The Exeter & South Devon Volunteers was the premier unit of Britain's Volunteer Force. Formed in 1852 it went on to become a battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. Both its active service battalions went to garrison India on the outbreak of the First World War, and then saw action in Mesopotamia and Palestine. In the Second World War, the battalion served in the garrison of Gibraltar. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until it was merged with other West Country units. Its successors today serve in a reserve battalion of The Rifles.

Volunteer Force Part-time volunteer units had often been organised in Britain in time of war to serve in local defence and supplement the Regular Army and Militia, but these were always stood down when the threat of invasion had passed. Concerns about national defence re-emerged after Louis Napoleon seized power in France in 1851. The Militia was reorganised in 1852, but there was agitation to allow the formation of volunteer units as well. The government was unenthusiastic, but on 26 March 1852 the Home Secretary in Lord Derby's short-lived Who? Who? ministry, Spencer Horatio Walpole, did accept an offer of service arising from a meeting held in January at the Exeter Athenaeum to discuss the dangers to the Devonshire coastline. The prime movers were Dr (later Sir) John Charles Bucknill, superintendent of the Devon County Asylum at Exminster, and William Denis Moore, town clerk of Exeter, whose proposal was forwarded by the Lord Lieutenant of Devon, Earl Fortescue (who was Colonel of the 1st Devon Militia). The Exeter & South Devon Volunteer Rifle Battalion of two companies was accepted under the Volunteer Act 1804, which was still in force. The first officers' commissions were signed by Queen Victoria on 4 January 1853, with Sir Edmund Prideaux, 9th Baronet, as Major-Commandant and Denis Moore as adjutant. The volunteers had been drilling since the summer of 1852 in the Castle Yard at Exeter, initially in civilian clothes until a uniform was decided upon.Beckett, pp. 7–16.Beckett, Appendix VII.Exeter & South Devon Rifle Corps at Devon Heritage.Frederick, pp. 86–8.4th Devons at Regiments.org.Spiers, p. 163.Westlake, pp. 62–7.London Gazette, 18 January 1853.

The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following a renewed invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many new Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) across the country, and the government began to supply them with the new Enfield Rifle.Beckett.Spiers, pp. 164–8. Captain Moore of the Exeter & South Devon Rifles helped to draw up the rules governing the new corps and his unit was adopted on 23 September 1859 as the 1st (Exeter & South Devon) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps. Because of its premier position in the Volunteer Force, the unit was unofficially known as the 1st Rifle Volunteers; this became an official subtitle in 1958.Beckett, p. 24.

The popularity of the Volunteers led to an increase in the number of companies in the 1st Devonshire RVC, with detachments at Exmouth, Crediton, Dawlish and Teignmouth and in 1860 it absorbed the 24th (Budleigh Salterton) Devonshire RVC. By the early 1860s the corps had 11 companies, and the 1st Devonshire Engineer Volunteer Corps at Torquay was attached to it for drill and administration from 1863 to 1869. Sir Edmund Prideaux retired from the command and was appointed Honorary Colonel on 8 February 1862, when Maj Arthur Charles Chichester was promoted to succeed him as lieutenant-colonel, and Capt Moore was promoted to major. Lord Poltimore became CO on 27 September 1865, followed by Sir William Walrond, 2nd Baronet (formerly captain in the Grenadier Guards) on 9 June 1877. A retired Regular Army major, Sir Dudley Duckworth-King, 5th Baronet, became CO on 12 December 1894.Army List, various dates.London Gazette, 14 March 1862.London Gazette, 8 June 1877.

1st Volunteer Battalion Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Volunteers were grouped into county brigades with their local Regular and Militia battalions. For the Exeter & South Devon battalion this was Brigade No 34 (County of Devon) in Western District alongside the 11th Foot, the 1st Devon Militia and the 2nd Devon Militia.Spiers, pp. 195–6. The Childers Reforms of 1881 took Cardwell's reforms further, and the Volunteers were formally affiliated to their local Regular regiment, with the 11th Foot becoming the Devonshire Regiment and the 1st Devonshire RVC becoming one of its Volunteer Battalions on 1 July 1881. The RVC changed its title on 1 November 1885 to 1st (Exeter & South Devon) Volunteer Battalion. By 1889 the battalion was distributed as follows: Battalion headquarters (HQ) at 16 Castle Street, Exeter,Exeter at Drill Hall Project. A–E Companies at Exeter F Company at Manchester House, Exmouth (Ferry Road by 1893)Exmouth at Drill Hall Project. G Company at High Street, CreditonCrediton at Drill Hall Project. H & I Companies at Somerset House, TeignmouthTeignmouth at Drill Hall Project.Exeter School formed a Cadet Corps affiliated to the battalion in 1897.

