With the outbreak of war in 1939, Ryder joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and was subsequently attached to the newly-formed Special Operations Executive.
The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, which is the armoured regiment for the West Midlands and north west of England, has squadrons based in Dudley, Telford, Chester, Wigan and Hereford.
Britain has had a reserve of part-time or retired soldiers - often known as yeomanry - since the Middle Ages but the system was only regularised in 1907 with the passing of legislation creating a Territorial Force.