The Sussex Militia was an auxiliary military force in Sussex on the South Coast of England. From their formal organisation as trained bands in 1572 they defended the coastline, watched the Spanish Armada and took an active part in the English Civil War. It was the Sussex Militia who captured the Duke of Monmouth after his unsuccessful Rebellion in 1685. After a long hiatus, the Sussex Militia was reformed in 1778 and provided internal security and home defence in all of Britain's major wars thereafter. It eventually became the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia (RSLIM) and also formed the Royal Sussex Militia Artillery. After the Cardwell Reforms the RSLIM became a battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment and saw active service in the Second Boer War. It served as a Special Reserve training unit in World War I. After 1921 the militia had only a shadowy existence until its final abolition in 1953.
Early history The English militia was descended from the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd, the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriff. It continued under the Norman kings, notably at the Battle of the Standard (1138). The force was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252, and again by King Edward I's Statute of Winchester of 1285.Fortescue, Vol I, p. 12.Fissell, pp. 178–80.Grierson, pp. 6–7.Hay, pp. 60–1.Holmes, pp. 90–1.Maitland, pp. 162, 276.Oman, pp. 110, 359–60. Under this statute 'Commissioners of Array' would levy the required number of men from each shire. The usual shire contingent was 1000 infantry commanded by a millenar, divided into companies of 100 commanded by centenars or ductores, and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars. The coastal towns of Sussex forming part of the Cinque Ports also had a legal obligation to supply ships, seamen and marines for the Royal Navy.Morris, pp. 92–7, 106–8. King Henry VIII strengthened the military capability of the country and in 1539 he called out a 'Great Muster' across the country, when the armed men mustered in the rapes of Sussex amounted to:Hay, pp. 71–3.Hay, pp. 344–5. City of Chichester: 35 bowmen and 75 billmen (of which 20 and 25 respectively had 'harness' or armour), 8 handgunners, and 18 unarmoured billmen listed as 'aliens' ; Chichester appears to have listed 237 able-bodied men Rape of Chichester: 559 bowmen and 811 billmen, of which about 278 were armoured Rape of Arundel: 526 bowmen and 1163 billmen Rape of Bramber: 123 bowmen and 215 billmen Rape of Pevensey: 1868 bowmen and 802 billmen Rape of Hastings: 450 bowmen and 681 billmen (These figures do not include the Rape of Lewes nor the men who were to be fielded by the great landowners and clergy. The 'aliens' in Chichester include Frenchmen, Dutchmen and Bretons.)
Sussex Trained Bands
The legal basis of the militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters (4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 3) and the maintenance of horses and armour (4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 2). The county militia was now under the Lord Lieutenant, assisted by the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace (JPs). The entry into force of these Acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England.Beckett, p. 20.Boynton, Chapter II.Cruickshank, p. 17.Fissell, pp. 184–5.Fortescue, Vol I, p. 125.Hay, p. 88.Maitland, pp. 234–5, 278. Although the militia obligation was universal, it was clearly impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, so after 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the trained bands, who were mustered for regular training. The government aimed for 10 days' training a year, with a two-day 'general muster' at Michaelmas, and two 'special musters' lasting four days for detailed training at Easter and Whitsun. When war broke out with Spain training and equipping the militia became a priority. From 1583 counties were organised into groups for training purposes, with emphasis on the invasion-threatened 'maritime' counties including Sussex.Boynton, pp. 13–7, 81, 91–2, 96.Cruickshank, pp. 24–5.Fissell, pp. 187–9.
In the 16th Century little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions. However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than the Trained Bandsmen – in 1585 the Privy Council ordered the impressment of able-bodied unemployed men in Surrey (100) and Sussex (150) for the expedition to the Netherlands, but the Queen ordered 'none of her trayned-bands to be pressed'. Replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties.Cruickshank, pp. 25–7, 126.Davis, pp. 46–4, 60–2.
Armada The Armada Crisis in 1588 led to the mobilisation of the trained bands. They were mustered in April when the returns from Sussex indicated that of 7572 able-bodied men in the county 2004 were trained, and a further 2001 were armed but untrained, in addition to the cavalry:Hay, pp. 89, 95
Infantry: Calivers (the caliver was an early infantry firearm): 360 trained, 682 untrained Muskets: 600 trained, 237 untrained Corslets (armoured pikemen): 600 trained, 282 untrained Bows: 180 trained, 588 untrained Bills: 264 trained, 212 untrained
Cavalry: Lancers: 200 Light horsemen: 204 Petronels (the petronel was an early cavalry firearm): 30
The trained bands were called out on 23 July, and shadowed the Armada as it sailed up the English Channel. Four thousand trained bandsmen of Kent were ordered to reinforce those of Sussex if the Armada landed there. But the Armada was defeated at sea and was unable to land any troops: the trained bands were stood down shortly afterwards.Beckett, pp. 24–5.Fissell, pp. 188–9.Kenyon, p. 42.
