2nd Royal Surrey Militia

In 1797, to release regulars for overseas service, the strength of the Militia was increased by the creation of the Supplementary Militia, also raised by means of the ballot.[31][32][33][34] A third of Surrey's Supplementary Militia quota (820 men) was assigned as reinforcements to the 'Old Surrey Militia', as the original regiment became known.[35] The remainder were to form two supplementary regiments. Surrey has been described as one of the 'black spots' in recruitment for the Supplementary Militia (especially compared to the Volunteers), so although the 1st Surrey Supplementary Militia was successfully raised, the 2nd regiment never reached its establishment and was disbanded in 1799.[22][17][23][25][16][35][36]

The first officers appointed to the 1st Surrey Supplementary Militia on 2 January 1797 included Colonel the Hon Thomas Onslow, Member of Parliament (MP) for Guildford and eldest son of the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Lord Onslow, and his Lieutenant-Colonel, Sir John Frederick, 5th Baronet, MP for Surrey.[35][37][38]

The regiment was embodied for full-time service on 20 February 1798 at Kingston upon Thames and it became the permanent 2nd Surrey Militia the same year.[17][22][23][25][35] Prior to the French Revolutionary War, the order of precedence for militia regiments had been decided by lot at the start of each camping season. However, the order balloted for in 1793 remained in force throughout the French Revolutionary War. Surrey's precedence of 18th applied to both regiments.[17][18][39][40]

After assembling at Kingston the new regiment was sent to the Isle of Wight on anti-invasion duty.[35] At first the regiment was quartered at Eling Barracks at West Cowes. While there, the Regimental Colours were presented: the ensigns who received the colours were Lieutenants Arthur George Onslow and Richard Frederick, the eldest sons of the colonel and lieutenant-colonel respectively. The regiment spent the summer of 1798 in camp in Parkhurst Forest, then went into winter quarters in Newport until May 1799 when it returned to Parkhurst. In July it returned to the mainland and was stationed at Plymouth Dock. During the year over 160 men of the regiment volunteered to transfer to the regular army, principally to the 9th Foot and the Brigade of Guards, and almost 300 had transferred by October 1800. With the lowered level of invasion alert in 1799, the militia quotas were reduced and many men of the supplementary militia were sent to their homes. Colonel Onslow argued strongly for the retention of the 2nd Surreys, even at a reduced establishment (Col Thomas Onslow was styled Viscount Cranley from 1801 when his father was advanced to an earldom). The regiment remained at Plymouth until November 1801 when it was marched to Winchester Barracks. However, preliminaries of peace had been signed, so in December the regiment was marched back to Surrey, where its companies were billeted in several villages until it was concentrated at Guildford to be disembodied on 25 April 1801.[22][38][41]

However, the Peace of Amiens soon broke down and the 2nd Surreys were re-embodied on 11 March 1803. Once more Surrey was a black spot for militia recruitment, and of the quota of 288 men that should have been balloted for in Southwark only 22 arrived, many substitutes deserting as soon as they had pocketed their bounty. On 18 May, the day was war was declared, the 2nd Surreys marched from Guildford via Reigate, Sevenoaks and Maidstone to barracks at Ashford, Kent, arriving on 21 May. They were quartered in surrounding villages until the barracks were ready for occupation. On 30 December the regiment moved to Reading Street Barracks, Tenterden, where it stayed until the end of June 1804.[22][42]

Another ballot for precedence took place at the start of the Napoleonic War: Surrey was 41st. On 23 April 1804 both the Surrey militia regiments were granted the title 'Royal', the 2nd becoming the 2nd Royal Surrey Militia (2nd RSM).[7][22][17][18][12][23][25][39][43] These 'regular', 'ordinary' or 'permanent' regiments of embodied militia should not be confused with the Local Militia, part-time units formed in 1809 to replace the various Volunteer units in the county; eventually there were five Local Militia regiments in Surrey.[12][34][44][45][46]

Militia duties during the Napoleonic War were much as before: home defence and garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and increasingly internal security in the industrial areas where there was unrest.[47][48] In June 1804 the 2nd RSM moved to Billericay in Essex, then in August to Danbury, with a detachment at Maldon. After a short spell at Chelmsford, the regiment returned to Danbury until March 1805, when it marched to Norman Cross Prison, which was a large Prisoner-of-war camp. In July it moved to Hull, with company detachments to Bridlington and Whitby on the coast, and remained there throughout 1806. In April 1807 the 2nd RLM began a march to the Medway towns in Kent, but en route it was diverted to Barnet and Whetstone, north of London.

