The Militia and Volunteers of County Durham are those military units raised in the County independent of the regular Army. The "modern" militia dates from legislation enacted during the Seven Years' War. The volunteers had several forms and separate periods of existence until made a permanent body in 1859.
Militia
After the invasion scare of 1745, and the later strain on the regular army during the Seven Years' War, bills for the reform of the militia were brought to Parliament, but it was not until 1759 that the Militia Act 1757 (30 Geo. 2. c. 25) would be passed.Beckett p. 63Vane p. 288 The act continued with the ballot to select men from each county, in numbers based on a return made by the county authorities of men of eligible age, initially between 18 and 50 years of age. As a substitute could be made on payment of £10, the burden fell on the working classes.Beckett p. 65 Subsequent explanatory legislation was required to curb rioting in 13 counties over fears of pay and overseas service, the militia would only be used in England and Wales.Beckett pp. 63-64 When not embodied (mobilised) for service the men had an annual training requirement of 28 days by 1762.Beckett p. 67 The legislation was continually amended, for example, by the end of the Napoleonic wars, to permit wider service in the country, fixed terms of service and paying a bounty for volunteering for the regular army.Beckett p. 110
The militia was under the control of the Lord Lieutenant of the county and was to be officered by the local gentry, their rank determined by a property qualification which was gradually reduced or ignored.
General militia
The regiment of the Durham Militia did not form until 1759, it was led by Henry Vane, 2nd Earl of Darlington, and had an initial strength of 369 men, with the headquarters at Barnard Castle (the Vanes lived nearby in Raby Castle). The first bandmaster of the regiment was William Herschel. The militia regiment in its early form was embodied on the following occasions:Vane pp. 288–296 During the Seven Years' War from 22 February 1760 to early 1763, it served briefly at Pontefract,Vane p. 289 where, in November 1761, it had a strength of 23 Officers, 16 Serjeants, 16 Drummers and 396 Other ranks formed in eight companies. The uniforms had green facings.Ward p. 10 During the American Revolutionary War from 26 March 1778 to 1783, when France had joined the Americans, it served locally in Scarborough and Whitby, and was composed of six companies.Vane pp. 289–290 It was ranked 44th in order of militia precedence by drawing of lots annually in June 1778, then 30th, 35th, 32nd and 44th.Ward p. 9 The uniforms had purple facings.Vane p. 290 During the French Revolutionary Wars from end 1792 until May 1802 the regiment was tasked with maintaining order as well as anti-invasion duties and for this purpose they were employed outside of their area of recruitment and kept on the move so as to avoid fraternization with the local population.Knight p. 79 On the death of Henry Vane in 1792, the regiment was led by his son William Vane, 1st Duke of Cleveland.Vane p. 291 The regiment was moved at regular intervals, Whitby, 1793, where it had a strength of 289 all ranks, Scarborough, 1794, Morpeth and Alnwick, 1795, Yarmouth, 1796, where it had 14 officers, 20 serjeants, 20 corporals, 12 drummers, 375 privates. Then to Hull, 1797, where the establishment raised to 1300+, and the strength rose to 800 men, Burstwick camp, 1798, now 1200 men strong, where large numbers volunteer for the regular army, and by the end of 1799, the strength had fallen to 439 all ranks. Lastly, back to Yarmouth, 1800, Sunderland, 1801 and Barnard Castle in 1802 to disband.Vane pp. 291-292 For this whole embodiment it was ranked 10th in order of precedence, in lots drawn in 1793, the uniform for which had buff or pale yellow facings. Less than a year later, after the short-lived Peace of Amiens, the regiment was once again embodied from March 1803 to August 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars, with an initial strength of 14 officers, 26 serjeants, 9 drummers, 401 rank and file,Vane p. 293 and was ranked 25th in order of precedence in lots drawn in 1803, the uniform had white facings. The regiment was stationed in Hull, 1803, Chelmsford Barracks, 1804, escorting French prisoners to and guarding them at Norman Cross Barracks, 1805, Woodbridge Barracks, 1806, Portsmouth, 1808, where some 168 men joined the 68th Regiment and others the 43rd Regiment and the 53rd Regiment, they also suppressed a rising of prisoners on board a prison ship.Vane p. 292 They stayed in Sunderland for two years, before moving North to Musselburgh, 1812, Perth, 1813 and Glasgow in 1814, returning to Barnard Castle to disband later that year.Vane p. 294 After Napoleon escaped from Elba the regiment was once more embodied from 14 July 1815 to 28 February 1816, it was much weaker with initially only 25 officers, 18 serjeants, 9 drummers, 156 rank and file. It served in Glasgow, where by the end of 1815 its strength had risen to 232 other ranks. The regiment was disbanded at Barnard Castle on 28 February 1816.Vane p. 296
The last annual training for balloted men was in 1825, and was held only once or twice in the next few years, as the militia was allowed to fall into disuse, and the Durham militia dwindled to only a small headquarters staff. At the end of 1833 this amounted to a captain, a serjeant-major (the captain's son), 12 serjeants, a drum-major and four drummers, and by 1844 was only the serjeant-major and six serjeants. In 1840 the Colonelcy of the Durham Militia was held by William Vane, 1st Duke of Cleveland, and after his death in 1842 it passed on to his son Henry Vane, 2nd Duke of Cleveland.Hart's Army List, 1840.
