During the 18th Century there were various Volunteer Associations and unofficial militia units controlled by the landowners, concerned mainly with internal security.

While most of the Regular Army was fighting overseas, the coasts of England and Wales were defended by the embodied Militia, but Ireland had no equivalent force.

The new Act was based on existing English precedents, with the men conscripted by ballot to fill county quotas (paid substitutes were permitted) and the officers having to meet certain property qualifications.

[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars saw the British and Irish militia embodied for a whole generation, becoming regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in Britain or Ireland respectively), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits.

They served in coast defences, manned garrisons, guarded prisoners of war, and carried out internal security duties.

[12] By April 1794 the Wicklow Militia was quartered at Strabane, with one company detached to Omagh, staying there until July 1795 when it moved to Sligo for 10 months.

A large French expeditionary force appeared in Bantry Bay on 21 December and troops from all over Ireland were marched towards the threatened area.

When the militiamen of 1793 reached the end of their four-year enlistment in 1797, most of the Irish regiments were able to maintain their numbers through re-enlistments (for a bounty).

[10][15][16] Viscount Wicklow resigned his command in August 1797, and his brother, Major (Brevet Lt-Col) the Hon Hugh Howard, was promoted to substantive lieutenant-colonel and colonel to succeed him.

At the time the Light Company of the Wicklow Militia, commanded by Captain William Richardson, was stationed at Dunlavin, and took part in the defence of the town on 24 and 25 May.

[7][19][20] Meanwhile, on 23 June the rest of the Wicklow Militia marched out of Kilkenny, where it was stationed, as part of a force under Major-General Sir Charles Asgill sent to retake Castlecomer, which had fallen into rebel hands.

On 26 June Asgill's force attacked a body of rebels estimated at 4000 strong at Kilconnell Hill and overran it, killing many and capturing 14 cannon and other stores.

[7][11][19][21] Vinegar Hill broke the back of the rebellion; the Wicklow Militia was not engaged in the final part of the campaign against the French force that landed in August, too late to change the outcome.

Each detachment comprised one subaltern, one sergeant, one corporal and 20 picked men, who received extra pay for the work.

The men of the Wicklow Militia were paid off in May, leaving only the permanent staff of 70 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and drummers under the regimental adjutant.

In April 1804 the men of the Wicklow Light Company volunteered to extend their service to any part of Great Britain, but the offer was not taken up.

Militiamen were still being encouraged by generous bounties to transfer to the regulars (the 1807 quota from the Wicklow Militia volunteered for the 37th Foot stationed at Limerick) and in some cases the ballot had to be used to replace them.

Late in the year Maj James Edwards was left in charge of regimental HQ at Clonmel while Col William Forward, Lt-Col Robert Howard and the adjutant were all absent on recruiting duty in Co Wicklow.

Although the short Waterloo Campaign had already ended by then, the bulk of the Regular Army remained abroad on occupation duty for some months.

Under the act, Militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time home defence service in three circumstances:[35][36][37] The regiment was reformed as the Wicklow Rifles with four companies in 1855.

[6][7][8][38][39] The outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 and the despatch of an expeditionary force led to the militia being called out for home defence.

On 3 November that year the permanent staff moved back to Wicklow, where a storehouse and office in Main Street were hired for the regimental HQ by the county.

The Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war.

For the Wicklow Rifles this was in Sub-District No 66 (Counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and Carlow) in Dublin District of Irish Command:[41] 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.

Their role was to man coastal defences and fortifications, relieving the Royal Artillery (RA) for active service.

Owing to the unsettled state of Ireland during the Home Rule debate, no training was held by the Wicklow Artillery in 1881 or 1882.

[6][7][35][8][47][48] Although the Army List stated that the brigade consisted of the Wicklow Artillery', its contemporary historian regretted that the old title could not be used more widely, particularly when recruiting.

[8][41][48][50][51] During the Second Boer War militia artillery units were embodied to replace regular troops sent to South Africa.

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.

[8][60] On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War the English counties had drawn lots to determine the relative precedence of their militia regiments.