Primarily intended for home defence, it served in England and Ireland (and briefly in Southern France) during Britain's major wars.

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.

Middlesex was left with a single regiment recruited from the rural parishes outside the lines, largely in the north and west of the county.

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.

However, opinion in the county shifted and in July 1760, the lieutenancy began forming three regiments (Western, Eastern and Westminster) and the arms and accoutrements were supplied from the Tower of London on 7 and 12 August.

Here the completely raw militia were exercised as part of a division alongside regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England.

The regiment was ordered to enlarge these quarters, even though Col Cooke complained that his men were already so dispersed that he could not be held responsible for their discipline and 'oeconomy' (internal economy).

[20] From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual peacetime training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually mustered each year.

Middlesex remained the worst 'black spot' for militia recruitment: in August 1793 the Western Regiment was 90 men short of the number it should have embodied.

[29] In June 1793 both the East and West Middlesex regiments marched to join a large militia training encampment at Broadwater Common, Waterdown Forest, outside Tunbridge Wells.

[17][20][22][23][32] During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment was part of a militia brigade under Maj-Gen Alexander McKenzie defending Hull.

[33] Legislation was passed in 1811 permitting English militia regiments to serve in Ireland, and the Royal West Middlesex did so for two years.

Twenty-one officers and 560 other ranks of the Royal West Middlesex volunteered for this service, and formed the bulk of the 3rd Provisional Battalion, commanded by their own lieutenant-colonel, Edward Bayly.

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.

[39][40] Sir John Gibbons, 4th Baronet, was appointed colonel of the Royal West Middlesex on 11 July 1831,[41] and from 27 December 1837 his lieutenant-colonel was the Rt Hon George Byng, who had been a captain in the Rifle Brigade.

The recruiting area of the Royal West Middlesex was effectively split, with the new 5th regiment taking over the north-western part of the county in Elthorne Hundred, one of the ancient subdivisions of the county, centred on Uxbridge, while the existing 2nd regiment took over Edmonton Hundred, the most northerly division of Middlesex, then centred on Barnet.

By the beginning of July 1855 the Edmonton Rifles had been embodied at Barnet,[50] where it remained until the militia were disembodied in May 1856 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war.

[51][52] Although the 4th and 5th Middlesex Militia were embodied in 1857 to relieve regular troops for service against the Indian Mutiny, the number of regiments required was smaller, and the Edmonton Rifles were not called upon.

The Edmonton Rifles were included in the experiment in 1868, carrying out their training in camp, and the four weeks ended with a divisional field day.

[56] On 21 September 1871 Viscount Enfield replaced his father as Hon Col of the regiment, and Maj Henry Grenfell was promoted to Lt-Col Commandant.

The 1st Royal East, 2nd Edmonton Rifles and 3rd Westminster Regiments of Middlesex Militia constituted 2nd Brigade of 3rd Division, III Corps.

[17][20][22][23][48][59][60][61] 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, and many militia units were embodied to replace them.

[20][17][23][48] On the outbreak of World War I the 6th KRRC mobilised at Winchester under Lt-Col the Hon J.R. Brownlow, a retired regular major, who had commanded the battalion since 1 October 1912.

In May 1915 the battalions moved to Belhus Park, and then in September to Seaford in Sussex with 4th Reserve Bde, where they trained drafts for the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th (Service) Bns of the KRRC.

The battalion was with 4th Reserve Bde at Northampton when on 27 October 1917 it was transferred to the Rifle Brigade as 53rd (Young Soldier) Bn, and continued carrying out initial training until, the end of the war.

On 8 February 53rd (YS) Bn Rifle Brigade was converted into a service battalion and on 21 March it sailed from Tilbury to Antwerp under Lt-Col Hon Nigel Gathorne-Hardy.

However, on 18 June the Light Division began moving to the Cologne area in case the German delegates rejected the Treaty of Versailles and Allied troops were ordered to occupy the Ruhr.

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.