The 1st or East Devon Militia, later the 3rd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, was a part-time military unit in the maritime county of Devonshire in the West of England. The Militia had always been important in the county, which was vulnerable to invasion, and from its formal creation in 1758 the regiment served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1908, after which it became a reserve unit for the Devonshire Regiment.
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. The Devon Trained Bands were divided into three 'Divisions' (East, North and South), which were called out in the Armada year of 1588.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–6, 88.Hay, pp. 269–71.Walrond, pp. 1–17.
Although control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War, most of the county Trained Bands played little part in the fighting. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the militia of Devon were called out on a number of occasions when the appearance of hostile fleets caused alarm, and in 1685 they prevented the rebel Duke of Monmouth from accessing recruits and supplies from Devon and Cornwall. After the Battle of Sedgemoor the Devon Militia were active in rounding up rebels.Hay, pp. 99–104.Scott.Walrond, pp. 23–4.
The Devonshire Militia continued to be mustered for training during the reign of William III, the six 'county' regiments together with the Exeter and Plymouth regiments and several Troops of Horse, mustering 6163 men.Hay, pp. 116–7. But after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the militia was allowed to dwindle.Western, p. 73.Walrond, pp. 25–7.
East Devon 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. Front-line Devonshire was initially given a quota of 1600 men to raise. 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.'Militia and Volunteer Lists' at Devon – Military History.Walrond, pp. 28–31.Western, Appendices A & B.Western, p. 251. The first issue of arms to the Devon Militia was made on 5 December 1758, and they were embodied for permanent service on 23 June 1759. Two, later four (Exeter, North, East and South), battalions were formed in Devon under the command of the Duke of Bedford as Lord Lieutenant. They served in the West Country for the whole of their service; the duties included guarding French prisoners of war. In December 1762 the battalions were stood down ('disembodied') and the following year were reorganised into three peacetime regiments. The Exeter and East battalions combined to form a single regiment, the 1st or East Devon Militia, of 600 men, 30 Sergeants and 20 Drummers, organised into 10 companies, with its headquarters (HQ) at Exeter and the Duke of Bedford as its Colonel.Frederick, pp. 86–7.H.G. Parkyn, 'English Militia Regiments 1757–1935: Their Badges and Buttons', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol 15, No 60 (Winter 1936), pp. 216–248.Walrond, pp. 31–59.Walrond, Appendix A.Western, p. 124. Sir John Prideaux, 6th Baronet, Colonel of the disbanded East Devon battalion, took legal action against the Duke of Bedford and the Deputy lieutenants for the loss of his command, and refused to give up the battalion's arms and accoutrements in his care until 1764.Walrond, pp. 55–8, Appendix B.
War of American Independence The militiamen's peacetime training was widely neglected, but the Devonshire regiments do appear to have completed their training each year. The Duke of Bedford died in 1771, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Bampfylde, 4th Baronet, MP, resigned, so the new Lord Lieutenant, Earl Poulett, recommended the son of a local landowner, Major John Dyke Acland, 20th Foot, for the colonelcy. After the outbreak of the War of American Independence in 1775 Lord North's government introduced a Bill in Parliament to 'Enable His Majesty to call out and assemble the Militia in all cases of Rebellion in any part of the Dominion belonging to the Crown of Great Britain'. Colonel Acland (himself MP for Callington) presented an Address to the King on behalf of the East Devon Militia in support of the Bill, which was vehemently condemned by the Bill's opponents including Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox; the Bill was passed in December 1775.Walrond, pp. 59–65.
In 1776–7 Col Acland served in his Regular Army rank of major in the Saratoga campaign under his friend and fellow MP Maj-Gen John Burgoyne. Acland commanded the Grenadier battalion and was severely wounded and captured. He was well-treated by his captors, and after his return to England was challenged to a duel by an officer who resented his favourable comments on the Americans. Although Acland survived the duel, he is believed to have died from the effects of a chill caught on the day.Walrond, p. 68.
