The Queen's Edinburgh Light Infantry Militia was an auxiliary regiment raised in and around the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. It was formed in 1798 and reformed in 1802, but had links with earlier Fencible and Volunteer units from the area. It served in home defence during the Napoleonic Wars and the Crimean War. Later it became a battalion of the Royal Scots and saw active service in South Africa during the Second Boer War. It served as a Special Reserve training unit in World War I, but after 1921 the militia had only a shadowy existence until its final abolition in 1953.
Scottish militia The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in Scotland: all men aged from 16 to 60 were obliged to serve for a maximum of 40 days in any one year if required, and their arms and equipment were inspected at regular Wapenshaws. In time of war they would be called out by proclamation and by riders galloping through towns and villages bearing the 'Fiery Cross'.Phillips, pp. 46–54. There is a record of Edinburgh Town Council calling out 200 men of the county militia to join the king's army on its march to Dumfries in 1588. The Edinburgh militia usually exercised on the Burgh Muir.Dudgeon, p. 16.Weaver Chapter 18. Hay, pp. 232–5.
After the restoration of Charles II, the Scottish Parliament passed an Act in 1661, ratified in 1663, creating a militia of 20,000 infantry and 2,000 horse, available for Crown service anywhere in Scotland, England or Ireland. The quota from the county of Edinburgh was set at 800 foot and 74 horse. These troops were called out in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution.Dudgeon, p. 5.Hay, pp. 107–9. Thereafter the militia in Scotland, as in England, was allowed to decline. After the Jacobite Rising of 1715 a Disarming Act was passed in Scotland and although some militia served in the Government forces against the Jacobite Rising of 1745 there was a reluctance to leave weapons in the hands of those who might rebel.Scobie.
South Fencibles The English Militia were conscripted by ballot, and this was revived in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. However, there were residual fears of Jacobitism in Scotland, so rather than embody the moribund militia, full-time regiments of 'Fencibles' were raised for the duration of the war by means of normal recruitment. Fencibles were raised again in 1778, during the War of American Independence, when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. One of the regiments formed in that year was the South Fencibles, raised by Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch at his residence at Dalkeith Palace and recruited from Edinburghshire, Berwickshire, Haddingtonshire, Linlithgowshire, Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire and Dumfriesshire. The regiment was only required to serve in Scotland, except in time of invasion, but the following year it offered to serve in any part of Great Britain. Among its duties were guarding French Prisoners of War in Edinburgh Castle. In the summer of 1780 the regiment was defending the west coast of Scotland from Kirkcudbright to Glasgow and Dumbarton. In 1782 it was marched from Glasgow to be quartered at Edinburgh, and that summer eight companies joined other fencibles in a camp at West Barns under the command of the Duke of Buccleuch. Following the signing of the preliminaries of the Treaty of Paris, the regiment was disbanded at Dalkeith on 1 April 1783 after five years' service.Dudgeon, pp. 16–20.Fortescue, Vol III, p. 294.Money Barnes, p. 86.Western, pp. 162–7, 208–9.
10th North British Militia
In view of the worsening international situation in late 1792 the English militia was embodied for service, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793. Fencibles were again raised in Scotland. Both England and Scotland also raised part-time bodies of Volunteers for purely local defence, including the 2nd Regiment of Royal Edinburgh Volunteers under the Duke of Buccleuch, formed in February 1797.Dudgeon, pp. 21–2.Western, p. 219.
Finally, in 1797 Parliament passed an Act introducing the militia ballot in Scotland. This measure was unpopular and there were anti-militia riots in the west of the country, but Buccleuch ensured that paid substitutes would be available.Dudgeon, pp. 6, 22–3.Western, pp. 223, 252. Ten regiments of Scottish militia were raised in 1798 under the 1797 Act, including the 10th North British Militia. Once more it was raised by the Duke of Buccleuch (appointed 10 March 1798) at his Dalkeith estate. A number of officers and men were drawn from the 2nd Edinburgh Volunteers. The regiment's recruiting areas and quotas were defined as:Dudgeon, pp. 23–4.Frederick, pp. 299–301.Parkyn. Edinburgh (county): 230 men Edinburgh (city): 83 men Linlithgowshire: 74 men Haddingtonshire: 144 men Berwickshire: 153 men
The regiment of eight companies was ready for its first inspection on 18 September, and in early October it marched to Dumfries for its winter quarters, with detachments at Wigtown and Port William. In March 1799 the regiment supplied a detachment to assist the civil authorities to preserve the peace in Portpatrick. The regiment trained detachments to man the two field guns attached to each militia regiment. The men were permitted to help local farmers with the harvest. In March 1800 the regiment was moved to Ayr, with detachments at Newtown, Wallacetown and Stranraer; in June two companies went to Greenock with a detachment at Port Glasgow. Then in July the companies at Ayr moved into the barracks at Glasgow and took over guard mounting in the city.Dudgeon, pp. 24–9.
