origin in 1509–10 in the twelve Yeoman of the Guard whom young
King Henry VIII. left, when he gave up the Tower of London as a
permanent residence, to show that it was still a royal palace. When
the Tower was finally given up as a royal residence they became
warders and were deprived of the dress, but were given it back
in Edward VI.’s reign, on a petition from the lord protector, who
had been confined there and to whom the warders had been most
considerate. They are now a distinct body, but in an honorary
sense still termed “Extraordinary of the Guard.” But they perform
no state functions, being solely yeomen warders under the orders
of the constable of the Tower. They are all old soldiers.
A brief notice of the other royal guard will be appropriate. In 1509, Henry VIII., envying the magnificence of the bodyguard of Francis I. of France, decided to have a noble guard of his own, which he accordingly instituted and called “The Gentlemen Spears.” It was composed of young nobles gorgeously attired. In 1539 this guard was reorganized and called “Gentleman Pensioners.” This title it retained till William IV.’s reign, when the corps regained its military character, the king on their petition giving them their present designation, “The Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms.”
See The History of the King’s Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard, by Colonel Sir Reginald Hennell, D.S.O., Lieutenant of the Yeomen of the Guard (1904). (R. He.)
YEOTMAL, a town and district of India, in Berar. The
town stands at an elevation of 1476 ft. Pop. (1901) 10,545.
It was formerly the headquarters of Wun district, but in 1905
a new district of Yeotmal was established, covering the former
Wun district, with additions from the district of Basim.
Cotton-ginning and pressing are carried on. The town is also
the chief trading centre in the district, and is connected by
road with Dhamangaon station, 29 m. distant.
The District of Yeotmal has an area of 5183 sq. m. It is a wild hilly country, intersected by offshoots from the Ajanta mountains. The hills are bare, or clothed only with dwarf teak or small jungle; but on the heights near Wun town the bamboo grows abundantly, and small bamboos are found in the ravines. The Wardha and Penganga, which bound the district on the E. and S., unite at its S.E. corner. The Penganga drains the greater part of the district. The tiger, leopard and hyena abound; bears, wolves and jackals arc also numerous; while small game is plentiful. The climate is enervating and unhealthy; the annual rainfall averages about 41 in. Pop. (1901) 575,957. The principal crops are millets, cotton, pulses, oil-seeds and wheat. Coal has been found, and iron ore abounds.
See Yeotmal District Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1908).
YEOVIL, a market town and municipal borough in the
S. parliamentary division of Somersetshire, England, on the
Great Western and South- Western railways, 127 m. W. by S.
of London. Pop. (1901) 9861. The town lies on the river
Yeo, and is a thriving place, with a few old houses. The church
of St John the Baptist is a perpendicular cruciform structure,
consisting of chancel, nave of seven bays, aisles, transepts and
lofty western tower. There are some 15th- and 16th-century
brasses, a dark cradle roof, and an early 13th-century crypt
under the chancel. The town is famous for its manufacture of
gloves (dating from 1565). Its agricultural trade is considerable.
The town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and
12 councillors. Area, 654 acres. Yeovil (Gyoele, Evill, Ivle,
Yeocle) before the Conquest was part of the private domains
of the Anglo-Saxon kings. The town owed its origin to trade,
and became of some size in the 13th century. In 14th-century
documents it is described as a town or borough governed by
a portreeve, who frequently came into conflict with the parson
of St John’s church, who had become lord of the manor of
Yeovil during the reign of Henry III. The corporation in
the 18th century consisted of a port reeve and eleven burgesses,
and was abolished when the town was reincorporated in 1853.
Fairs on the 17th of July and the 6th of November were held under grant of Henry VII., and were important for the sale of leather and of woollen cloth, both made in the town. The Friday market dates from 1215. There is a great market every other Friday and a monthly horse sale.
YERKES, CHARLES TYSON (1837–1905), American capitalist,
was born of Quaker parentage, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
on the 25th of June 1837. He was a clerk in a grain-commission
house, an exchange broker (1858–61) and a banker (1861–86).
When he failed in 1871 he refused to give any preference to
the city of Philadelphia for bonds sold on its account, and
was convicted, of “misappropriating city funds,” and sentenced
to two years and nine months in the penitentiary. After
serving seven months of this sentence he was pardoned, and
the City Council afterward passed an ordinance cancelling the
municipality’s claim against him. He established a banking
business in Chicago in 1881; in 1886 got control of the Chicago
City Railway Company; and within the next twelve years
organized a virtual monopoly of the surface and elevated
railway service of Chicago. He disposed of his street railway
interests in Chicago, and removed to London (1900). There
he acquired in 1901 a controlling interest in the Metropolitan
District railway, and by organizing the finances of the Underground Electric Railways Company he took an important
initiative in extending the system of London electric railways.
Yerkes gave to the university of Chicago the great telescope
installed in the Yerkes Observatory at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin,
and gathered in his New York residence a remarkable collection
of paintings, tapestries and rugs, which were sold at auction
in April 1910 for $2,034,450. He died in New York on the
29th of December 1905.
YETHOLM, a village of Roxburghshire, Scotland. Pop.
(1901) 571. It is situated on Bowmont Water, 712 m. S.E. of
Kelso, and 5 m. S.S.W. of Mindrum in Northumberland, the
nearest railway station. It is divided into two quarters. Kirk
Yetholm on the right and Town Yetholm on the left of the stream.
The name is said to be the O.E. yet, “gate,” and holm (here the same as ham), “hamlet,” meaning “the hamlet at the gate” of Scotland, the border being only 112 m. distant. Since about the middle of the 17th century the district has been the headquarters of a tribe of gipsies.
YEW (Taxus baccata), a tree which belongs to a genus of Coniferae (see Gymnosperms), in which the ordinarily woody cone is represented by a single seed surrounded by a fleshy cup. Usually it forms a low-growing evergreen tree of very
