Devon Militia
The Devon Militia was a part-time military force in the maritime county of Devonshire in the West of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as a Special Reserve unit of the Devonshire Regiment in World War I, the Militia regiments of Devonshire served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars.
Devon Trained Bands
The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy or Posse comitatus was long established in England and its legal basis was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters and the maintenance of horses and armour. The county militia was now placed under the Lord Lieutenant, assisted by the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace. The entry into force of these Acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. Although the militia obligation was universal, it was clearly impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, so after 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands, who were mustered for regular training. The men from the Hundreds of Devonshire were organised in four groups for the defence of the harbours on the north and south coasts of the county, each with a nominated officer in command, supported by 'Assistants' and 'Petty Captains'. By 1577 the Devon Trained Bands were divided into three 'Divisions', each with two Colonels and a number of Captains. Later in the reign of Elizabeth I the threat of Spanish invasion led to emphasis being placed on the 17 'maritime' counties most vulnerable to invasion, and in 1584 the Devonshire Trained Bands fielded more men than any other county: assessed at 1200 'shot', 800 bowmen, and 1000 'corslets', the county actually provided more than was required in each category, a total of 3178 men. In the Armada year of 1588 the three Devonshire Divisions were instructed to join the army forming to defend the South Coast of England, while 1650 able-bodied untrained men remained to defend the county. By 1633 the seven companies were each regarded as a regiment and, together with the companies in the main towns, amounted to almost 6750 trained men, one-third armed with pikes and two-thirds with muskets.Although control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War, most of the county Trained Bands played little part in the fighting. An attempt by the Royalists to call out the posse comitatus of Devonshire in 1642 was a failure and it was quickly dispersed by Parliamentarian forces. The following year the Devonshire Trained Bands loyal to Parliament refused to invade Cornwall. Once Parliament had established full control in 1648 it passed legislation to reorganise the militia in various counties, including an Ordinance to settle the Militia of Devon on 7 June. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the militia of Devon were called out on a number of occasions when the appearance of hostile fleets caused alarm. For example, on 15 July 1667 the Dutch fleet anchored in Plymouth Sound and all the militia of Devon and Cornwall were assembled.
Monmouth's Rebellion
When the Duke of Monmouth landed in Dorset to launch his Rebellion in 1685, the Lord Lieutenant of neighbouring Devon was the Duke of Albemarle. Albemarle was known to emphasise the training of his militia, which consisted of six regiments of infantry and one of cavalry; the cities of Exeter and Plymouth also had a regiment each. Albemarle mustered the regiments at Exeter and then marched towards Dorset even before orders arrived from London to do so. Confronting the rebels at Axminster, his cavalry probed forwards. Macaulay asserted that the Devonshire men were ready to go over to Monmouth, and this caused Albemarle to retreat, which turned into a rout, the countryside strewn with abandoned weapons and uniforms. Macaulay has been followed uncritically by many authors, but modern historians find no evidence of this rout. Albemarle only had orders to shadow the rebels, not to bring on a major action. He fell back to secure the west and his force's presence prevented Monmouth from accessing recruits and supplies from that direction. He then followed the rebels, re-occupying towns and garrisoning the small ports to prevent foreign aid reaching them. After the Battle of Sedgemoor the Devon Militia were active in rounding up fugitive rebels. Despite their service against Monmouth, James II stood the militia down within days of the rebellion's defeat, intending to use the local militia taxes to pay for his expanding Regular Army, which he felt he could rely upon, unlike the locally commanded militia. The Devon Militia was ordered not to muster for training in 1687, and was not embodied when William of Orange made his landing in the West Country in 1688.In July 1690 the French fleet anchored off Teignmouth after the Battle of Beachy Head, and sent a landing party to raid the town. The Devon Militia mustered, but the raiding party had re-embarked. The Devon Militia continued to be mustered for training during the reign of William III, notably in 1697, when the eight infantry regiments and four troops of horse in Devonshire mustered 6163 men under the command of the Earl of Stamford as Lord Lieutenant. But after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the militia was allowed to dwindle.
