The Young Citizen Volunteers of Ireland had its first meeting just prior to the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant (Ulster), in Belfast City Hall on September 10, 1912.

Each member was to pay 2s.6d (12.5 p) on joining the YCVs and a further 6d (2.5p) each month; he was to attend weekly drills to learn "modified military and police drill, single stick, rifle and baton exercises, signalling, knot-tying and other such exercises". If possible he was also to gain some knowledge of "life-saving and ambulance work".

The constitution of the YCVs insisted that members should not take part in any political meeting or demonstration. They were stated as being "non-sectarian and non-political" and their objectives were considered to be: Membership was open to anyone aged between eighteen and thirty-five who was over five feet in height and could present "credentials of good character". Some Roman Catholics did join the YCV, though it was overwhelmingly Protestant in numbers.

The British government refused to offer financial assistance to the YCV, in return for placing themselves at the government's disposal. In May 1914 with the gathering momentum of the Home Rule crisis and with many Young Citizens feeling betrayed by the government the YCVs applied for membership of the Ulster Volunteer Force and became a battalion of its Belfast regiment.

In turn, the UVF and the YCV amalgamated to form the 36th (Ulster) Division as an official part of the British Army due to the outbreak of World War I. It took some time to receive official status however, because of the political situation in Ireland at the time, and so many men either joined the 10th (Irish) Division or the 16th (Irish) Division, or crossed over to Scotland and England to join British Army regiments there.

Also formed had been the previously mentioned 16th (Irish) Division - mainly Roman Catholics from the Irish National Volunteers, who had been preparing to fight for independence of Ireland from the United Kingdom. They fought said-by-side against the Germans in, amongst other events, the Battle of the Somme. On the morning of the July 1, 1916, the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, many of the men in the 36th went 'over the top' of the trenches. By the second day, the 36th had lost five and a half thousand men. By the July 9, the 16th had lost some four thousand men.

The Ulster Division was the only Division of X Corps to have achieved its objectives on 1st July 1916, and the men of the Division received many awards for bravery, including four Victoria Crosses.

The UVF were "re-formed" by Gusty Spence in 1966 and quickly became a sectarian paramilitary organisation. The YCV were re-established in the 1970s as the youth wing of this new organisation.

Like the UVF, the YCV is now exclusively Protestant and advocates an extreme form of political loyalism.