The Royal Queen's County Rifle Militia was an Irish Militia regiment in Queen's County (now County Laois) raised in 1793. It later became a battalion of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). It saw action during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and trained hundreds of reinforcements during World War I. It was disbanded in 1922.
Background Although there are scattered references to town guards in 1584, no organised militia existed in Ireland before 1660. After that date, some militia forces were organised in the reign of King Charles II but it was not until 1715 that the Irish Militia came under statutory authority. During the 18th Century there were various Volunteer Associations and unofficial militia units controlled by the landowners, concerned mainly with internal security. During the War of American Independence, the threat of invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain, appeared to be serious. While most of the Regular Army was fighting overseas, the coasts of England and Wales were defended by the embodied Militia, but Ireland had no equivalent force. The Parliament of Ireland passed a Militia Act, but this failed to create an effective force. However it opened the way for the paramilitary Irish Volunteers to fill the gap. The Volunteers were outside the control of either the parliament or the Dublin Castle administration. When the invasion threat receded they diminished in numbers but remained a political force. On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War In 1793, the Irish administration passed an effective Militia Act that created an official Irish Militia, while the paramilitary volunteers were essentially banned. The new Act was based on existing English precedents, with the men conscripted by ballot to fill county quotas (paid substitutes were permitted) and the officers having to meet certain property qualifications.Hay, pp. 146–7.McAnally, pp. 1–31.Whitton, Pt I, pp. 460–4.
Queen's County Militia Queen's County was given a quota of 356 men to find, in six companies, and the Queen's County Militia was quickly formed at Mountrath, John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington being appointed its Colonel on 23 April 1793.Frederick, p. 176.Hay, p. 426.McAnally, Appendix VI. When the regiment left for its first station at Monaghan in December 1793, a writer who had expected an 'irregular, half-appointed and undisciplined rabble' was favourably impressed with the regiment, finding it 'by no means inferior (in appearance) to that of any veteran regulars which I have ever met with'. He was particularly complimentary about the flank (Grenadier and Light) companies, and commented that the regiment had discharged some men because it exceeded its establishment.McAnally, p. 69.
French Revolutionary War and Irish Rebellion The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars saw the British and Irish militia embodied for a whole generation, becoming regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in Britain or Ireland respectively), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manned garrisons, guarded prisoners of war, and carried out internal security duties.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 255, 411. In August 1794 the Queen's County Militia was quartered with five companies at Coleraine and one at Magherafelt.McAnally, Appendix III. In October 1796 the regiment was in camp at Blaris when it made the offer to Lord Portarlington to serve in any part of the world.McAnally, p. 90. The Irish Militia was augmented in 1795, Queen's County's quota being increased to 460 men.McAnally, pp. 71–2.
Anxiety about a possible French invasion grew during the autumn of 1796 and preparations were made for field operations. A large French expeditionary force appeared in Bantry Bay on 21 December and troops from all over Ireland were marched towards the threatened area. However, the French fleet was scattered by winter storms, several ships being wrecked, and none of the French troops succeeded in landing; there was no sign of a rising by the United Irishmen. The invasion was called off on 29 December, and the troop concentration was dispersed in early 1797. At the same time the Light companies were detached to join composite battalions drawn from several militia regiments; the Queen's County company joined the 4th Light Battalion. When the militiamen of 1793 reached the end of their four-year enlistment in 1797, most of the Irish regiments were able to maintain their numbers through re-enlistments (for a bounty). At the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 the strength of the militia was boosted by further re-enlistments and recruiting for bounty rather than the ballot.McAnally, pp. 96–108, 121–6.
The Queen's's County regiment was employed in the west of Ireland during the Rebellion but the Light Company took part in the Battle of New Ross on 5 June with 4th Light Battalion.McAnally, Appendix VIII.Richey, Appendix IV.
The Earl of Portarlington died on 30 November 1798 and Charles Coote (later Lord Castle Coote) took over as colonel from 22 January 1799,War Office, 1805List. with Stewart Weldon as his Lieutenant-Colonel.
Legislation had been rushed through the British Parliament to permit British militia regiments to volunteer for service in suppressing the Irish rebellion.Western, pp. 225–7. In return a number of Irish militia regiments offered to serve on the mainland, adopting a blue cockade as a badge to denote their willingness. In April 1799 the Queen's County regiment offered their service again, stating that 'both officers and men have wanted the blue cockade'. However, although these offers were supported by the Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief of Ireland, Marquess Cornwallis, they were unwelcome to some of the authorities in England, from the King downwards, and no Irish Militia unit served on the British mainland at this time.McAnally, pp. 145–9.