The threat of invasion had heightened after the Treaty of Tilsit between France and Russia, all leave was cancelled, and a ballot was held in Surrey to bring the militia up to full strength. In August the regiment moved to Hythe on the Kent coast with detachments guarding Twiss Fort and Sutherland Fort. In the crisis there was another drive to induce militiamen to volunteer for the regulars: the 2nd RLM was given a quota of 68, but over 100 men elected to join the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot, including many of the sergeants and drummers. The regiment had a strength of just over 700 rank and file when it marched the Brabourne Lees camp on 1 February 1808, with very few non-commissioned officers (NCOs). From 1 March to 28 September it was at Reading Street Barracks, then spent the winter quartered at Ramsgate with a detachment at Margate before returning to the barracks on 1 February 1809. In April the regiment was moved out to quarters in coastal villages, then to Littlehampton by the end of the month. In June it moved to Pevensey and in July to Eastbourne, where it stayed for the next year. From July 1810 to May 1811 it was at Playden Barracks, then moved to join the Portsmouth area garrison, being quartered at Fareham, Titchfield, Havant, Emsworth and Westbourne.[49]

Legislation was passed in 1811 permitting English militia regiments to serve in Ireland for two years, and Lord Cranley informed the government that all of the 2nd RLM had volunteered to serve there except one sergeant, one corporal and 80 privates, who were sent to Bristol. The regiment 485 strong embarked from Portsmouth on 1 August under the command of Lt-Col Robert Frederick (eldest son of the original second-in-command) and after arrival in Dublin marched to Mullingar. The arrival of the militia relieved regiments of the King's German Legion for service in the Peninsular War.

The militia's duties included sending detachments to assist the revenue and police service. By the end of 1812 almost half the regiment was detached to Granard on this duty. The regiment continued to provide volunteers to the regulars, about 100 each year, who were replaced by recruits from a militia depot established on the Isle of Wight under the Hon Thomas Cranley Onslow (appointed colonel of the 2nd RLM after the resignation of his father in 1812), though there was criticism of the quality of the recruits received by the regiment. In May 1813 the regiment concentrated at Mullingar and marched to Dublin to await passage back to England, embarking on 30 June. In England it rejoined the depot and the recruiting parties operating across Surrey. The regiment was stationed at Woodbridge, Suffolk, until 4 September, when it moved to Chelmsford Barracks.[23][50]

From November 1813 the militia were invited to volunteer for limited overseas service, primarily for garrison duties in Europe. Ten officers and 158 other ranks (ORs) of the 2nd RSM volunteered for this service, though a number changed their mind and transferred to the regular army instead (mainly to the 51st Foot). In the event the regiment supplied a detachment of 114 men for the 2nd Provisional Battalion, while four officers were posted to the 1st Provisional Bn. The 2nd Provisional Bn assembled at Chelmsford and marched to Portsmouth where the Militia Brigade was assembling, arriving on 5 March. The brigade embarked on 10–11 March 1814 and joined the Earl of Dalhousie's division that had occupied Bordeaux just as the war was ending. The brigade did not form part of the Army of Occupation after the abdication of Napoleon and returned to England in June.[7][23][51][52][53]

The 2nd RSM remained at Chelmsford until it returned to Guildford to be disembodied on 24 June 1814. The parties of men from 2nd Provisional Bn were paid off as soon as they arrived at Portsmouth and Plymouth in July. Although many militia regiments were embodied again after Napoleon's return to power in 1815, leading to the short Waterloo Campaign, the 2nd RSM was not one of them, though it did recruit 'by beat of drum' to maintain its numbers[22][23][54]

Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held during the long peace after the Battle of Waterloo, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced. The 2nd RSM was only called out for training in 1820, 1821, 1825 and 1831.[55]

The militia order of precedence balloted for in the Napoleonic War remained in force until 1833. In that year the King drew the lots for individual regiments and the resulting list remained in force with minor amendments until the end of the militia. The regiments raised before the peace of 1763 took the first 47 places: both Surrey regiments were deemed to predate 1763 (even though the 2nd had disappeared between 1763 and 1797), and the 2nd RSM was allotted 11th place, the 1st RSM only 20th. Formally, the regiment became the 11th, or 2nd Royal Surrey Militia: most regiments paid little notice to the numbering, but the 2nd RSM did include the numeral in the title of its regimental history. The regiment's precedence and royal status were confirmed in 1855.[12][17][25][39][56]

War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the militia began to be called out for home defence. The 2nd RSM carried out is annual training at Woodbridge Road in May 1854, when its new Regimental Colours were presented by Viscountess Cranley.[64] The regiment was then embodied for service on 1 February 1855. However, a serious disturbance broke out on 28 March when all the men who had enlisted in 1852 and had completed their training requirement were fallen out, either to be sent home or to be re-attested to complete their five years' service: 160 re-attested, 260 declined. However, a revised War Office order arrived in the afternoon and the 260 men were ordered back to attend parade. By this time many were drunk and the 24 remaining men of the Grenadier Company had to be deployed with fixed bayonets across the entrance to the drill field before the 10-man guard was turned out from the barracks. These two small armed parties cleared the boisterous civilians and forced the men back into the drill ground. The confusion over the badly-drafted 1852 Act was cleared up, and the men were eventually allowed to take their discharge and go home. This left the 2nd RSM with only 394 effective men.[22][17][23][25][65][66]

