The Militia of Great Britain were the principal military reserve forces of the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, whi ...

during the 18th century. For the period following the creation of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great ...

in 1801, see

Militia (United Kingdom) The Militia of the United Kingdom were the military reserve forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Union in 1801 of the former Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland. The militia was transformed into the Specia ...

Great Britain

Following the restoration of Charles II in 1660, Parliament passed several acts empowering the

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

of each county to appoint officers and raise men for a militia force. Although the King commanded the forces, they were not centrally funded. The burden of supplying men and equipment fell on property owners, in proportion to their income from land or their property value. The militia could be called out for local police actions, to keep the peace, and in the event of a national emergency. It played a role in coastal defence during the second and third

Anglo-Dutch Wars The Anglo–Dutch Wars ( nl, Engels–Nederlandse Oorlogen) were a series of conflicts mainly fought between the Dutch Republic and England (later Great Britain) from mid-17th to late 18th century. The first three wars occurred in the secon ...

between 1665 and 1674, and contributed to the defeat of the

Duke of Monmouth Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

in 1685. The militia's usefulness as a military force, never great, declined thereafter, until by the middle of the 18th century it required a major overhaul. This was achieved by the Militia Acts 1757–1762, passed as a response to the threat of a French invasion during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754– ...

. Responsibility for raising and organising the force remained at county level, but funding was provided by central government. Officers were to be appointed from among the property-owning class. Men were to be chosen by ballot among the able-bodied men of the parish between the ages of 18 and 50, and would serve for three years (soon extended to five). If they wished not to serve, they could either provide a substitute or pay a £10 fine. There was considerable opposition to the reforms, both in parliament and in the country at large. Riots occurred in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and elsewhere in 1757. These stemmed chiefly from an ill-informed fear that conscription and compulsory foreign service were being covertly introduced. In fact, the acts, which applied in England and Wales only, restricted service to the territory of Great Britain. However some militia regiments did volunteer for service in Ireland during the

Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...

. Local opposition to the acts resulted in some counties being slow to implement them. Six counties – Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Sussex and Worcestershire – were in default for many years, also defaulting on a large part of the fines imposed on them in consequence. The

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, which drained the country of regular troops, provided the stimulus that brought the defaulters into line. By 1778 all English and Welsh counties had embodied their militias. Training of the disembodied militia took place over a period of several weeks each year, outside which officers and men would be largely free to pursue their civilian lives. When embodied, regiments would normally be quartered in public houses or barracks where available. Camps were also an option, and these were often sizeable affairs which brought troops together in large numbers for strategic and training purposes. Although overseas service was excluded from the militia's duties, embodied regiments were usually required to serve away from their home counties, and were frequently moved from one station to another. This was intended to reduce the risk of the men sympathising with the populace if they were required to quell civil unrest. Pay and conditions were similar to those of the regular army, with the additional benefit of money for family dependants. Unlike the army, the militia had no cavalry or, until 1853, artillery. The militia was constitutionally separate from the army, but from the 1790s militiamen were encouraged to volunteer for the army, and did so in large numbers. During the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

the militia expanded to a total strength of 82,000 men in February 1799, reducing to 66,000 through a Parliamentary act of that year designed to reinforce the regular army by encouraging militia volunteers through the offer of bounties for enlistment. In 1802 peace with France led to the disembodying of the militia, which was embodied again in 1803, when hostilities resumed. Britain's increasing overseas troop commitments during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

resulted in growing pressure on recruitment for the militia, both for home defence and as a feeder for the army. During the period to 1815, 110,000 men transferred to line regiments as against 36,000 prior to 1802. The militia continued to serve as a coastal defence force, as well as guarding dockyards and prisoners of war, and performing other duties including riot control during the

Luddite The Luddites were a secret oath-based organisation of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery. The group is believed to have taken its name from Ned Ludd, a legendary weaver ...

unrest of 1811–1813. It was disembodied in 1815 but balloting continued until 1831.

List of militia regiments

An incomplete list includes: *

Berkshire Militia The Royal Berkshire Militia was an auxiliary military regiment in the county of Berkshire in Southern England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands, in 1572 and their service during the Armada Crisis and in the English Civil War, th ...

