[1][2] Under the 1852 reorganisation Lancashire was one of the counties selected to have a corps of militia artillery, and on 10 March 1853 the Lord Lieutenant (the Earl of Sefton) was requested to raise it from scratch, rather than by conversion of an existing infantry regiment.

It came into existence on 13 April 1853 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Duncan MacDougall, formerly of the 79th Highlanders and the British Auxiliary Legion, as the Royal Lancashire Militia Artillery.

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.

The unit trained for two months each year on Salisbury Plain, and that degree of commitment made it difficult to obtain part-time junior officers.

[8][25] 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.