Gloucestershire Militia

During the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, the Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Beaufort, led his Gloucestershire Militia (four regiments of Foot, one of Horse and an independent company of Foot from the City of Gloucester), together with that of neighbouring Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, to join the 700-strong City of Bristol Militia and prevent that city falling into the hands of the rebels. They arrested potential rebels and then patrolled the north bank of the River Avon to prevent the rebel army moving north or crossing into Wales. The Gloucester Militia Horse may have reconnoitred as far forward as Bridgwater.[37][45] Three of the regiments of Foot had mustered at Gloucester, St Briavels in the Forest of Dean, and Cirencester, and the Horse at Gloucester.[37]

Faced with another invasion in 1688, this time by his son-in-law, William of Orange, King James II called out the militia, and a detachment of the Gloucestershires intercepted Lord Lovelace and 70 followers at Cirencester en route to join the invader. The militia made them prisoners after a sharp skirmish in which Major Lorange of the militia and his son were killed. However, most of James's regular army and many militia regiments rallied to William, whose takeover (the Glorious Revolution) was otherwise virtually bloodless.[37][46][47][48]

The Gloucestershire Militia, horse and foot under the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Macclesfield, and Sir John Guise, 2nd Baronet of Elmore Court, were assembled for a month's summer training in 1690 during the crisis when William and the army were in Ireland and the French had won temporary command of the English Channel. However, when the French fleet failed to follow up the Battle of Beachy Head, Macclesfield and Guise were ordered to send their men to their homes to help with the harvest.[49]

A full return of the English Militia was compiled in 1697. By then Viscount Dursley was Lord Lieutenant of both the County of Gloucestershire and the City of Bristol, and he controlled the following regiments, though there is no mention of any training being carried out:[21][37][50][51]

• Regiment of Horse, 6 troops, 243 men, under Colonel Lord Dursley
• White Regiment of Foot, 10 companies, 583 men, at Gloucester under Colonel Sir John Guise, 3rd Baronet
• Green Regiment of Foot, 8 companies, 534 men, from Kiftsgate Hundred under Colonel Sir Ralph Dutton, 1st Baronet
• Blue Regiment of Foot, 9 companies, 551 men, under Colonel Sir Thomas Stephens[lower-alpha 1]
• Red Regiment of Foot, 9 companies, 531 men, at St Briavels under Colonel Maynard Colchester of Westbury Court
• City of Bristol Militia, 10 companies, 727 men, under Colonel Charles Bartley

After the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the militia was allowed to dwindle.[53] Nathaniel Wade, who had served as a major under Monmouth at Sedgemoor, commanded the Bristol Militia against the riotous coal miners of Kingswood in 1714,[54] and there was a flurry of activity in Gloucestershire at the time of the Jacobite rising of 1715.[55] Apparently, Gloucestershire organised a new battalion in 1750, with its headquarters at Bristol.[56]

Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 re-established county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. Gloucestershire, including the cities of Gloucester and Bristol, was given a quota of 960 men to raise.[40][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] Despite anti-ballot riots at Cirencester, Cricklade and Lechlade, Gloucestershire was one of the first counties to meet the bulk of its quota (incorporating the vestiges of the old regiments) and was ready to issue them with arms on 15 May 1759. A train of waggons carrying arms and accoutrements for the regiment left the Tower of London on 22 May.[21][58][63][64][65][66][67][68]

The regiment was commanded by Col Norborne Berkeley, who became Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire in 1762. The 1st or South Battalion was embodied for permanent duty at Gloucester on 27 July 1759 with eight companies under his command.[21][63][68][69]

At that time the 2nd (North) Battalion had only gathered two companies but it was formally raised with seven companies at Cirencester on 22 August 1760, when its weapons were requested. It was embodied under the command of Lt-Col Viscount Tracy on 9 April 1761 and granted the subtitle of 'Fusiliers' the same year.[21][63][56][66][69][70][71] A Bristol battalion may also have been formed in 1762. The North and South battalions regiments were camped together at Winchester during the summer of 1761. From November the North battalion was stationed at Bideford guarding French prisoners-of-war. The battalion returned to Winchester in June 1762, then in the autumn it marched to Gloucestershire.[68][71][72]

The Seven Years War ended with the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763 and the two battalions of Gloucestershire militia were disembodied, but not before they became separate South and North regiments on 20 April.[21][63][56][68][71][73]

