However, the Hertfordshire battalion saw considerable action on the Western Front during World War I, when its commanding officer won a Victoria Cross and it led the final pursuit in the days before the Armistice.

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Under this statute 'Commissioners of Array' would levy the required number of men from each shire, divided into companies of 100 commanded by ductores, and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars.

The custom was to requisition men for service from the shires closest to the scene of action, and Hertfordshire was too distant from the Welsh and Scottish borders for most of the campaigns under the Plantagenet kings.

[27][28] However, under the leadership of Edmund Aylee the largely Puritan Hertfordshire trained bandsmen took the opportunity to carry out acts of iconoclasm against churches in their own county, tearing down and burning communion rails, which they considered to be 'Popish'.

[31][32] Parliament commissioned Colonel Richard Browne of the LTBs as Major-General of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire and gave him the task of reducing the Royalist garrisons in those counties.

Browne was too late to intervene in the Battle of Cropredy Bridge and when he joined the beaten Parliamentary force under Sir William Waller near Towcester on 2 July the King was already 30 miles (48 km) away.

By now Waller's original LTB brigade was deserting for home, and the Essex TBs began to join them, while the Hertfordshire men complained bitterly of their poor quarters.

[28][33][34][35] In September 1645 the Hertfordshire Trained Band Horse, apparently numbering 500, served in a force under Col Richard Graves of the New Model Army marching from Thame towards Cheshire, but may have gone home before the Battle of Rowton Heath.

There was considerable opposition to the militia ballot: in many places the JPs were prevented from drawing up lists of those liable to serve, and trouble broke out in Hertfordshire on 5 September.

(From 1759 to its transfer to the Special Reserve in 1908, the regiment styled itself the 'Hartfordshire Militia', reflecting the correct pronunciation (and its choice of a Hart for its cap badge) but this spelling was never officially recognised.

[65] In April 1797 the Hertfordshires were stationed at Harwich in Essex, and provided a guard of honour when the Prince of Wurttemberg arrived by sea to marry Princess Charlotte.

Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training (only in 1820, 1821, 1825 and 1831) 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:[48][79][80][81][82] In August 1852 the Earl of Verulam as Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire called for some 450 volunteers and the new battalion did its first training in November that year, later building up to an establishment of 30 officers and 825 other ranks.

[86] Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia were grouped into county brigades with their local Regular battalions and Rifle Volunteer Corps.

[92] In October 1892, when the regiment's honorary colonel was the former (and future) Prime Minister, the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, his eldest son Viscount Cranborne was appointed Lt-Col in command.

[88] 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 called out to replace them for home defence.

[10][44][88][93][94][95][96][97] The battalion disembarked at Cape Town on 24 March and proceeded to Dronfield, near Kimberley, where it joined 9th Brigade occupying the south bank of the Vaal River facing General S.P.

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.

Next morning the barrage was renewed at 06.20 and the division was able to complete the capture of Beaucourt, with 4th Bedfords providing carrying parties to take bombs, sandbags, etc up to help consolidate the village.

A protective field gun barrage deterred German counter-attacks, and 63rd (RN) Division was relieved on the morning of 15 November, having suffered heavy casualties.

On 25 October the battalion went into the line in the Canal Bank sector near Ypres, and next day part of 63rd (RN) Division tried to advance up the valley of the Lekkerboterbeek stream through knee-deep mud.

[94][107][108][109][129][130][131] After resting and refitting, at Eringhem and Houtkerque, the 4th Bedfords moved south with 63rd (RN) Division to join Third Army and by 21 December was holding the support trenches on Highland Ridge where the German counter-attack after the Battle of Cambrai had been halted.

[104][107] When the German Spring Offensive (Operation Michael) was launched on 21 March 1918, 63rd (RN) Division was still occupying part of the Flesquières Salient, the last remaining gain from the Battle of Cambrai.

[94][106][107][113][141][142][143] Although completely exhausted, 63rd (RN) Division, remained close to the line in reserve while waiting for reinforcements – initially 4th Bedfords got just 17 ORs from the 26th (3rd Tyneside Irish) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers, which had been disbanded earlier.

4th Bedfords maintained their positions despite being heavily shelled, but 7th RF were driven back and a gap opened up on 6 April until a counter-attack by the Royal Marine Light Infantry regained much of the lost ground.

Smith, DSO, DCM, assumed command of the battalion on 20 May, but was evacuated sick a month later and Maj A.G. Haywood, MC, took over as acting Lt-Col on 26 June.

Next morning 4th Bedfords drove back some parties of Germans but the adjacent 7th RF found their positions turned by a strong counter-attack and had a stiff fight.

The barrage at Zero fell short, causing casualties among the assembled troops, who ran into machine gun fire as soon as they left Red Cut, especially from the right flank where 21st Division's attack had been cancelled at the last moment.

[94][104][107][108][109][160] A detachment represented 4th Bedfords at Gen Sir Henry Horne's official entry into Mons on 15 November and at the end of the month the battalion left Harmignies for Erquennes where it went into winter quarters.

[44][104][161][162] After the war ended it was converted into 53rd (Service) Battalion, and in April 1919 it was sent to join the occupation forces in Germany as part of 102nd Brigade in Eastern Division of British Army of the Rhine.