Bishops' Wars With the passing of the threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th Century. Later, King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control. By 1638 Sussex had 1804 musketeers, 1000 corslets and 160 horsemen, organised by rapes as follows:Fissell, pp. 190–6.Sussex Trained Bands at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.
Chichester Trained Band Arundel Trained Band Bramber Trained Band Lewes Trained Band
Pevensey Trained Band Hastings Trained Band Sussex Trained Band Horse
This system was tested in the Bishops' Wars. On 18 November 1638 all English counties were instructed to muster their trained bands and keep them in readiness. However, the men from the southern counties were not actually used in the King's abortive campaign.Fissell, pp. 22–38, 199, 206–7. In the Second Bishops' War Sussex was ordered in March 1640 to send 600 trained bandsmen to Gravesend to be shipped to Newcastle upon Tyne along with the trained bands of other southern counties to take part in the campaign. In the event, most counties sent 'pressed men' rather than the trained men, and the army was of poor quality.Rushworth.
Civil War Control of the trained bands was one of the major points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War. However, with a few exceptions neither side made much use of the trained bands during the war beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops.Cruickshank, p. 326. Sussex was one exception, its TBs seeing some action, first when involved in the siege of Portsmouth and Southsea Castle when they were captured for Parliament by Sir William Waller in September 1642.Kenyon, pp. 60–2. On the night of 15 November a group of Royalists in Chichester overpowered Captain Henry Chitty's company of trained bandsmen guarding the walls and seized their cannon at the North Gate (one of those captured at Portsmouth). Chitty and William Cawley, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Midhurst, fled to Portsmouth while the Royalists secured the trained band armoury. Next day the Royalist High Sheriff of Sussex, Sir Edward Ford, arrived with a force to garrison Chichester. Ford then advanced across Sussex, establishing a garrison at Arundel and moving towards Lewes. However, at Hayward's Heath he encountered the Lewes Trained Band under Herbert Morley, MP for Lewes. Although Ford's force outnumbered the trained bandsmen four-to-one, most of his men were raw country folk levied during his advance, and after a few volleys of musketry they were dispersed by a charge of the foot and horse of the Trained Band. Morley then gathered additional volunteers and recaptured Arundel, afterwards joining Waller, whose army retook Chichester in December 1642.Chichester during the Civil War 1642–1646 at Chichester Society.Cawley at History of Parliament.Morley at History of Parliament.
A year later, in December 1643, Lord Hopton captured Arundel Castle for the Royalists once more, when Catcott's Company of the Sussex TBs was in the garrison. Hearing of the loss of Arundel, Captain Edward Apsley, whose company of the Bramber Trained Band was garrisoning Cowdray House, joined other Sussex Parliamentarians in advancing against Arundel, but he was captured by a Royalist patrol.Adair, pp. 55–9. Waller finally secured Arundel for Parliament after the Battle of Alton and left Morley in command.Adair, pp. 26, 72–87.
As Parliament tightened its grip on the country after the First English Civil War it passed new Militia Acts in 1648 and 1650 that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners appointed by Parliament or the Council of State. From now on the term 'Trained Band' began to disappear in most counties. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country.Hay, pp. 99–104. Among the 1648 commissioners for the militia in Sussex were Herbert Morley and his brother-in-law John Fagg, MP for Rye.Fagg at History of Parliament.
During the Scottish invasion of the Third English Civil War in 1651, English county militia regiments were called out to supplement the New Model Army. In August the Sussex Militia was ordered to a rendezvous at Oxford, but was not present at the Battle of Worcester.Militia of the Worcester Campaign 1651 at BCW Project.Gardiner, Vol I, p. 267.Gardiner, Vol II, pp. 13, 47.
After the death of Oliver Cromwell, Fagg was commissioned to raise a regiment of foot by the Rump Parliament in 1659 and was taken prisoner by forces loyal to the military regime when he tried to help Morley to secure Portsmouth for Parliament.
Restoration Militia
After the Stuart Restoration, The King's Sole Right over the Militia Act 1661 and the City of London Militia Act 1662 re-established the English Militia under the control of the king's lords-lieutenant, the men to be selected by ballot. This was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' to counterbalance a 'Standing Army' tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported Cromwell's military dictatorship.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 294–5.Hay, pp. 104–6.Kenyon, p. 240.Maitland, p. 326.
The Sussex Militia was called out under Lord Lumley during the Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion in 1685. After his defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor it was a patrol of the Sussex Militia that captured the Duke hiding near Blandford Forum, and hard-riding Sussex Militia officers that brought the news to King James II.Chandler, pp. 76–8, 149.Watson, pp. 250–1.
The militia returns for 1697 show that Sussex had two regiments – East and West – amounting to 19 companies, with an independent company at Chichester and two Troops of horse, a total of 1733 foot and 105 horse. The two colonels were John Fagg, now Sir John Fagg, 1st Baronet, MP for Steyning, and Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet, MP for Sussex.Thomas at History of Parliament. However, the militia was allowed to decline thereafter, especially after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713.
Reformed Militia