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, which placed them under the command of Lords Lieutenant appointed by the monarch.

These were an important element in the country's defence at the time of the Spanish Armada in the 1580s: the Hampshire and Isle of Wight TBs would have been in the front line in the event of invasion.

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.

The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Lieutenant-General Charles Powlett, 5th Duke of Bolton, commissioned Hans Stanley, Member of Parliament (MP) for Southampton, as Colonel of the North Regiment.

In May 1760 the North Regiment moved to Bideford in Devon, from where it escorted prisoners-of-war back to Hilsea Barracks in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in August.

In November four companies left Hilsea and went into winter quarters round Newbury, Berkshire, where they were required to provide escorts for prisoners-of-war being sent to Winchester.

The North Hampshire regiment, with eight companies totalling 547 all ranks, was embodied in March 1778 under the command of the Lord-Lieutenant, James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos.

[1][3][5][19] From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual peacetime training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually mustered each year.

[5][3][22] 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.

In May 1794 the regiment re-crossed to Portsmouth and marched to spend a second summer at Brighton Camp, before returning to winter quarters on the Isle of Wight once more.

[12][28] The Irish Rebellion broke out in 1798, and a number of militia regiments, including the North Hampshire, volunteered to serve there.

Colonel Sloane and the regiment boarded the troopships Alkamar and Pallas in Cowes Road on 9 September and sailed out into Spithead.

[3][5][34] The Peace of Amiens was short-lived and the North Hampshire Militia were re-embodied on 29 November 1802, initially with an establishment of 462 ORs, increased in March 1803 to 637 in six companies with the addition of the supplementaries.

In the winter of 1809–10 it was quartered at barracks in south Devon, at Ottery, Berry Head, and finally at Kingsbridge before being ordered on 21 June to Bristol.

The regiment marched from Dublin to Strabane, where it was stationed for its whole period of service in Ireland, with outlying detachments posted to other towns and villages during the summer of 1812.

The North Hampshire Militia was re-embodied on 24 June (just after the decisive Battle of Waterloo was fought) and remained quartered at Winchester until 1 February 1816, when it was disembodied again.

This appointment disgusted Lt-Col Peter Hawker, a Peninsular War veteran who had effectively run the regiment since 1821 and expected the promotion.

A sergeant-major and six sergeants came from the Regulars and the 48th Foot stationed at Winchester Barracks helped with training when the revived regiment assembled there for 21 days on 1 February 1853.

The amalgamated infantry regiment of eight companies was commanded by the Marquess of Winchester, with Frederick Clinton, formerly a captain in the Grenadier Guards, as his lieutenant-colonel.

The warrant ordering the Hampshire Militia to be embodied and increased to 10 companies was issued on 29 May 1854, though its assembly was delayed until 1 August when sufficient accommodation was available.

Due to an error in the drafting of the 1852 Act the government was forced to release many of the militiamen in March 1855 and attempt to re-engage them: the result was that by early April the Hampshires had dwindled to 170 privates.

In 1873 the Hampshire Militia's Regular adjutant, Capt James Nicol, obtained leave to join Sir Garnet Wolseley's Ashanti Expedition.

As one of the 'Wolseley Ring' of special service officers he served with a native levy and was killed leading a charge at Boborasi on 29 January 1874.

The 37th and 67th Foot formed the Hampshire Regiment on 1 July 1881 with the following organisation:[5][3][11][57][61] The 3rd Battalion continued to carry out its annual training each year.

[62] With the bulk of the Regular Army serving in South Africa during the Second Boer War, the Militia were called out for home defence.

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.

[3][11] Just before the outbreak of World War I 3rd (R) Bn had carried out its annual training at Christchurch, where it had camped on the estate of Lord Malmesbury, a former captain in the battalion.

Since most of that year's intake of 200 recruits had chosen to transfer to the Regular Army, it was well under its establishment strength when war was declared on 4 August 1914.

Next day, when it went to its war station at Albany Barracks at Parkhurst, Isle of Wight, it included nearly 500 Army Reservists who had reported to the depot but who were not yet required by the 1st Bn as it prepared to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France.

His memorial inscription includes the quatrain:Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier,Who caught his death by drinking cold small Beer,Soldiers be wise from his untimely fallAnd when ye're hot drink Strong or none at all.and: An Honest Soldier never is forgot Whether he die by Musket or by Pot.The stone was restored by officers of the garrison in 1781 and replaced by the North Hampshire Militia when it was disembodied in 1801.