The West Kent Militia (Light Infantry from 1853), later the 3rd Battalion, Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) was an auxiliary regiment raised in Kent in South East England. From its formal creation in 1758 the regiment served in home and colonial defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1918, and supplied thousands of reinforcements to the Royal West Kents during World War I.
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.Beckett, p. 20.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 5, 12, 16.Grierson, pp. 6–7.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–26, 60–1.Holmes, pp. 90–1. The Kent Trained Bands were on high alert during the Armada crisis in 1588 and saw some active service during the English Civil War. The Militia was re-established in 1662 after the Restoration of the Monarchy, and was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' in contrast to the 'Standing Army' that was tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported the military dictatorship of The Protectorate. The militia were kept up during the wars against Louis XIV, when Kent's contingent consisted of six regiments. However, the militia declined in the years after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 195–6.Hay, pp. 376–77.Hay, pp. 89, 99–104.Kent TB at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.
West Kent 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. There was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the lord lieutenant.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 288, 299, 301–2, 521.Hay, pp. 136–44.Holmes, pp. 94–100.Western, pp. 127–61. Kent was given a quota of 960 men to raise. The militia was strongly supported by the Sackvilles, one of Kent's leading families, and despite several anti-militia riots in the county (at one point Major-General Lord George Sackville was besieged at Knole Park by an angry mob) the West Kent Militia was quickly formed at Maidstone. The regiment's weapons were issued from the Tower of London on 20 November 1758 when it had reached 60 per cent of its establishment strength – one of the first units in the country to achieve this. Lord Romney was appointed colonel of the regiment, which was embodied for full-time service on 23 June 1759. (The East Kent Militia followed in 1760; however, unlike the West Kents, it was not embodied for full-time service during the war.)Frederick, pp. 206–8.Western, pp. 124, 294, 298.Western, Appendices A & B.Parkyn.
At this period there was no official drill manual for the militia. The adjutant of the West Kents, Edward Fage, produced his own manual which also included the more advanced training, such as field days. For junior officers the regiment produced a set of cards with the words of command printed on them.Western p. 405. The regiment only served in Kent during the Seven Years War, with detachments guarding French prisoners of war at Sissinghurst and Deal. It was disembodied in December 1762 as the war was ending and reverted to a peacetime training routine.Edwards.
War of American Independence The militia was called out after the outbreak of the War of American Independence when the country was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. The West Kent Militia was embodied on 31 March 1778. In June the regiment was encamped with five other militia regiments at Winchester, Hampshire, and as the senior regiment in camp (see Precedence below) provided the King's Guard when George III visited on 28 September. Next day the King conferred a knighthood on the commander of the guard of honour, Captain John Brewer Davis, the first militia officer to be so honoured for this service.London Gazette, 29 September 1778.
The West Kents spent the winter of 1778–79 at Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in Dorset with a detachment at Poole. Early in 1779 there was an outbreak of Typhus. The disease killed most of the French prisoners of war the regiment was guarding, and many civilians, but the regimental surgeon employed local doctors and nurses, and was able to save all but six of the 200 soldiers who caught it.Western, p. 395.
From June to November 1779 the regiment was encamped with other militia regiments at Warley Camp in Essex. It was then split up and billeted in various parts of Hertfordshire and north-west Essex for the winter. At the end of May 1780 the West Kent Militia was ordered to Hilsea Barracks in Portsmouth, but on 6 June was diverted from its billeting area to Tottenham and Highgate, north of London, to assist in quelling the Gordon Riots in the city. The regiment reached Hilsea on 21 July and remained there until the autumn when it moved to Winchester. In October 1781 it was moved from Winchester to billets in south Berkshire. From July to November it was camped near Harwich in Essex, and then returned to Maidstone.
The militia was stood down at the conclusion of the war and the West Kents were disembodied on 20 March 1783. From 1784 to 1792 the regiments were supposed to assemble for 28 days' annual training, even though to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out each year.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 530–1.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars The militia was already being embodied when Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793; the West Kents had been called out in December 1792. The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in the British Isles), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 255, 411.
