The North York Militia, later the North York Rifles, was an auxiliary military force raised in the North Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 the Militia regiments of the riding served in home defence and internal security in all of Britain's major wars. It was one of the first British units to include specialist riflemen. The regiment became a battalion of the Green Howards in 1881, and saw service in the Second Boer War. It was disbanded in 1908.
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. The universal obligation to serve continued under the Normans and the shire levies under the Sheriff of Yorkshire, Walter Espec, formed a large part of the army that defeated the invading Scots at the Battle of the Standard near Northallerton in 1138. The levies were reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252, and again by the Statute of Winchester of 1285. Now 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 constables or ductores, and subdivided into sections of 20 led by vintenars. The able-bodied men were equipped by their parishes and arrayed by the Wapentakes into which Yorkshire was divided.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 5, 12, 16.Fissel, pp. 178–80.Hay, pp. 60–1.Morris, pp. 92–3, 301.Oman, pp. 390–6.Raikes, pp. 1–6.Turton, pp. 1–4.
Yorkshire was rarely called upon to supply men for the Plantagenet kings' campaigns in Wales, but its men were regularly summoned for expeditions to Scotland. For instance, Yorkshire levies were in the army at Berwick upon Tweed early in 1298, but a fresh levy later in the year apparently arrived too late for the Battle of Falkirk. For King Edward I's army of 1300 the ridings of Yorkshire were ordered to supply 5000 men, but they were over 2000 short and very irregularly arrayed, some 2900 gathering at Carlisle and then taking part in the short Siege of Caerlaverock.Morris, pp. 285–7, 301–2.
The shire levies of Yorkshire would have been among those called out to defend against the Scottish Great Raid of 1322 and again in the Weardale campaign of 1327, where the threat was so great that all men between 16 and 60 were called out in parts of Yorkshire. Levies from Yorkshire were summoned in October 1332 for defensive duties during the campaign by the Disinherited Scots, and again the following year for King Edward III's Siege of Berwick and subsequent Battle of Halidon Hill. For the Roxburgh Campaign in the winter of 1334–35 the three ridings of Yorkshire were ordered to send 1050 light horsemen and 5310 foot, but only a fraction of these arrived. Those of the North Riding were the last to join, but they were supplemented by a contingent from the Honour of Richmond. For the summer campaign of 1335 the North Riding contingent comprised 3 ductores, 15 vintenars, 54 mounted archers and 247 foot archers, serving from 25 June to 27 August.Nicholson, pp. 16–24, 94-5, 130–1, 179–80, 184–5, Appendix VI. Early in the reign of King Richard II the Scots were again harrying Northern England, and the men of the North Riding were arrayed three times between 1377 and 1380.Turton, p. 4.
King Henry VIII enforced the statutes, and in 1535 the commissioners took a muster of the men of the wapentakes of Birdforth and Allertonshire on Bagby Moor, near Thirsk, recording the names of the men from each township and the 'harness' each man possessed, such as 'jacks' (padded coats), Sallet helmets and 'splents' (arm guards). Threatened by a French invasion in 1539, Henry held a muster of the whole country, with the following results in the North Riding:Hay, pp. 80–1.Hay, pp. 297–8.Turton, p. 5. At York, from the wapentakes of Hang East and Hallikeld: 613 men At West Tanfield in the wapentake of Hallikeld: 322 men At Richmond: 357 archers horsed and harnessed, 295 billmen ditto, 8 spearmen ditto; 242 archers neither horsed nor harness, 478 billmen ditto; total 1380 men On Bagby Moor, from the wapentake of Birdforth and the liberties of Byland and Newburgh: 248 archers, 140 billmen, 412 able men (archers and billmen) without harness On Middleham Moor: 455 archers horsed and harnessed, 326 billmen; 286 archers without horse or harness, 377 billmen, 7 spearmen; total 1451 At Pickering: 180 archers horsed and harnessed, 111 billmen ditto; 360 archers not horsed or harnessed, 366 billmen ditto On Seamer Moor and at Guisborough: 389 archers horsed and harnessed, 313 billmen; 753 archers and billmen without horse or harness; total 1455. Within the Liberty of Allertonshire: 342 men Within the Liberties of Whitby and Whitby Strand: 1025 men At Barton Cross in Ryedale Wapentake: 267 men with horse and harness, 911 without
After Henry's death in 1547, the county and city of York were ordered to send 600 men to Alnwick in Northumberland. The North Riding supplied 227 of these, of whom 141 came from the wapentakes of Richmondshire. The deployment being outside their county, the men were issued with coat and conduct money to supply them with a uniform coat and to pay for their journey.Turton, p. 6.
