Prince of Wales's Own Donegal Militia
The Prince of Wales's Own Donegal Militia was an Irish Militia regiment raised in County Donegal in 1793. It saw action during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and served in home defence through the major wars of the 19th Century, It later became a battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers but was disbanded in 1908.
Background
Although there are scattered references to town guards in 1584, no organised militia existed in Ireland before 1660. After that date, some militia forces were organised in the reign of King Charles II but it was not until 1715 that the Irish Militia came under statutory authority. During the 18th Century there were various Volunteer Associations and unofficial militia units controlled by the landowners, concerned mainly with internal security. During the War of American Independence, the threat of invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain, appeared to be serious. While most of the Regular Army was fighting overseas, the coasts of England and Wales were defended by the embodied Militia, but Ireland had no equivalent force. The Parliament of Ireland passed a Militia Act, but this failed to create an effective force. However it opened the way for the paramilitary Irish Volunteers to fill the gap. The Volunteers were outside the control of either the parliament or the Dublin Castle administration. When the invasion threat receded they diminished in numbers but remained a political force. On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War In 1793, the Irish administration passed an effective Militia Act that created an official Irish Militia, while the paramilitary volunteers were essentially banned. The new Act was based on existing English precedents, with the men conscripted by ballot to fill county quotas and the officers having to meet certain property qualifications.Donegal Militia
County Donegal was given a quota of 560 men to find, in ten companies, and the order for embodiment was issued on 23 April 1793, with William Burton Conyngham, former Lieutenant-Colonel in the 12th Dragoons appointed as Colonel of the regiment. However, in a county of scattered parishes it was difficult to assemble the Donegal men, and there was considerable opposition to the ballot. Many of those liable to serve formed insurance societies to pay bounties to attract volunteer substitutes for the balloted men. The list of officers for the regiment was approved on 13 July and the regiment was actually embodied at the county town of Lifford on 14 August as the Prince of Wales's Own Donegal Militia. However, in September the colonel and officers were still touring the county to enforce the ballots. The regiment was inspected on 14 October and marched to its first station at Derry on 1 December.French Revolutionary War
The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars saw the British and Irish militia embodied for a whole generation, becoming regiments of full-time professional soldiers, which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manned garrisons, guarded prisoners of war, and carried out internal security duties. In Ireland the latter role assumed greater importance, with frequent armed clashes between militia detachments and the self-styled 'Defenders' in the 1790s.The regiment marched to Birr, where it was inspected again on 11 August 1794 and by the end of the month it was stationed at Athlone, with two companies detached to Castlerea and one to Roscommon. On 30 June 1795 it moved to Drogheda, and on 21 April 1796 it marched into Loughlinstown Camp. Colonel Burton died on 31 May 1796 and Viscount Clements was appointed to succeed him on 22 June.
Anxiety about a possible French invasion grew during the autumn of 1796 and preparations were made for field operations. A large French expeditionary force appeared in Bantry Bay on 21 December and troops from all over Ireland were marched towards the threatened area. The Donegal Militia marched to Cork. However, the French fleet was scattered by winter storms, several ships being wrecked, and none of the French troops succeeded in landing; there was no sign of a rising by the United Irishmen. The invasion was called off on 29 December, and the troop concentration was dispersed in early 1797, the Donegal Militia returning to Loughlinstown Camp.
Early in 1797 the light companies of the militia were detached to join composite battalions drawn from several militia regiments. The Donegal contingent was attached to 4th Light Battalion, stationed at Loughlinstown. The militia regiments were each issued with two light six-pounder 'battalion guns', with the gun detachments trained by the Royal Artillery. When the militiamen of 1793 reached the end of their four-year enlistment in 1797, most of the Irish regiments were able to maintain their numbers through re-enlistments. By September 1797 the Donegal Militia had moved to Geneva Barracks in County Wexford.