With the diminishing threat of invasion after 1799, the strength of the militia could be reduced, and the surplus men were encouraged to volunteer for regiments of the line.McAnally, pp. 149–53. By the end of 1801 peace negotiations with the French were progressing and recruiting and re-enlistment for the Irish Militia was stopped in October. The men received the new clothing they were due on 25 December, but the Treaty of Amiens was signed in March 1802 when the regiment was disembodied. The men were paid off, leaving only the permanent staff of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and drummers under the regimental adjutant.McAnally, pp. 164–72.
Napoleonic Wars The Peace of Amiens was short-lived, and preparations to re-embody the Irish Militia began in November 1802. By March 1803 most of the regiments had been ordered to enlist men, a process which was aided by the number of previous militiamen who re-enlisted. Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803 and the warrant to embody the Irish Militia was issued the next day. The light companies were once again detached to form composite light battalions, but these were discontinued in 1806.McAnally, pp. 172–80.
Over the following years the regiments carried out garrison duties at various towns across Ireland, attended summer training camps (the Queen's County was at Killeady Hill near Cork in the summer of 1804), and reacted to various invasion scares, none of which materialised. They also provided volunteers to transfer to the Regular Army. In 1805 the militia establishment was raised to allow for this.McAnally, pp. 180–94.
Colonel Lord Castle Coote's son the Hon Charles Henry Coote was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel dated 11 April 1805 but died in 1810.
An 'Interchange Act' was passed in July 1811 permitting British and Irish militia units to volunteer for service across the Irish Sea. By the end of July 34 out of 38 Irish militia regiments had volunteered for this service, but only 15 travelled to England, the Queen's County not being among them.McAnally, pp. 243–9.
Napoleon abdicated in April 1814. When news of the peace arrived, the Queen's County Militia was stationed at Clonmel.Sergeaunt, p. 131. With the end of the war most Irish Militia regiments marched back to their home counties to be disembodied, the Queens' County regiment doing so in August. However, they were called out again during the brief Waterloo campaign and its aftermath. The Queen's County regiment was re-embodied in May 1815 and by October was stationed at Naas. The order to stand down finally arrived early in 1816 and the Queen's County Militia was accordingly disembodied on 23 March.McAnally, pp. 256–64.
Long Peace After Waterloo there was a long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots might still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of militia regiments were progressively reduced.<ref name = Whitton460/Hay, p. 154.
Lord Castle Coote died in 1823 and Sir Charles Coote, 9th Baronet, became Colonel in 1825. Francis Plunkett Dunne, Member of Parliament (MP) for Portarlington, a half-pay major, formerly in the 10th Foot, became Lt-Col on 15 February 1846.Hart's, various dates.Sleigh, p. 142.
1852 Reforms The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, enacted during a renewed 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 home defence service in three circumstances:Dunlop, pp. 42–5.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'.
The militia regiment in Queen's County was revived as the Royal Queen's County Rifle Militia, now based at Maryborough instead of Mountrath. Sir Charles Coote and Colonel (later Major-General) Francis Dunne remained as colonel and lieutenant-colonel respectively, but a large number of new officers were commissioned. The position of colonel in the militia disappeared after the 1852 Act, the lieutenant-colonel generally being the commanding officer (CO) and the position of honorary colonel was created.Army List, various dates.
Crimean War and after The Crimean War broke out in 1854 and after a large expeditionary force was sent overseas, the militia began to be called out. The Queen's County Rifles was embodied at Maryborough on 14 December 1854. It moved to Mountmellick during November 1855 and remained there for the rest of its embodiment. It was stood down on 4 August 1856 and was not re-embodied during the Indian Mutiny.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 November 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 11 December 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 May 1856.
The reformed militia settled into a routine of annual training, although the Queen's County regiment did not carry out its first until 1861, and training was suspended for the Irish Militia from 1866 to 1870 because of Fenian troubles. The regiments now had a large cadre of permanent staff (about 30) and a number of the officers were former Regulars. Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the Regular Army. The Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war. They were called out in 1878 during the international crisis caused by the Russo-Turkish War.Spiers, Army & Society, pp. 195–6.
Cardwell and Childers Reforms