The King's Own (1st Staffordshire) Militia, later the 3rd and 4th Battalions, South Staffordshire Regiment was an auxiliary regiment in Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England. From 1662, and again after 1777, the regiment's primary role was in home defence and internal security. It was a favourite regiment of King George III, and spent much of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars protecting the king's residences, being rewarded with the title 'King's Own' in 1805. It served in the Mediterranean garrisons during the Crimean War. Under the Cardwell and Childers Reforms it became part of the South Staffordshire Regiment and raised a second battalion. Both battalions saw active service during the Second Boer War, and trained thousands of reinforcements during World War I. Later, one of the battalions served in combat on the Western Front, being virtually destroyed during the German Spring Offensive. After a shadowy postwar existence the battalions were formally 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. cc. 2 and 3), 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.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 5, 12, 16.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–6, 60–1.Holmes, pp. 90–1. The Staffordshire Trained Bands saw some active service during the English Civil War. The Militia was re-established in 1662 after the Restoration of the Monarchy, and was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' in contrast to the 'Standing Army' that was tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported the military dictatorship of The Protectorate. However, the militia declined in the years after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 195–6.Hay, pp. 348–50.Hay, pp. 89, 99–104.Staffordshire TBs at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.Militia of the Worcester Campaign 1651 at BCW Project.
Staffordshire Militia Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 reinvigorated county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. There was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the lord lieutenant. The Midland counties further from the threat of invasion were generally apathetic: Staffordshire was given a quota of 560 men to raise, but the county leaders failed to do so, and paid a fine instead.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 288, 299, 301–2, 521.Hay, pp. 136–44.Holmes, pp. 94–100.Western, Appendices A & B.Western, pp. 125, 251.Staffordshire Militia at School of Mars.
American War of Independence Staffordshire remained a defaulter county liable for militia fines throughout the 1760s. It was not until the War of American Independence, when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain, that the Staffordshire Militia was reformed. Lord Paget was commissioned as its Colonel on 22 April 1776, the regiment received its first issue of weapons from the Tower of London (when two-thirds of the quota had been achieved) on 7 February 1777, and it was embodied for full-time duty on 31 March 1778. It consisted of eight companies, including the grenadier and light companies, with a ninth, 'Volunteer Company', added during 1778.Frederick, pp. 309–11.Western, pp. 196, 204.Wylly, p. 7.
The new regiment was at first quartered in Lichfield, but during the summer of 1778 it camped at Winchester before returning to winter quarters in Lichfield in December. In January 1779 three of the companies went to Burton upon Trent; in February five went to Stafford, and the whole regiment was there in July. In August it was again quartered at Lichfield, before marching to Bristol in September, leaving detachments across Hampshire at Andover, Basingstoke, Overton and Whitchurch. These kinds of movements followed a pattern for militia regiments at this time. During 1780 the Staffordshires were quartered at Southampton and Winchester. In the summer they formed part of a brigade under Lieutenant-General Simon Fraser in a training camp at Waterdown Forest, near Tunbridge Wells. They then moved to Liverpool for the winter. In May 1781 they marched to Scarborough, returning to Lichfield in October. In January 1782 the regiment was quartered across Staffordshire at Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stafford, Stone, Rugeley and Penkridge. In June it was ordered to Warley Camp in Essex, then from November it was quartered for the winter in Leighton Buzzard, Amersham and Wendover. Viscount Lewisham was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel on 12 March 1779 and took over as colonel when Lord Paget resigned in 1781.Wylly, pp. 8–9.Brumby.
The war having ended, the regiment was ordered in March 1783 to march to Staffordshire and it was disembodied at Lichfield after seven years' service. Later that year Lord Lewisham resigned the command and Lord Paget, now created Earl of Uxbridge, was re-appointed.Wylly, p. 9. Thereafter the militia should have been assembled each year for their 28 days' training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men would be called out each year, and in the case of the Staffordshires training was only held twice between 1784 and 1792.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 530–1.Wylly, p. 10.
