The 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own) was an auxiliary regiment raised in the county of Lancashire in North West England during the French Revolutionary War. It later became part of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Although primarily intended for home defence, its battalions served in Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta and saw active service during the Second Boer War. After conversion to the Special Reserve (SR) under the Haldane Reforms it supplied reinforcements to the fighting battalions during World War I. After a shadowy postwar existence the unit was finally disbanded in 1953.

Background

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. & M.), which placed selected men, the 'Trained Bands', under the command of Lords Lieutenant appointed by the monarch. This is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. 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. The English Militia was re-established under local control in 1662 after the Restoration of the monarchy, and the Lancashire Militia fought in King William III's campaign in Ireland in 1690–91, and against the Jacobite Risings in 1715 and 1745. However, between periods of national emergency the militia was regularly allowed to decline.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 125, 133–40, 194–7, 294–5.Grierson, pp. 6–7.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–6.LRO, Handlist 72.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 2–3, 10–25, 29–84.

Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 reorganised the county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. In 1760 Lancashire's quota was set at 800 men in one regiment, which received the title Royal Lancashire Militia in 1761.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 299–302.Frederick, p. 119.Hay, pp. 138, 242–6.Holmes, pp. 94–100.Western, p. 251, Appendices A & B. These reformed regiments were 'embodied' for permanent service in home defence until the end of the Seven Years' War and again during the War of American Independence. In peacetime they assembled for 28 days' annual training. The militia were re-embodied shortly before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793.Fortescue, Vol II, p. 521.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 173–4, 530–1.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 87–170.

3rd Royal Lancashire Militia French Revolutionary War Lancashire's militia quota set in 1760 was small in proportion to its population, which soared during the Industrial Revolution. By 1796 it represented only one man in every 43 of those eligible. But in that year an additional ballot was carried out to raise men for the 'Supplementary Militia' to reinforce the standing militia regiments and to form additional temporary regiments. Lancashire's quota was increased to five regiments, and recruitment became difficult. Nevertheless, the 2nd Royal Lancashire Supplementary Militia was raised on 2 March 1797 at Preston under the command of Sir Henry Hoghton, 7th Baronet (Member of parliament (MP) for PrestonHoghton at History of Parliament.) as Colonel of the Regiment. It was formally embodied for service on 25 February 1798, and was placed on a permanent footing as the 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia (3rd RLM) in 1800. The Peace of Amiens was signed on 27 March 1802, and the regiment was disembodied on 24 April, apart from the small permanent staff.Fortescue, Vol IV, pp. 639–41, 888–9.Frederick, pp. 190–1.Hay, pp. 150–1.Hay, pp. 371–4.London Gazette, 4 March 1797.3rd RLM at Regiments.org.Militia at Museum of the Manchester Regiment.2nd-5th RLM at School of Mars.Parkyn.Western, pp. 246, 269, 282.Williamson & Whalley, p. 145. The supplementary militia was abolished in 1799, the remaining balloted men in Lancashire being distributed to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd RLM to fill vacanciesWilliamson & Whalley, pp. 131–74.

Napoleonic Wars

The Peace of Amiens was short-lived, and the militia was called out again: the 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia being embodied on 4 April 1803 under the command of Col Wilson Gale-Braddyll of Conishead Priory.Braddyll at History of Parliament. The regiment was stationed at Landguard Fort on the Suffolk coast for part of 1803.Hussey, p. 140. From about 1804 the regiment's 10 companies included a rifle company.

In July 1805 the regiment moved to Lympstone Camp, where it joined Lt-Gen Charles Lennox's militia brigade for the summer while Napoleon's 'Army of England' massed at Boulogne and threatened invasion. On 1 September the regiment was 957 strong under the command of Lt-Col John Sedgwick. On 15 September the brigade marched to Hemerdon, arriving on 20 September. This camp was broken up on 22 December and the regiments dispersed.Brown.Burgoyne, pp. 58–60.

During the French Wars the militia were employed anywhere in the country for coast defence, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while the Regular Army regarded them as a source of trained men if they could be persuaded to transfer. The 3rd RLM was successively stationed at Exeter, Bristol, Gosport, Alton, Chichester and Dover. The regiment was granted the subtitle The Prince Regent's Own in 1813 (Col Gale-Braddyll was an associate of the Prince Regent).Grierson, pp. 9–12.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 238, 255, 411, 437–47.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 175–97.

