Somerset Militia

From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as the Special Reserve, the Militia regiments of the county carried out internal security and home defence duties in all of Britain's major wars.

In 1322 de Clyveden and others were ordered to raise 1000 footmen (later increased to 2000) from Somerset and Dorset for service against invading Scots and Baronial rebels that culminated in the Battle of Boroughbridge.

Later that year de Clyveden was ordered to lead a small unit of armed footmen from the towns of Somerset to join the army at Newcastle upon Tyne.

The usual shire contingent was divided into companies of roughly 100 men commanded by ductores or constables, and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars.

[7][8][9] In 1539 King Henry VIII held a Great Muster of all the counties, recording the number of armed men available in each hundred, but the lists are incomplete for Somerset.

[27] When open war broke out between the King and Parliament, the Somerset Trained Bands were split, some regiments serving on either side in the skirmishes and small sieges that characterised the early fighting in the West Country.

The establishment of The Protectorate saw Oliver Cromwell take control of the militia as a paid force to support his Rule by Major-Generals.

[28][31][32][33] The militia were frequently called out during the reign of King Charles II; for example, the Somersets were alerted in 1666 because of a Dutch invasion threat.

He chose to begin his campaign in the West Country because of the level of support he expected in that strongly Protestant region, where economic recession was hurting the weavers and clothiers.

As his rebels mustered the government of James II responded by declaring him a traitor and calling out the militia while the regulars of the Royal army were assembled.

The Somerset Militia's mustering towns were Bath, Bridgwater, Crewkerne, Taunton and Wells, and for this campaign the regiments were organised as follows:[43][44][45][46] The colonels of the Somerset Militia had been alerted by the royal officials fleeing from Lyme even before the orders arrived from London, and they mustered their men quickly, Phelips' and Luttrell's regiments marching out from Taunton on 14 June.

[39][44][46][50][51][52][53] The historian Lord Macaulay inflated this hurried retreat into a fullscale rout, with the countryside being strewn with abandoned weapons and uniforms.

[54] Macaulay has been followed uncritically by many authors, but modern historians find no evidence for a rout: the militia retained their baggage and colours and remained a formed body.

Stawell's Regiment was at Taunton: when the retreating men of Phelips' and Luttrell's arrived, the whole force marched off hurriedly, leaving its ammunition.

[44][46][55] Monmouth had been correct in the support he received from the West Country people, at least among skilled workers and tradesmen, and as he advanced he was welcomed into Chard, Ilminster, Taunton and Bridgwater, gaining numerous recruits.

He was ordered to leave a garrison at Bath and fall back to Bristol with the remainder (presumably from Berkeley's and Portman's regiments), destroying the bridge at Keynsham, which he failed to do completely.

They now barred the way for Monmouth to enter south-aast Somerset, while the detachment securing Bath, with its bridge over the Avon and control of the Great West Road from London, was reinforced by the Wiltshire and Oxfordshire Militia.

The most detailed account of the militia in this campaign contends that James II deliberately belittled their performance to play down Monmouth's skill and to bolster his own plans for a large army under his own control.

In August 1690 the Somerset Militia were ordered to send two regiments of foot and two troops of horse to defend Exeter against a threatened French attack.

The Somerset Militia (3703 men) was organised as follows under the Duke of Ormond as Lord Lieutenant:[75][76] The regiments of foot were each of eight companies, raised from a 'Division' of eight or nine of the Hundreds.

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.

[11][85][86][87][88][89][90] Over the following years the Somerset regiments saw service in the Plymouth garrison, in Surrey and elsewhere on home defence duties, and guarded prisoners-of-war at Exeter and Bristol.

[97][100] 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.

Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 and in September the English militia regiments in Ireland were ordered back to their home counties to be disembodied.

Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held until 1831, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced.

[123] Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, militia regiments were brigaded with their local regular and Volunteer battalions.

When the Somerset Militia became part of the SLI they lost their familiar black facings and adopted the blue that had been awarded to the 13th Foot when they became 'Prince Albert's' and hence a Royal regiment in 1842.

[120][125][145][143][88] The heraldic crest of the Duke of Monmouth (a chained dragon on a Cap of maintenance) was awarded to the Yellow Regiment of the Somerset Militia as a badge after his capture following the Battle of Sedgemoor.

[44][88] From 1881 the 3rd and 4th Bns of the SLI wore that regiment's cap badge of a light infantry bugle-horn beneath a Mural crown surmounted by a scroll bearing the battle honour 'JELLALABAD'.

In 1833 the King drew the lots for individual regiments and the resulting list continued in force with minor amendments until the end of the militia.