The Royal East Middlesex Militia was an auxiliary regiment reorganised in Middlesex in the Home counties of England during the 18th Century from earlier precursor units. It later became part of the Middlesex Regiment. Primarily intended for home defence, it saw action in the Second Boer War. It was converted to the Special Reserve under the Haldane Reforms and supplied reinforcements to the Middlesex Regiment's fighting battalions during World War I. After a shadowy postwar existence the unit was finally disbanded in 1953.
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. 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.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 125.Hay, pp. 11–17, 60–1, 88–90, 97–8.Hay, pp. 384–7.Holmes, pp. 90–1.
During the Civil War a great ring of fortifications (the 'Lines of Communication') was constructed round London, encompassing Westminster and the suburban parishes of east Middlesex, whose trained bands came under the London Militia Committee and saw active service as part of the Westminster Trained Bands.Nagel, pp. 71–2, 77, 102–9.Westminster Liberty Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki. Westminster Auxiliary Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.
The English Militia was re-established under local control in 1662 after the Restoration of the monarchy.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 294–5.Grierson, pp. 6–7.Hay, pp. 20, 104–6. Middlesex had three regiments: the 'Red Regiment of Westminster', the 'Blewe Regiment' recruited from 'within the Bills of mortality' (ie the suburban parishes included within the London health district), and the 'County Regiment', recruited from rural parishes in the north and west of the county. In 1697 the Blue Regiment was commanded by Colonel John Bond and consisted of 1358 men in 10 companies. These arrangements appear to have continued until at least 1722 (when the colonel was Gilbert Medlycott) but thereafter the militia was allowed to decline.Hay, pp. 123, 126.JHL & ACW.
East Middlesex 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. The regiments could be called out for permanent duty in home defence but could not serve overseas. 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, 521.Holmes, pp. 94–100.Western, p. 251. Middlesex was given a quota of 1600 men to raise,Western, Appendices A & B. but failed to do so – possibly because the Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, the Duke of Newcastle, was Leader of the Opposition, who had opposed the Militia Acts. A patriotic ballad of the time declared: All over the land they'll find such a stand, From our English Militia Men ready at hand, Though in Sussex and Middlesex folks are but fiddlesticks, While an old fiddlestick has the command (the 'old fiddlestick' was Newcastle, who was also powerful in Sussex).Western, pp. 125, 159–60.
Claiming insufficient numbers of qualified officers, Newcastle suspended the execution of the Act in Middlesex for two years. However, opinion in the county shifted and in July 1760, the lieutenancy began forming three regiments (Western, Eastern and Westminster) and the arms and accoutrements were supplied from the Tower of London on 7 and 12 August. By then the war was going in Britain's favour and the threat of invasion had lifted: no further militia were required, and the Middlesex regiments were not actually embodied before the war ended in 1762. Parliament did however provide the money to continue training the militia in peacetime (two periods of 14 days or one period of 28 days each year).Parkyn.Western, pp. 189–94.
War of American Independence The militia were called out in 1778 after the outbreak of the War of American Independence, when the country was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 173–4, 295. The three regiments of Middlesex Militia were 'embodied' for permanent duty for the first time on 31 March 1778, with the 1st Middlesex Eastern Militia at Hampstead.Frederick, pp. 212–5.Frederick, pp. 164, 243, 284.
In the summer of 1780 the East Middlesex formed part of a brigade under Lieutenant-General Simon Fraser in a training camp at Waterdown Forest, near Tunbridge Wells.Brumby.
The Peace of Paris ended the war in 1783, but the militia had already been disembodied in 1782. From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual peacetime training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually mustered each year.Davis, p. 112.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 530–1.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars The militia were already being embodied when Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. Middlesex remained the worst 'black spot' for militia recruitment: in November 1793 the Eastern Regiment was 90 men short of the number it should have embodied.Western, pp. 281–2. David William Murray, 3rd Earl of Mansfield was appointed colonel on 31 July 1798.London Gazette, 11 August 1798.Murray family papers, National Register of Archives for Scotland catalogue description.
