archer of his vanguard at the Battle of Bosworth. Therefore, there is no reason not to believe that John de Vere would be Henry's first choice as captain.

Other Officers

There was a warrant dated 10th March, 1486 that is, within six months of the Coronation, "Grant for life to Anthony Brome of office of Standard Bearer to the King within the realm of England or elsewhere". Therefore we consider Anthony Brome to be the first "Ensign of the Yeomen of the Guard".

The next officer of the Guard was the "Clerk of the Chequere Rolle". After the turn of the century there was mention of one Barnard Crete, late Clerk of the Cheque at Tournai. There is no mention of anyone before him as being the "Clerk of the Chequere Rolle". This job entailed being the official roll taker of everyone of the household as well as being in charge of the payroll. The title was later shortened to "Clerk of the Cheque".

There is no mention of any other officers being appointed during Henry VII's time but before the turn of the century there were approximately 120 men in the Guard and it is assumed that there would be several positions of officers below the Captain that held multiple appointments throughout the country and abroad. It is most probable that the appointment of all subordinate officers would be at the discretion of the Captain.

All of the information contained in this writing was obtained from the publishing by Colonel Sir Reginald Hennell in his book entitled "The History of the Kings Bodyguard, the Yeomen of the Guard" published in 1904 by Constable Publishing, Westminster, England

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