North York 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. Although the militia obligation was universal, it was impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, and from 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained bands, (TBs) who were mustered for regular training.Cruickshank, pp. 17, 24–5, 112, 130–4.Fissel, pp. 183–90.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 16, 125.Hay, pp. 11–17, 88.Turton, pp. 6–9.
When war broke out with Spain training and equipping the militia became a priority. In 1584–85 the JPs of the North Riding were planning to equip and train 1000 men, 250 with corslets (armour, signifying pikemen), 400 with calivers (firearms), 200 archers and 150 billmen. The captains were to select four or more of the best shots in their companies as corporals, each to train 20–25 of the men in aimed fire at range. In 1586 the new Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, the Earl of Huntingdon, doubled the number of men due from the North Riding. The same proportions applied except that billmen were reduced in favour of pikemen, and Huntingdon ordered that the 'shot' should be concentrated in the wapentakes nearest the coast. Training should be held four times between 24 May and 22 July, the 'shot' being trained for three days on each occasion before the whole band was brought together, the powder and match to be supplied by the Lord Mayor of York and paid for by the wapentakes. In 1588 Captain Ralph Bosvile was appointed muster-master to oversee the training of the Yorkshire TBs. As the threat of invasion increased Huntingdon was ordered to raise 12,000 men in Yorkshire and County Durham, 3000 for coast defence, 6000 for the rest of the area, and 3000 as a mobile reserve. He reported that he had only 400 horse, but 6000 good foot and 2000 hardly inferior. When the Spanish Armada threatened to land the Duke of Parma's army on the coast of England, the captains, including Sir William Fairfax of the Bulmer and Ryedale companies (300 men) were alerted to have their bands in readiness. The threat disappeared with the defeat of the Armada at sea.Boynton, pp. 13–7, 91–2, 96, 159–60.Cruickshank, pp. 130–4.Hay, pp. 90, 95.Turton, pp. 9–12; Appendices D & E.
In the 16th Century little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions. Between 1589 and 1601 Yorkshire supplied 1810 levies for service in Ireland, 400 for France and 400 for the Netherlands. However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than the Trained Bandsmen – in 1585 the Privy Council had ordered the impressment of able-bodied unemployed men, and 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, 61–2, 126; Appendix 3.Turton, Appendix F.
With the passing of the threat of invasion, the TBs 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. In 1638 the Yorkshire TBs were the largest in the country, mustering 12,241 foot together with 365 Cuirassiers and 35 Dragoons.Yorkshire TBs at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.
Bishops' Wars In November 1638, the King's relationship with Scotland moved towards outright hostilities (the First Bishops' War) and the counties were ordered to muster their TBs and keep them in readiness. As the King gathered an expeditionary force on the border in 1639, Yorkshire became an important staging-post, with the TBs ordered to rendezvous at York, though in practice many of the men sent were not trained bandsmen but untrained substitutes.Fissel, pp. 4–6, 14, 198–207.
Four regiments were assembled from the North Riding:Fissel, pp. 206–7.Turton, pp. 17–20. Richmondshire, Colonel Lord Darcy of Hornby Castle Langbaurgh, Col Sir William Pennyman, 1st Baronet of Marske Hall.Pennyman's TB Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki. Pickering Lythe, Col Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 1st Baronet, colonel since 1636Hugh Cholmley at History of Parliament Online. Northallertonshire, Col Sir Robert Strickland of Sizergh CastleStrickland's TB Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.
On 1 April the King ordered Pennyman and his regiment to march to reinforce Berwick, which was threatened by the Scots. The rest of the force at York marched north piecemeal until it concentrated at Newcastle upon Tyne and then moved up to camp at Birkhill west of Berwick on 30 May. The force was poorly trained and supplied; when a superior force of Scots Covenanters was arrayed on nearby Duns Law Charles negotiated the Treaty of Berwick and the army dispersed.Fissel, pp. 16–8, 22–36.
When hostilities were renewed in 1640 (the Second Bishops' War) Charles's government attempted to form better regiments by combining TB contingents. The northern counties including Yorkshire were to provide the core of trained troops. It seems that in this campaign Pennyman's Langbaurgh regiment served to guard the crossings of the River Tees. Sir Hugh Cholmley had been dismissed from his county appointments in 1639, but his brother Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Cholmley commanded the Pickering Lythe regiment on its march north. But once again the trained men were outweighed by untrained, unpaid, unwilling substitutes, and there were widespread mutinies and disorders at York and elsewhere. Charles's generals were unwilling to commit this force to action on the border. The campaign was as much a failure as the previous year's.Fissel, pp. 212–3, 244, 292–3.Henry Cholmley at History of Parliament Online.
Civil Wars Control of the TBs was one of the main points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War. However, when open warfare broke out neither side made much use of the TBs beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops who would serve anywhere in the country, many of whom were former trained bandsmen, or using the TBs as auxiliary units for garrisons.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 198–9.Turton, p. 15.