The regiment was trained hard, with two daily drills, the first always taken by the colonel. In the summer months there were frequent marches out to Merrow Downs or to Lord Lovelace's estate at Horsley Towers. Although the regiment had volunteered for service overseas, its offer was not accepted. However, 75 men and a number of officers volunteered to transfer to the regulars, followed by another 90 in 1856, bringing to total to 315 men and seven officers during the war. The 2nd RSM left Guildford on 13 February 1856 (having remained billeted there until an outbreak of smallpox was over) and went into the newly built North Camp at Aldershot. For drill purposes the regiment was assigned the 6th Brigade in the camp. However, the Crimean war was coming to an end, and the 2nd RSM marched back to Guildford to be disembodied on 12 June 1856.[22][17][23][25][67]

After the disembodiment the 2nd RSM was not called out for training again until 1858, but the permanent staff continued to be periodically inspected and worked as recruiters for the regular army, raising 144 men in 1857 and 157 in 1858. Although a number of militia regiments were embodied to relieve regular units sent to fight in the Indian Mutiny, the 2nd RSM was not among them. In 1858 it did 20 days' training, during which a picket of 80 men was sent into Guildford to deal with a riot. Thereafter the regiment was called out annually for training, with the recruits undergoing 14–20 days' preliminary training. In 1864 the training was held at a tented camp erected on Whitmoor Common by the recruits to avoid another smallpox outbreak in Guildford. As an experiment in May 1867 the annual training was held at Aldershot in conjunction with the regular division stationed there. The 1st and 2nd RSM were both attached to 1st Brigade. The camp ended with a divisional field day and was considered a success, being repeated in subsequent years; in 1871, although the recruits were trained in May, the regiment participated in the extensive Autumn Manoeuvres conducted that year. In 1867 the Militia Reserve was created, consisting of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war. In 1870 The Earl of Lovelace resigned the command after 17 years and became the regiment's Honorary Colonel and was succeeded as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant (the rank of colonel in the militia having been abolished) by Lt-Col Charles Calvert, who died later that year and was succeeded by Major William Sharp.[62][68][69][70][71][72]

After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the regular army was sent to South Africa, and many militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and to garrison certain overseas stations. The 3rd Queen's was embodied on 4 December 1899 and volunteered for overseas service. It embarked on 20 February 1900 with a strength of 24 officers and 515 ORs, under the command of Col Frederick Fairtlough. After disembarking at Cape Town on 27 March the battalion was sent to De Aar to occupy various outposts in the district. It was soon moved to Springfontein to defend points along about 350 miles (560 km) of the Lines of Communication at Deelfontein, Richmond Road, Victoria West Road, Krom River, Fraserburg Road and Kettering Siding, with headquarters (HQ) at Beaufort West. In August a detachment of 200 men under Maj Frederick Parsons was sent back to garrison De Aar, and the battalion's machine gun detachment moved to Vryburg for service on the armoured train running between Kimberley and Mafeking. In October the battalion was withdrawn and sent down to guard Green Point Camp, a major prisoner of war camp at Cape Town. When the Boers invaded Cape Colony, units of town guards were formed, and a battalion about 1800 strong was placed under Col Fairtlough, who in March 1901 was put in command of the Simon's Town district. In July the 3rd Queen's returned to Beaufort West, with detachments sent to Namaqualand and Touws River. On its arrival at Beaufort West the Boers were close by, so the companies with HQ were pushed on to De Aar to reinforce the blockhouse line and protect convoys passing through the district. Over the next few months the battalion was engaged in repelling Boer columns driven against the blockhouse line by British mounted columns. In September the Touws River garrison was alerted when Commandant Gideon Scheepers' commando threatened the station. Colonel Fairtlough was now invalided to Cape Town, and Lt-Col Wellington Shelton assumed command of the battalion. In November it was concentrated at De Aar apart from a detachment at Worcester. In December a detachment of four officers and 124 ORs escorted a convoy of 160 12-bullock waggons on a journey of 120 miles (190 km) to Prieska.[22][23][25][73][79]

The medal awarded to the defenders of Okiep by the Cape Copper Company.