The 3rd RLM volunteered for service in Ireland in 1813. Although most of the militia was disembodied after the Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814, the 3rd RLM was still in Ireland when Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to power in France in 1815. The three regiments of Lancashire Militia, which happened to be stationed together at Dublin, were allowed to recruit back to full strength by ballot and 'by beat of drum'. They also provided drafts of around 1000 volunteers to the regular regiments being sent to Belgium. There is a story that many of the Guardsmen at the Battle of Waterloo were still wearing their Militia uniforms.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 197–211, Appendix D.Beckett, p. 113. The militia continued to do duty after the Battle of Waterloo while much of the Regular Army was with the Army of Occupation, and the 3rd RLM did not return from Ireland to be disembodied until January 1816.

Long peace The Militia Act 1817 (57 Geo. 3. c. 57) allowed the annual training of the Militia to be dispensed with. So although officers continued to be commissioned into the regiment and the ballot was regularly held, the selected men were rarely mustered for drill. The ballot was suspended by the Militia Act 1829, and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers (who were occasionally used to maintain public order) were progressively reduced.Hay, p. 154.

The 3rd RLM's rifle company was disbanded in 1829. In 1831 King William IV bestowed on the three Lancashire Militia Regiments the additional title The Duke of Lancaster's Own. (replacing the title 'Prince Regent's Own' carried by the 3rd RLM). No further militia training took place for the next 21 years, although officers continued to be appointed to fill vacancies (the local politician John Wilson-Patten (later Lord Winmarleigh) was appointed colonel in 1842).Williamson & Whalley, pp. 222–246.

1852 reforms The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, enacted during a period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on a county basis, and filled by voluntary enlistment (although conscription by means of the militia ballot might be used if the counties failed to meet their quotas). Training was for 56 days on enlistment, then for 21–28 days per year, during which the men received full army pay. Under the Act, militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time service in three circumstances:Dunlop, pp. 42–52.Grierson, pp. 27–9.Hay, pp. 155–7.Spiers, Army & Society, pp. 91–2. 'Whenever a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power'. 'In all cases of invasion or upon imminent danger thereof'. 'In all cases of rebellion or insurrection'.

With the threat of war against Russia, the three Lancashire regiments were ordered to recruit up to their full establishment of 1200 men, and two additional militia infantry regiments (the 4th and 5th) and an artillery unit were formed in Lancashire. Once the Crimean War had broken out the 6th and 7th Lancashire Militia were formed and the 2nd RLM also raised a 2nd Battalion at this time.Frederick, pp. 126–7, 131, 186–8, 290.Hay, pp. 262–3, 299–302, 331–3, 354–7, 395–7. The different regiments were each allocated a recruiting area with the 3rd RLM, based at Preston, also recruiting from Blackburn, Garstang, Leyland and Rochdale.

Crimea and after War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the militia were called out for home defence and service in overseas garrisons.Spiers, Army and Society, pp. 162–3. The 3rd RLM was embodied in April 1855 and volunteered for overseas service. It sailed from Liverpool to Gibraltar where it carried out garrison duty for a year, commanded in person by its colonel, John Wilson-Patten, MP, despite his political duties.Wilson-Patten at History of Parliament. It returned to the UK to be disembodied in July 1856. The regiment was awarded the Battle honour Mediterranean for this service.Leslie.Williamson & Whalley, p. 301. Although a number of militia regiments were embodied to relieve regular units sent to fight in the Indian Mutiny, the 3rd RLM was not among them.

In 1867 the Militia Reserve was created, consisting of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war.Grierson, 84–5, 113, 120.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, pp. 97, 102, 126–7.

Cardwell reforms

Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia regiments were brigaded with regular and Volunteer battalions in a regimental district sharing a permanent depot at a suitable county town. Seven double-battalion or pairs of single-battalion regular regiments were assigned to Lancashire, and each was linked with one of the county's militia regiments. The militia now came under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant, and officers' commissions were signed by the Queen.Spiers, Army & Society, pp. 195–6.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, pp. 4, 15, 19.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 327–8.

The 3rd RLM was linked with the 47th (Lancashire) and 81st (Loyal Lincoln Volunteers) Regiments of Foot in Sub-District No 12 (Lancashire), with the depot established at Fulwood Barracks in Preston. It was intended for the 3rd RLM to raise its own 2nd Battalion. Although often referred to as brigades, the regimental 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. This assigned regular and militia units to places in an order of battle of corps, divisions and brigades for the 'Active Army', even though these formations were entirely theoretical, with no staff or services assigned. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia formed 1st Brigade of 3rd Division, VI Corps; the brigade would have mustered at Manchester in time of war.Army List, various dates.

3rd and 4th Battalions, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment