The East Norfolk Militia was an auxiliary military unit in the English county of Norfolk in East Anglia. First organised during the Seven Years' War it carried out internal security and home defence duties in all of Britain's major wars. It later became a battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, but was disbanded in 1908.
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 Parliament of 1557, 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. It was an important element in the country's defence at the time of the Spanish Armada in the 1580s, and control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War. Although hardly employed during the civil wars, the Norfolk Trained Bands were active in controlling the country under the Commonwealth and Protectorate. The English militia was re-established under local control in 1662 after the Restoration of the monarchy, and Norfolk supported five regiments of foot and one of horse. However, after the Peace of Utrecht in 1715 the militia was allowed to decline.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 16, 125, 294–5.Harvey, pp. 9–16.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–6, 60–1, 88, 99–104.Hay, pp. 266–7.Holmes, pp. 90–4.
1757 reforms
Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 reorganised the county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. In peacetime they assembled for 28 days' annual training. There was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the lord lieutenant. An adjutant and drill sergeants were to be provided to each regiment from the Regular Army, and arms and accoutrements would be supplied when the county had secured 60 per cent of its quota of recruits.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 288, 299–302.Hay, pp. 136–44.Holmes, pp. 94–100.Petre, p. 368.Western, pp. 124–57, 251.
Norfolk's quota was set at 960 men in two battalions, the City of Norwich contributing 151 of the men. The Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, the 3rd Earl of Orford, was an enthusiast for the militia, and made rapid progress with the assistance of the Townshend family, particularly Colonel George Townshend, MP for Norfolk, a regular soldier who promoted the militia legislation in parliament. Both battalions received their arms from the Tower of London on 7 October 1758 and paraded at Fakenham in November. Orford appointed George Townshend as Colonel of the 1st or Western Battalion and Sir Armine Wodehouse, 5th Baronet, of the 2nd or Eastern Battalion. Orford reviewed the Eastern Battalion on 4 June 1759 at Magdalen Fairstead, just outside Norwich, after they had completed their training there and at King's Lynn. The review was reported in the press, with the conduct of the men being praised. Orford reported the strength of the East Battalion as 33 officers, 24 serjeants, 23 drummers and 466 rank and file, organised in 12 companies, and that the two battalions would be ready to march at four days' notice. They were embodied for fulltime service on 24 June 1759 and on 4 July marched by four 'divisions' (half battalions) to Portsmouth to do duty. (The Western battalion would have been under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel William Windham, because Townshend was serving as a brigadier in Wolfe's expedition to Quebec.) En route the two battalions passed through London and under Orford's command were reviewed by King George II in front of Kensington Palace. They were the first of the reformed militia regiments 'which offered to march wherever they might be most serviceable to the public defence', and the King ordered that they 'should be distinguished by the title of Militia Royal', but this was never done.Frederick, p. 220.Harvey, pp. 23–34, 289.Harvey, 'List of Officers in the Regiment', pp. 252–88.Chambers, pp. xcvii–ci.Burke's: 'Kimberley',Parkyn.Petre, p. 369.Western, pp. 124, 141, 157–9.Western, Appendices A & B.
By August the divisions of the two battalions were alternately guarding prisoners of war and undergoing training. While at Hilsea Barracks, Portsmouth, Windham published a drill manual, A Plan of Discipline, Composed for the Use of the Militia of the County of Norfolk, drawing on Townshend's expert knowledge, and which Townshend revised in 1768 after Windham's death.M.J.D.C., 'Standing Orders'.'Militia Regiments of Great Britain'.Western, p. 405. This is said to have become one of the most important drill manuals employed during the American Revolution.
Hilsea Barracks was infected with Smallpox, Dysentery and Typhus, and the men from isolated Norfolk villages with little immunity succumbed in large numbers. Casualties were severe, and those who did not die suffered long convalescences. In October the Norfolks were relieved by the Warwickshire Militia, but only after the barracks had been thoroughly cleaned.Western, pp. 384, 393.
