The Denbighshire Militia, later the Royal Denbighshire Rifles was an auxiliary regiment reorganised in the Welsh county of Denbighshire during the 18th Century from earlier precursor units. Primarily intended for home defence, it provided a contingent for service in France in the closing stages of the Napoleonic War. After a series of short-lived mergers with other Welsh militia regiments it became part of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 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.
Denbigh Trained Bands
The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England and was extended to Wales. King Henry VIII called a 'Great Muster' in 1539, and the muster book compiled by John Salesbury, Steward of 'Denbighland', showed 2022 men available for service, of whom 901 were unarmoured foot soldiers, 241 were bowmen and 880 were billmen. Of these, 511 had 'thick coats' and 97 had Sallet helmets or 'skoles' (iron skullcaps), but the only men with 'harness' or armour were the 24 billmen of the steward's own household.Hay, pp. 37, 60–1, 81.Hay, pp. 307–8.Owen, Denbigh & Flint, p. 11.
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 Militia of England and Wales.Cruickshank, p. 17.Fissell, pp. 184–5.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 16, 125.Hay, pp. 11–17.Hay, p. 88. 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.Cruickshank, pp. 24–5.Fissell, pp. 178–87.Holmes, pp. 90–1. During the Armada crisis of 1588, from its 1200 able-bodied men Denbighshire furnished 400 trained foot and 200 untrained 'pioneers', together with 30 light horse and 30 'petronel's (the petronel was an early cavalry firearm).Hay, pp. 93–96
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. Between 1585 and 1602 Denbighshire supplied 980 men for service in Ireland, and a further 75 for France. The men were given three days' 'conduct money' to get to Chester, the main port of embarkation for Ireland. Conduct money was recovered from the government, but replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties.Cruickshank, pp. 25–7, 61, 126; Appendix 2.Fissell, pp. 188–89.
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.Fissel, pp. 174–8, 190–5.Hay, pp. 97–8. In 1638 the Denbigh Trained Band under Colonel William Wynne consisted of 239 musketeers and 161 pikemen, with 50 men in the Denbigh Trained Band Horse.Denbigh TBs at BCW Project Regimental Wiki. In 1640 the county was ordered to send a detachment of 200 men to Newcastle upon Tyne to take part in the Second Bishops' War.Fissel, pp. 207–8.
Civil War Control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 198–9.Wedgwood, pp. 28, 38, 41, 65–8, 95. When open war broke out between the King and Parliament, neither side made much use of the trained bands beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops. Most of Wales was under Royalist control for much of the war, and was a recruiting ground for the King's armies.Rogers, pp. 17–8, Plates 7, 30.Wedgwood, pp. 119–20. In August 1642 Colonel Sir Thomas Salusbury, 2nd Baronet of Lleweni, raised a Royalist foot regiment mainly from Denbighshire and Flintshire, which served throughout the war from the Battle of Edgehill until the final surrender in 1646.Salusbury's Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.Young, pp. 227–30. In January 1643 Col William Wynne raised a Royalist foot regiment of four (later five) companies and a troop of horse, from Denbigh, Langernew, Ruthin and Llangollen (largely from his own Denbigh Trained Band, it appears) that served in Lord Capel's force and in the Chester garrison. It saw action at a number of skirmishes, including one at Wem in October 1643 where Col Wynne was killed and was succeeded in command by his lieutenant-colonel Hugh Wynne. The regiment was besieged at Oswestry in June 1644, was at the Battle of Rowton Heath in September 1645 and the Siege of Chester that ended in February 1646. The regiment was besieged in Denbigh Castle from April 1646 and finally surrendered on 14 October.Wynne's Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.Rogers, pp. 259–6.Wedgwood, pp. 415–8, 464, 474, 495, 503.
Denbighshire Militia After the Restoration of the Monarchy, the Militia was re-established by the Militia Act 1661 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.Grierson, pp. 6–7.Hay, pp. 104–6.
The militia forces in the Welsh counties were small, and were grouped together under the command of the Lord President of the Council of Wales.Western, pp. 10, 19, 37. In 1665 the Denbighshire Militia was commanded by Col John Robinson, with Captain John Salusbury commanding a Troop of Denbighshire Horse Militia. As Lord President, the Duke of Beaufort carried out a tour of inspection of the Welsh militia in 1684, when the Denbighshire contingent consisted of one troop of horse and five foot companies commanded by Sir Richard Myddelton, 3rd Baronet of Chirk Castle. In 1697 it consisted of 500 foot under Major-General the Earl of Macclesfield (Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire) and 62 horse under Capt John Doulton.Hay, p. 133.Owen, Denbigh & Flint, p. 12.
