The East Kent Militia, later the 3rd Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment) was an auxiliary regiment raised in Kent in South East England. From its formal creation in 1760 the regiment served in home and colonial defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1918, seeing active service in the Second Boer War and supplying thousands of reinforcements to the Buffs 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.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. 239–41.Hay, pp. 89, 99–104.Kent TB at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.
East Kent Militia 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, and quickly formed the West Kent Militia, which received its weapons on 20 November 1758 and was embodied for service the following year. The East Kent Militia followed, its weapons being dispatched from the Tower of London on 25 February 1760, when it had reached 60 per cent of its establishment strength. Its headquarters was at Canterbury. However, unlike the West Kents, it was not embodied for fulltime service during the war.Frederick, p. 204.Western, Appendices A & B.East Kent Militia at Regiments.org.
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. This time the East Kent Militia was embodied on 31 March 1778.Parkyn. That summer the regiment was at Warley Camp in Essex, training alongside other Militia and Regular regiments.Carman, '1778'. John Sawbridge of Olantigh, Kent, Member of Parliament (MP) and former Lord Mayor of London, was commissioned as Colonel of the regiment in 1779 and held the command until his death in 1795.'Sawbridge, John (1732–1795)' at History of Parliament. In the summer of 1782 the regiment joined the Bedfordshire and West Suffolk regiments in a militia camp at Danbury, Essex, under Maj-Gen St John.Burgoyne, p. 17. The militia was disembodied at the conclusion of the war in 1782. 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 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. On the death of Col Sawbridge, Sir Narborough D'Aeth, 3rd Baronet, of Knowlton, Kent, was appointed to succeed him on 3 March 1795.War Office, 1805 List. In the summer of 1798 the Irish Rebellion became serious, and the French were sending help to the rebels. The East Kent was one of the militia regiments that volunteered to serve in Ireland but its offer was not accepted.Burgoyne, pp. 40–3.
The war ended with the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802 and all the militia were stood down. 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 embodied again in 1803.Fortescue, Vol V, pp. 167–8, 198–204.Hay, p. 150. During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the East Kents were stationed at Dover until relieved by the Hereford Militia on 1 July.Moyse-Bartlett. By 1 September that year the regiment (426 men in 10 Companies under Lt-Col William Pennell) had moved to Chelmsford Barracks, which it shared with the Royal Buckinghamshire Militia (King's Own) in Maj-Gen Duncan Campbell's brigade.Brown. Sir Narborough D'Aeth died in 1808 and Samuel Elias Sawbridge of Olantigh, former MP for Canterbury and son of the previous colonel, was appointed on 14 April 1808. He had been first commissioned into the regiment as an ensign in 1790, and retained the command until his own death in 1850.'Sawbridge, Samuel Elias', at History of Parliament.Sleigh, p. 90.
The Interchange Act 1811 passed in July allowed English militia regiments to serve in Ireland and vice versa,Hay, p. 152. and the East Kent Militia served there from 13 September 1811 to 8 October 1813. It was disembodied in June 1814, and was not called out during the short Waterloo Campaign.
1852 Reforms After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, 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. 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 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 East Kent Militia was embodied in 1854 and was stationed at Chichester by 9 June,Edinburgh Gazette, 9 June 1854. Edinburgh Gazette, 7 July 1854.Edinburgh Gazette, 4 August 1854. moving to Portsmouth by 8 September,Edinburgh Gazette, 8 September 1854. Edinburgh Gazette, 3 November 1854. and was then at Woolwich from November to Marc 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 5 December 1854.Edinburgh Gazette, 9 February 1855.Hart's, 1855. The regiment then volunteered for overseas garrison service and was sent to Malta, arriving by May and remaining for a year.Leslie, p. 51.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 March 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 1 May 1855.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 May 1856. The regiment was disembodied in 1856, and was awarded the Mediterranean Battle Honour.
The East Kents were among the small number of militia regiments embodied during the Indian Mutiny to relieve Regular troops. It was again stationed at Woolwich, by December 1857,Edinburgh Gazette, 4 December 1857.Edinburgh Gazette, 8 June 1858. then at Aldershot from July 1858 to July 1859.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 July 1858.Edinburgh Gazette, 5 July 1859. It moved to Portsmouth by 1 August,Edinburgh Gazette, 2 August 1859. where it stayed until February 1860.Edinburgh Gazette, 7 February 1860.Hart's, 1860. Then by 5 March 1860 it had been sent to Weymouth, where it guarded convicts at Portland Prison working on the stone breakwaters of Portland Harbour., where there had been disturbances. It was relieved by the King's Own (1st Staffordshire) Militia in MayWylly, p. 41.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 March 1860. before returning to Portsmouth where it was disembodied in June.Edinburgh Gazette, 5 June 1860.
Thereafter the militia regiments were called out for their annual training.
Cardwell reforms Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, militia regiments were brigaded with their local regular and Volunteer battalions – for the East Kent Militia this was with the two battalions of the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) in Sub-District No 45 (County of Kent) at Canterbury. The militia now came under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant. Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the regular army.Army List, various dates.Dunlop, pp. 42–52.Spiers, Army & Society, pp. 195–6.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, pp. 4, 15, 19.
Although often referred to as brigades, the sub-districts were purely administrative organisations, but in a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned regular and militia units to places in an order of battle of corps, divisions and brigades for the 'Active Army', even though these formations were entirely theoretical, with no staff or services assigned. The East Kent Militia's assigned war station was in the Dover defences as part of the Garrison Army.
The Cardwell organisation envisaged two militia battalions to each sub-district, and the East Kent Militia formed a 2nd Battalion on 29 July 1876, though it was never fully formed.
3rd Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment)
The Childers Reforms took Cardwell's reforms further, with the militia formally joining their linked regiments as their 3rd and 4th Battalions on 1 July 1881. Although the 2nd Bn East Kent Militia was designated to be the 4th Bn Buffs, it was only at cadre strength, and was absorbed by the 1st Bn (now 3rd Buffs) on 1 April 1888
The 3rd Bn Buffs was embodied from 9 March to 30 September 1885 during the Panjdeh Crisis.London Gazette, 22 September 1885.
Second Boer War