The Dorset Militia was an auxiliary military force in the county of Dorsetshire in South West England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as the Special Reserve, the Militia regiments of the county carried out internal security and home defence duties. They saw active service during the Second Bishops' War and the English Civil War, and played a prominent part in suppressing the Monmouth Rebellion. After being the first English militia regiment to reform in 1758, they served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars, including service in Ireland, and finally trained thousands of reinforcements during World War I. After a shadowy postwar existence they were formally disbanded in 1953.
Early history The English militia was descended from the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd, the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriff. It continued under the Norman kings, and was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252, and again by King Edward I's Statute of Winchester of 1285.Atkinson (1947), Pt III, pp. 3–6.Fortescue, Vol I, p. 12.Fissel, pp. 178–80.Hay, pp. 60–2, 64–5.Holmes, pp. 90–1.Kerr, p. 1.Scott, pp. 55–8.Michael Russell, 'Background to the Militia and the Irish Rebellion of 1798', Dorset Online Parish Clerks.
In 1296 Edward called out the horse and foot of Dorset and Somerset to defend their shires from the French while he was away campaigning in Scotland. In February 1322 John de Bello Campo was ordered to raise all the horse and foot of Dorset and Somerset against the Baronial rebels. A week later Ralph de Gorges and Sir John de Clyveden were ordered to raise 1000 footmen (later increased to 2000) from Somerset and Dorset for service against invading Scots and the rebels, for the campaign that culminated in the Battle of Boroughbridge. Again, in 1326 Dorset and Somerset were ordered to levy 3000 archers, light cavalry and others for the defence of the realm. For King Edward III's 1333 campaign against the Scots, Bello Campo was instructed to levy 500 archers from Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire. By now the infantry were mainly equipped with the English longbow. The usual shire contingent was divided into companies of roughly 100 men commanded by ductores or constables, and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars. For Edward III's summer campaign in Scotland in 1335 Dorset supplied a 'ductor' with 59 mounted archers.Fissel, p. 181.Kerr, pp. 105–7.Nicholson, Appendix VI.
In 1539 King Henry VIII, fearing invasion, held a Great Muster of all the counties, recording the number of armed men available in each hundred, borough or liberty (such as the Isle of Portland in Dorset). Dorsetshire supplied 5245 names, but with no details of how they were armed.Hay, p. 353.
Dorset Trained Bands
The legal basis of the militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters (4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 3) and the maintenance of horses and armour (4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 2). The county militia was now under the Lord Lieutenant, assisted by the Deputy Lieutenants (DLs) and Justices of the Peace (JPs). The entry into force of these Acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. Although the militia obligation was universal, it was impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, so after 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands, who were mustered for regular training.Cruickshank, pp. 17, 24–5.Fissel, pp. 178–87.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 16, 125. Hay, pp. 11–17, 88.Scott, p. 61.
When war broke out with Spain training and equipping the militia became a priority, and in 1588 veteran officers were sent to supervise preparations in the maritime counties of Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.Hay, p. 91. The arrival of the Spanish Armada led to the mobilisation of the trained bands on 23 July, Dorset sending its cavalry and a large number of infantry to London. It was reported that one of the Dorset contingents had offered £500 for the honour of serving as the royal bodyguard. Queen Elizabeth gave her Tilbury speech on 9 August to the army camped at Tilbury on the Thames Estuary. The rest of the Dorset men went to their stations when the fire beacons were lighted and they shadowed the Spanish fleet as it sailed up the English Channel. After the defeat of the Armada, the army was dispersed to its counties, but the men were to hold themselves in readiness. There were several more alarms over the following years, notably in 1596, and the Trained Bands were regularly mustered and exercised, but were never called to active service.Boynton, pp. 180–1.Hay, p. 89.
With the passing of the threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th Century. Later, King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control.Fissel, pp. 174–8, 190–5.Hay, pp. 97–8.Dorset TBs at BCW Project Regimental Wiki. Dorset was ordered to send a contingent to Newcastle upon Tyne for the Second Bishops' War of 1640. However, substitution was rife and many of those sent on this unpopular service would have been untrained replacements. When they reached Faringdon in Berkshire they broke into mutiny and murdered one of their officers. When this was suppressed and the march was resumed, almost half the men had deserted.Fissel, pp. 208, 262–3.