1852 Reformed Militia
In 1852 a new Militia Act was passed that revived the militia, and County Durham was ordered to provide 1096 men (or 2000 men including artilleryLitchfield, pp. 71–7.). However, with the ballot having been suppressed in 1830, the response was weak. The first recruits were trained in two batches at Barnard Castle at the end of the year.Vane p. 297 In 1853 the existing Durham Militia was split into two regiments: the 1st (or South) Durham Militia, with its headquarters at Barnard Castle and the 2nd (or North) Durham Militia, headquartered in Durham. An artillery brigade of four (later five) batteries, the Durham Artillery Militia, was newly raised at Bishop Auckland in July 1853, moving its headquarters to Hartlepool in 1861.
During the Crimean War both infantry regiments were embodied, the 1st regiment from December 1855 to May 1856, which remained at Barnard Castle and the 2nd regiment from March 1855 to May 1856, which spent the last few months at Burnley. Both were understrength, with a total of 630 man of all ranks between them. neither were among those embodied during the manpower shortage caused by the Indian Mutiny. However, the Durham Artillery Militia were embodied during the latter stages of the Mutiny from 5 April 1859 to 25 March 1861, serving in the garrison of Gosport and Portsmouth.Edinburgh Gazette, 7 June 1859.Edinburgh Gazette, 5 July 1859.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 December 1859. In 1860 the 1st regiment was made a Fusilier regiment, the 1st Durham (Fusilier) Militia.Vane p. 298 The revival of the Volunteer forces led to competition for the available manpower.Beckett p. 155 The rise of local constabularies meant that the militia would be used less for keeping order than to replace regular soldiers on home service during large mobilizations.Beckett pp. 142-143
Reforms and Amalgamation
New legislation increased ease with which militia officers and men could transfer to the regular army, and resulted it becoming, as Cardwell wanted, more of an auxiliary to the regular line regiments.Beckett pp. 168-187 In 1881, after being brigaded with, but seldom interacting with, the Volunteer units of the County since 1873, the 1st Durham (Fusilier) Militia became the 3rd (Militia) Battalion and the 2nd (North) Durham Militia became the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the newly created Durham Light Infantry.Ward pp. The 3rd battalion was embodied for six months in 1885, as a consequence of the Mahdist War, and was stationed at Colchester.
The nation's Artillery Militia was reorganised into 11 divisions of garrison artillery in 1882, and the Durham unit, with a sixth battery, became the senior Militia unit in the new Northern Division, taking the title of 2nd Brigade, Northern Division, RA (the 1st Brigade comprised the Regular RA units of the division). When the Northern Division was abolished in 1889 the title was altered to The Durham Artillery (Western Division) RA. The unit's HQ transferred from Hartlepool to Sunderland Barracks in 1895.
For the first and only time, the militia battalions would not only be embodied, but also see action during the Second Boer War. The 3rd battalion was embodied on 5 December 1899, with a strength of 826 officers and men. It served in the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State, guarding lines of communication and escorting convoys, and garrisoning Dewetsdorp for six months. During its time there it lost 29 officers and men. The 4th battalion was embodied twice, first from 23 January to 4 December 1900, when it remained in Aldershot, and from 6 January 1902 to 3 October 1902 when, with a strength of 852 officers and men, it was split into small detachments around the Cape and Free State. The 4th lost 16 men.Vane pp. 299-300 The Durham Artillery was embodied 1 May to 11 October 1900, a Service Company volunteered for overseas service and was sent to Zululand where they distinguished themselves fighting as infantry in the defence of Fort Prospect.
From 1902 most units of the Militia artillery formally became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery, the unit at Sunderland taking the title of The Durham RGA (M).
Haldane Reforms
In 1908, in large part due to the Militias' resistance to more reform, the militia were reduced to the Special Reserve, a draft finding and training organisation, by the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907.Beckett pp. 216-127 Now renamed the "Reserve" (and if a second battalion existed an "Extra Reserve"), the militia battalion would take over the running of the regimental Depot, being part of the local garrison. War office plans for the 3rd battalion to stay in the depot and any 4th battalion to be mobilized for action, led to the two Durham battalions swapping numbers, as the older battalion wished to remain as a fighting unit. Both battalions remained in Britain during World War I. They were not reformed after the war, the role of the original militia no longer existing, and were finally disbanded after a long period of suspended animation in 1953.
Although most of the Durham RGA (M) volunteered to transfer to the Special Reserve Royal Field Artillery, these units were disbanded in March 1909.
Volunteers
It was initially intended in the Militia, etc. Act 1778 (18 Geo. 3. c. 59) to permit volunteers to augment the militia, however only 14 companies had been added nationwide by 1780.Beckett p.69 In 1782 a new act, the Volunteers Act 1782 (22 Geo. 3. c. 79), allowed raising of volunteer forces by local subscription, with a wealthy land-owners or businessman providing most of the funding, but with the government paying them for any service and allowing the men to be court-marshalled only under volunteer officers.
Early Volunteers and Fencibles