Middlesex Militia
The Middlesex Militia was an auxiliary military force in the county of Middlesex in South East England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands, in 1572 and their service during the Armada Crisis and in the English Civil War, the Militia regiments of Middlesex served during times of international tension and all of Britain's major wars. By 1853 there were five regiments in the county. They provided internal security and home defence but sometimes operated further afield, including France and the Mediterranean, relieving regular troops from routine garrison duties, and acting as a source of trained officers and men for the Regular Army. Some of the infantry battalions went on active service during the Second Boer War and all served as Special Reserve training units in World War I. After 1921 the militia had only a shadowy existence until its final abolition in 1953.
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. It continued under the Norman kings. The force was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252, and again by King Edward I's Statute of Winchester of 1285. Under this statute 'Commissioners of Array' would levy the required number of men from each shire. The usual shire contingent was 1000 infantry commanded by a millenar, divided into companies of 100 commanded by centenars or ductores, and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars. This procedure was continued for border campaigns under later kings. By now the infantry were mainly equipped with the English longbow. Edward III called out the shire levies for his 1335 campaign in Scotland, but Middlesex produced only 2 vintenars, 8 mounted archers and 37 foot archers.Middlesex 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.Middlesex was one of the southern counties called upon to send troops to suppress the Rising of the North in 1569. Although the militia obligation was universal, this assembly confirmed that it was clearly impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man. After 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands, who were mustered for regular training. The City of London and Liberties of Westminster and the Tower Hamlets all fell within the boundaries of Middlesex but had their own militia organisations: the difference was effectively between rural and suburban parishes of Middlesex. The Armada Crisis in 1588 led to the mustering of the trained bands in April, when Middlesex reported 10,000 trained men. The trained bands were put on one hour's notice in June and called out on 23 July as the Armada approached. Those actually mobilised in Middlesex outside London numbered 1000, of whom 500 were untrained. In addition there were 19 'lances' and 65 light horse and 'petronel's. Westminster supplied a company of 450 men.
In the 16th Century little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions, and between 1589 and 1601 Middlesex supplied over 1000 levies for service in Ireland, France or the Netherlands. However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than the Trained Bandsmen. Replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties.
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. In 1638 the Middlesex Trained Band consisted of 928 muskets and 653 'corslets', together with the 80-strong Middlesex Trained Band Horse. The trained bands were called upon in 1639 and 1640 to send contingents for the Bishops' Wars, though many of the men who actually went were untrained hired substitutes. In 1640 Middlesex was ordered to hold a general muster on 24 May and then march 1200 men on 3 June to Harwich, there to be shipped to Newcastle upon Tyne on 8 June for service against the Scots.
Civil War
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. There is an often-repeated story that when Charles I returned from his Scottish campaign in October 1641 he ordered the guards on Parliament sitting at Westminster, which were provided by the City, Surrey and Middlesex TBs under command of the Puritan Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, to be replaced by the Westminster Trained Bands under the command of the Royalist Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, the Earl of Dorset, and that subsequently there were clashes between the new guards and the London apprentices. However, this story has been refuted in the most detailed history of the LTBs, which points out that the guards were provided by the Westminster TBs 'and the four neighbour companies' of Middlesex TBs all along, and it was only the commanders who were changed. Later the Middlesex and London TBs shared the duty.When open war broke out between the King and Parliament, neither side made much use of the trained bands beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops. The main exception was the London area, where the LTBs together with the suburban regiments constituted Parliament's reserve, available for short campaigns. In November 1642 the TBs reinforced the Earl of Essex's army and helped to repulse the Royalists at the Battle of Turnham Green. By that month there were 13 companies of foot in Middlesex.
Lines of Communication
London had long outgrown the old city walls. During the Edgehill campaign the citizens had erected breastworks across all the streets leading to open country and set up guard posts manned by the LTBs – 20 companies were on duty each night. Then in the winter of 1642–3 volunteer work gangs of citizens constructed a massive entrenchment and rampart round the City and its suburbs, enclosing the whole of Westminster and the Tower Hamlets and several other Middlesex parishes. Known as the Lines of Communication, studded with some 23 forts and redoubts, these defences were about long, making it the most extensive series of city defences in 17th century Europe. The Lines were completed by May 1643 and the City and suburban TB companies took their turns in manning the forts and key points, including one company on duty at Westminster. The London Militia Committee took over control of the Westminster and Tower Hamlets Liberties TBs and amalgamated those from the Middlesex parishes within the Lines of Communication with the Westminster Auxiliaries, a second regiment raised in April 1643 to help cover the duties. Thus the Committee for Middlesex only had a single regiment commanded by Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Baronet of Harrow on the Hill, Member of Parliament for the county. Gerard was paymaster of the Parliamentarian army and a member of the Council of War in 1643.Campaigning 1643–44
The Westminster Liberty Regiment, or 'Red Regiment', formed part of a London brigade commanded by their own colonel, Sir James Harington, that took part in Sir William Waller's campaign in the winter of 1643–44. They were engaged at the Siege of Basing House, after which some of the men deserted, only to be fined when they reached home. Despite cries of 'Home, Home' from the trained bandsmen, the brigade remained with Waller's army, and the Westminsters took part in the storming of Alton on 13 December. The brigade then refused further service and marched home on 20 December. It therefore missed the Battle of Cheriton on 29 March 1644.After Cheriton a fresh London brigade had to be provided before Waller's army could take the field. Once again it was commanded by Maj-Gen Harington but this time it included the Westminster Yellow Auxiliaries. Essex and Waller manoeuvred the king out of Oxford and then Waller shadowed him through the Midlands until they clashed at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge on 29 June. Unable to complete the destruction of Waller's army, which was about to be reinforced, the king broke contact and pursued Essex's army into the West Country.
Waller's reinforcements were a further London brigade under Maj-Gen Richard Browne of the LTBs. Too late for Cropredy Bridge, and already losing individuals and whole units to desertion, Browne went to capture Greenland House on the River Thames near Henley, using the county TBs, including Gerard's Middlesex regiment. He was then left in command at Abingdon with what remained of his London regiments, including the Westminster Liberty Regiment. Meanwhile Harington's brigade had taken up the chant of 'Home, Home!', and was finally allowed home in August.
When the Parliamentary leaders ordered a new concentration of forces to face the King's victorious army on its return from the west, London provided a fresh brigade under Harington including the Westminster Liberty Regiment, recently at Abingdon. On 26 October the combined Parliamentary forces confronted the Royalist army at the Second Battle of Newbury and attempted a converging attack, the Westminsters and other London regiments holding the Royalists in play. Nevertheless, the Parliamentarian combination misfired and the Royalists escaped the trap to reach Oxford. In November 300 men of the Middlesex TB were sent to Windsor to put down a mutiny in the garrison.
The failure of the existing Parliamentary armies in 1644 led to the formation of a single field army, known as the New Model Army, and the importance of the London and other TBs regiments waned. However, after the Battle of Naseby in 1645, the New Model Army advanced into the West Country, and the Middlesex TBs were ordered to a rendezvous at Romsey in June. They may have been involved in the final siege of Basing House, which surrendered in October.