Control of the militia was one of the major points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War. Once hostilities began, neither side made much further use of the Trained Bands except as a source of recruits and weapons for their own full-time regiments.Burne & Young, pp. 6–7.Cruickshank, p. 326.Rogers, pp. 17–8.Reid, pp. 1–2. Early in the conflict in September 1642 Dorset Trained Bandsmen were called out by both sides for the Siege of Sherborne Castle, Col Hugh Rogers' regiment serving in the Royalist garrison, while Sir Thomas Trenchard's regiment and the Dorchester Trained Band were in the Parliamentarian blockading force. The Parliamentarians did not press the siege, but after they withdrew the Royalist army dispersed to Cornwall and South Wales, and those members of the Dorset TBs who had not joined one of the fulltime regiments presumably dispersed to their homes. In 1643 the Dorchester TB was present when that town was captured by the Royalists virtually without a fight.Rogers' Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.Trenchard's Regiment at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.Dorchester TB at BCW Project Regimental Wiki.Reid, pp. 40–1, 59.
Once Parliament had re-established full control it passed new Militia Acts in 1648 and 1650 that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners appointed by Parliament or the Council of State. At the same time the term 'Trained Band' began to disappear in most counties. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country.Hay, pp. 98–104.Western, p. 8.
Restoration Militia
After the Restoration of the Monarchy, the English Militia was re-established by the Militia Act 1661 under the control of the king's lords-lieutenant, the men to be selected by ballot. This was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' to counterbalance a 'Standing Army' tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported Cromwell's military dictatorship, and almost the whole burden of home defence and internal security was entrusted to the militia under politically reliable local landowners.Holmes, pp. 94–101.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 294–5.Macaulay, Vol I, p. 143.Scott, pp. 68–73.Western, pp. 3–29. The militia were frequently called out during the reign of King Charles II; their duties included suppressing non-conformist religious assemblies (of which there were many in the West Country) under the Conventicle Act 1664.Western, pp. 33–5.
Two of Dorset's deputy lieutenants, Robert Coker of Mappowder (a former Parliamentary officer and captain of Militia Horse) and George Fulford, were commended by the Privy Council for promptly mustering the Dorset Militia when a French invasion of the Isle of Purbeck was feared during the Popish Plot crisis in 1678.Coker at History of Parliament Online.Fulford at History of Parliament Online.
Monmouth's rebellion In 1685 the Duke of Monmouth launched his rebellion by landing at Lyme Regis in Dorset on 11 June. He chose to begin his campaign in the West Country because of the level of support he expected in that strongly Protestant region, where economic recession was hurting the weavers and clothiers. As his rebels mustered the government of James II responded by declaring him a traitor and calling out the militia on 13 June while the regulars of the Royal army were assembled.Chandler, pp. 7–8, 19, 22.Macaulay, Vol I, pp. 279–80, 283.Scott, Table 2.1.2, p. 55.
At this time the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset was John Digby, 3rd Earl of Bristol and the officers of the Dorset Militia included:Scott, Tables 2.2.2, p. 71; 2.2.3, p. 74; 2.2.4, p. 76. Colonel Thomas Strangways, MP and DL for Dorset, and commanding the whole Dorset Militia in the absence of the Earl of BristolScott, p. 374.Strangways at History of Parliament Online. Col Thomas Erle, MP for Wareham and DL for Dorset, who was a Major in the Royal ArmyScott, p. 365.Erle at History of Parliament Online. Captain of Horse Richard Fownes, MP for Corfe Castle and DL for DorsetFowns at History of Parliament Online. Captain of Foot Thomas Chafin, MP for Poole and DL for DorsetChaffin at History of Parliament Online.
The Dorset Militia at this time comprised five regiments of Foot and one of Horse, which mustered at the following towns:Scott, Table 3.1.2, p. 94; 3.2.2, p. 127. Blandford (The East Dorset Militia, commanded by Col Erle) Bridport (The Red Regiment commanded by Col Strangways) Dorchester Shaftesbury Sherborne Dorchester (Horse)