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.

[2][3] The Gloucestershire Trained Bands were called out in the Armada year of 1588, and again a century later during the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution (when they were among the few units to see action in a largely bloodless campaign).

The first or South battalion of the regiment was embodied for permanent duty at Gloucester on 27 July with eight companies under the command of Colonel Norborne Berkeley, who became Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire in 1762.

[23][25][27] The Seven Years' War ended with the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763 and the two battalions of Gloucestershire militia were disembodied, but not before they became separate South and North regiments on 20 April.

was passed to 'Enable His Majesty to call out and assemble the Militia in all cases of Rebellion in any part of the Dominion belonging to the Crown of Great Britain' (raising the possibility that they may have to serve in North America).

Coxheath 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.

At Warley and Coxheath each battalion had two small field-pieces or 'battalion guns' attached to it, manned by men of the regiment instructed by a Royal Artillery sergeant and two gunners.

[25][26][36] In view of the worsening international situation the militia was embodied for service in 1792, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793.

[43] After the Irish Rebellion of 1798 broke out the eight companies of the Royal North Gloucesters at Portsea Barracks volunteered for service there on 2 September.

The main body was joined by the Grenadier and Light companies from Weymouth and embarked 614-strong at Pill, near Bristol, landing at Dublin under Col Kingscote (gazetted as a colonel in the army for the duration of the service) on 11 September before marching to Drogheda.

In the autumn it was sent to camp at Pett Castle and employed in digging anti-invasion trenches (the forerunners of the Royal Military Canal).

[6][18][24][45] In the spring of 1805, with Napoleon's 'Army of England' assembling at Boulogne, intensive training in light infantry tactics and brigade manoeuvres was carried out.

On 30 May the RNGM began a march from Steyning to Bristol where, with 610 men in 10 companies under Lt-Col Henry Howard, the regiment was part of a brigade under Maj-Gen Josiah Champagné.

In August there was an urgent request for volunteers to transfer to Line regiments, and a draft of three sergeants and 174 men from the RNGM joined the 9th Foot, serving with it through the Peninsular War.

In October the RNGM marched to Bognor Barracks for its winter quarters, but an outbreak of disease led to it moving back to Steyning, and then to Littlehampton and Worthing.

[48] On 2 July 1811 the regiment left Bristol under orders for Dartford, but it was diverted to Sandhurst Camp, where the men spent three months under canvas working on the buildings of the new Royal Military College.

[6][18][24][51] Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the men were rarely assembled for training during the 'Long Peace' after Waterloo.

Under the Act, Militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time service in three circumstances:[56][57][58][59][60] The quota for Gloucestershire was set at 1993 men and the Lord Lieutenant was instructed to recruit the two moribund regiments up to this strength over the next two years.

The RNGM was summoned for its training in October that year and mustered at Cirencester under the command of Col Thomas Kingscote only 15 short of its first-year establishment of 620 men.

Colonel Kingscote became hon col and Lt-Col Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, 8th Baronet, MP, commanded until his death in 1854.

[26][55][61][62][63] War broke out with Russia in 1854 and large numbers of men volunteered for line regiments in August after the battalion's summer training.

[6][18][24][64][65] After this period of service there was no annual training in the spring of 1857, but the RNGM was called out again when large numbers of Regular troops were sent to quell the Indian Mutiny.

This would have taken the men away from the harvest: Cirencester Chamber of Agriculture objected, and the WO backed down, allowing the regiment to arrange annual training at a time that was locally convenient.

[73] Although often referred to as brigades, the sub-districts were purely administrative organisations, but in a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875.

[76] 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 for home defence and to garrison certain overseas stations.

The 4th Gloucesters was embodied at Cirencester on 11 January 1900 and moved by train to Holyhead under Lt-Col Earl Bathurst for service in Ireland once more.

[77][78] The whole battalion had volunteered for overseas service in South Africa or elsewhere, and it was selected to go to St Helena to guard Boer prisoners of war (POWs) who were being held on the island.

[89][90] While the former RSGLI became the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, the 4th Bn was disbanded on 31 July despite its greater numerical strength and stronger record of embodiments and overseas service.

[62][74] A shoulder belt plate dated between 1776 and 1795 consists of a brass oval with the inscription GLOUCESTERSHIRE FUZILEERS round a crude eight-pointed star.

[24][93] These were laid up in 1863 on the centenary of the regiment's formation and replaced by a new pair presented by Lady Emily Kingscote, wife of the Honorary Colonel.