The 5th Royal Lancashire Militia (5th RLM) was an auxiliary regiment raised in the county of Lancashire in North West England just before the Crimean War. It later became part of the East Lancashire Regiment. Although primarily intended for home defence, it saw two years' active service during the Second Boer War. After conversion to the Special Reserve (SR) under the Haldane Reforms it supplied reinforcements to the fighting battalions during World War I and carried out internal security duties in Ireland. 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. The English Militia was re-established under local control in 1662 after the Restoration of the monarchy, and the Lancashire Militia fought in King William III's campaign in Ireland in 1690–91, and against the Jacobite Risings in 1715 and 1745. However, between periods of national emergency the militia was regularly allowed to decline.Fortescue, Vol I, pp. 12, 125, 133–40, 194–7, 294–5.Grierson, pp. 6–7.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–6.LRO, Handlist 72.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 2–3, 10–25, 29–84.
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 1760 Lancashire's quota was set at 800 men in one regiment, which received the title Royal Lancashire Militia in 1761.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 299–302.Frederick, p. 119.Hay, pp. 138–44, 242–3.Holmes, pp. 94–100.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 255.Western, p. 251, Appendices A & B. These reformed regiments were 'embodied' for permanent service in home defence until the end of the Seven Years' War and again during the War of American Independence. In peacetime they assembled for 28 days' annual training. The militia were re-embodied shortly before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793.Fortescue, Vol II, p. 521.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 173–4, 530–1.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 87–170.
French wars Lancashire's militia quota set in 1760 was small in proportion to its population, which soared during the Industrial Revolution. By 1796 it represented only one man in every 43 of those eligible. But in that year an additional ballot was carried out to raise men for the 'Supplementary Militia' to reinforce the standing militia regiments and to form additional temporary regiments. Lancashire's quota was increased to five regiments, and recruitment became difficult. The 4th Royal Lancashire Supplementary Militia was raised on 18 May 1798 under the command of Colonel Peter Patten. The regiment may have assembled eight companies but it never reached full establishment and attempts to convert it into a permanent 5th Royal Lancashire Militia failed when the men refused to serve in Ireland.Frederick, pp. 186–7. The supplementary militia was abolished in 1799, the remaining balloted men in Lancashire being distributed to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia to fill vacancies.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 167–74.2nd–5th Royal Lancashire Militia (1st–4th Supplementary Militia) 1797–1816 at School of Mars.Western, pp. 246, 269, 282.
During the French wars, the militia 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, such as the time of the Luddite disturbances. The three regiments of Lancashire militia were serving in Ireland during the final Waterloo campaign and were finally disembodied in 1816. Once again, the militia was allowed to decline in the years of the long peace that followed.Knight, pp. 411, 437–47.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 175–246.
5th Royal Lancashire Militia The long-standing 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.Hay, pp. 155–7.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'.
With the threat of war against Russia, the three Lancashire regiments were ordered to recruit up to their full establishment of 1200 men. Additional infantry and artillery militia regiments were also formed in Lancashire at this time including the 5th Royal Lancashire Militia (5th RLM) raised at Burnley on 22 March 1853 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant Charles Towneley of Towneley Hall (commissioned on 16 March 1853), with his brother John as one of the majors.Hart's, various dates.Hay, pp. 331–3.Parkyn.'Tracing the Towneleys' 2004 edn at Towneley Hall Society. Soon there were seven militia infantry regiments in Lancashire, each with a defined recruiting area after 1855: the 5th at Burnley also recruited from Accrington, Blackburn, Colne, Middleton, Oldham and Rossendale.
Crimean War The 5th RLM had already been embodied on 6 March 1854 before war broke out with Russia in 1854. An expeditionary force having been sent to the Crimea, the militia were required for home defence and service in overseas garrisons. From May 1855 the 5th RLM did duty at Aldershot and then crossed to Ireland, where it served at Dublin and then Clonmel. It was disembodied on 1 May 1856.Spiers, Army and Society, pp. 162–3.
