The Royal North Gloucestershire Militia (RNGM), later the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a Militia regiment raised in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From its formal creation in 1763 the regiment served in home defence and overseas garrisons in all of Britain's major wars until 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 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.Cripps, pp. 1–5.Hay, pp. 11–17, 25–6. The Gloucestershire Trained Bands were called out in the Armada year of 1588, and again a century later during the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution (when they were among the few units to see action in a largely bloodless campaign).Beckett, p. 56.Davies, p. 83.Hay, pp. 326–8.Scott. The Gloucestershire Militia continued to be mustered for training during the reign of William III; by now they were divided into four foot regiments (White, Green, Blue and Red) as well as a regiment of horse and a separate Bristol regiment.Cripps, pp. 39–42. But after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the militia was allowed to dwindle.Western, p. 73.
North Gloucestershire Fusiliers 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. Gloucestershire, with the cities of Gloucester and Bristol, was given a quota of 960 men to raise.Daniell, pp. 38–9.Cripps, pp. 12–3.Cripps, pp. 43–4.Fortescue, Vol II, pp. 288, 299, 301–2, 521.Hay, pp. 136–44.Western, Appendices A & B.Western, p. 251. It was one of the first counties to meet the bulk of its quota (encompassing the vestiges of the old regiments) and was ready to issue them with arms on 15 May 1759. A train of waggons carrying arms and accoutrements for the regiment left the Tower of London on 22 May. The first or South battalion of the regiment was embodied for permanent duty at Gloucester on 27 July with eight companies under the command of Colonel Norborne Berkeley, who became Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire in 1762.Cripps. pp. 46–8.Frederick, p. 100.Gloucestershire Archives, Sources for Military History, pp. 19–25.Parkyn.Western, Appendix A.Western, p. 124.Royal South Gloucestershire Militia (1st) 1759–1816 at School of Mars.
At that time the second or North Battalion had only gathered two companies but it was formally raised with seven companies at Cirencester on 22 August 1760, despite riots in the town against the ballot. It was embodied on 9 April 1761 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas, 6th Viscount Tracy and designated as Fusiliers.Royal North Gloucestershire Militia History at Glorious Glosters.Royal North Gloucester Militia (2nd) 1760–1814 at School of Mars.Royal North Gloucestershire Militia officers 1761–1852 at Glorious Glosters. Both battalions were camped together at Winchester during the summer of 1761. Here the regiment was badly hit by sickness: from a strength of 424 men in June, the North battalion only 195 on parade on 5 October, and by the end of the season the regiment was down to about 100 fit men. Colonel Berkeley had huts built by the regimental pioneers to house the sick men. In November the North battalion was back to a strength of about 352. By then the battalion was stationed at Bideford guarding French prisoners-of-war. It returned to Winchester in June 1762, then in the autumn it marched to Gloucestershire.Cripps, pp. 49–51.
The Seven Years' War ended with the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763 and the two battalions of Gloucestershire militia were disembodied, but not before they became separate South and North regiments on 20 April. Samuel Blackwell, who had been the major when the battalion was embodied, was commissioned as colonel of the North Gloucestershire Fusiliers, and Cirencester became its headquarters.Cripps, pp. 51–2.
War of American Independence After the outbreak of the War of American Independence in 1775 a controversial Act of Parliament was passed 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' (raising the possibility that they may have to serve in North America). In the event the militia was called out in its traditional role when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. The North Regiment was embodied in March 1778 under Col Blackwell (by now MP for Cirencester), who was granted the same rank in the army on 2 July 1779.Holmes, pp. 91–104.Cripps, pp. 53–7.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 173–4, 295.
After three months at Cirencester the regiment marched to Essex where it was encamped at Warley Heath in during the summer of 1778. It returned to Cirencester for the winter, and in the summer of 1779 it was at Coxheath Camp near Maidstone in Kent. Coxheath 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 North Gloucesters formed part of the Left Wing under Major-General Hall. At Warley and Coxheath 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.Carman.Herbert.
From Coxheath the regiment marched in November 1779 to Gravesend and then to the villages round Foots Cray before wintering at Cirencester. It spent the summer of 1780 in Somerset and Devonshire, wintering at Wells, where its duties included assisting the Revenue officers. In the summer of 1781 the regiment, 420 strong, formed part of the 3rd Brigade of the Plymouth garrison, first at Dock Town, then at Roborough Camp, and from October in the town's barracks. It remained at Plymouth for a year. In 1782 it had 547 men in eight companies. On 8 November it began the march from Plymouth back to Gloucestershire where it was disembodied at the end of the year.Haarmann.
