Sussex Militia

The Armada Crisis in 1588 led to the mobilisation of the trained bands. They were mustered in April when the returns from Sussex indicated that of 7572 able-bodied men in the county 2004 were trained, and a further 2001 were armed but untrained, in addition to the cavalry:[23]

The trained bands were called out on 23 July, and shadowed the Armada as it sailed up the English Channel. Four thousand trained bandsmen of Kent were ordered to reinforce those of Sussex if the Armada landed there. But the Armada was defeated at sea and was unable to land any troops: the trained bands were stood down shortly afterwards.[24][25][26]

With the passing of the threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th Century. Later, King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control. By 1638 Sussex had 1804 musketeers, 1000 corslets and 160 horsemen, organised by rapes as follows:[27][28]

This system was tested in the Bishops' Wars. On 18 November 1638 all English counties were instructed to muster their trained bands and keep them in readiness. However, the men from the southern counties were not actually used in the King's abortive campaign.[29] In the Second Bishops' War Sussex was ordered in March 1640 to send 600 trained bandsmen to Gravesend to be shipped to Newcastle upon Tyne along with the trained bands of other southern counties to take part in the campaign. In the event, most counties sent 'pressed men' rather than the trained men, and the army was of poor quality.[28][30]

Control of the trained bands was one of the major points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War. However, with a few exceptions neither side made much use of the trained bands during the war beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops.[26][31] Sussex was one exception, its TBs seeing some action, first when involved in the siege of Portsmouth and Southsea Castle when they were captured for Parliament by Sir William Waller in September 1642.[28][32] On the night of 15 November a group of Royalists in Chichester overpowered Captain Henry Chitty's company of trained bandsmen guarding the walls and seized their cannon at the North Gate (one of those captured at Portsmouth). Chitty and William Cawley, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Midhurst, fled to Portsmouth while the Royalists secured the trained band armoury. Next day the Royalist High Sheriff of Sussex, Sir Edward Ford, arrived with a force to garrison Chichester. Ford then advanced across Sussex, establishing a garrison at Arundel and moving towards Lewes. However, at Hayward's Heath he encountered the Lewes Trained Band under Herbert Morley, MP for Lewes. Although Ford's force outnumbered the trained bandsmen four-to-one, most of his men were raw country folk levied during his advance, and after a few volleys of musketry they were dispersed by a charge of the foot and horse of the Trained Band. Morley then gathered additional volunteers and recaptured Arundel, afterwards joining Waller, whose army retook Chichester in December 1642.[28][32][33][34][35]

A year later, in December 1643, Lord Hopton captured Arundel Castle for the Royalists once more, when Catcott's Company of the Sussex TBs was in the garrison. Hearing of the loss of Arundel, Captain Edward Apsley, whose company of the Bramber Trained Band was garrisoning Cowdray House, joined other Sussex Parliamentarians in advancing against Arundel, but he was captured by a Royalist patrol.[28][36] Waller finally secured Arundel for Parliament after the Battle of Alton and left Morley in command.[37]

As Parliament tightened its grip on the country after the First English Civil War it passed new Militia Acts in 1648 and 1650 that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners appointed by Parliament or the Council of State. From now on the term 'Trained Band' began to disappear in most counties. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country.[38] Among the 1648 commissioners for the militia in Sussex were Herbert Morley and his brother-in-law John Fagg, MP for Rye.[35][39]

During the Scottish invasion of the Third English Civil War in 1651, English county militia regiments were called out to supplement the New Model Army. In August the Sussex Militia was ordered to a rendezvous at Oxford, but was not present at the Battle of Worcester.[28][38][40][41][42]

After the death of Oliver Cromwell, Fagg was commissioned to raise a regiment of foot by the Rump Parliament in 1659 and was taken prisoner by forces loyal to the military regime when he tried to help Morley to secure Portsmouth for Parliament.[39][35]

Sussex remained a defaulter county liable for militia fines throughout the 1760s. It was not until the American War of Independence, when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain, that the Sussex Militia was reformed. It was raised and embodied at Chichester on 29 June 1778, the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex, Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, taking personal command as colonel. The force was still unpopular in Sussex: the imposition of the Militia Ballot caused riots in the county, but the officers took over from the parish constables the task of raising subscriptions from those who were liable, and used the money to hire volunteers.[10][53][55][56][57]