French Revolutionary War The militia was already being embodied when Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. The Staffordshire Militia was still commanded by the Earl of Uxbridge. The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in the British Isles), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, to man garrisons, and guard prisoners of war, and for internal security, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 255, 411.
In 1793 the Staffordshire Militia marched to Devonshire and was quartered in Plymouth, where it was taught the latest drill. In 1794 and 1795 it was quartered in Weymouth, Dorset, where it came to the notice of King George III who holidayed there. On 22 September 1796 the regiment marched to Shrewsbury where it was quartered for the winter, sending a detachment to Much Wenlock to put down a riot in November. In 1797 it was successively quartered at Liverpool, Dorchester, Weymouth and Winchester. At Weymouth it was again inspected frequently by the king, who requested that it should carry out Royal duties at Windsor Castle the following year. On 10 June 1798 it received its orders, and reached Windsor on 14 June.Wylly, pp. 11–2.
In an attempt to have as many men as possible under arms for home defence in order to release Regulars for overseas expeditions, the Government created the Supplementary Militia, a compulsory levy of men to be trained in their spare time, and to be incorporated in the Militia in emergency. Staffordshire's quota was fixed at 2095 men, and two new regiments were embodied at Lichfield in February 1798, so that the original regiment was numbered 1st. In 1799 there was a recruiting drive to get militiamen to volunteer for the Regulars. The colonel of the 2nd Staffordshire Militia, Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, previously a captain in the 1st Regiment, offered to raise a regiment for foreign service and soon obtained 300 recruits from the three Staffordshire regiments; however, the King objected and the plan was scrapped. The following year the militia quotas were reduced, the 2nd and 3rd Staffordshires were disbanded and their remaining men incorporated into the 1st at Windsor.Hay, pp. 150–2.Western, pp. 220–3.Wylly, pp. 12–3.
The Staffordshire Militia returned to winter quarters at Lichfield at the beginning of 1800. It returned to royal duty at Windsor in June, and then spent the summer of 1801 at Weymouth when the Royal Family was in residence, before returning to Windsor in October. The war ended with the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802 and all the militia were stood down. The Staffordshire Militia marched from Windsor to Stafford where it was disembodied on 26 April 1802.Wylly, p. 13.
King's Own Staffordshire Militia The Peace of Amiens was short-lived, and the Staffordshire Militia was embodied again on 30 March 1803. It was ready for duty by 17 May and was immediately ordered to Windsor, where the King rode at its head when it marched into Windsor Barracks. A new 2nd Regiment was raised, commanded by Francis Perceval Eliot, previously colonel of the 3rd Regiment, who was commissioned on 28 June. The 1st Staffordshire Militia accompanied the king to Weymouth in the summer of 1804, returning with him to Windsor in the autumn. In 1805 George III commanded that the regiment should become the King's Own Staffordshire Militia, and it was augmented by 200 men from the 2nd Regiment, which was disbanded. The newly royal regiment gained a second light company.Wylly, pp. 14–7.
During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment, with 1300 men in 10 companies under Lt-Col Edward Disbrowe, was at Portsea Barracks, forming part of the Portsmouth Garrison under Maj-Gen John Hope.Brown. The regiment was then on service at Windsor almost continuously until 1812. In 1813 it was stationed at Colchester, with a detachment guarding the great Prisoner-of-war camp at Norman Cross, but was ordered to London to relieve the Foot Guards at St James's and Kew Palaces. On the death of the Earl of Uxbridge, Major the Earl of Dartmouth (son of the former colonel, Lord Lewisham) was promoted to the command. The regiment was disembodied in 1814 at the end of the Napoleonic War. When Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815, the regiment was re-embodied while the army was serving in the Waterloo campaign. It served at Stafford and Derby and was finally disembodied in April 1816.Wylly, pp. 23–4.
1852 Reforms After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held until they were suspended by the Militia Act 1829, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers (who were occasionally used to maintain public order) were progressively reduced.Hay, p. 154. The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, enacted during a renewed 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 home defence service in three circumstances:Dunlop, pp. 42–5.Grierson, pp. 27–8.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'.