By March 1902 the battalion was preparing to leave for home after a two-year tour of duty. The main body, which since 9 February had been holding the blockhouse section between Victoria West and Beaufort West, moved down to Cape Town for embarkation on 4 March. The companies under Maj Parsons at Prieska were still cut off and living on half rations, and were not able to leave until later. However, Lt-Col Shelton and another detachment was operating with a column in Namaqualand, where Boers were seizing the copper mines. On 1 April Shelton was in command at the largest mine, at Okiep, when it was attacked by a large force under Jan Smuts. As well as his militiamen of the 3rd Queen's and 5th Royal Warwickshires, Shelton's 900-strong defence force included a large number of miners, both white and Coloured. A determined attack was driven off on 12 April and rifle fire went on all day, after which the Boers closely invested the town. On 1 May they unsuccessfully drove a train loaded with dynamite into the defences. However, Smuts had been called away to take part in the peace talks at Vereeniging. His men continued the siege until a relief force (including part of 4th Bn East Surreys, formerly the 3rd Royal Surrey Militia) arrived from Port Nolloth on 3 May. The Treaty of Vereeniging brought the war to an end on 31 May.[23][80][81]

Even while the siege of Okiep continued, the 3rd Queen's had been formally disembodied on 1 April 1902.[22][23][25][73] During the campaign the battalion had lost 12 ORs killed or died of wounds or sickness. It was awarded the Battle honour South Africa 1900–02 and the participants received the Queen's South Africa Medal with the clasp for 'Cape Colony', and the King's South Africa Medal with clasps '1901' and '1902'. Colonel Fairtlough was awarded the CMG and Lt-Col Shelton and Maj Parsons each received the DSO.[23][25][73] The Cape Copper Company awarded its own Medal for the Defence of O'okiep to all the defenders, regardless of race or service. The officers and men of the 3rd Queen's who were present during the siege would have received this medal, even though it was unofficial and not allowed to be worn in uniform. The inscription on the medal read: 'PRESENTED TO THE OFFICERS NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE GARRISON OF OOKIEP IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR GALLANT DEFENCE OF THE TOWN UNDER LT. COL. SHELTON. D.S.O. AGAINST A GREATLY SUPERIOR FORCE OF BOERS APRIL 4TH TO MAY 4TH 1902'.[82]

Four days after the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914 the battalion mobilised at Guildford under the command of Lt-Col A.G. Shaw, commanding officer since 23 October 1911, and moved to its war station at Chattenden in the Thames–Medway defences. The battalion was detailed for guard duties at magazines and vulnerable points around Belvedere, Lodge Hill, Strood and Chatham Dockyard. As well as its defence responsibilities, the battalion's role was to train and form drafts of reservists, special reservists, recruits and returning wounded for the regular battalions. The 1st Battalion served with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front for the whole war. The 2nd Battalion also went to the Western Front after its arrival from South Africa, but it ended the war on the Italian Front. Thousands of reinforcements for these battalions would have passed through the 3rd Bn.[73][88][89][90]

Fort Clarence, Rochester, 3rd (SR) Bn's HQ 1914–16.

The 3rd Bn had already equipped and sent out over 1000 reservists by November 1914 when it moved to Rochester. HQ and A Company were stationed at Fort Clarence, and a company at each of the other forts: Horsted, Borstal and Bridgewoods. Each company was composed of Regular and Special Reservists, with a few wounded and unfit men returned from the BEF, while the recruits were trained at Chatham Lines until, they were ready to be transferred to the service companies in the forts to pepare for drafting. It the latter part of 1915 the battalion also began supplying drafts to the 6th and 7th (Service) Bns composed of 'Kitchener's Army' volunteers, which were by then serving with the BEF; this role was later taken over by the 9th (Reserve) Bn. In February 1916 3rd Bn moved to Gore Court at Sittingbourne. It was now organised as A Company (unfit BEF men), B, C and D Service Companies (draft finding), and Nos 1, 2, 3 and 4 Training Companies still at Chatham Lines. It remained to the end of the war in the Sittingbourne Special Reserve Brigade.[88][89][90]

During the war the battalion's honorary colonel, Col Frederick Fairtlough, CMG, came out of retirement to command the 8th (Service) Bn, Queen's, a Kitchener's Army unit, and was killed in action on 26 September 1915 at the Battle of Loos.[91][92][93]

On 10 November 1915 3rd Bn was ordered to send a draft of 109 men to the new Machine Gun Training Centre at Grantham where they were to form the basis of a brigade machine-gun company of the new Machine Gun Corps for the divisions serving overseas. In addition, 10 men at a time were to undergo training at Grantham as battalion machine gunners. The order stated that 'Great care should be taken in the selection of men for training as machine gunners as only well educated and intelligent men are suitable for this work'.[94]

After the war the 3rd Bn moved to Clipstone Camp in Nottinghamshire, where it was disembodied on 24 September 1919, when the remaining personnel were drafted to the 1st Bn.[22] It had been commanded by Col Shaw throughout its service.[88][89][90]

The SR resumed its old title of Militia in 1921 but like most militia battalions the 3rd Queen's remained in abeyance after World War I. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, only one officer (commissioned in 1916) remained listed for the battalion. The Militia was formally disbanded in April 1953.[22][25][73]