Fermanagh Light Infantry Militia
The Fermanagh Militia, later the Fermanagh Light Infantry, was an Irish militia regiment raised in 1793 for home defence and internal security during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It also served during the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny. In 1881 it became a battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was embodied in the Second Boer War. During World War I, as part of the Special Reserve, it trained thousands of reinforcements for battalions of that regiment serving overseas. Postwar it retained a shadowy existence until it was formally disbanded in 1953.
Background
Although there are scattered references to town guards in 1584, no organised militia existed in Ireland before 1660. After that, some militia forces were organised in the reign of King Charles II and in the war between James II and William III, but it was not until 1715 that the Irish Militia came under statutory authority. During the 18th Century there were various Volunteer Associations and local militia units controlled by the landowners, concerned mainly with internal security. In 1778, 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. Under the leadership of George Ogle, the Parliament of Ireland passed a Militia Act. This failed to create an effective militia force but opened the way for the Irish Volunteers to fill the gap; even Ogle became a general in the Volunteers. The paramilitary Volunteers, however, were outside the control of either the parliament or the Dublin Castle administration. The invasion threat having receded, the Volunteers 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 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.Fermanagh Militia
Under the new Act County Fermanagh was given a quota of 356 men to raise as a battalion of 6 companies, and on 3 May the regiment was ordered to be formed at Enniskillen.French Revolutionary War
The first task for the Governor of Fermanagh was to appoint the adjutant, non-commissioned officers and drummers, before the balloted men could be assembled; in most Irish militia units a proportion of these were experienced men obtained from the Regular Army. Initially there was some difficulty in providing arms for the new regiments, and many were bought second-hand. In September a detachment of the battalion formed part of a 400-strong force including some Regular cavalry, infantry, and artillery, sent to prevent a planned review of the illegal Volunteers at a village outside Belfast. The force quietly marched out to the site at 05.00 without beat of drums, and the review did not then take place.To prevent the militia from being influenced by their friends and neighbours, the regiments were moved around the country. By the end of August 1794 the Fermanagh Militia was quartered at Newry. In February 1794 the regiments were each ordered to form a 24-man detachment to man the light cannon issued as 'battalion guns'. These detachments were trained at central 'schools of instruction'. Early in 1795 the Irish government ordered an augmentation of the militia from 1 April; the establishment of the Fermanagh Militia was increased to 460 rank and file. The additional men were to be found by voluntary enlistment where possible. In that year the practice of gathering the militia into summer training camps began. In July the Fermanagh Militia was in camp at Lehaunstown when it was ordered to send a party to disperse an illegal gathering in County Kildare.
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. 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. At the same time the Light companies were detached to join composite battalions drawn from several militia regiments; the Fermanagh company joined the 2nd Light Battalion. 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. At the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 the strength of the militia was boosted by re-enlistments and recruiting for bounty rather than the ballot. There was a large concentration of troops, and much marching about the country in pursuit of insurgents, but the Fermanagh Militia was not among the regiments engaged at the Battle of Vinegar Hill.
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 and the warrant for disembodying the regiments was issued in May 1802. The men were paid off, leaving only the permanent staff of NCOs and drummers under the 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 which was aided by the number of previous militiamen who re-enlisted: Fermanagh only had to offer a small bounty to get men, and did not have to resort to the ballot. Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803 and the warrant to embody the Irish Militia was issued the next day. John Willoughby Cole, 2nd Earl of Enniskillen, was appointed Colonel of the Fermanagh Militia on 31 May. The light companies were once again detached to form composite light battalions, but these were discontinued in 1806.Over the following years the regiment carried out garrison duties at various towns across Ireland, attended summer training camps, and reacted to various invasion scares, none of which materialised. It also provided recruits who volunteered to transfer to the Regular Army. In 1805 the militia establishment was raised to allow for this.
Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 and with the end of the war most Irish Militia regiments marched back to their home counties and were disembodied. However, they were called out again during the brief Waterloo campaign and its aftermath. The order to stand down finally arrived early in 1816 and the Fermanagh Militia was disembodied on 3 April.
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. The Earl of Enniskillen resigned the command of the Fermanagh Militia in 1834 and his son William Willoughby Cole, Viscount Cole was appointed in his place.
Fermanagh Light Infantry
The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, enacted during a renewed 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:- 1. 'Whenever a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power'.
- 2. 'In all cases of invasion or upon imminent danger thereof'.
- 3. 'In all cases of rebellion or insurrection'.
Crimean War & Indian Mutiny
War having broken out with Russia and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea in 1854, the militia was called out to take over garrison and defence duties at home. The Fermanagh LI was embodied at Enniskillen by March 1855. It moved to Newry by October, and then to Dublin by March 1856. The Crimean War ended on 30 March 1856, and the Militia were stood down in May, by which time the Fermanagh LI was stationed at Curragh Camp.When a large expeditionary force was sent to suppress the Indian Mutiny, many militia units were called out again, the Fermanagh LI being embodied at Enniskillen by December 1857. It was shipped to England and stationed at Aldershot Camp in February–March 1858, before moving to Great Yarmouth in April. In September it moved to Bradford and Burnley, then to Chester in May 1859. It went back to Bradford and Burnley by September, before returning to Chester by December where it remained until May 1860; it then it moved to Manchester. By August 1860 it was back in Ireland, at Dublin, returning to Ennikillen by September, where it was disembodied.
The Militia thereafter carried out their annual training obligations, but during the Fenian Rising of 1867 the recruitment and annual training of the Irish Militia were suspended until 1871. When training was resumed the Fermanagh LI was brigaded with the Royal Tyrone Fusiliers from Omagh for exercises.
The Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen across the UK who undertook to serve overseas in case of war. From 1871 The militia came under the War Office rather than their counties and by now the battalions had a large cadre of permanent staff. Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the regular army.