The French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic 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 June 1793 both the East and West Middlesex regiments marched to join a large militia training encampment at Broadwater Common, Waterdown Forest. The whole camp moved to Ashdown Forest at the beginning of August and then to Brighton for two weeks before returning to Broadwater Common. The camp broke up in the autumn and the regiments went to their separate winter quarters. 'Broadwater Common 1793' at Royal Collection Trust.
In a fresh attempt to have as many men as possible under arms for home defence in order to release regulars, the Government created the Supplementary Militia, a compulsory levy of men to be trained in their spare time, and to be incorporated in the Militia in emergency and to keep up the numbers. Middlesex's 's quota was fixed at 5820 men. The suburban subdivisions of Westminster, Holborn and Finsbury provided 4987 of the quota. The number of militia regiments in the county was increased to five. But Middlesex was one of the 'black spots' for militia recruitment: when the first training of the Middlesex Supplementary Militia was held, only 70 came put of 485 summoned. The Earl of Mansfield complained in November 1798 that the Eastern Regiment had only received 120 of the supplementary men instead of over 700 it was due, and half of them were unfit.Hay, pp. 150–2.Western, pp. 220–3.
The war ended with the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802 and all the militia were stood down. However, the Peace of Amiens was shortlived and the regiments, whose training commitment had been increased from 21 to 28 days a year, were called out again in 1803.Hay, p. 148. Thomas Wood was appointed colonel of the Eat Mddlesex on 12 April 1803, and retained the position for 56 years.Wood Family Papers at London Metropolitan Archives: catalogue description.War Office, 1805 List.Sleigh.Hart's.
In 1804 the Middlesex Militia was awarded the prefix 'Royal', when the regiment became the 1st or Royal East Middlesex Militia on 24 April (though in later years it usually left off the '1st').Davis, p. 149.Army List, various dates.
During the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment with 1068 men in 12 companies under Lt-Col John Gibbons was at Ipswich Barracks as part of a militia brigade under Lt-Gen Lord Charles Fitzroy.Brown. While at Ipswich it took part in a grand review on Rushmere Heath before the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York.Thoyts, pp. 159–60.
The Napoleonic Wars were ended with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The Royal East Middlesex Militia was finally disembodied in 1816. After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held until suspended by the Militia Act 1829, 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.Davis, pp. 205–18.Hay, pp. 154–7.
1852 Reforms The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, enacted during a 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 service in three circumstances:Dunlop, pp. 42–52.Grierson, pp. 27–9.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'.
As part of the 1852 reforms, the post of colonel in the militia was abolished, but existing colonels such as Thomas Wood retained their positions.
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 Royal East Middlesex Militia was embodied at Hampstead by the beginning of February 1855,Edinburgh Gazette, 9 February 1855. when the unit's strength was put between 600 and 700 men.
The regiment moved to Aldershot by the beginning of June.Edinburgh Gazette, 5 June 1855. Here it spent the period of its embodiment, returning to Hampstead by February 1856Edinburgh Gazette, 12 February 1856. and being disembodied by April.Edinburgh Gazette, 1 April 1856. Although the 4th and 5th Middlesex Militia were embodied in 1857 to relieve regular troops for service against the Indian Mutiny, the number of regiments required was smaller, and the Royal East Middlesex were not called upon.Edinburgh Gazette, 4 December 1857.
Thereafter the militia regiments were called out for their annual training. Colonel Wood camped with his regiment at Aldershot in his 80th year. After Wood's death in 1860 his lieutenant-colonel (since 1850), Thomas St Leger Alcock, formerly a major in the 95th Foot, continued as lt-col commandant. Alcock became the regiment's first Honorary Colonel in July 1871 and was succeeded in the command by Capt Frederick Robertson Aikman of the Bengal Army, who had won a Victoria Cross in the Indian Mutiny.