Cornet Nicholas Roundell Toke, East Kent Yeomanry 1794
The Toke family lived at Godinton House near Ashford.
Nicholas’s father, John, then the High Sheriff of Kent, was one of those who called a public meeting in March 1793 that resolved to form “volunteer Troops of Horse composed of gentlemen and yeomen” for the defence of Kent against revolutionary France. This move was, however, too fast for Whitehall and the government did not authorise the raising of yeomanry troops until 1794.
Each of the first three troops raised had a captain, a lieutenant and a cornet as officers with up to 50 private soldiers. Nicholas was one of the Kent Yeomanry’s first officers, being made a cornet (2nd lieutenant) in June 1794.