The Sussex Militia were disembodied in March 1783 after the preliminaries of the Treaty of Paris had been signed, ending the war.[55] From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual peacetime training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually mustered each year.[58][59]

The Sussex Militia were re-embodied on 11 March 1792, before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain.[10][55] During the French Wars the militia were employed anywhere in the country for coast defence, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while the regulars regarded them as a source of trained men if they could be persuaded to transfer. Their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the part-time Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry.[52][60]

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. Sussex's additional quota was fixed at 1160 men, and they were organised into 14 companies. These were mustered on 29 March 1797 for 20 days' training, with three companies at Chichester, two at Arundel, two at Shoreham-by-Sea, one at East Grinstead, three at Horsham and three at Lewes. In 1799 they were formed into a 2nd Regiment, so that the original regiment was numbered 1st. The County Lieutenancy for Sussex ruled that supplementary militiamen were not entitled to a bounty unless they were actually embodied, a ruling that was adopted nationally under an Act of 1802.[10][55][53][61][62][63]

The Sussex Militia was disembodied April 1802 after the Treaty of Amiens. However, the Peace of Amiens was shortlived, and the militia were called out again: the Sussex were embodied on 5 May 1803.[10][55] They resumed the round of coast defence and garrison duties, and increasingly became a source of recruits for the regulars.[52][60][64]

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.[64][65][66][67][68] There are records of the Pevensey Local Militia being formed in Sussex.[69][70]

From November 1813 the militia were invited to volunteer for limited overseas service, primarily for garrison duties in Europe. Some of the Sussex Militia volunteered for this service, and were sent to France with a Militia Brigade under the command of the Marquess of Buckingham. They embarked on 10–11 March and landed at Bordeaux just as the war was ending. They returned to England in June.[10][64][71]

The Local Militia were abolished after the Battle of Waterloo and the Sussex Militia was disembodied in January 1816.[10][55][64] After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced.[72] From 4 December 1819 Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond was colonel of the Sussex Militia and during his colonelcy the regiment was redesignated as the Sussex Light Infantry Militia in 1835 and as the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia (RSLIM) in 1846.[10][55][56][73]

The 1852 Act introduced Artillery Militia units in addition to the traditional infantry regiments. Their role was to man coastal defences and fortifications, relieving the Royal Artillery (RA) for active service.[74][78] Sussex was one of the counties selected to have a corps, and the Royal Sussex Militia Artillery (RSMA) came into existence on 9 April 1853 by the transfer of 206 volunteers from the RSLIM. It was based at Lewes with the Duke of Richmond as its colonel-in-chief.[73][79][80][81]

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 RSLIM was embodied from December 1854 to January 1856 and the RSMA from 1 February 1855 to 16 June 1856. Neither served overseas.[10][55][80] A number of militia regiments were also called out to relieve regular troops required for India during the Indian Mutiny, and the RSLIM was embodied from 12 November 1857 to February 1861[10][55]

Thereafter the regiments were called out for their annual training. The Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war.[74]

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, the militia reserve was called out to reinforce them, and many militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and to garrison certain overseas stations.[86] The 3rd Bn Royal Sussex was embodied on 11 December 1899, and the Sussex Artillery from 1 May to 17 October 1900. As the war continued, additional troops were required in South Africa for line of communication duties. The 3rd Bn volunteered in March 1901 and served in South Africa until the end o the war, receiving the Battle honour South Africa 1901–02.[10][55][80]

On the outbreak of World War I the Special Reserve was embodied on 4 August and the 3rd Royal Sussex mobilised at Chichester before going to its war station at Dover.[55][94][95] Its role throughout the war was to prepare reinforcement drafts of reservists, special reservists, recruits and returning wounded for the regular battalions serving overseas: the 1st Royal Sussex remained in India throughout the war, but the 2nd Bn went to France with the British Expeditionary Force and fought on the Western Front until the Armistice with Germany. The SR battalions' secondary role was as garrison troops in Home Defence and 3rd (Res) Bn moved in May 1915 to Newhaven, where it remained in the Newhaven Garrison for the rest of the war.[94][95] It was disembodied on 4 August 1919.[55]

The SR resumed its old title of Militia in 1921 and then became the Supplementary Reserve in 1924, but almost all militia battalions remained in abeyance after World War I. Until 1939 they continued to appear in the Army List, but they were not activated during World War II and were all formally disbanded in April 1953.[90]