Irish Rebellion
The expected Irish Rebellion finally broke out in May 1798. The Light Company of the Donegal Militia was in action as part of 4th Light Battalion at the Battle of Enniscorthy on 28 May. On 30 May a company of the Royal Meath Militia escorting a train of artillery to Wexford was ambushed by the United Irishmen and cut up at the First Action at Forth Mountain. The Donegal Militia were engaged at the unsuccessful Second Action at Forth Mountain later that day. However, the Donegal regiment under Lt-Col Maxwell and the Light Company with 4th Light Battalion were both present at the successful Defence of New Ross on 5 June. Just before the battle, Sergeant Finch and 12 privates of the Donegal Militia were surrounded by rebels at Borrisdine, but fought their way out: Sgt Finch was rewarded with a commission in a regiment of the line. Sergeant Hamilton was also commissioned into the Royal Scots as a reward for his bravery at New Ross. The Donegal Militia was in action at Borris, County Carlow, on 12 June, and together with 4th Light Battalion took part in the decisive Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June.After Vinegar Hill the regiment marched to Youghal in County Cork in July, then on 22 October it moved into Fort Camden and Fort Carlisle guarding Cork Harbour, where it stayed for the next year. It moved to Baltinglass in October 1799, to Dundalk in May 1800 and Lisburn by 20 November 1800.
With the diminishing threat of invasion after 1799, the strength of the militia could be reduced, and the surplus men were encouraged to volunteer for regiments of the line. By the end of 1801 peace negotiations with the French were progressing and recruiting and re-enlistment for the Irish Militia was stopped in October. The men received the new clothing they were due on 25 December, but the Treaty of Amiens was signed in March 1802 after which the militia was disembodied. The Donegal men were inspected and paid off at Lifford on 12 May, leaving only the permanent staff of non-commissioned officers and drummers under the regimental adjutant.
Napoleonic Wars
The Peace of Amiens was short-lived, and preparations to re-embody the Irish Militia began in November 1802. By March 1803 most of the regiments had been ordered to enlist men, a process that was aided by the number of previous militiamen who re-enlisted. The Donegal Militia was re-embodied by Col Viscount Clements at Lifford on 15 March, and Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803. The light companies were once again detached to form composite light battalions, but these were discontinued in 1806.Over the following years the regiments carried out garrison duties at various towns across Ireland, attended summer training camps, and reacted to various invasion scares, none of which materialised. They also provided volunteers to transfer to the regular army. In 1805 the militia establishment was raised to allow for this.
The Donegal Militia marched out from Lifford to Mullingar in August 1803. It went to Naas in June 1804, then to the Curragh on 23 July for summer camp before returning to Naas in September. In July 1805 it was at Dublin, a year later at Prosperous, County Kildare, and then at Cavan in December 1806. By June 1807 it was at Cork, moving to Tuamby 6 January 1808. It was back at Curragh Camp in June 1808, in Dublin in August that year, and at Tuam by April 1810. In April 1811 it was at Castlebar, at Boyle in July 1812, and back to Dublin by June 1813.
By then, Napoleon had abdicated. With the end of the war most Irish Militia regiments returned to their home counties to be disembodied, the Donegals being at Ballyshannon by July 1814. However, some regiments, including the Donegal, had not completed disembodiment by the time the militia was called out again in May 1815 after Napoleon's escape from Elba. They served in Ireland when most of the Regular Army was on the Continent during the brief Waterloo campaign and the subsequent occupation duties. The Donegals were at Tullamore in August 1815 and Mullingar in March 1816. The order to stand down the Irish Militia finally arrived that month and the Donegal Militia returned to Ballyshannon to be disembodied in April 1816.
Long Peace
After Waterloo there was a long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots might still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of militia regiments were progressively reduced. By 1850 the Earl of Leitrim was still colonel of the Donegal Militia, and most of the officers had been commissioned during the Napoleonic Wars.1852 Reforms
The long-standing national Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, enacted during a period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on a county basis, and filled by voluntary enlistment. Training was for 56 days on enlistment, then for 21–28 days per year, during which the men received full army pay. Under the act, Militia units could be embodied by royal proclamation for full-time home defence service in three circumstances:- 'Whenever a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power'.
- 'In all cases of invasion or upon imminent danger thereof'.
- 'In all cases of rebellion or insurrection'.