The Somerset Militia was an auxiliary military force in the county of Somerset in South West England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as the Special Reserve, the Militia regiments of the county carried out internal security and home defence duties in all of Britain's major wars. They saw active service during the Second Bishops' War, the English Civil War, the Monmouth Rebellion and the Second Boer War, and finally trained thousands of reinforcements during World War I. After a shadowy postwar existence they were formally disbanded 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, and 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.Hay, pp. 60–1.Holmes, pp. 90–1.Kerr, p. 1.Scott, pp. 55–8.
In 1296 Edward called out the horse and foot of Somerset and Dorset to defend their counties from the French while he was away campaigning in Scotland. In 1315 Sir John de Clyveden and Sir J. Dunmere were ordered to array the men of Somerset because of the Scots' invasion. In 1322 de Clyveden and others were ordered to raise 1000 footmen (later increased to 2000) from Somerset and Dorset for service against invading Scots and Baronial rebels that culminated in the Battle of Boroughbridge. Later that year de Clyveden was ordered to lead a small unit of armed footmen from the towns of Somerset to join the army at Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1326 Somerset and Dorset were ordered to levy 3000 archers, light cavalry and others for the defence of the realm. By now the infantry were mainly equipped with the English longbow. The usual shire contingent was divided into companies of roughly 100 men commanded by ductores or constables, and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars. Edward III called out the Somerset levies (500 archers) in 1333 for his campaign in Scotland that ended at the Battle of Halidon Hill, and again in 1335 when those actually sent comprised two ductores and eight vintenars with 151 archers, of whom 55 were Mounted infantry.Fissel, p. 181.Kerr, pp. 105–6.Nicholson, pp. 109–10, 130, 198–200, Appendix VI. In 1539 King Henry VIII held a Great Muster of all the counties, recording the number of armed men available in each hundred, but the lists are incomplete for Somerset.Hay, p. 70.Hay, pp. 275–8.Kerr, pp. 2–3.
Somerset 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. In that year Somerset had an organised regiment of 1000 men in 10 companies. In 1569 the Somerset contingent joined the force assembled against the Rising of the North. Although the militia obligation was universal, this assembly confirmed that it was 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. 17, 24–5.Fissel, pp. 178–87.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 16, 125.Hay, pp. 11–17, 88.Scott, p. 61. During the Armada Crisis of 1588 Somerset furnished 4000 armed and trained foot in five regiments, together with 360 horse and 1000 untrained 'pioneers'.Hay, pp. 92, 96.
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.Kerr, pp. 4–5.Scott, pp. 62–4. The Somerset Trained Bands of 1638 again consisted of 4000 men in five regiments of foot and 300 troopers in a regiment of horse.Somerset TBs at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.Scott, p. 92. Of these, Somerset was ordered to send 2000 men for the Second Bishops' War of 1640. However, many of those sent on this unpopular service would have been untrained replacements and conscripts: like many other contingents, the Somerset men were disorderly, accused of being 'West Country clownes'.Fissel, pp. 150, 208, 244, 262–3 270–1, 286. At the Battle of Newburn, roughly 800 raw Somerset musketeers held hurriedly-erected breastworks or 'sconces' on the bank of the River Tyne. They drove off a Scottish cavalry probe but were then subjected to an intense cannonade and eventually broke and ran.Fissel, pp. 53–9.
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. When open war broke out between the King and Parliament, the Somerset Trained Bands were split, some regiments serving on either side in the skirmishes and small sieges that characterised the early fighting in the West Country. As Parliament tightened its grip on the country after winning the First Civil War it reorganised the militia to counterbalance the power of the Army. The Somerset Militia now comprised two regiments each of horse and foot. The establishment of The Protectorate saw Oliver Cromwell take control of the militia as a paid force to support his Rule by Major-Generals. From now on the term 'Trained Band' began to be replaced by 'Militia'.Holmes, p. 94.Hay, pp. 99–104.Scott, p. 64.
Restoration Militia
Following the Stuart Restoration, the English 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, and almost the whole burden of home defence and internal security was entrusted to the militia under politically reliable local landowners.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 294–5.Scott, pp. 68–73.Western, pp. 3–29. The militia were frequently called out during the reign of King Charles II; for example, the Somersets were alerted in 1666 because of a Dutch invasion threat.Western, pp. 41–3. Their duties also included suppressing non-conformist religious assemblies (of which there were many in the West Country) under the Conventicle Act 1664. Lieutenant Edward Phelips of the Somerset Militia Horse (later Colonel Sir Edward Phelips) gained a reputation for harshness in carrying out this duty.Scott, pp. 85, 274.Western, pp. 34–5.Phelips at History of Parliament.
