Upper Bristol Road drill hall, Bath

The building, which was completed in the late 19th century,[1] became the headquarters of the North Somerset Yeomanry in 1912.[2] The regiment was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front.[3] The drill hall also served as the headquarters of the Wessex Divisional Royal Engineers during the First World War and was used by a section of the 2nd South Western Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps at that time.[4]

After the building became dilapidated, the regiment moved to more modern facilities on an adjacent site on Upper Bristol Road. Following the defence cutbacks of 1967, the Territorial Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and elements of the North Somerset Yeomanry and West Somerset Yeomanry merged to form the Somerset Yeomanry and Light Infantry.[5] A (Somerset Yeomanry Light Infantry) Company, 6th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Light Infantry was re-formed at Bath in 1971.[5] Although the company was subsequently disbanded, the new drill hall in Upper Bristol Road became home to 43 (Wessex & City & County of Bristol) Signal Squadron, 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment in 2000 and remains an active Army Reserve Centre.[6]