Isle of Wight Militia


The Isle of Wight Militia was an auxiliary military force on the Isle of Wight off the South Coast of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as coastal artillery, the Militia regiments of the island served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1909.

Early history

The English militia was descended from the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd, the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriff. The universal obligation to serve continued under the Norman and Plantagenet kings and was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252, and again by the Statute of Winchester of 1285. The able-bodied men were equipped by their parishes and arrayed by the Hundreds into which each county was divided. Although under the Sheriff of Southampton, the Isle of Wight had its own organisation under the Constable of Carisbrooke Castle. In 1341, in the early years of the Hundred Years' War, this consisted of nine companies commanded as follows:
If the men raised by these gentlemen were insufficient to defend the island, the constable was instructed to levy additional men and to arm and train them. He was also empowered to levy reinforcements from Hampshire at the king's expense. In the same year the Earl of Salisbury with his retinue and another 10 knights and 8 esquires were ordered to carry out their feudal service on the island for its defence.
When the South Coast of England was raided by a French and Castilian force in 1377 the island's levies were still organised into nine companies of 100 men each, reinforced from Hampshire and London. The French landed and burned Yarmouth and Newtown, and the islanders took refuge at Carisbrooke, which was defended by the constable, Sir Hugh Tyrell. A party of French approaching the castle down a narrow lane were ambushed by Tyrrell and the resulting slaughter led to it being called 'Deadman's Lane'. During the siege Peter de Heyno is said to have picked off the French leader with a bow shot through a loophole. The invaders left after they were paid a bribe. The French raided the island again in 1402 and 1404, doing some damage, but retired to their ships once the levies had assembled.
King Henry VIII enforced the militia statutes in 1511, and in 1539 under threat of invasion he ordered a Great Muster of the militia of all the counties. In 1545 a French fleet entered the Solent and invaded the Isle of Wight, being opposed by the Isle of Wight and Hampshire levies at the Battle of Bonchurch and at Bembridge. The levies fell back to the woods and hedgerows, and then counterattacked from the heights of Culver Down. Although these skirmishes were inconclusive, the French evacuated the island after the equally inconclusive naval Battle of the Solent.

Isle of Wight Trained Bands

The legal basis of the militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters and the maintenance of horses and armour. The county militia was now 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 impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, and in 1570 Hampshire was one of the counties instructed to make special arrangements for equipping and training arquebusiers. From 1572 the practice across the country was to select a proportion of men for the Trained bands who were mustered for regular training.
The government aimed for 10 days' training a year, with a two-day national 'general muster' at Michaelmas, and two 'special musters' lasting four days for detailed training at Easter and Whitsun. In the early years of Queen Elizabeth I's reign the nationwide musters only occurred roughly every four years, and from 1578 the special musters were reduced to two days each. However, the Governor, Sir George Carey, ordered special musters of the Isle of Wight companies in spring and summer to ensure that sick and dead men were replaced, and that training was kept up. When war broke out with Spain, training and equipping the militia became a priority. From 1583 counties were organised into groups for training purposes, with emphasis on the invasion-threatened 'maritime' counties. The 1572 defence plan for Hampshire was updated: while the coastal districts were made responsible for guarding the coastline, inland villages in the west and north-west of the county were to send 2339 reinforcements across to the Isle of Wight, recognised as the most likely place for an invasion.

Armada crisis

With invasion threatened in 1588, Sir John Norreys was appointed in April to oversee the defences of the maritime counties and the lords-lieutenant were instructed to carry out his orders in relation to rallying-points for the coast defenders if they were driven inland by invaders. The Isle of Wight had 1800 trained bandsmen, nearly two-thirds with firearms, bowmen only amounting to 109, with 116 pikemen and 470 halberdiers. The men from Hampshire assigned to reinforce the island were to gather at Hurst Castle for the crossing by requisitioned boats. Each parish on the island had a cannon for defence.
The Spanish Armada was spotted off the coast of South-West England on 30 July 1588 and the signal beacons were lit, calling out the TBs along the south coast and across the country. The Armada was engaged by the Royal Navy in a running fight up the English Channel. The Armada's orders were not to land in Southern England, but to sail to the Spanish Netherlands and pick up an army under the Duke of Parma to invade up the Thames Estuary. However a council of war among its officers decided to shelter east of the Isle of Wight and make contact with Parma before continuing. To those watching from the shore this had the appearance of preparations to land on the Isle of Wight or the Hampshire coast. The Royal Navy continued its attacks, and during this Battle of the Isle of Wight Carey offered to send some of his musketeers from the island to reinforce the English fleet. This was turned down by the Lord High Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, who had no intention of fighting boarding actions and considered that he had as many men as he needed to work his ships and heavy guns. Under continuous attacks and faced with contrary winds and currents, the Armada was unable to make its way into the Spithead anchorage off Portsmouth, and continued on its course up the Channel. It failed to link with Parma's army, and was finally driven away into the North Sea by fireships and bad weather. The TBs along the coast could then be stood down.
In 1599 a fresh alarm brought orders that in the event of invasion Hampden Paulet, one of the county's 'martial men' and formerly a Captain in the Netherlands, would reinforce the Isle of Wight with 500 men from the Hampshire TBs. When the Hampshire TBs were mobilised to protect Portsmouth on 8 August Paulet reported that the men were slow to arrive, were poorly equipped and showed little enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the force had fully mobilised before it was stood down on 18 August.

Stuart reform

With the passing of the threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th Century. Later, in 1625–9 King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control. The Isle of Wight TBs in 1625 comprised 2,020 men in 12 bands:
  • Sir John Oglander's Band – 97 men
  • Sir Edward Dennis's Band – 210 men
  • Appuldurcombe Band – 261 men
  • Sir John Richards' Band – 109 men
  • Mr Cheeke's Band – 134 men
  • Sir William Meux's Band – 261 men
  • Mr Dillington's Band – 122 men
  • Mr Boorman's Band – 115 men
  • Mr Hobson's Band – 170 men
  • Mr Urrie's Band – 122 men
  • Newport Band – 304 men
  • Mr John Leigh's Band – 95 men
Oglander was deputy governor of the Isle of Wight and he and Dennis were the Members of Parliament for Yarmouth. Of the total of 2,002 men, 133 were officers, 1,088 were musketeers and 33 had calivers, there were 263 pikemen with corslets and 196 'bare' pikemen, 10 halberdiers, and 297 unarmed men.

Civil Wars

Control of the militia was one of the major points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1642 Carisbrooke Castle was held for the king by the Countess of Portland and Colonel Brett. They were promptly besieged by Moses Read, Mayor of Newport, at the head of the Newport TB, assisted by 400 sailors. The garrison was only 20 strong, with three days' provisions, so the countess quickly surrendered on terms. Thereafter John Leigh, commanded the TBs on the island for Parliament from 1642 to 1647.
Once Parliament had established full control of the country it passed new Militia Acts in 1648 and 1650 that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners appointed by Parliament or the Council of State. At the same time 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. Detailed instructions for the Isle of Wight Militia were issued in 1651, covering the duties of the coast watch under their 'searchers', the process for calling out the militia if the invasion beacons were fired, and the maintenance of the parish cannons.