The Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry (RSGLI), later the 3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a Militia regiment raised in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From its formal creation in 1759 the regiment served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1918.
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.Cripps, pp. 1–5.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–6. The Gloucestershire Trained Bands were called out in the Armada year of 1588, and again a century later during the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution (when they were among the few units to see action in a largely bloodless campaign).Beckett, p. 56.Cripps, pp. 7, 19–26.Davies, p. 83.Hay, pp. 326–7.Scott. The Gloucestershire Militia continued to be mustered for training during the reign of William III; by now they were divided into four foot regiments (White, Green, Blue and Red) as well as a regiment of horse and a separate Bristol regiment.Cripps, pp. 39–42. But after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the militia was allowed to dwindle.Western, p. 73.
South Gloucestershire Militia
Seven Years War Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 re-established county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. Gloucestershire, with the cities of Gloucester and Bristol, was given a quota of 960 men to raise.Cripps, pp. 12–3.Cripps, pp. 43–4.Daniell, pp. 38–9.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 288, 299, 301–2, 521.Hay, pp. 136–44.Western, Appendices A & B.Western, p. 251. It was one of the first counties to meet the bulk of its quota (encompassing the vestiges of the old regiments) and was ready to issue them with arms on 15 May 1759. A train of waggons carrying arms and accoutrements for the regiment left the Tower of London on 22 May. The first or South battalion of the regiment was embodied for permanent duty at Gloucester on 27 July with eight companies under the command of Colonel Norborne Berkeley, who became Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire in 1762.Cripps. pp. 46–8.Frederick, pp. 100–2.Gloucestershire Archives, Sources for Military History, pp. 19–25.Parkyn.Western, Appendix A.Western, p. 124.Royal South Gloucestershire Militia (1st) 1759–1816 at School of Mars.
At that time the second or North Battalion had only gathered two companies but it was formally raised with seven companies at Cirencester on 22 August 1760, despite riots in the town against the ballot. It was embodied on 9 April 1761Royal North Gloucestershire Militia History at Glorious Glosters. and both battalions were camped together at Winchester during the summer of 1761. Here the South battalion was badly hit by sickness: from a strength of 551 men in June, it had only 312 on parade on 5 October, and by the end of the season the regiment was down to about 100 fit men. Colonel Berkeley had huts built by the regimental pioneers to house the sick men. In November the battalion marched to Bristol for the winter.
The Seven Years War ended with the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763 and the two battalions of Gloucestershire militia were disembodied, but not before they became separate South and North regiments on 20 April.Cripps, pp. 51–3. Norborne Berkeley, now Lord Botetourt, was succeeded as Lord Lieutenant and colonel of the South Regiment by the Earl of Berkeley in 1766.
War of American Independence After the outbreak of the War of American Independence in 1775 a controversial Act of Parliament was passed to 'Enable His Majesty to call out and assemble the Militia in all cases of Rebellion in any part of the Dominion belonging to the Crown of Great Britain' (raising the possibility that they may have to serve in North America). In the event the militia was called out in its traditional role when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. The South Regiment was embodied in 1778 under the command of the Earl of Berkeley.Holmes, pp. 91–100.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 173–4, 295. In the summer of 1781 the regiment, 600 strong, formed part of the 3rd Brigade of the Plymouth garrison, accommodated in the town's barracks.Haarmann. It was disembodied in 1782.
From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 530–1.
French Wars and the Long Peace In view of the worsening international situation the militia was embodied for service in 1792, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793. On 14 March 1794 the Earl of Berkeley was commissioned as a colonel in the Regular Army for the duration of the embodiment. Both Gloucestershire regiments were at Weymouth, Dorset, in 1795 when King George III stayed there and granted them the title 'Royal', but the North regiment lost its 'Fusiliers' distinction the following year.Cripps, p. 60.Gloucestershire Archives, Sources for Military History, p. 32.
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. Their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the part-time Volunteers. Service in the militia could be hard: the men found that a daily food allowance of five pence did not go far when the price of provisions rose, and some units were involved in food riots. While stationed at Portsmouth in 1795 the men of the Gloucestershire Militia forced the local butchers to lower their prices.Cripps, pp. 76–9.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 238, 255, 411, 437–47.
As the invasion threat grew in 1796 the Militia was doubled in size: Gloucestershire had to find an additional 1757 militiamen for the Supplementary Militia, though unlike some counties these appear to have been incorporated into the two existing regiments. The Supplementary Militia were stood down in 1799, but the county had to find 1163 more in 1802.Western, Appendix B.Cripps, pp. 63–4.
A peace treaty having been agreed (the Treaty of Amiens), the militia were disembodied in 1802. The peacetime quota for Gloucestershire was set at 1163 militiamen. But the Peace of Amiens quickly broke down, and they were embodied once more in 1803. Both regiments marched to Portsmouth, where they did duty alternately. They resumed the routine of summer camps and winter quarters around the country, undergoing training, suppressing smuggling and guarding prisoners, all the while being depleted by men volunteering for the regulars. During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the South Gloucestershire regiment with 723 men in 10 companies under Lt-Col John Wall was housed in the town and barracks at Brighton. It was at the time the only unit in Maj-Gen the Earl of Craven's brigade. The two Gloucestershire regiments came together again in August 1808, when a large militia camp was held near Brighton, the excuse being the birthday of the Prince of Wales, but the opportunity being taken to carry out collective manoeuvres. The militia continued to supply recruits to the Regular army, and struggled to replace them.Brown.Cripps, pp. 91–5, 115–20.
The Earl of Berkeley died on 8 August 1810, having commanded the regiment for over 40 years. On 22 August his eldest son William FitzHardinge Berkeley (claimant 6th Earl of Berkeley, later created Earl FitzHardinge) was commissioned colonel of the regiment in his place and continued until his death in 1857.Hart's.
After Napoleon's exile to Elba the Royal South Gloucestershire Militia was disembodied in 1814. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training after the Battle of Waterloo.Cripps, pp. 130–1.
1852 Reforms The national 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:Cripps, pp. 133–5.Dunlop, pp. 42–5.Grierson, pp. 27–8.Hay, pp. 155–6.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'.
Under the new organisation, militia regiments had an honorary colonel, but were commanded by a lieutenant-colonel. Henry W. Newman, originally commissioned as a captain in the Royal North Gloucesters in 1820, was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Royal South Gloucesters on 3 April 1854.
Crimean War and after War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the Militia were called out.Spiers, Army and Society, pp. 162–3. In this year the regiment was redesignated the Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry (RSGLI), or more pompously as the Royal South Battalion of the Gloucestershire Light Infantry Militia The regiment was disembodied in 1856 and unlike the RNG was not embodied during the Indian Mutiny in 1857.
After Earl FitzHardinge died on 10 October 1857, his nephew Francis FitzHardinge Berkeley (later Lord Fitzhardinge), formerly a captain in the Royal Horse Guards, was appointed honorary colonel of the RSGLI on 22 December. In the 1860s Col Berkeley took over from Newman as lieutenant-colonel commandant of the regiment, reverting to hon col on 26 May 1868 when Sir William Guise, 4th Baronet of Highnam Court, formerly of the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot, was commissioned as lt-col.Army List, various dates.Burke's: Guise.
Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia regiments were brigaded with their local Regular and Volunteer battalions – for the Gloucestershire Militia this was with the 28th (North Gloucestershire) and 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiments of Foot in Sub-District No 37 (County of Gloucester) in Western District. The Militia were now under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant.Cripps, pp. 150–1.Spiers, Army & Society, pp. 195–6.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, pp. 4, 15, 19.