The preliminaries of peace having been agreed in late 1801, the militia was prepared for disbandment. The 10th North British was marched in January 1802 from Glasgow to quarters in Musselburgh, Fisherrow and Inveresk, and sent its battalion guns to Leith Fort. From these quarters the regiment could assemble at Dalkeith Park for exercises. The Treaty of Amiens was signed on 25 March 1802 and orders were issued to disband the regiment. The men were paid off on 26 April except a cadre of sergeants and drummers under the adjutant (Captain James Fraser, formerly of the 78th Highlanders) and sergeant-major.Dudgeon, pp. 29–33.
Edinburgh Militia In 1802 a new Act was passed, placing the Scottish militia on a permanent basis, to be manned by ballot from men aged 18–45 (paid substitutes were permitted), to serve for five years in Great Britain; peacetime training would be for 21 days. As Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian (Edinburghshire) the Duke of Buccleuch was required to raise the Edinburgh County Militia, and he took command of the regiment himself, many of the officers coming from the previous 10th North British, including the adjutant (and presumably his permanent staff). The armoury and depot would be at Dalkeith town because of the suitability of the area for training and exercises.Dudgeon, pp. 34–5.Dudgeon, Table B.
Napoleonic Wars The Peace of Amiens soon broke down, and the new regiment was embodied for fulltime service on 11 April 1803, the men from the county assembling at Dalkeith, and those from the city of Edinburgh at Musselburgh.Dudgeon, pp. 35–6. When they were embodied in 1803 the English and Scottish militia regiments were allocated places in a single order of precedence by drawing lots. The Edinburgh regiment received the number 51; formally, it became the '51st, or Edinburgh Regiment of Militia'. Although most regiments ignored the number, the Edinburgh unit did sometimes use it. These positions remained unchanged until 1833.Baldry.Dudgeon, p. 76.
Militia duties during the Napoleonic War were home defence and garrisons, guarding prisoners of war and, increasingly, internal security in the industrial areas where there was unrest. The regular forces also saw the militia as a prime source of recruits, and between 1803 and 1815 the Edinburgh Militia supplied 833 men, particularly to the Scots Guards, 15th Foot, 94th Foot and Royal Marines.Fortescue, Vol V, pp. 167–8, 198–203, 210–1, 229.Knight, pp. 238, 437–47.Dudgeon, pp. 45, 51, 59, 76–7.
From 29 June 1803 the regiment was in camp at Musselburgh as part of a Scottish Brigade temporarily commanded by the Duke of Buccleuch. In November the regiment returned to Dalkeith, where temporary barracks were erected at nearby Lugton, with one company detached to Newbattle and one to Lasswade. It continued to take part in field days with the rest of the brigade through the winter. In 1804 a Scottish Militia Brigade was formed with its headquarters at Inveresk, and the 'flank companies' (grenadiers and light infantry) of the brigade were drilled together at Portobello, Edinburgh. The brigade also found the guards for a Prisoner-of-war camp at Greenlaw House (later Glencorse Barracks). During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment with 770 men in 10 companies under Lt-Col John Wauchope was housed in the town and barracks at Dalkeith. It was part of a militia brigade under Wauchope's command that also included the Berwickshire, Forfarshire and Dumfriesshire regiments at Musselburgh. In May 1807 the Edinburgh Militia moved from Dalkeith to Dunbar barracks, with one company detached at Eyemouth barracks. The duty was to assist in preserving the peace and aiding the revenue officers. It returned to Musselburgh in February 1808, then went back to Dunbar in February 1809. In April 1809 it went to Haddington barracks, and then to Edinburgh Castle in June, with a detachment at Leith Fort. The duties included escorting parties of prisoners of war.Dudgeon, pp. 36–58; Appendices V & VI.Brown.
In March 1811 the Duke of Buccleuch resigned command of the regiment and was succeeded by the Earl of Ancrum (later 6th Marquess of Lothian). On July that year the regiment left Scotland for the first time, sailing from Leith to Harwich where it went into barracks before being stationed at Colchester for nine months. In April 1812 the regiment moved to the large prisoner of war camp at Norman Cross Prison. There was an outbreak of Luddite machine-breaking in the English industrial districts, and in May the regiment was marched to Nottinghamshire, being quartered at Mansfield. In October it was quartered at Manchester with detachments at Bolton, Bury and Rochdale. After short stays in Birmingham and Somerset in February and March 1813, the regiment marched to Plymouth, being quartered in Frankfort Barracks from 31 March.Dudgeon, pp. 58–67.
British militia units were now permitted to serve in Ireland, and most of the Edinburgh Militia volunteered to do so. It sailed from Plymouth on 26 June 1813 and disembarked at Monkstown on 12 July. It was then marched towards Armagh, but diverted to Derry where it arrived on 31 July. Most of the duty was to assist revenue officers in seizing illicit whiskey, which occasionally led to exchanges of gunfire – the militiamen involved in successful seizures received sizeable rewards.Dudgeon, pp. 67–71.
The war having ended with the deposition and exile of Napoleon in 1814, the regiment was relieved in February 1815 and marched to Belfast where it embarked for Scotland. It reached Stranraer on 9 March and marched to Dalkeith, where the men were given leave before the regiment was disembodied on 3 April 1815. The Regimental Colours were laid up in Newbattle Abbey, the Marquess of Lothian's house. Unlike some regiments, the Edinburgh Militia was not re-embodied during the short Waterloo campaign of 1815.Dudgeon, pp. 71–76.
Long peace