Thereafter the militia regularly carried out their peacetime annual training. The Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war.Grierson, p. 29.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, pp. 97, 102, 126–7.
Charles Towneley retired from command of the 5th RLM on 23 March 1863, when he was appointed Honorary Colonel and his brother John succeeded him as Lt-Col.Army List, various dates.
Cardwell reforms Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia regiments were brigaded with regular and Volunteer battalions in a regimental district sharing a permanent depot at a suitable county town. Seven double-battalion or paired single-battalion regular regiments were assigned to Lancashire, and each was linked with one of the militia regiments. The militia now came under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant, and officers' commissions were signed by the Queen.Spiers, Army & Society, pp. 195–6.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, pp. 4, 15, 19.Williamson & Whalley, pp. 327–8.
The 5th RLM was linked with the 30th (Cambridgeshire) and 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiments of Foot in Sub-District No 15 (Lancashire), with the depot at Burnley Barracks. It was intended for the 5th RLM to raise its own 2nd Battalion, but this never happened. Although often referred to as brigades, the regimental 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 5th, 6th and 7th Royal Lancashire Militia formed 2nd Brigade of 3rd Division, VIII Corps at Melrose, Scottish Borders.
3rd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment
The Childers Reforms completed the Cardwell process by incorporating the militia battalions into the expanded county regiments. On 1 July 1881 the 30th and 59th Foot became the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the East Lancashire Regiment at Burnley with the 5th Royal Lancashire Militia as its 3rd Battalion. In 1898 the East Lancashires gave up Burnley Barracks and moved to Fulwood Barracks at Preston, which ist shared with the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
Militia battalions now had a large cadre of permanent staff (about 30). Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the Regular Army.Grierson, pp. 33, 84–5, 113, 120.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, p. 32.
Second Boer War After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the regular army was sent to South Africa, followed by many militia reservists as reinforcements. Militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and a number volunteered for active service or to garrison overseas stations.Dunlop, pp. 77–9, 91–3.Spiers, Army and Society, p. 239.Spiers, Late Victorian Army, p. 309. The 3rd East Lancashires were embodied on 24 January 1900 and briefly did duty at The Curragh outside Dublin.
Having volunteered for overseas service, the battalion embarked for South Africa on 16 February 1900 with a strength of 26 officers and 674 other ranks (ORs) under the command of Maj Richard Milne-Redhead (later promoted with effect from that date). After arriving at Cape Town on 13 March the battalion was stationed for six weeks at De Aar and then sent to Norvalspont. Lieutenant-Col Milne-Redhead then returned to England for a while and Lt-Col John Parker took over command. On 27 April the battalion was ordered to march without its heavy baggage to Edenburg, but en route its destination was changed to Glen, north of Bloemfontein and the battalion found itself ahead of the main body of the army. Two companies escorted artillery to Karree, the most forward point held. On 16 May the battalion was ordered to Brandfort, leaving two companies at Glen and two at Karree. Sickness had set in at De Aar and now many of the men were down with Enteric fever, while some casualties were suffered from Boer sniping during June. In August the battalion was reinforced by a 100-man draft of recruits considered too young to join their line battalions; these stayed with 3rd East Lancs until January 1902.Richard Milne-Redhead at Guns International.
On 22 August Lt-Col Milne-Redhead resumed command and shortly afterwards the battalion was ordered to provide a company garrison at Eensgevonden and to send 200 men to reinforce that at Vet River. On 11 September a force of 1500 Boers was detected trying to cross the railway line, and the 3rd East Lancs provided strong posts between Brandfort and Allemans Siding, where a force (including a detachment of 3rd East Lancs) was waiting for them. However, the Boers turned away, crossing the railway elsewhere, though losing their baggage in the process. By 30 September the battalion was distributed along of railway between Smaldeel and Glen.