Wicklow Militia
The Wicklow Militia, later the Wicklow Rifles, was an Irish Militia regiment raised in County Wicklow in 1793. It saw service during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. It was later converted into a militia artillery unit before being disbanded in 1909.
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.Wicklow Militia
County Wicklow was given a quota of 356 men to find, to be organised into a battalion of six companies, and Robert Howard, 2nd Viscount Wicklow, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel commanding on 25 April 1793. The men were raised by enrolling volunteers rather than resorting to the ballot, and they was first embodied for duty on 10 June 1793.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.By April 1794 the Wicklow Militia was quartered at Strabane, with one company detached to Omagh, staying there until July 1795 when it moved to Sligo for 10 months. By November 1796 it was headquartered at Portarlington. 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. A detachment of the Wicklow Militia started out from Portarlington to Mitchelstown on 26 December. Soon afterwards news arrived that the French fleet had been scattered by the winter storms. Several ships had been 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 Wicklow detachment returned to Portarlington on 27 January. The regiment later moved to Mullingar, where it carried out operations in. support of the civil powers and the revenue service across County Westmeath, for which each militiamen was awarded a silver medal by the county authorities.
Early in 1797 the light companies of the militia were detached to join composite battalions drawn from several militia regiments. The Wicklow contingent was attached to 1st Light Battalion, stationed at Kilkenny. 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. The Wicklow Militia was augmented in July 1797 and its establishment now totalled 460 all ranks. Viscount Wicklow resigned his command in August 1797, and his brother, Major the Hon Hugh Howard, was promoted to substantive lieutenant-colonel and colonel to succeed him.
Irish Rebellion
The expected Irish Rebellion broke out in 1798. At the time the Light Company of the Wicklow Militia, commanded by Captain William Richardson, was stationed at Dunlavin, and took part in the defence of the town on 24 and 25 May. As the rebellion developed, the Wicklow Company with the 1st Light Battalion was heavily engaged in the operations against the rebels in County Kildare and then moved into County Wicklow. It was part of the force assembled by Lt-Gen Gerard Lake to take the main rebel camp at Vinegar Hill, forming part of David Dundas's column. The battalion was in contact with the rebels at Kilcavan Hill on 18 June, and then formed the advanced guard at the decisive Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June, storming the rebel position on the heights.Meanwhile, on 23 June the rest of the Wicklow Militia marched out of Kilkenny, where it was stationed, as part of a force under Major-General Sir Charles Asgill sent to retake Castlecomer, which had fallen into rebel hands. The militia then extinguished the fires that had been lit in the town. On 26 June Asgill's force attacked a body of rebels estimated at 4000 strong at Kilconnell Hill and overran it, killing many and capturing 14 cannon and other stores. The regiment received praise for its conduct in these two actions.
Vinegar Hill broke the back of the rebellion; the Wicklow Militia was not engaged in the final part of the campaign against the French force that landed in August, too late to change the outcome. Later in the year the regiment marched through Limerick to Ennis and Clarecastle. By March 1799 it was stationed at Birr.
With the diminishing threat of invasion after 1799, the strength of the militia could be reduced. At the beginning of 1800 the surplus men were encouraged to volunteer for regiments of the line, and more than a quarter of the Wicklow Militia did so. In March 1800 the light battalions were reformed, the Wicklow Militia being warned to make sure that its light company comprised men who had served before. A composite corps of pioneers under the Quartermaster-General was also formed by detachments from the regiments. Each detachment comprised one subaltern, one sergeant, one corporal and 20 picked men, who received extra pay for the work. The Wicklow contingent served in the '3rd Division'.
In the autumn of 1801 the Wicklow Militia was stationed at Boyle. By then 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 regiments were disembodied. The men of the Wicklow Militia were paid off in May, leaving only the permanent staff of 70 non-commissioned officers and drummers under the regimental adjutant.
Napoleonic Wars
However, the Peace of Amiens was short-lived, and on 3 January 1803 the commanding officers of militia regiments were authorised to enrol recruits to bring their regiments up to establishment strength. The Militia was called out on 15 March, the Wicklow regiment being re-embodied on 25 March 1803.By March the following year the regiment was stationed at Bantry, with detachments at Bearhaven and Skibbereen, and the light company detached to Bandon as part of a new light battalion. In April 1804 the men of the Wicklow Light Company volunteered to extend their service to any part of Great Britain, but the offer was not taken up. By March 1805 the regimental headquarters had moved to Clonmel. At this time the establishment was increased to 100 men per company, with a view to encouraging men to volunteer for the regulars. By September 1805 regimental HQ was at Ballinrobe, at Castlebar in March 1806, and at Athlone in June that year. In July 1806 the light battalions were broken up and the companies rejoined their regiments. The regiment was still at Athlone in November 1806 but had moved to Nenagh by June 1807. Militiamen were still being encouraged by generous bounties to transfer to the regulars and in some cases the ballot had to be used to replace them. Wicklow was divided into four groups of parishes: one district raised all its quota by ballot, in another only one parish balloted, for 5 men; the other two districts were able to obtain sufficient voluntary recruits.
The Wicklow Militia moved to Drogheda at the end of 1807 or beginning of 1808, and remained there for over two years, moving to Dublin in April 1810, where it remained part of the garrison for nearly a year. On 18–20 February 1811 the regiment marched in three 'divisions' from Dublin to Killarney, where it stayed until July 1812. It then transferred to Bandon, with detachments stationed at Listowel, Millstreet and Clonakilty. The strength of the regiment by November was 547 other ranks out of an establishment of 600. In January 1813 it began moving by divisions to Cork, two companies not arriving until mid-February. On 5 and 7 April the regiment marched in two divisions to Clonmel, and then dispersed small detachments to surrounding villages. Late in the year Maj James Edwards was left in charge of regimental HQ at Clonmel while Col William Forward, Lt-Col Robert Howard and the adjutant were all absent on recruiting duty in Co Wicklow. By January 1814 HQ was at Birr. Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814, and militia recruiting was halted on 27 April, Lt-Col Howard returning to Birr to resume command of the Wicklow Militia. The regiment marched out of Birr on 22 July, reaching Wicklow on 26 July, where it was disembodied on 1–2 August.
Napoleon escaped from Elba early in 1815 and the Militia was re-embodied, the Wicklow regiment opening recruitment on 4 May and the recruits being embodied on 25 May, the rest of the regiment on 13 July. Although the short Waterloo Campaign had already ended by then, the bulk of the Regular Army remained abroad on occupation duty for some months. The Wicklow Militia was deployed to Derry from October 1815 to March 1816, when it returned to Wicklow and was disembodied on 29 March.