3rd Volunteer Battalion While the Volunteers in Exeter formed a single large battalion, a number of smaller RVCs were being raised in the small rural towns of East Devon. In August 1860 these were formed into the 1st Administrative Battalion, Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps with its HQ also at Exeter, under the command of Lt-Col Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 11th Baronet:3rd VB at Regiments.org. 5th (Upper Cullompton) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 22 March 1860 at Upper Culm Vale, moved to Cullompton in 1862 8th (Buckerell) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 8 February 1860 11th (Bampton) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 28 February 1860, 13th (East Devon and Honiton) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 20 February 1860 14th (Tiverton) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 1 March 1860 20th (Broadhembury) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 3 March 1860; disbanded 1875 25th (Ottery St Mary) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 4 April 1860 27th (Colyton) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed 12 December 1860

Dyke Acland was an enthusiast for the concept of Mounted Rifle Volunteers and several such units were raised in Devonshire, five by Acland himself, of which the following were attached to the 1st Admin Battalion:Beckett, pp. 70–3; Appendix X. 1st (Clyst) Devonshire Mounted Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed at Broadclyst on 23 February 1860 by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland; commanded by his son Charles Thomas Dyke Acland from 1862; disbanded 1877Beckett, p. 275. 2nd (Exminster) Devonshire Mounted Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed on 5 March 1860; disbanded December 1861 3rd (Upottery) Devonshire Mounted Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed on 10 April 1860; absorbed by 1st MRV 1872

Apart from the mounted riflemen who were generally farmers and members of hunts, the battalion recruited mainly from agricultural labourers, and in 1864 had to arrange its annual camp in July between the hay harvest and the corn harvest.Beckett, pp. 71, 75.

When the RVCs were consolidated in 1880, the battalion was redesignated the 3rd Devonshire RVC and its seven component corps became A–G Companies. It became a VB of the Devons in 1881 and was numbered as the 3rd Volunteer Battalion in 1885, when a new H Company was added at Sidmouth. In 1900 I Company was formed at Axminster and affiliated cadet corps were formed at Allhallows School, Honiton, and Blundell's School, Tiverton.

Charles Williams-Troyte of Huntsham, formerly of the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry, took command of the battalion in 1881 when Sir Thomas Dyke Acland (his uncle) became honorary colonel. Sir John Kennaway, 3rd Baronet, VD, who had raised the 25th Devonshire RVC in 1860, became CO of the 3rd VB on 12 July 1894. He later became Hon Colonel, a role he still fulfilled on the outbreak of the First World War.

The 3rd VB was distributed as follows: HQ at 7 Well Street, Exeter; moved to 4 Leighton Terrace, Exeter, by the early 1900s A Company at Cullompton B Company at Buckerell C Company drill hall at Brook Street, BamptonBampton at Drill Hall Project. D Company drill hall at Dowell Street and armoury at High Street, HonitonHoniton at Drill Hall Project. E Company built its drill hall and armoury with associated house for the Sergeant Instructor at Newport Street, Tiverton in 1884Tiverton at Drill Hall Project. F Company at Ottery St Mary Town HallOttery St Mary at Drill Hall Project. G Company at Queen Street, ColytonColyton at Drill Hall Project. H Company at Castle Hill, AxminsterAxminster at Drill Hall Project.

Mobilisation schemes When a comprehensive mobilisation scheme for the Volunteers was established after the Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888, the 1st and 3rd VBs of the Devons were assigned to the Plymouth Brigade, charged with defending the Royal Navy's base at Plymouth. This brigade, which soon included all the VBs of the Devonshires and the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI), was renamed the Devon Brigade in 1901 and the DCLI later moved to a different formation.Dunlop, Appendix A.Spiers, pp. 228–9.

Second Boer War Service companies from both volunteer battalions served with the Regulars in the Second Boer War, gaining the battalions their first Battle honours: South Africa 1900–01 for the 1st VB, South Africa 1901 for the 3rd VB. After the war Lt-Col Charles Marwood Tucker (who had served in South Africa as a lieutenant in the Imperial Yeomanry), became CO of the 3rd VB.

Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the 1st (Exeter & South Devon) VB amalgamated with the 3rd VB to form the 4th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. The school cadet corps associated with the former battalions all transferred to the junior division of the Officers' Training Corps.London Gazette 20 March 1908.

The new battalion was organised as follows by 1914:Conrad, British Army 1914. Battalion HQ at Bedford Circus, Exeter A Company: Exeter, with a detachment at BroadclystDevon Drill Stations at Drill Hall Project. B & C Companies: Exeter D Company: Drill Hall, St Andrews Road, Exmouth with detachments at Budleigh Salterton and Lympstone E Company: Drill Hall being built at King Street, West Exe, Tiverton, to replace the 1884 building in Newport Street; detachment at Dulverton, SomersetDulverton at Drill Hall Project. Half Company: Drill Hall, Brook Street, Bampton F Company: Sidmouth Left Half Company: Drill Hall, High Street, Honiton G Company: Drill Hall, The Green Cullompton (shared with D Company, 7th (Cyclist) Bn, and part of A Squadron, Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry);Cullompton at Drill Hall Project. detachments at Burlescombe and Uffculme H Company: Drill Hall, Silver Street, Axminster; detachments at Chardstock and at Drill Hall, Church Street, Lyme Regis, DorsetLyme Regis at Drill Hall Project. Left Half Company: South Street, Colyton The Exeter Cathedral School Cadet Company was also affiliated to the battalion.

The battalion formed part of the Devon and Cornwall Brigade in the TF's Wessex Division.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 43–8.Devons at Long, Long Trail.

The CO from 5 March 1913 was Lt-Col Hugh Acland Troyte of Huntsham Court, second son of the former CO of the 3rd VB. He had served as a Regular officer in the 20th Hussars from 1894 to 1898. After retiring from the army he joined his father's former battalion, taking command of the Bampton company and being instrumental in the construction of the new drill hall at Tiverton.Obituary, Western Morning News, 25 April 1918, quoted at Opusculum.

First World War Mobilisation