From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out.Fortescue, Vol III, pp. 530–1. Col Blackwell died in 1785 and was succeeded in command by Lt-Col Winchcombe Henry Hartley, MP (who later married Blackwell's daughter).Burke's Landed Gentry, Vol I: 'Hartley of Bucklebury'.
French Revolutionary War In view of the worsening international situation the militia was embodied for service in 1792, even though Revolutionary France did not declare war on Britain until 1 February 1793. Winchcombe Hartley was promoted to colonel on the embodiment, but died in 1794 and Maj Robert Kingscote of Kingscote Park (whose father had been also major of the regiment) was rapidly promoted to colonel of the North Gloucestershire Militia on 31 March 1794, and given that rank in the army for the duration of the embodiment. After assembling at Cirencester the regiment marched to Devon, where it spent the summer at Dartmouth and then at Roborough Camp at Plymouth. It wintered at Barnstaple, then spent the summer of 1794 at Totnes and the autumn at Berry Head Camp. After wintering at Totnes the North Gloucesters marched in June 1795 to South Down Camp near Weymouth, Dorset. Both Gloucestershire regiments were stationed here while King George III stayed at Weymouth. In August he granted them both the title 'Royal', but the Royal North Gloucester (RNGM) lost its 'Fusiliers' distinction the following year.Cripps, pp. 58–62, 138.Gloucestershire Archives, Sources for Military History, p. 32.
During the French Wars the militia were employed anywhere in the country for coast defence, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, for internal security – and helping to bring in the harvest – while the Regular Army regarded them as a source of trained men if they could be persuaded to transfer. Their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the part-time Volunteers. Service in the militia could be hard: the men found that a daily food allowance of five pence did not go far when the price of provisions rose, and some units were involved in food riots. While stationed at Portsmouth the men of the Gloucestershire Militia forced the local butchers to lower their prices.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 238, 255, 411, 437–47.
As the invasion threat grew in 1796 the Militia was doubled in size: Gloucestershire had to find an additional 1757 militiamen for the Supplementary Militia, though unlike some counties these were incorporated into the two existing regiments, the RNGM receiving a draft of 355 in 1798 to bring it up to a strength of about 850 in 10 companies. The Supplementary Militia were stood down in 1799, but the county had to find 1163 more in 1802.Western, Appendix B.Cripps, p. 63.Hay, pp. 150–1.
The RNGM was stationed at Poole until July 1796, then at Lydd and Ashford in Kent. In early 1797 it was at Ashford Barracks and then moved back to Weymouth for the summer. It remained with four companies there and four at Poole until June 1799 when it was moved to Winchester Barracks, and subsequently to Portsmouth.Cripps, pp. 62–4.
Ireland After the Irish Rebellion of 1798 broke out the eight companies of the Royal North Gloucesters at Portsea Barracks volunteered for service there on 2 September. They were immediately ordered to make all haste from to Liverpool to embark for Dublin, the port of embarkation later being changed to Bristol. (About 320 men were left as depot companies at Portchester Castle and Fareham Barracks.) The main body was joined by the Grenadier and Light companies from Weymouth and embarked 614-strong at Pill, near Bristol, landing at Dublin under Col Kingscote (gazetted as a colonel in the army for the duration of the service) on 11 September before marching to Drogheda. But they had arrived too late for action, the French army supporting the rebels having surrendered at Ballinamuck on 8 September. The regiment returned to England in April 1799 and camped in Sussex. The following year it was in garrison at Dover Castle and Shorncliffe Camp. The RNGM provided large drafts of recruits to the 9th, 53rd and 56th Foot, and the invasion crisis having passed the militia were reduced, the RNGM from 10 to eight companies. These companies had an establishment of just 466 men, of whom 40 were trained to man the two field guns with which regiments in Southern District were equipped. There was another invasion scare in 1801 – the RNGM's alarm post was in front of the barracks at Dover Castle – but this passed in October, and a peace treaty having been agreed (the Treaty of Amiens), the militia were disembodied in 1802. The peacetime quota for Gloucestershire was set at 1163 militiamen. begun.Cripps, pp. 65–91.
Napoleonic War But the Peace of Amiens quickly broke down, and the Militia were embodied once more in 1803. The Royal North Gloucesters assembled with seven companies at Cirencester on 28 March and marched to Portsmouth, where part of it occupied Fort Cumberland. In June it was increased to an establishment of 10 companies totalling 930 men. In March 1804 the regiment left Portsmouth and marched to Silverhill Barracks in Sussex, and that summer its strength rose to nearly 1400 men. In the autumn it was sent to camp at Pett Castle and employed in digging anti-invasion trenches (the forerunners of the Royal Military Canal). On 31 October it marched to winter quarters at Steyning Castle, with lookout points on Chanctonbury and Wolstonbury Hills.Cripps, pp. 92–100.