Generally the militia declined in the long peace after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.Western, pp. 73–4. Jacobites were numerous amongst the Welsh Militia, but they did not show their hands during the Risings of 1715 and 1745, and bloodshed was avoided.
1757 reforms
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. There was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the lord lieutenant. An adjutant and drill sergeants were to be provided to each regiment from the Regular Army, and arms and accoutrements would be supplied when the county had secured 60 per cent of its quota of recruits.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 288, 299–302.Hay, pp. 136–44.Holmes, pp. 94–100.Western, pp. 124–57, 251.
Denbighshire was given a quota of 280 men to raise, but recruitment throughout Wales was slow. The problem was less with the other ranks raised by ballot than the shortage of men qualified to be officers, even after the requirements were lowered for Welsh counties. Richard Myddleton of Chirk Castle, Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire, took command of the regiment himself and its arms and Regimental Colours were finally issued to it at Wrexham on 8 May 1760. It was organised into five companies and was embodied for fulltime service on 17 July 1760.Frederick, pp. 302–4.Owen, Denbigh & Flint, p. 15.Owen, Denbigh & Flint, pp. 16–7.Western, Appendices A & B.
Shortly after embodiment the regiment was sent to North Devon where it established regimental headquarters (HQ) at Barnstaple. The main duty was to guard prisoners of war and to escort parties of them from Barnstaple to Plymouth. In October 1761 the regiment moved the short distance to relieve the East Devon Militia at Bideford where the duties were similar. Early the following month the regiment marched to Shrewsbury in Shropshire where it probably stayed for the remainder of its embodied service. In January 1763 it marched back to Wrexham to be disembodied.Owen, Denbigh & Flint, pp. 17–8.
In peacetime the adjutant, sergeants and drummers of the disembodied regiment maintained the militia store and armoury in Wrexham Town Hall at the top of the High Street. Training was sporadic and usually by isolated companies rather than the whole regiment, but the numbers were maintained by periodic enforcement of the ballot.Owen, Denbigh & Flint, pp. 18–20. Conscription by means of the ballot was unpopular even in peacetime, and Denbighshire suffered anti-militia riots in 1769.Western, p. 298.
War of American Independence The militia were called out on 26 March 1778 during the War of American Independence, when the country was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 173–4, 295. Having assembled at Wrexham under the command of John Myddleton of Gwaenynog, the Denbighshires marched off to garrison Cockermouth in Cumberland. An anonymous letter of December 1778 reported that in the Denbighshires the major had been absent from June, the colonel since September, one captain had never joined while the other, who had never been away more than two weeks, was a Member of Parliament and now had to attend its sitting.Western, p. 423. Nevertheless, the other officers and the drill sergeants must have made progress: next year an inspecting officer commented that the Denbighshires were fine men and quite proficient, although they had had little chance to train together. The pauses between the movements in the manual exercise were too long, a fault that the commanding officer promised to correct.Western, p. 416.
During the American war a number of counties raised additional volunteer companies for their militia regiments, manned by men enlisted for a cash bounty. There is evidence that Denbighshire formed one such company, paid for by patriotic subscription.
In January 1779 the regiment had two companies detached to Workington and in May two were detached to Whitehaven (which had been raided by John Paul Jones the previous year) and one to Maryport. By July the regiment had marched to Chester where it stayed until mid-August. In September the regiment visited its home county, with companies stationed in Wrexham, Denbigh and Ruthin (perhaps in connection with recruitment) and then returned to the Chester garrison by the beginning of October. In late 1779 there were machine-breaking riots in Lancashire and the Denbighshire Militia sent three companies from Chester to Liverpool to assist Sir George Savile's West Riding Regiment that was hard-pressed to send detachments to deal with riots at Wigan, Chorley and other towns as well as to carry out its primary duty of guarding large numbers of prisoners of war.Western, pp. 430–2.
Nine officers and 43 other ranks claimed leave to go home to vote in the 1780 general election.Western, p. 257. By March 1781 the whole regiment was back in Denbighshire, with companies stationed in Denbigh, Ruthin and Llanrwst. Shortly afterwards it was sent to Sussex, and spent some time at Warley Camp in Essex. It continued serving in South East England until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 and orders were issued on 28 February to disembody the militia. The regiment was already marching back to North Wales, and on arrival at Wrexham it was promptly paid off.