The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England and its legal basis was updated by two acts of 1557 (4 & 5 Ph.

Lord Paget was commissioned as its Colonel on 22 April 1776, the regiment received its first issue of weapons from the Tower of London (when two-thirds of the quota had been achieved) on 7 February 1777, and it was embodied for full-time duty on 31 March 1778.

In August it was again quartered at Lichfield, before marching to Bristol in September, leaving detachments across Hampshire at Andover, Basingstoke, Overton and Whitchurch.

[14][23] The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in the British Isles), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits.

[5][14][15][17][30] During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment, with 1300 men in 10 companies under Lt-Col Edward Disbrowe, was at Portsea Barracks, forming part of the Portsmouth Garrison under Maj-Gen John Hope.

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.

He was immediately succeeded by Major the Hon W.P.M Talbot, formerly of the Royal Fusiliers, who was confirmed in command as lt-col the following April, just before the annual training at Lichfield.

The service companies embarked at Portsmouth on SS Hansa under the command of Lt-Col Talbot and arrived at Corfu in the Ionian Islands on 15 April.

[55] Although often referred to as brigades, the sub-districts were purely administrative organisations, but in a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875.

After the disasters of Black Week in December, most of the regular army was sent out, and further militia units were embodied, not only for home defence but also to serve in South Africa.

On 2 July the battalion with its machine gun demonstrated on the ridge east of town while the mounted troops left Lindley and cleared the country toward Leeuw Kop.

Commandant Prinsloo and some 4000 Boers had surrendered in the Brandwater Basin, and 20th Bde now escorted them to Winburg on 9 August, with 4th South Staffs guarding the Wepener Commando of 550 men.

For the rest of the war, formal divisional and brigade organisations dissolved into ad hoc columns formed and reformed for specific tasks.

Until October the Boers were continually round Winburg in varying strengths, skirmishing with mounted columns, damaging the railway and on occasion attacking or shelling the defences of the town.

On 6 April a force of Boers attacked No 2 Railway Picquet, 6 miles (9.7 km) from Smaldeel, held by one non-commissioned officer and 15 men of the battalion.

They disembarked at Southampton on 11 August and next day marched through the crowded streets of Lichfield to Whittington Barracks to be disembodied.During more than 20 months' service the battalion had lost 41 men killed, died of wounds or sickness.

[37][15][5][17] The 3rd South Staffs embarked on the Bavarian at Southampton on 17 June 1901,[78] and landed at Cape Town on 10 July, with 20 officers and 561 ORs under Lt-Col Michael Swinfen-Broun.

At the end of December the battalion took over a new line of blockhouses extending over 100 miles (160 km) from the coast at Lambert's Bay via Calvinia to Victoria West, with HQ at Clanwilliam.

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.

[15][37][83][84] The 4th Bn was also embodied at Whittington Barracks, under the command of Lt-Col E.A.E Bulwer, who had been the regular adjutant of the battalion during the Boer War and had retired from the South Staffs as a captain.

[89] 25th Division was part of Third Army Reserve, stationed near Bapaume 10 miles (16 km) behind IV Corps in the Flesquières Salient, when the Germans launched their Spring Offensive (Operation Michael) on 21 March 1918.

Although incomplete, the Green Line was well-sited, and its defenders had had two more days to work on it: they drove off six separate attacks on 23 March, some of which got within 30 yards (27 m) of the barbed wire before withering under rifle, machine gun and artillery fire.

[87][88][90][91] As the first phase of the German offensive died away, the battered 25th Division received reinforcement drafts to bring it back up to an average strength of 800 men per battalion.

However, a fresh order arrived calling for outposts to remain in position as long as possible before fighting their way back; the COs interpreted this to apply to their whole battalions, so they countermanded the retirement.

Their remaining troops fought the 3 miles (4.8 km) back to a position west of Neuve Eglise, some parties passing through German lines to get there, but casualties were severe.

By 16 April, after Bailleul fell, the two brigades of 25th Division, 7th and 75th, were temporarily reorganised as '7th Composite Bde' of two battalions, forming virtually the only reserve in the area.

Although 25th Division attacked promptly at 03.00, they were unable to keep up with the Creeping barrage in the mud and fog, and 7th Bde with 4th South Staffs in the leading wave encountered uncut wire.

[87][88][94] 25th Division was holding the line when the Germans made their final effort of the offensive on 29 April (the Battle of the Scherpenberg) and was offered 'exceptionally good targets'.

The two flank battalions fell back in diverging directions, creating a gap thinly held by 4th South Staffs supported by sappers and mortar crews.

There followed a long retreat, with the British troops of IX Corps forming the southern hinge of the great bulge forced into the French lines.