By 1679 the Somerset Militia (4405 men) was organised in five regiments of foot, each of eight companies, and one regiment of horse in five troops, all the regiments being commanded by Members of Parliament:Scott, pp. 73–6, 92. The Lord Lieutenant's, The Earl of Winchilsea's Regiment (792 men) Sir Edward Phelips' Regiment (903 men) Col Ralph Stawell's Regiment (830 men) – the Bridgwater RegimentStawell at History of Parliament. Col Edward Berkeley's Regiment (820 men)Berkeley at History of Parliament. Sir Haswell Tynte's Regiment (800 men)Tynte at History of Parliament. Viscount Fitzhardinge's Regiment of Horse (260 men)Fitzhardinge at History of Parliament.
Monmouth Rebellion
In 1685 there was a rebellion against King James II. Its leader, the exiled Duke of Monmouth, landed with his supporters at Lyme Regis in Dorset on 11 June 1685. He chose to begin his campaign in the West Country because of the level of support he expected in that strongly Protestant region, where economic recession was hurting the weavers and clothiers. As his rebels mustered the government of James II responded by declaring him a traitor and calling out the militia while the regulars of the Royal army were assembled. The Somerset Militia's mustering towns were Bath, Bridgwater, Crewkerne, Taunton and Wells, and for this campaign the regiments were organised as follows:Chandler, pp. 7–8, 19, 22.Kerr, pp. 5–7, 106–7.Scott, pp. 55, 94, 127, 162, 165.Western, pp. 54–7. Sir William Portman's RegimentPortman at History of Parliament. – the Yellow Regiment Sir Edward Phelips' Regiment Lord Stawell's Regiment – the Bridgwater Regiment Col Edward Berkeley's Regiment – the Wells Regiment? Col Francis Luttrell's RegimentLuttrell at History of Parliament. – the Taunton Regiment The Somerset Militia mustered in the Yeovil and Crewkerne division, possibly including the horse, appear to have been commanded by Col William Helyar
The colonels of the Somerset Militia had been alerted by the royal officials fleeing from Lyme even before the orders arrived from London, and they mustered their men quickly, Phelips' and Luttrell's regiments marching out from Taunton on 14 June. However, the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, the young Duke of Somerset, was uninterested in military matters and somewhat lax, and left the regiments without orders. Some of them had also had not been paid, leading to resentment. Sir Edward Phelips, on the other hand, had a reputation as a martinet and for training his men hard, leading to unpopularity. The morale of the Somerset Militia was consequently low.Scott, pp. 85, 151, 157, 168, 187–8, 194–9, 274, 285, 370.
On 15 June Luttrell was marching from Crewkerne with his own regiment, some of Phelips', and a troop of horse, to rendezvous with the Devon Militia at Axminster. But advancing from Lyme, Monmouth was able to seize Axminster before either militia force arrived, driving out the scouts of the Somerset Militia Horse. There was a brief fight around the town and the Devons withdrew westwards in accordance with their orders. The Somersets withdrew towards Taunton, but some of the men broke and ran, one writing that 'fear gripped our ranks and most were driven off backward'. The rebels picked up some discarded militia coats and weapons as they followed up, but 'nothing very much happened'.Chandler, pp. 21–2.Scott, pp. 249, 273–7, 281–4.Watson, pp. 218–9.Western, p. 54. The historian Lord Macaulay inflated this hurried retreat into a fullscale rout, with the countryside being strewn with abandoned weapons and uniforms.Macaulay, pp. 282–3. Macaulay has been followed uncritically by many authors, but modern historians find no evidence for a rout: the militia retained their baggage and colours and remained a formed body. Nevertheless, some of the Somerset Militia did desert and join the rebel duke – Phelips, who was not present at the action at Axminster, told Col Berkeley that most of his and Luttrell's men went over to the rebels. Stawell's Regiment was at Taunton: when the retreating men of Phelips' and Luttrell's arrived, the whole force marched off hurriedly, leaving its ammunition. The rest of Phelips' regiment had already retired towards Chard. The Somersets were ordered to rendezvous at Bridgwater next day, but apparently did not do so.Scott, pp. 277–84.
Monmouth had been correct in the support he received from the West Country people, at least among skilled workers and tradesmen, and as he advanced he was welcomed into Chard, Ilminster, Taunton and Bridgwater, gaining numerous recruits. Numbers of the militiamen scattered after Axminster also rallied to him. He then marched towards his next objective, the port of Bristol.Chandler, pp. 24–9.Scott, p. 255.Watson, pp. 221–8.