During the winter of 1759–60 the Norfolk companies were first dispersed in billets across Hampshire and Surrey, and then in November they were marched to Cirencester in Gloucestershire, where they were joined by a recruiting party and recruits from Norwich. In June 1760 the East battalion marched back to Norwich and Yarmouth, where they took over guarding French prisoners. On 28 May 1761 King George granted the two battalions of the Norfolk Militia a 'Warrant for Colours'. In June 1762 the East Battalion was ordered to leave a detachment at Yarmouth and to take over duties at Ipswich and Landguard Fort from the East Suffolk Militia. It was relieved in October and moved to winter quarters in King's Lynn and Fakenham, though the men were ordered to vacate Fakenham during the town's annual fair.Harvey, pp. 34–7, 41–3.Petre, pp. 372–4.
With the Seven Years' War drawing to an end orders to disembody the two Norfolk battalions were issued on 15 December 1762. Annual training continued thereafter – the East Norfolks usually at Norwich or Yarmouth – ballots were held regularly, and officers were commissioned to fill vacancies.Harvey, pp. 44–8. Sir Armine Wodehouse gave up the command of the East Battalion and his eldest son John Wodehouse was promoted to Lt-Col on 19 May 1774 and then to Colonel on 6 June the same year. John Wodehouse, later 1st Lord Wodehouse, had marched as a private militiaman in the battalion under his father's command when it was first raised.
American War of 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. Orford ordered the Norfolk Militia to assemble on 13 April 1778, ammunition was issued, and the Eastern Battalion marched from Norwich to Yarmouth on 23 April. Here it was reviewed by Lt-Gen Sir Richard Pierson on 15 May, and then on 19 May was ordered to its war station at Harwich and Landguard Fort, with detachments billeted at Colchester and Manningtree. From June 1778 the East Norfolks are officially referred to as a 'regiment' rather than a 'battalion'; at this time it consisted of 8 companies. Detachments were moved around Essex during the summer and then in November the East Norfolks were ordered to exchange with the Cambridgeshire Militia and went back to Yarmouth for its winter quarters, arriving on 5 December.Harvey, pp. 48–53.
On 4 June 1779 the East Norfolks marched to Coxheath Camp near Maidstone in Kent, which was the army's largest training camp. Here the militia were exercised under Lt-Gen Pierson as part of a division alongside Regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England. The camp broke up in November and the East Norfolks marched back in two divisions to Yarmouth and King's Lynn for the winter. In February 1780 the division at King's Lynn joined the other at Yarmouth, then on 25 May the whole regiment was ordered to Tiptree Heath in Essex, where it joined two regular and six militia regiments in summer camp. The East Norfolks returned to Yarmouth in October. In May 1781 the regiment marched to Ipswich, with detachments across Suffolk at Woodbridge, Wickham Market and Saxmundham, where it was on standby to support revenue officers in catching smugglers. In June it took part in the King's Birthday Parade at Landguard Fort. It spent the winter at Yarmouth as usual, and in the summer of 1782 it went to Warley Camp in Essex. In November, now only 7 companies strong, the regiment marched to winter quarters dispersed around south-west Norfolk at Dereham, Attleborough, Harling, New Buckenham and places nearby.Herbert.Harvey, pp. 54–65.
The Treaty of Paris to end the war was now being negotiated, and the militia could be stood down. The East Norfolks were disembodied at Wymondham in March 1783.Harvey, pp. 65–6.Petre, p. 370.
From 1784 to 1792 the militia 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. In 1786 the number of permanent non-commissioned officers (NCOs) was reduced.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 530–1.Western, p. 333.Harvey, pp. 66–7.
French Revolutionary War The East Norfolk Militia had already been called out on 19 December 1792 before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793.Harvey, p. 69.Sleigh. 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, manned garrisons, guarded prisoners of war, and carried out internal security duties, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 255, 411.
The East Norfolk regiment began its service by marching its 8 companies to the Colchester neighbourhood on 15 February. Finding a suitable training ground in a town where a regiment was billeted could be a problem: the Secretary at War reluctantly agreed to repay the East Norfolks a guinea spent on hiring a ground at Colchester without prior permission.Harvey, pp. 69–70.Western, p. 410. The regiment then went by way of Chelmsford to Chatham, Kent. On 1 July the regiment arrived to join a large militia encampment at Broadwater in Sussex. On 6 August the whole camp moved to Ashdown Forest for a few days before spending two weeks training at Brighton and then returning to Broadwater for the rest of the summer. In October the regiment marched in two divisions across Sussex and Hampshire and then back to Chichester in West Sussex for the winter.Harvey, pp. 69–72.Sargeaunt, p. 85.'Broadwater Common 1793' at Royal Collection Trust.