[1][2][3][4][5] For the Great Muster held by King Henry VIII on 8 April 1539, Bedfordshire reported 219 archers and 528 billmen (however, the list only covers Bedford town and the three northern hundreds of the county):[6] In addition, four of the commissioners were assessed to harness another 74 men[7] The legal basis of the militia was updated in Queen Mary I's reign with two acts of 1557 covering musters (4 & 5 Ph.

[17] In 1638 the Bedford TBs mustered 500 foot armed with 296 muskets and 204 corslets (body armour, signifying pikemen), and 70 horsemen consisting of 40 Lancers and 30 light horse.

[20][24][25][26][27] The militia were frequently called out during the reign of King Charles II; for example, the Bedfordshires were alerted in 1666 because of a French and Dutch invasion threat.

The Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford, reported one foot regiment of five companies totalling 420 men under his son, Lord Edward Russell, as Colonel, and Sir John Burgoyne, 3rd Baronet, as Lieutenant-Colonel, together with two Troops of Horse totalling 119 men under Captain Sir Rowland Alston, 3rd Baronet of Odell.

2. c. 25) reorganised the county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years.

An adjutant and drill sergeants were to be provided to each regiment from the Regular Army, and arms and accoutrements would be supplied when the county had secured 60 per cent of its quota of recruits.

Among the other officers were the Earl of Upper Ossory and Sir Philip Monoux, 5th Baronet, as captains, but Viscount Torrington was (at his own request) only an ensign.

Tavistock found that most parishes in the county raised money (6 to 10 guineas each) to offer bounties to volunteers willing to serve in place of the balloted men.

This was the army's largest training camp, where the militia were exercised as part of a division alongside regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England.

In March the regiment with six companies began moving by stages to a large camp being formed at Harwich in Essex, but did not join until the end of July.

[6][41][43][51][52] On 25 June 1795 the Earl of Upper Ossory gave up personal command of the Bedfordshire Militia and Lt-Col Francis Moore was promoted to succeed him as colonel.

In November the regiment moved to Kent, being ferried across the Thames Estuary near Tilbury Fort by boat, and spent the winter at Maidstone.

While waiting for the legislation, the regiment marched on 27–28 June from Tunbridge Wells to Hastings whee it camped on Bo-Peep Hill on the South Downs.

On 8 July 1798 a general order was issued to form temporary battalions from the flank companies of militia regiments in the Southern District.

A Court of Enquiry had since been held, and on 12 January 1805 the Earl of Upper Ossory as Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire 'displaced' Col Moore and in his place appointed John Osborn, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford.

It then moved to Lympstone Camp, where it joined Lt-Gen Charles Lennox's militia brigade for the summer while Napoleon's 'Army of England' massed at Boulogne and threatened invasion.

The arms were sent to Weedon for storage, and the permanent staff of sergeants and drummers under the adjutant used a storehouse rented by the county near Castle Close in Bedford.

Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced.

His son, Lt-Col Richard Thomas Gilpin, a half-pay officer of the 14th Light Dragoons, who had joined the Bedfordshire Militia as a captain in 1820, was appointed colonel of the regiment on 11 September 1848.

[6][41][86][91][92] During the disembodiment the county erected a new Militia Depot at Bedford to store the arms and clothing and with quarters for most of the NCOs of the permanent staff.

When a large expeditionary force was sent to suppress the Indian Mutiny, many militia units were embodied again, the Bedfordshire LI assembling at Bedford on 2 November 1857.

In 1869 the training routine was varied when the Bedfordshire LI were brigaded with other militia regiments from surrounding counties for a review in the Duke of Bedford's Woburn Park.

[104] Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, who had seen action in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882 as an officer in the Grenadier Guards, was promoted to command the 3rd Bn on 22 December 1897.

There were moves to reform the Auxiliary Forces (Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteers) to take their place in the six Army Corps proposed by the Secretary of State for War, St John Brodrick.

The first task for the SR brigade was to dig entrenchments and erect barbed wire to supplement the defences, after which intensive training began.

The 9th (Reserve) Bn (see below) was formed alongside it in the Harwich Garrison in October to supply drafts to the 'Kitchener's Army' battalions of the Bedfords that were being raised.

[37][114] 3rd Bedfords spent the whole war in the Harwich Garrison, sending drafts to the fighting battalions: Under War Office Instruction 106 of 10 November 1915 the 3rd Bn was ordered to send a draft of 109 men to the new Machine Gun Training Centre at Grantham where they were to form the basis of a brigade machine-gun company of the new Machine Gun Corps.

[42][77] For a short period after 1853 the officers' shoulder-belt plate had the number '18' between the strings of a light infantry bugle-horn with the regimental title on a scroll below, all on a cut star.

In that year the King drew the lots for individual regiments and the resulting list remained in force with minor amendments until the end of the militia.

[42][43][91][121] A stained glass window in memory of Col Sir Richard Gilpin, 1st Baronet, was placed in St Paul's Church, Bedford, by the officers of the battalion.