An invasion scare in 1859 led to the creation of the Volunteer Force and huge enthusiasm throughout Great Britain for joining local RVCs.

[1] The War Office issued a Circular Letter on 12 May inviting volunteers, and within three days Earl Spencer had offered to raise a company from his tenants at Althorp in Northamptonshire.

The 1st Northamptonshire RVC established its headquarters (HQ) at Clare Street drill hall, Northampton.

After Fitzroy had been promoted to major in 1874, Sir Hereward Wake, 12th Baronet, was captain of the 2nd RVC from 1877 to 1887, by special permission, because he simultaneously held a commission in the Militia.

[14] In the mobilisation scheme introduced after the Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888, the battalion initially formed part of the South Midland Brigade, which would have assembled at Warwick in the event of war.

[14] When the Volunteer Force was subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) as part of the Haldane reforms of 1908, the bulk of the 1st Volunteer Bn became the 4th Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment, but the Peterborough companies were converted to form the Northamptonshire Battery of the Royal Field Artillery and the East Midland Brigade Company of the Army Service Corps.

[22][23][25][26][27] Meanwhile, the formation of duplicate or 2nd Line TF units from Home Service men and recruits had been authorised, and towards the end of 1914 the 2nd East Anglian Division came into existence at Peterborough.

[24][29] After the Home Service men and the unfit had been transferred to the 2/4th Bn, the 1/4th was brought up to strength with recruits and training continued at Bury St Edmunds.

[22][23][25][27] In the early hours of 15 August the battalion transhipped to the destroyers Foxhound and Scourge and ran in to Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula, landing from small boats onto the beach.

[22][30] At the beginning of September the 1/4th Northamptons were transferred to 163rd (Norfolk & Suffolk) Bde in 54th Division, and remained with it until the end of the campaign.

The trench lines were close together, within hand grenade range, and between 3 September and 30 November the battalion suffered battle casualties of 35 killed and 129 wounded, as well as a large number of sick.

On 30 December it was moved by rail and foot to the Western Desert in support of the cavalry and armoured cars operating against the Senussi before returning to camp near Cairo in January 1916.

On 9 January 1917, the 1/4th Northamptons went into camp for training, and at the end of the month entrained for Kantara to begin the march across the Sinai Peninsula preparatory to the advance into Palestine.

[34] Stationary trench warfare having set in, the battalion was brought up to strength before a new attempt on the Turkish position (the Third Battle of Gaza) began on 2 November.

After the 161st and 163rd Brigades had advanced up the coast to capture the Gaza defences, A Company 1/4th Northamptons was to pass through with tanks in support and capture the positions known as 'Lion', 'Tiger' and 'Dog', north west of Gaza, clear the beach of Wire entanglements to allow the cavalry through, and finally to occupy a defensive line to cover their withdrawal if required.

By 06.30 the first part of the operation had succeeded, and A Company passed through, and captured 'Lion' about 1500 yards further on within an hour, despite the breakdown of the tanks and the ineffectiveness of the covering machine-gun barrage due to mist.

[35] On 27 November the weak (400 strong) battalion distinguished itself at Wilhelma, decisively repulsing three attacks made by 3000 Turks with ample artillery support.

The action protected the vital Jaffa–Jerusalem road, the main supply route for the British force advancing to capture Jerusalem.

[5][22][25][28] Early in 1915, the division (which was numbered 69th in August 1915, with the 2nd East Midland Brigade becoming 207th) concentrated round Thetford, where it formed part of First Army in Central Force.

[41] However, the constant drain of trained drafts sent overseas meant that the 69th Division was never ready for active service, and it remained on Home Defence for the whole war.

Based initially at Cley next the Sea, it moved to Sheringham in mid-1918 and remained on the Norfolk coast until disbandment on 24 March 1919.

[56][57][58][59] The regiment supplied a cadre of experienced officers and men to 233rd S/L Training Rgt at Saighton Camp where it provided the basis for a new 556 S/L Bty formed on 13 February 1941.

[62][63][64] On 10 September 1942, 400 (Northampton) Battery was transferred to 30th (Surrey) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, which was preparing for service overseas.

[45][65] The regiment landed at Algiers in January 1943 and was the only British searchlight unit serving with Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in North Africa.

[70][71][72][73] 2 AA Group was responsible for defending the assembly camps, depots and embarkation ports for Operation Overlord (the Allied invasion of Normandy) and was planning for the expected onslaught of V-1 flying bombs (codenamed 'Divers') against London.

Meanwhile, the group had to deal with a sharp increase in Luftwaffe air raids trying to reach London (the so-called 'Baby Blitz'), which continued until May.

[74][75] By the end of 1944, the German Luftwaffe was suffering from such shortages of pilots, aircraft and fuel that serious aerial attacks on the UK could be discounted.

At the same time 21st Army Group fighting in North West Europe was suffering a severe manpower shortage, particularly among the infantry.

[5][88][91][93][94][95] The original uniform was grey with scarlet facings and the headgear was a shako, in which the 5th Northampton RVC wore a red tuft.

When the Volunteers were affiliated to the Regular county regiments they were given the option of adopting the scarlet coat, but the 1st Northampton VB rejected this and retained the grey jacket.