After the outbreak of the War of American Independence in 1775 a controversial Act of Parliament was passed to 'Enable His Majesty to call out and assemble the Militia in all cases of Rebellion in any part of the Dominion belonging to the Crown of Great Britain'. In the event the militia was called out in its traditional role when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. Both Gloucestershire regiments were embodied from 1778 to 1782.[21][63][43][68][71][70][74][75]

From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out.[76]

In view of the worsening international situation the militia was embodied for service in 1792, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793. Both Gloucestershire regiments were at Weymouth, Dorset, in 1795 when King George III stayed there and granted them the title 'Royal', but the North regiment lost its 'Fusiliers' distinction the following year.[21][63][65][68][71][70][77][78]

The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in the British Isles), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers. Agricultural workers in the ranks could be loaned out to farmers during the harvest. Service in the militia could be hard: the men found that a daily food allowance of five pence did not go far when the price of provisions rose, and some units were involved in food riots. While stationed at Portsmouth in 1795 the men of the Gloucestershire Militia forced the local butchers to lower their prices.[79][80][81]

In a fresh attempt to have as many men as possible under arms for home defence in order to release regulars, the Government created the Supplementary Militia, a compulsory levy of men to be trained in their spare time, and to be incorporated in the Militia in emergency.[82] In 1796 Gloucestershire had to find an additional 1757 militiamen for the Supplementary Militia, though unlike some counties these were apparently incorporated into the two existing regiments. The Supplementary Militia were stood down in 1799, but the county had to find 1163 more in 1802.[83][84][85]

When the Irish Rebellion broke out in 1798 the Royal North Gloucesters (RNG) volunteered for service there, but arrived too late for action, the French army surrendering soon after the regiment arrived. It returned to England in 1799.[21][70][86] A peace treaty having been agreed (the Treaty of Amiens), the militia were disembodied in 1802. The peacetime quota for Gloucestershire was set at 1163 militiamen. However the Peace of Amiens quickly broke down, and they were embodied once more in 1803. Both regiments marched to Portsmouth, where they did duty alternately for a few months. They resumed the routine of summer camps and winter quarters around the country, undergoing training, suppressing smuggling and guarding prisoners, all the while being depleted by men volunteering for the regulars: the RNG supplied a large number of recruits to the 9th Foot. The two Gloucestershire regiments came together again in August 1808, when a large militia camp was held near Brighton , the excuse being the birthday of the Prince of Wales, but the opportunity being taken to carry out collective manoeuvres. The RNG served in Ireland again in 1813–14.[21][63][68][70][87]

While the established militia were the mainstay of national defence during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, they were supplemented from 1808 by the Local Militia, which were part-time and only to be used within their own districts. These were raised to counter the declining numbers of Volunteers, and if their ranks could not be filled voluntarily the Militia Ballot was employed.[88][89][90][91] Three regiments were formed in Gloucestershire, each commanded by an officer from the RNG; a further regiment was added in 1813:[92]

• Royal West Gloucestershire Local Militia – formed at Bristol under Lt-Col Commandant Thomas, 4th Lord Ducie, commissioned 4 April 1809
• 1st East Gloucestershire Local Militia – formed at Gloucester under Lt-Col Comdt Sir Berkeley Guise, 2nd Baronet, of Highnam, commissioned 14 April 1809
• 2nd East Gloucestershire Local Militia – formed at Cirencester under Lt-Col Comdt Sir Henry Lippincott, 2nd Baronet, commissioned 9 May 1809; became North Gloucestershire (see below) in 1813
• Royal Cotswold Local Militia – formed at Cirencester under Lt-Col Comdt Henry, Lord Apsley, commissioned 24 January 1813
• North Gloucestershire Local Militia – based at Tewkesbury from 1813

After Napoleon's exile to Elba the Gloucestershire Militia was disembodied in 1814. They were not called out again during the short Waterloo campaign.[21][63][70][93] The Local Militia was disbanded in 1816. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the 'Regular' militia and ballots were still held to maintain the numbers of militiamen, they were rarely assembled for training after Waterloo – the RNG were only trained in 1820, 1821, 1825 and 1831. The permanent staffs of the regiments were progressively reduced.[94][lower-alpha 2]

War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the Militia were called out in 1854.[21][63][70][101][102] In this year the RSGM was redesignated as light infantry, as the Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry (RSGLI), or more pompously as the Royal South Battalion of the Gloucestershire Light Infantry Militia[21][63][103][65] Both regiments were disembodied in 1856 but the RNG was embodied a year later during the Indian Mutiny, serving for a few months in Ireland.[21][63][70][104]

Cecily Hill Barracks today, formerly the headquarters of the Royal North Gloucestershire Militia.

Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, militia regiments were brigaded with their local Regular and Volunteer battalions – for the Gloucestershire Militia this was with the 28th (North Gloucestershire) and 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiments of Foot in Sub-District No 37 (County of Gloucester) in Western District. The Militia were now under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant.[70][103][105][106][107]

Although often referred to as brigades, the sub-districts were purely administrative organisations, but as a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned Regular and Militia units to places in an order of battle of corps, divisions and brigades for the 'Active Army', even though these formations were entirely theoretical, with no staff or services assigned. Both Gloucestershire militia regiments were assigned to 1st Brigade of 3rd Division, V Corps. The division would have mustered at Gloucester in time of war, and did actually undertake collective training at Minchinhampton Common in 1876 during the international crisis that led to the Russo-Turkish War; the Militia Reserve were also called out during this crisis. By 1880 the South Regiment had moved its headquarters to the brigade depot at Horfield Barracks, Bristol, but the North Regiment resisted the move and remained at Cirencester, where Cecily Hill Barracks had been built for it in 1854–6.[103][108][109]

When the Second Boer War drew away most of the Regular Army, the Militia were called out for home defence and to garrison certain overseas stations. The 4th Gloucesters was embodied on 11 January 1900, followed by the 3rd Gloucesters on 15 May. The 4th Battalion was sent to guard Boer prisoners of war on Saint Helena, for which it was awarded the unique Battle Honour St Helena 1900–01.[lower-alpha 3] The 3rd Battalion remained in the UK, though it did supply 124 volunteers to the 4th Bn for service in St Helena. The 3rd Bn was disembodied on 13 July 1901 and the 4th on 27 July.[21][63][70][103][115][116][117]

The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion was mobilised on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914 and served in the UK throughout World War I, initially guarding Woolwich Arsenal and the huge dumps of explosives distributed nearby, later at Gravesend and then Sittingbourne in the Thames & Medway Garrison. All the while the battalion fulfilled its other purpose by training and forming drafts of reservists, recruits and returning wounded for the Regular battalions of the Gloucesters fighting on the Western Front. Thousands of men would have passed through the ranks of the battalion during the war. The battalion was disembodied on 9 August 1919 when the remaining personnel were drafted to the 1st Bn.[63][125][126][127]

The SR resumed its old title of Militia in 1921 and then became the Supplementary Reserve in 1924, but like most militia battalions the 3rd Gloucestershires remained in abeyance after World War I. By the time of his death in 1938, Col William Burges (as honorary colonel) was the only remaining officer listed for the battalion. The Militia was formally disbanded in April 1953.[63][103][125]

In September 1759 it was ordered that militia regiments on service together were to take their relative precedence from the date of their arrival in camp. In 1760 this was altered to a system of drawing lots where regiments did duty together. During the War of American Independence the counties were given an order of precedence determined by ballot each year, beginning in 1778. In the French Revolutionary War the order balloted for in 1793 (Gloucestershire was 8th) remained in force until 1802, and another drawing took place at the start of the Napoleonic War (Gloucestershire was 7th), which remained in force until 1833. In that year the King drew the ballots 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 February 1763 took the first 37 places, the South Gloucesters becoming No 23, but the North Gloucesters (independent from April 1763) became No 69.[65][70][68][71][78][128][129][130]

The Cirencester contingent of Gloucestershire levies who served in the North of England in 1570 were supplied with blue caps with a yellow band, a blue coat with yellow facings, and yellow stockings.[16] The names of the 'White', 'Green', 'Blue' and 'Red' militia regiments of 1697 probably relate to their Regimental colours rather than their uniforms.

When the Gloucestershire Militia regiment was raised in 1761, both battalions wore red coats with blue facings. Officers wore gold lace, changed to silver in 1805 in line with normal militia practice. Drummers often wore 'reversed colours' (ie coats of the regimental facing colour, faced red), but the two Gloucester Militia regiments appear to have clothed their drummers in white coats faced red. By 1820 the drummers wore red faced with blue, appropriate for 'Royal' regiments, which did not reverse their colours.[103][71][68][69]

The Gloucestershire Local Militia units wore uniforms that approximated to the 'Regular' militia: red with blue facings. Each had its own pattern buttons and pouch belt plates.[92]

The two Gloucestershire militia regiments changed their facings to white when they became battalions of the Glosters in 1881, and the uniform thereafter was the same as the Regulars.[131]