From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as the Special Reserve, the Militia regiments of the county carried out internal security and home defence duties.

The usual shire contingent was divided into companies of roughly 100 men commanded by ductores or constables, and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars.

[9][10][11] In 1539 King Henry VIII, fearing invasion, held a Great Muster of all the counties, recording the number of armed men available in each hundred, borough or liberty (such as the Isle of Portland in Dorset).

[5][13][14][15][16][17][18] When war broke out with Spain training and equipping the militia became a priority, and in 1588 veteran officers were sent to supervise preparations in the maritime counties of Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.

[1][12][19] The arrival of the Spanish Armada led to the mobilisation of the trained bands on 23 July, Dorset sending its cavalry and a large number of infantry to London.

[1][36][37][38][39][40] The militia were frequently called out during the reign of King Charles II; their duties included suppressing non-conformist religious assemblies (of which there were many in the West Country) under the Conventicle Act 1664.

He chose to begin his campaign in the West Country because of the level of support he expected in that strongly Protestant region, where economic recession was hurting the weavers and clothiers.

As his rebels mustered the government of James II responded by declaring him a traitor and calling out the militia on 13 June while the regulars of the Royal army were assembled.

On that day Monmouth sent a force against them under Lord Grey of Werke with Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Venner commanding about 40 horsemen and Maj Nathaniel Wade some 450 foot.

Scouting ahead, a vanguard of about 40 of the most experienced musketeers advanced in thick mist and surprised the militia outguard of about 12 men that Strangways had posted at the West Bridge.

The rebel vanguard being supported by a further 100 musketeers the militia party fell back along the High Street towards their main body in camp at the East Bridge, alerting the officers and volunteers billeted in the Bull Inn.

Finding the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Militia also blocking the routes into those counties, Monmouth was unable to reach Bristol and fell back into Somerset, where Churchill joined the Royal forces under the Earl of Feversham.

[10][56][58][60][65][66][67][68] At the Battle of Norton St Philip on 27 June, Feversham posted the Dorset Militia, together with those of Somerset and Oxfordshire in the line while the Regulars attempted to attack the village.

[58][60][68][69][70][71] On the night of 5/6 July Monmouth launched a desperate attack on Feversham's camp (the Battle of Sedgemoor), but his scratch forces were destroyed by the regulars.

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.

[56][86][87][d] The Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, reviewed part of the new regiment near Cranbourne in October that year and expressed himself satisfied with their appearance.

[56] In the summer of 1762 the regiment (together with the 21st Foot and the Cornwall Militia) formed part of Lt-Gen Edward Carr's Brigade camped in Chatham Lines, protecting the dockyard.

[12][86][92] Over the following years the regiment spent the summer months at one of the training camps, where the militia were exercised alongside regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion.

[12][86][95] 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.

[95] In June 1793 the regiment marched to join a large militia training encampment at Broadwater Common, Waterdown Forest, outside Tunbridge Wells.

[87][95][100][101][102] The regiment's home base was at Fordington, Dorset, where the parish Overseers of the Poor were responsible for the wives and families of numerous militiamen, especially after the increase in establishment.

(The Earl of Dorchester had first been commissioned into the Dorset Militia as a lieutenant in 1778 but had left the following year to join the newly raised 87th Foot as major, until it was disbanded in 1783.

The English Militia were invited to volunteer for service in Ireland and the Dorset (600 men) and Devon regiments embarked aboard the frigate HMS Arethusa on 31 August.

Intelligence having been received that there was going to be trouble at Coolnamuck, near Carrick where number of prisoners were being held, a Mr Jephson preceded there with a force of Yeomanry Cavalry assisted by the Dorset Militia.

Colonel Richard Hippisley Bingham, formerly a captain in the Madras Army, succeeded the elderly Sir John James Smith on 26 July 1852.

It first task was to equip the Reservists of the Dorsets, and it immediately despatched the first draft of 300 men to Belfast to make the 1st Bn up to full strength to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on its way to France.

It moved to Bovington Camp near Wool in May where it began training drafts for the 5th and 6th (Service) Bns Dorsets from the recruits coming in, including 460 from 3rd (R) Bn in July.

Apart from garrison duty, the battalion's role was to turn its men into fit, trained soldiers for drafting to other units: by January 1917 it had been reduced to strength of one company.

It moved to Verne Citadel on 18 September and was built up to strength with drafts from the 3rd (R) Bn Dorsets and SR battalions of the Warwicks, Wiltshires, Berkshires and Hampshires.

There is a memorial brass plate in St. Mary's Church, Bridport, to Edward Coker, killed at the Bull Inn during the Dorset Militia's skirmish with Monmouth's rebels on 1 June 1685.