Conduct money was recovered from the government, but replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties.

Many of the soldiers objected to serving under Roman Catholic officers, including Henry O'Brien and John Fitzgerald among the captains conducting the Brecknock contingent to Newcastle.

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.

Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country.

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.

A large mob formed and the Somersets armed with bayonets and assisted by the Herefordshire Militia attempted to storm the Brecknocks' lines, despite the efforts of the officers.

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.

It was decided to combine the Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire militia contingents into a single stronger battalion under the command of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort, Lord Lieutenant of both counties and colonel of the Monmouths since 1771.

Much of the work of the embodiment and amalgamation fell to the Duke's eldest son, the Marquess of Worcester, who was commissioned as Major on 1 February; Lt-Col the Earl of Abergavenny was not appointed until 5 April.

[6][37][41][39][54][55][56] 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.

[26][57] In April 1793 a wave of rioting occurred in the West of England and militia units were sent there, including the Monmouth & Brecon, which was ordered to march from Newbury to Wells, Somerset.

It remained there during the summer months, and then in November was sent to winter quarters across Devonshire, with two companies at Honiton, two at Ottery St Mary and two at Topsham.

The Earl of Abergavenny retired on ground of ill-health and Sir Samuel Brudenell Fludyer, 2nd Baronet succeeded him as Lt-Col on 1 July 1805.

It was relieved by the 2nd Bn King's German Legion on 11 March 1804 and crossed to Portsmouth, where it was accommodated in Portsea Barracks with a detachment at Fort Cumberland.

(Lord Arthur Somerset had already transferred to the 7th Foot[69]) The Royal Monmouth & Brecon left Lewes on 12 October 1805, and after staying at Blatchington until Christmas, it went to Horsham until 3 February 1806, when it was stationed at Steyning for four months.

On 6 November 1810 the regiment marched out of Bristol to Berry Head in Devon, where fortifications protected the naval anchorage of Torbay.

Napoleon's escape from Elba early in 1815, leading to the short Waterloo campaign meant that the planned disembodiment of the militia was suspended.

Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held until 1831, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced.

His adjutant was Capt Egerton Isaacson, who had first been commissioned into the Monmouth & Brecon Militia in 1812 and had then served with the 52nd Light Infantry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.

[6][37][39][55][87][88][89] John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins, Member of Parliament for Brecon and Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire, became Lt-Col Commandant on 16 November 1847.

[89][94] Lieutenant-Col Watkins retired on 30 August 1860 and was appointed the regiment's first Honorary Colonel; Maj Dickinson was promoted to succeed him as commanding officer.

[97][104][105] The 24th Foot, which had been casually assigned to a Welsh region, became the South Wales Borderers, unusually taking the title of one of its militia battalions.

[6] On 12 May the battalion concentrated at Boshof, and then 300 men under Maj Jones (including the Mounted infantry (MI) section that had been formed under Capt Gunter) joined 9th Brigade of Lt-Gen Lord Methuen's 1st Division and marched to Hoopstad.

Gunter's MI occupied Bloemhof, capturing much ammunition, and the Boer Commandants Wessels and Pretorius surrendered to Maj Jones.

Food was running short and the MI went out on 2 October with empty waggons to get supplies, but could not get them back through the Boer's siege lines.

By now the garrison was feeding the civilians as well, and it had to extend its lines 4 miles (6.4 km) out to 'Joubert's Farm' to protect the Mealie harvest.

[6][109] Since May 1900 LH battalion (under Maj Morgan after Lt-Col Henley was invalided home) had remained at Warrenton and Fourteen Streams, but on 7 March 1901 it moved out to Taungo to guard captured livestock, with 100 men detached to Christiana.

The introduction of the Derby Scheme and subsequently of full conscription brought an influx of recruits to Kinmel Park, while a separate school of instruction was opened for young officers.

[97] The Royal Brecknock Rifles' badge worn on the ORs' Forage cap in the 1850s was a Light Infantry bugle-horn above a scroll carrying the regiment's title.

Between 1874 and 1876 the ORs' cap badge had the Prince of Wales's feathers, coronet and 'ICH DIEN' motto beneath the numeral 132 resting on a bugle-horn, the whole inside a crowned oval inscribed 'ROYAL BRECKNOCK RIFLES', surrounded by a spray of laurel.