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 Parliament[which?]

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.

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.

En route the two battalions passed through London and under Orford's command were reviewed by King George II in front of Kensington Palace.

[25] Hilsea Barracks was infected with Smallpox, Dysentery and Typhus, and the men from isolated Norfolk villages with little immunity succumbed in large numbers.

Annual training continued thereafter – the East Norfolks usually at Norwich or Yarmouth – ballots were held regularly, and officers were commissioned to fill vacancies.

Here it was reviewed by Lt-Gen Sir Richard Pierson on 15 May, and then on 19 May was ordered to its war station at Harwich and Landguard Fort, with detachments billeted at Colchester and Manningtree.

Detachments were moved around Essex during the summer and then in November the East Norfolks were ordered to exchange with the Cambridgeshire Militia and went back to Yarmouth for its winter quarters, arriving on 5 December.

Here the militia were exercised under Lt-Gen Pierson as part of a division alongside Regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England.

In May 1781 the regiment marched to Ipswich, with detachments across Suffolk at Woodbridge, Wickham Market and Saxmundham, where it was on standby to support revenue officers in catching smugglers.

In November, now only 7 companies strong, the regiment marched to winter quarters dispersed around south-west Norfolk at Dereham, Attleborough, Harling, New Buckenham and places nearby.

[4][13][28][38][39] 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.

On 6 August the whole camp moved to Ashdown Forest for a few days before spending two weeks training at Brighton and then returning to Broadwater for the rest of the summer.

The following spring the regiment was quartered in the Medway Towns to prevent rioting, and then marched to summer camp at Deal, where it was brigaded with the Royal Lancashire and East Middlesex Militia under Maj-Gen Grenfield.

The brigade was reviewed at Dover by the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York, in October, after which the East Norfolks wintered around Braintree, Essex, with a detachment guarding the Royal Gun Powder Magazine at Purfleet.

The East Norfolks, together with the Cambridgeshires, West Suffolks and Warwickshires, formed the 2nd Brigade of General Sir William Howe's Division.

[17][49][50] In September 1798 the officers and most of the men of the East Norfolk Militia volunteered for service in Ireland during the Irish Rebellion, but their offer was not accepted.

Jean De Narde, a 28-year lieutenant and son of a notary from St. Malo, escaped from the tower, but could not leave the churchyard due to posted sentries.

[53] A memorial service for Jean De Narde was held at Dereham church on 23 July 2016, including a re-enactment of the shooting and a minute's silence.

[54] The Peace of Amiens was short-lived and Britain declared war on France once more on 18 May 1803, the East Norfolk Militia having already been re-embodied at Yarmouth on 21 March.

[57][60] During the invasion crisis of 1805, while Napoleon assembled an expeditionary force across the English Channel at Boulogne, the Norfolk Militia were stationed in the Southern District (Sussex), the most vulnerable sector.

Together with the Nottinghamshire Militia the East and West Norfolks formed a brigade under Maj Gen Alexander Mackenzie Fraser, with headquarters in Winchelsea.

On 10 October the garrison of Colchester was reviewed by the Duke of York, then the regiments marched out to winter quarters, the East Norfolks going to Ipswich.

The regiment was presented with new colours on 16 May 1854 at a public ceremony held on South Denes, Great Yarmouth, attended by 10,000 persons, including civic dignitaries.

The day concluded with a ball held at Great Yarmouth Town Hall, which had been decorated with the new colours, mirrors and stars formed of bayonets.

It was reported in the Norfolk Chronicle that this riot included the use of belts and stones, and that 200 Artillerymen, armed with swords and knives issued from the arsenal, had to be prevented from joining the fight by "persuasion and threats".

The report says that officers from both corps were involved in ending the riot, and that guards had to be placed on the bridge to keep the Artillery out of Yarmouth and the Militia from crossing into Southtown.

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

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.

[19][50][18][39][98] The names of the officers and men of militia and volunteer battalions of the Norfolk Regiment who died during the Second Boer War are engraved on a brass plate in Norwich Cathedral.