In 1796 the West Kents were stationed with the Cambridgeshire Militia in Norwich. The militia were accused of a series of robberies in the town, but when the robbers were caught they turned out to be civilians. After their trial Col Hutton of the West Kents and his opposite number of the Cambridgeshires took out newspaper advertisements declaring that the honour of their men had been vindicated.Western, p. 418.
In the summer of 1798 the Irish Rebellion became serious, and the French were sending help to the rebels. The West Kent was among the militia regiments that volunteered to serve in Ireland and once the necessary legislation was passed by parliament it was one of 13 regiments whose offer was accepted. The West Kents were brigaded with the Herefords and the two regiments crossed the Thames by 'Flying Bridge' from Gravesend to Tilbury. Then to save time they were conveyed by waggons and then by barges on the Grand Junction Canal travelling at 40–50 miles per day to reach the embarkation port of Liverpool.Holden, pp. 76–8.
The war ended with the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802 and all the militia were stood down, the West Kents being disembodied in April. However, the Peace of Amiens was short-lived and the regiments, whose training commitment had been increased from 21 to 28 days a year, were called out again in 1803, the West Kents being embodied in March 1803.Fortescue, Vol V, pp. 167–8, 198–204.Hay, p. 150. Thomas Dyke (later Sir Thomas Dyke, 4th Baronet) was appointed colonel of the West Kent Militia on 23 May 1803War Office, 1805 List.Burke's, 'Dyke'.Cockayne, 'Dyke'.
During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the West Kents, with 736 men in 10 companies under Lt-Col Thomas Dalton, were stationed at Colchester Barracks as part of a militia brigade under Brigadier-General Lord Montgomerie.Brown.
The Interchange Act 1811 passed in July allowed English militia regiments to serve in Ireland (and vice versa),Hay, p. 152. and the West Kent Militia served there for a period.Sleigh, p. 79. It was disembodied in June 1814, but was called out again in June 1815 during the short Waterloo Campaign. It was finally disembodied in May 1816.
After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although ballots were still held and officers continued to be commissioned into the militia (Sir Thomas Dyke died on 22 November 1831 and Sir John Kenward Shaw, 6th Baronet, was appointed colonel on 2 March 1832.Cokayne, 'Shaw'.), the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers (who were occasionally used to maintain public order) were progressively reduced.Hay, p. 154.
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.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'.
The West Kent Militia was redesignated as the West Kent Light Infantry in March 1853, and Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, 8th Baronet, was appointed colonel on 1 April that year in succession to Sir John Shaw.Burke's, 'Maryon-Wilson'.Cokayne, 'Maryon-Wilson'.Hart's. Soon afterwards the position of colonel was abolished in militia regiments, the commanding officer in future holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel, although the regiment could appoint an Honorary Colonel.
Crimean War and after War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the militia began to be called out for home defence. The West Kent LI was embodied at Maidstone in January 1855 and remained there until May.Edinburgh Gazette, 9 February 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 1 May 1855. From June to November it was stationed at Aldershot,Edinburgh Gazette, 5 June 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 November 1855. and then went to Ireland, first to Athlone,Edinburgh Gazette, 11 December 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 8 January 1856. moving by February 1856 to Castlebar.Edinburgh Gazette, 12 February 1856.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 May 1856. It returned to England and was disembodied in July 1856 Thereafter the militia regiments were called out for their annual training.
Sir Thomas Maryon-Wilson died in May 1869, and the regiment's Major, R.T.G.G. Monypenny, formerly an officer in the 86th Foot, was promoted to Lt-Col in command on 22 May. At the same time, Viscount Torrington, who had served as the regimental lieutenant-colonel in the 1850s, was appointed as its first Honorary Colonel.Army List, various dates.Burke's: 'Torrington',
Cardwell reforms