* Royal Buckinghamshire Militia (King's Own) * Cambridgeshire Militia * Carnarvon Militia * Denbigh Militia * Derbyshire Blues * Devon Militia (four regiments) * Dorset Militia * Durham Militia (two regiments) * Edinburgh Militia * Gloucestershire Militia (two regiments) * North Hants Militia * Hertfordshire Militia * Kent Militia (two regiments) * Royal Lancashire Militia (seven regiments) * Royal London Militia (two regiments) * Middlesex Militia (five regiments) * Royal Montgomeryshire Militia * Norfolk Militia * Northampton Militia *

Northampton and Rutland Militia The Northampton and Rutland Militia was a militia regiment in the United Kingdom from 1860 to 1881, when it was transferred into the Northamptonshire Regiment. The regiment was formed in 1860 by the amalgamation of the Northampton Militia and th ...

* Northumberland Militia *

Nottinghamshire Militia Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The tradition ...

* Oxfordshire Militia * Rutland Militia * West Suffolk Militia * Royal Surrey Militia (three regiments) * Sussex Militia *

Royal Wiltshire Militia The Royal Wiltshire Militia was a militia regiment in Great Britain and the later United Kingdom from 1758 to 1881, when it was amalgamated into The Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment). The regiment was organised in late 1758, as the Wiltsh ...

East York Militia The East York Militia was a part time home defence force in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The Militia and its predecessors had always been important in Yorkshire, and from its formal creation in 1759 the regiment served in home defence in all Brit ...

Scottish militia

In the late 17th century, while the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a l ...

was still an independent country sharing a monarch with England, there were calls for the resurrection of the country's militia, with the understated aim of protecting the rights of Scots in Great Britain. A historical account of the debate which followed on Fletcher's work is given in John Robertson's 1985 ''The Scottish Enlightenment and the Militia Issue''. During the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took p ...

in Scotland, militias were raised in

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

, the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...

and the northern counties. They are often confused with Loudon's Highlanders regiment and the

Independent Highland Companies The Independent Highland Companies were irregular militia raised from the Scottish clans of the Scottish Highlands by order of the Government between 1603 and 1760 in order to help keep the peace and enforce the law in the Highlands and were reco ...

who also supported the Government. The Campbell of Argyll Militia also known as the ''Campbell militia'', the ''Argyll militia'', or the ''Argyllshire men'', was an irregular militia unit formed in 1745 by

John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll General John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll KT PC (c. 1693 – 9 November 1770), was a British Army officer and Scottish Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1713 and 1761. From 1729 to 1761 he was known as John Campbell of ...

to oppose the rising. Following the merger of Scotland into the new Kingdom of Great Britain, the British Militia Act 1757 did not apply in Scotland. There the traditional system continued, so that militia regiments existed in some places and not in others. This was resented by some, and the Militia Club, soon to become the

Poker Club The Poker Club was one of several clubs at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment where many associated with that movement met and exchanged views in a convivial atmosphere. History The Poker Club was created in 1762 out of the ashes of The ...

, was formed in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

to promote the raising of a Scottish militia. This and several other Edinburgh clubs became the crucible of the

Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...

. The Militia Act 1797 empowered the

s of Scotland to raise and command militia regiments in each of the "Counties, Stewartries, Cities, and Places" under their jurisdiction. At first the Act was opposed due to some believing the militia ballot would be used to enable the Crown to remove men from Scotland.Scobie, Ian Hamilton Mackay (1914). ''An Old Highland Fencible Corps The History of the Reay Fencible Highland Regiment of Foot, or Mackay's Highlanders, 1794–1802, With an Account of Its Services in Ireland During the Rebellion of 1798''. p. 3

{{anchor, IrelandIrish militia

The

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambe ...

passed an act in 1715 raising regiments of militia in each county and

county corporate A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for local government in England, Wales, and Ireland. Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing county-empower ...

. Membership was restricted to

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...

s between the ages of sixteen and sixty. In 1793, during the

, the Irish militia were reorganized to form thirty-seven county and city regiments. While officers of the reorganized force were all Protestants, membership of the other ranks was now opened up to members of all denominations, including Roman Catholics.

Channel Islands

* Royal Alderney Militia * Royal Guernsey Militia *

Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey Formed in 1337, the Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey can claim to be the oldest sub-unit of the British Army, although, because it is not a regiment, and was disbanded for decades in the late 20th century, it is not the most senior. History ...

* Royal Sark Militia

References

External links

Regiments of the British West Indies and Bermuda
Military history of Great Britain 18th-century history of the British Army Militia of the United Kingdom