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.

It was an important element in the country's defence at the time of the Spanish Armada in the 1580s, and control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War.

On 14 October 1760 both regiments marched back to Bury St Edmunds and went into winter quarters in their home county, the West Suffolks in Sudbury.

Here the completely raw militia were exercised as part of a division alongside regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England.

These were distributed across Hertfordshire for winter quarters: Battalion headquarters (HQ) and 3 companies to Hitchin, 2 to Hatfield and Bell Bar, 1 between Welwyn, Codicote and Lemsford Mills, 2 to Stevenage and 1 to Baldock.

[3][15][26] Lord Euston reported that substitutes would be unwilling to serve if their families were not eligible for the allowances given to balloted men, and so they were included in the Militia Bill before Parliament.

[27] 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.

[26][29][30] With a French invasion possible, the Government augmented the strength of the embodied militia in early 1794: the West Suffolks by 63 men, recruited by voluntary enlistment and paid for by county subscriptions.

When they marched out they left behind their battalion guns, and on arrival at Margate in Kent on 29 October they took over those of the 1st Somerset Militia who had been camped on Barham Downs.

The purpose of the call-out was to replace militiamen who had volunteered to transfer to the Regular Army, and to augment the embodied militia, the West Suffolks' new establishment being 1125 all ranks in 10 companies.

The West Suffolk Militia volunteered for this service and embarked at Rockhouse Ferry under Col the Earl of Euston on 10 September, leaving a detachment in England in charge of the heavy baggage.

[3][26][37][38] On 10 June 1799 the West Suffolks embarked at Warrenpoint aboard a series of small ships for England, with a strength of 20 officers, 656 other ranks (ORs), 46 women and 8 children.

The West Suffolks at Bury St Edmunds had a new establishment of 30 officers, 28 sergeants, 19 drummers and 547 rank and file, still under the command of the Earl of Euston.

[39] During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment, with 608 men in 10 companies under the command of Lt-Col William Parker, was stationed at Ipswich Barracks as part of Lt-Gen Lord Charles Fitzroy's brigade.

Leaving a detachment at Berwick, the West Suffolks marched to Portpatrick where on 13 April 1813 it embarked with a strength of 20 officers, 26 sergeants, 19 drummers, 390 rank and file, 44 women and 20 children.

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

[45][46] Colonel Sir William Parker died in 1830 and Henry, Earl of Euston (later 5th Duke of Grafton) transferred from the colonelcy of the East Suffolk Militia to succeed him on 24 May 1830.

The West Suffolk Militia was embodied on 14 December 1854 and was billeted in Bury St Edmunds, with Angel Hill designated as its night alarm post.

[53][c] In 1878 the Militia Reserve was called out because of international tensions over the Russo-Turkish War, and 144 men of the West Suffolks did duty that summer with the 2nd Battalion, 12th Foot at Gosport.

[59] After the disasters of Black Week in December 1899 at the start of the Second Boer War, 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 3rd Suffolks were embodied on 4 December 1899 under the command of Lt-Col R. Norton and immediately went to Dover, where they were quartered in South Front Citadel and Burgoyne Barracks.

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.

[53][66] On the outbreak of World War I the mobilisation order reached 3rd Bn Suffolks at Bury St Edmunds on the afternoon of 4 August 1914 and the battalion and depot staff immediately began preparations to receive the army reservists who were being called up.

The special reservists had been instructed to join on 8 August, and at 02.30 next day the 3rd Bn marched out under the command of Lt-Col Massy Lloyd to entrain for its war station at Felixstowe.

The first reinforcement draft for the 2nd Bn left Felixstowe as early as 26 August, followed by a group of officers to replace the heavy casualties suffered at the Battle of Le Cateau.

Initially the men of the 10th Bn had to drill and provide working parties for the coast defences in old red coats with dummy rifles until uniforms and equipment arrived.

In early 1915 an outbreak of Cerebrospinal meningitis in 94th Bde at Felixstowe caused the battalions to be scattered, the 10th going to the Suffolks' regimental depot at Bury St Edmunds and to billets in the town.

[15][67][70][73][74][75][76][77][78][79] After the war it was converted into 52nd (Service) Battalion on 8 February 1919 and in March it was sent to join the occupation forces in Germany as part of 102nd Brigade in Eastern Division of British Army of the Rhine.

From 1889 the 3rd and 4th Militia Bns adopted the Suffolk Regiment's custom of wearing roses on their caps, colours and drums on Minden Day and the Sovereign's birthday.

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