Devon Militia 1758
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 to serve for three years. Front-line Devonshire was given a quota of 1600 men to raise. There was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the Lord Lieutenant. The size of the militia was increased as the war continued. Once again, the maritime counties were to the fore: the first issue of arms to the Devon Militia was made on 5 December 1758, and they were embodied on 23 June 1759. Two, later four, battalions were formed in Devon under the command of the Duke of Bedford as Lord Lieutenant. They served in the West Country for the whole of their service; the duties included guarding French prisoners of war and assisting Revenue Officers in suppressing smuggling. In December 1762 the battalions were disembodied and the following year were reorganised into three peacetime regiments. The Exeter and East battalions combined to form a single regiment, the 1st or East Devon Militia, with its headquarters at Exeter and the Duke of Bedford as its Colonel. Sir John Prideaux, 6th Baronet, Colonel of the East Devon regiment, took legal action against the Duke of Bedford and the Deputy lieutenants for the loss of his command, and refused to give up the regimental arms and accoutrements in his care until 1764.1st or East Devon Militia
The militiamen's peacetime obligation was for 28 days' annual training. This was widely neglected, but the Devonshire regiments do appear to have completed their training each year.War of American Independence
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. The regiment was embodied at Exeter on 20 April 1778 and served in the West Country and Southern England. It spent the summer of 1779 at Coxheath Camp near Maidstone in Kent, which was the army's largest training camp, where the Militia were exercised as part of a division alongside Regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England. In the summer of 1780 the regiment was camped at Playden Heights in Sussex, while the summers of 1781 and 1782 were spent in Devon at Roborough Camp near Plymouth, where all three Devon regiments were gathered. The Light Companies of the regiments at Roborough were formed into a composite Light Battalion, which trained separately. The Militia also had to find guards for the American prisoners of war lodged in Mill Prison in Plymouth and Stapleton Prison in Bristol. American independence was recognised in November 1782, so the East Devons were ordered to march to Exeter and disembodied on 24 March 1783.French Revolutionary War
From 1784 to 1793 the Devon Militia regiments were assembled for their annual 28 days' training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were mustered each year. In view of the worsening international situation the Devonshire Militia was embodied for service on 22 December 1792, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793. The duty was much as before, guarding French prisoners at Bristol or Plymouth, with summer training camps or autumn manoeuvres at Roborough. In March 1798 the standing militia regiments were reinforced by men from the newly raised Supplementary Militia, the remainder forming new regiments. However, in November 1799 the Militia was partially disembodied, together with the whole of the Supplementary Militia; the hope was that the men dismissed would join the Regular Army. In March 1801 the regiment was involved in suppressing bread riots and looting in Plymouth and the men who had been disembodied were recalled to the colours. However, a peace treaty having been agreed, the 1st Devon was disembodied on 20 April.Napoleonic Wars
The Peace of Amiens did not last long, and the Militia were soon called out again. The warrant to embody the Devon and Exeter Militia was sent to the Lord Lieutenant on 11 March 1803, and the 1st Devon of eight companies was practically complete by 5 April.It marched to Plymouth Dock, where the garrison include all three Devon Militia regiments. The duties once again included guarding French prisoners and working on fortifications. In June the Supplementary Militia was also embodied, and the 1st Devon Militia was increased to 10 companies. In 1805 there was a drive to induce militiamen to volunteer for the Regular Army. The regiment served in the Portsmouth garrison and the Brighton brigade before returning to the West Country in late 1806. Another recruitment drive for men to transfer to the Line regiments was accompanied by balloting to bring the Militia up to strength, together with recruits obtained 'by beat of drum' and from the Local Militia.In 1810–12 the regiment moved around Southern England. In 1812 there was an outbreak of Luddite machine-breaking and the regiment spent much of the year constantly on the move round the industrial Midlands before returning to Plymouth in 1813. The war was ended by the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814 and on 16 June the warrant for disembodying the Devon Militia was signed.