The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England and was extended to Wales.

[1][2][3][4] King Henry VIII called a 'Great Muster' in 1539, which showed 2429 men available for service in the County of Anglesey, of whom 729 were foot soldiers with 'harness' (armour) the rest 'without any harness, weaponed with bills, spears, clubs or staves.

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.

[16][17] The Carnarvon Trained Bands of 1638 consisted of 200 men armed with 100 muskets and 100 Corslets (body armour, signifying pikemen).

[7][20][21] 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.

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.

[38][39] The problem was less with the other ranks raised by ballot than the shortage of men qualified to be officers, even after the requirements were lowered for Welsh counties.

Thomas Wynn of Glynllifon became Lord Lieutenant of Carnarvonshire in 1761 and the Carnarvon Militia was finally raised under his command, receiving its arms on 28 August 1762.

The arms and equipment were kept at 'Fort Williamsburg', Glynllifon, by the commanding officer, who succeeded as Sir Thomas Wynn, 3rd Baronet of Bodvean, in 1773 and was created Lord Newborough in 1776.

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.

The unit was stationed on the South Coast of England to meet the invasion threat, with its headquarters (HQ) at Eastbourne, later moving into Kent.

[43] 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.

[38][52] During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment with 137 men in 3 companies, under Maj John Hampton, was stationed with the Royal Glamorgan Militia at Pevensey Barracks on the Sussex coast, forming part of Brigadier-General Moore Disney's brigade.

The following month the Royal Carnarvon moved to Sussex to take up duties at Chichester and Worthing,where the regiment volunteered to serve in Ireland.

The regiment was stood down in September 1808 when most of its officers and men, together with some of the other volunteers in the county, transferred to the new Carnarvonshire Local Militia under the command of Lt-Col Assheton Smith.

Although this offer was not taken up, it was reported in the Welsh press, together with rumour that the Royal Carnarvon Light Infantry were being converted into a Rifle unit.

[6][38][40][51][43] While stationed at Longford the regiment was employed assisting the Revenue Service and the Civil Power, and in protecting military stores.

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.

Under the Act, militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time home defence service in three circumstances:[7][62][63][64][65] The Hon Edward Douglas-Pennant, formerly of the Grenadier Guards, was appointed as lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Royal Carnarvon Rifles on 30 August 1852 and on 30 September he was instructed to recruit the regiment up to its establishment of four companies.

The two lieutenant-colonels continued as joint commandants, but unlike some of the other forced mergers, it appears that the Anglesey and Carnarvonshire contingents did actually train together at Carnarvon.

In 1867 the War Office rescinded the mergers of the Welsh militia regiments, and on 11 March the Royal Carnarvon Rifles regained its independence.

[62][70] Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, militia regiments were brigaded with their local regular and Volunteer battalions.

The Carnarvon, Anglesey, Denbigh, Flint and Merioneth Militia were all assigned to Sub-District No 23 at Wrexham with the 23rd Foot (the Royal Welsh Fusiliers).

The Royal Carnarvon Rifles were assigned with two Irish militia battalions to 2nd Brigade of 1st Division, VI Corps.

Of 205 men on the roll of the Royal Carnarvon Rifles Militia Reserve, 195 reported for duty of whom 25 were rejected on medical grounds.

However, on 1 March 1900 the 4th Bn was ordered to form a Militia Reserve draft and 53 men were sent to join the reinforcements for the RWF assembling at Crownhill Barracks, Plymouth.

Ten men from the 4th Bn RWF were killed in action or died on service in South Africa, several while serving with the Devons.

[51][69][84] About 1803 the officers' Coatee button bore the Prince of Wales's feathers, coronet, and motto scroll Ich Dien, within an eight-pointed star, with the letters 'R.C' (for 'Royal Carnarvon') beneath.

Around 1858 the officers' black metal Shako plate consisted of a crowned Maltese cross, in the centre of which was the Prince of Wales's feathers, coronet and motto, surrounded by a circle inscribed 'ROYAL CARNARVON RIFLES'.

In 1833 the King drew the lots for individual regiments and the resulting list continued in force with minor amendments until the end of the militia.