The militia was called out when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain, and the regiment was embodied at Exeter on 20 April 1778. Earl Poulett appointed his eldest son, Viscount Hinton, to succeed Acland as colonel of the East Devons, and soothed the lieutenant-colonel, Paul Orchard, by promoting him to take over the North Devons, which were in disorder. The East Devons remained at Exeter until November, when the companies were distributed to winter quarters in Somerset, at Wells, Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet. During the summer of 1779 the East Devon Militia was at Coxheath Camp near Maidstone in Kent, which was the army's largest training camp, where the Militia were exercised as part of a division alongside Regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England. The East Devons were brigaded with the East Suffolk Militia and Monmouth Militia. Each battalion had two small field-pieces or 'battalion guns' attached to it, manned by men of the regiment instructed by a Royal Artillery sergeant and two gunners. In November the regiment was widely dispersed to winter quarters in Surrey, with HQ at Kingston upon Thames. Two extra companies of volunteers were now attached to the regiment and served with it for the rest of the period of embodiment.Walrond, pp. 66–84.Brig Charles Herbert, 'Coxheath Camp, 1778–1779', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol 45, No 183 (Autumn 1967), pp. 129–48.
For the summer of 1780 the regiment was camped with the 6th Foot at Playden Heights in Sussex. It returned to Somerset for its winter quarters, where the men who had completed their tree-year term of service were allowed home furlough, in the hope that they would make bargains to serve as substitutes for the next batch of men chosen by ballot, and then return to the regiment as trained men. However, the ranks were full of recruits that summer. The summers of 1781 and 1782 were spent in Devon at Roborough Camp and the Maker Redoubts near Plymouth, where both Regulars and Militia (including all three Devon regiments) were gathered. The Light Companies of the regiments at Roborough were formed into a composite Light Battalion, which trained separately. The Militia also had to find guards for the American prisoners of war lodged in Mill Prison. The camp at Roborough was broken up on 10 November 1782 and the regiments went into winter quarters. The East Devons were quartered at Bristol, where they had to find the guards for American prisoners confined in Stapleton Prison. American independence was recognised in November 1782, and peace was settled with France and Spain early in 1783, so the militia could be stood down. The East Devons marched to Exeter and were disembodied there on 24 March.Walrond, pp. 84–109.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 173–4.
French Revolutionary War From 1787 to 1793 the East Devon Militia was assembled for its annual 28 days' training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were mustered each year. In view of the worsening international situation the whole Devonshire Militia was embodied for service on 22 December 1792, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793. In February the regiment sent a detachment to Plymouth to be trained to operate battalion guns, and the rest marched to Surrey, moving in July to Dover, where seven companies were stationed in Dover Castle, two in the town, and one at Archcliffe Fort.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 530–1.Walrond, pp. 110–24.G.H. Hennessy, 'Order Books of the 1st Devon Regiment in 1793', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol 47, No 192 (Winter 1969), pp. 215–21. In April 1794 the regiment marched to Salisbury and then on to Bristol, where the principal duty once more was guarding French prisoners in Stapleton Prison. The following year the regiment spent the summer in camp at Roborough. The winter of 1795–6 was spent in barracks at Plymouth Dock, guarding the Mill Prison, which posting continued during 1796 apart from autumn manoeuvres at Roborough. In March 1798 the standing militia regiments were reinforced by men from the newly-raised Supplementary Militia, the remainder forming new regiments (such as the 4th Devon Militia formed at Exeter). In October the 1st Devons left Plymouth for winter quarters at Berry Head, Totnes, Dartmouth and surrounding villages, and remained in these quarters throughout 1799. In November that year the Militia was partially disembodied, some of the men being stood down with the whole of the Supplementary Militia; 70 of the men turned out of the 1st Devon enlisted in the Regular Army (which was part of the motivation for the change). In February 1800 the regiment returned to Plymouth Dock barracks and was concentrated for the first time in 18 months. The duties as usual were to guard the dockyard and the French prisoners, and also riot duty. Bread riots and looting broke out in Plymouth on 31 March 1801 and the magistrates were unable to restore order with the detachments of militia available. Colonel Bastard of the 1st Devon returned on 4 April and took matters in hand, seizing firearms in the docks to prevent them falling into the hands of the rioters (who had been joined by striking dockyard hands) and calling out the Volunteers to back up his own detachments. It was several months before disturbances in the West Country were put down: the regiment remained on standby to march at short notice, all leave was cancelled, and the men who had been disembodied were recalled to the colours. However, a peace treaty having been agreed (the Treaty of Amiens), the Militia were disembodied in early 1802. The 1st Devon marched from Plymouth Dock on 7 April, arriving at Exeter on 12 April, to be disembodied on 20 April.Walrond, pp. 125–203.
Napoleonic Wars