Although primarily intended for home defence, its battalions served in Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta and saw active service during the Second Boer War.

After conversion to the Special Reserve (SR) under the Haldane Reforms it supplied reinforcements to the fighting battalions during World War I.

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.

It was an important element in the country's defence at the time of the Spanish Armada in the 1580s, and control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War.

[b] It was formally embodied for service on 25 February 1798, and was placed on a permanent footing as the 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia (3rd RLM) in 1800.

[24] In July 1805 the regiment 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.

Although most of the militia was disembodied after the Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814, the 3rd RLM was still in Ireland when Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to power in France in 1815.

The three regiments of Lancashire Militia, which happened to be stationed together at Dublin, were allowed to recruit back to full strength by ballot and 'by beat of drum'.

So although officers continued to be commissioned into the regiment[c] and the ballot was regularly held, the selected men were rarely mustered for drill.

In 1831 King William IV bestowed on the three Lancashire Militia Regiments the additional title The Duke of Lancaster's Own.

Under the Act, militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time service in three circumstances:[41][42][43] With the threat of war against Russia, the three Lancashire regiments were ordered to recruit up to their full establishment of 1200 men, and two additional militia infantry regiments (the 4th and 5th) and an artillery unit were formed in Lancashire.

[4] War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the militia were called out for home defence and service in overseas garrisons.

[19][17][21][22][23][48][49] Although a number of militia regiments were embodied to relieve regular units sent to fight in the Indian Mutiny, the 3rd RLM was not among them.

[21] In 1867 the Militia Reserve was created, consisting of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war.

Although often referred to as brigades, the regimental 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.

[4][17][19][21][22][25][41][51][55][56][57] After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the regular army was sent to South Africa, followed by many militia reservists as reinforcements.

Militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and a number volunteered for active service or to garrison overseas stations.

It arrived in South Africa on 30 March with a strength of 24 officers and 805 other ranks (ORs) under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Pedder, and was employed on the lines of communication from Port Elizabeth to Aliwal North.

Lieutenant Mackie of the battalion distinguished himself by his handling of a party of Mounted infantry against a superior number of Boers and in endeavouring to bring in a wounded man; he was rewarded with a regular commission.

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

In early 1915 an outbreak of Cerebrospinal meningitis in 94th Bde at Felixstowe caused the battalions to be scattered, the 11th Loyals going to Chichester in Sussex in March.

In January 1918 the battalion was at Margate in Kent, but during the winter the division moved to Essex and 51st (G) Bn went to Colchester, where it remained or the rest of the war.

After the war ended it was converted to a service battalion of the KRRC at Colchester on 8 February 1919 and sent to join the British Army of the Rhine.

By Royal warrant in 1805 militia colonels were reminded that their grenadier company was to wear the Bearskin cap (despite the cost).

The officers' oval pouchbelt plate had a similar design without the star, the circle being a garter inscribed 'THIRD ROYAL LANCASHIRE'.

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; the 3rd RLM was 125th.