The Militia had always been important in the county, which was vulnerable to invasion, and from its formal creation in 1758 the regiment served in home defence in all Britain's major wars until 1909.

Having always been an infantry regiment, the North Devon Militia was converted into an artillery unit in 1853, with a role in manning the forts that protected the vital naval base at Plymouth.

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.

[1][2][3] Although control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War, most of the county Trained Bands played little part in the fighting.

[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Once again, the maritime counties were to the fore: the first issue of arms to the Devon Militia was made on 5 December 1758, and they were embodied on 23 June 1759.

Two, later four (North, South, East and Exeter), battalions were formed in Devon under the command of the Duke of Bedford as Lord Lieutenant.

In 1763 the battalions were reorganised into three regiments, including the 2nd or North Devon Militia of 500 men, 25 Sergeants and 16 Drummers, organised into eight companies, with its headquarters (HQ) at Barnstaple.

This was attributed to the frequent absence through illness of the commanding officer (CO), Col Sir Bourchier Wrey, 6th Baronet, who had now resigned.

The camp at Roborough was broken up on 10 November 1782 and the regiments went into winter quarters (at Taunton and Bridgwater in Somerset for the North Devons).

[2][12][21][23][24][25][26] From 1787 to 1793 the East Devon Militia was assembled for its annual 28 days' training, usually at Bideford, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were mustered each year.

In view of the worsening international situation the whole Devonshire Militia was embodied for service on 22 December 1792, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793.

[2][27][28] The Militia could be employed anywhere in the country for home defence, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while the Regular Army regarded them as a source of trained men if they could be persuaded to transfer.

In June 1793 both the North and South Devon regiments marched to join a large militia training encampment at Broadwater Common, Waterdown Forest, outside Tunbridge Wells.

[21][37][38] However, the Peace of Amiens did not last long, and the order to call out the Devonshire Militia was sent to the Lord Lieutenant (Earl Fortescue) on 11 March 1803.

In 1805 there was a drive to induce militiamen to volunteer for the Regular Army (or the Royal Marines, in the case of men from Devon and Cornwall).

This camp was broken up on 22 December and the regiment moved to Portsmouth where it was quartered in Portsea Barracks and brigaded with the East Devon and North Hampshire Militia.

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

The Devonshire Militia's training of June 1825 resulted in newspaper advertisements offering rewards for the capture of deserters (31 of them from the North Devon regiment).

[21][49][50] Training was held at Barnstaple in February 1831, but not again before 1852.The ballot lapsed and the permanent staff of the militia, which had been reduced in 1819 to the adjutant, paymaster and surgeon, sergeant-major and drum-major, one sergeant and corporal for every 40 men, and one drummer for every two companies plus the flank companies, were progressively reduced so that by 1835 there were only the adjutant, sergeant-major and six sergeants, and the other long-serving men were pensioned off.

The Colonel, Lord Poltimore, retired and Lt-Col George Buck (formerly of the Royal Horse Guards), the Surgeon, and most of the other officers of the North Devon Militia transferred to the new corps, together with 367 volunteers, all over 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) in height; deficiencies in men of the correct height were made up by exchanging men with the two infantry regiments.

[17][52][18][66][67] The unit was embodied on 9 March 1885 when an international crisis arose over the Panjdeh incident while much of the Regular Army was simultaneously engaged on the Nile Expedition, but it was stood down on 30 September 1885.

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.

[68][69] Under the sweeping Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Militia was replaced by the Special Reserve, a semi-professional force whose role was to provide reinforcement drafts for Regular units serving overseas in wartime.