The Londonderry Militia, later the Londonderry Light Infantry, was an Irish Militia regiment raised in County Londonderry in 1793 under the command of Lord Castlereagh. It saw action during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. It joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1881 but was soon converted into a militia artillery unit before being disbanded in 1909.
Background Although there are scattered references to town guards in 1584, no organised militia existed in Ireland before 1660. After that date, some militia forces were organised in the reign of King Charles II but it was not until 1715 that the Irish Militia came under statutory authority. During the 18th Century there were various Volunteer Associations and unofficial militia units controlled by the landowners, concerned mainly with internal security. During the War of American Independence, the threat of invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain, appeared to be serious. While most of the Regular Army was fighting overseas, the coasts of England and Wales were defended by the embodied Militia, but Ireland had no equivalent force. The Parliament of Ireland passed a Militia Act, but this failed to create an effective force. However it opened the way for the paramilitary Irish Volunteers to fill the gap. The Volunteers were outside the control of either the parliament or the Dublin Castle administration. When the invasion threat receded they diminished in numbers but remained a political force. On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War In 1793, the Irish administration passed an effective Militia Act that created an official Irish Militia, while the paramilitary volunteers were essentially banned. The new act was based on existing English precedents, with the men conscripted by ballot to fill county quotas (paid substitutes were permitted) and the officers having to meet certain property qualifications.Hay, pp. 146–7.McAnally, pp. 1–31.Richey, pp. 3–6.
Londonderry Militia French Revolutionary War County Londonderry was given a quota of 560 men to find, to be organised into a battalion of ten companies, and it was embodied for duty soon afterwards.Frederick, pp. 167, 260.Hay, pp. 211–2.Litchfield, pp. 111–2.Litchfield, Appendices 1 & 7.McAnally, Appendix VI.Sleigh, p. 132. The Hon Robert Stewart (Viscount Castlereagh from 1798), a member of the Parliament of Ireland was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment.Hon Robert Stewart at History of Parliament Online.
The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars saw the British and Irish militia embodied for a whole generation, becoming regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in Britain or Ireland respectively), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manned garrisons, guarded prisoners of war, and carried out internal security duties.Knight, pp. 78–9, 111, 255, 411.
By April 1794 the Londonderry Militia was quartered at Drogheda, with one company detached to Navan and one to Kilcullen Bridge. Anxiety about a possible French invasion grew during the autumn of 1796 and preparations were made for field operations. A large French expeditionary force appeared in Bantry Bay on 21 December and troops from all over Ireland were marched towards the threatened area. Soon afterwards news arrived that the French fleet had been scattered by the winter storms. Several ships had been wrecked and none of the French troops succeeded in landing; there was no sign of a rising by the United Irishmen. The invasion was called off on 29 December, and the troop concentration was dispersed in early 1797.McAnally, pp. 96–102; Appendix III.
Early in 1797 the light companies of the militia were detached to join composite battalions drawn from several militia regiments. The Londonderry contingent was attached to the 2nd Light Battalion, stationed at Bandon, County Cork. The militia regiments were each issued with two light six-pounder 'battalion guns', with the gun detachments trained by the Royal Artillery. When the militiamen of 1793 reached the end of their four-year enlistment in 1797, most of the Irish regiments were able to maintain their numbers through re-enlistments (for a bounty). The Londonderry Militia was augmented in July 1797 and its establishment now totalled 764 all ranks.McAnally, pp. 102–9, 121–6.Richey, pp. 18–9; Appendices IV & V.
Irish Rebellion The expected Irish Rebellion finally broke out in May 1798, and during its suppression the Londonderry Militia operated in Counties Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow and Wexford. Most of the regiment was engaged at the battles of Gorey, The Curragh, New Ross, Arklow, Foulksmills, Blackmore Hill and Vinegar Hill. The Grenadier Company of the Londonderry Militia was in action at Tubberneering and was also at Arklow and Vinegar Hill. The Light Company saw action with 2nd Light Battalion at Antrim.McAnally, Appendix VIII.Richard Doherty, Tyrone Militia at Royal Irish. A detachment of the regiment under Lieutenant Rowley Miller was active in capturing rebels, apprehending a leader named Talent, for whom the government had offered a reward of £200, together with a private reward of a further £1000.
The rebellion was effectively ended at Vinegar Hill, and although a small French invasion force landed in August and inflicted a defeat on the government troops at the Battle of Castlebar it was too late to have any real effect, and soon surrendered. There were still some disturbances in, such as in County Westmeath, where the Londonderry Militia joined the Bedfordshire and Worcestershire Militia and the Northumberland Fencibles in forming Maj-Gen Charles Barnett's brigade operating in the Mullingar area into January 1799. The duty consisted of escorting prisoners, searching for arms, and scouring the neighbourhood for rebels.Holden, pp. 82–9.
After the rebellion the Irish Militia settled down to garrison duty once more. With the diminishing threat of invasion after 1799, the strength of the militia could be reduced, and the surplus men were encouraged to volunteer for regiments of the line.McAnally, pp. 148–53. In July 1800 Lord Castlereagh, by now the Chief Secretary for Ireland, was promoted to Colonel of the Londonderry Militia, with Sir George Hill, 2nd Baronet as his lieutenant-colonel.War Office, 1805 List.
By the end of 1801 peace negotiations with the French were progressing and recruiting and re-enlistment for the Irish Militia was stopped in October. The men received the new clothing they were due on 25 December, but the Treaty of Amiens was signed in March 1802 after which the militia regiments were disembodied leaving only the permanent staff of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and drummers under the regimental adjutant.McAnally, pp. 164–72.
Napoleonic Wars However, the Peace of Amiens was short-lived and preparations to re-embody the militia begun in November 1802. Early in 1803 the regiments were ordered to begin re-enrolling former militiamen and new volunteers as well as using the ballot. The proclamation to embody the militia was issued on 15 March and carried out on 25 March.McAnally, pp. 172–8.
Anti-invasion preparations were now put in hand and the reconstituted militia regiments underwent training, although most were not considered well enough trained to go into camp during the summer of 1804. The light battalions were reformed in September 1803 but were discontinued in 1806. Over the following years the regiments carried out garrison duties at various towns across Ireland, attended summer training camps.They also provided volunteers to transfer to the Regular Army. In 1805 the militia establishment was raised to allow for this. The following year Lord Castlereagh stated that no less than 42 recruiting parties crossed from England to Belfast, where the Londonderry Militia was stationed, to compete for 150 volunteers from his regiment.McAnally, pp. 179–94, 198–9, 216.
The Interchange Act 1811 (51 Geo. 3. c. 128) supported by Lord Castlereagh was passed in July 1811 permitting British and Irish militia units to volunteer for service across the Irish Sea. By the end of July 34 out of 38 Irish militia regiments had volunteered for this service, including the Londonderry, which served in England in 1811–13.McAnally, pp. 246–8. Another Act in November 1813, promoted by Lord Castlereagh, invited the militia to volunteer for limited foreign service, primarily for garrison duties in Europe. Every man of his own regiment except one private volunteered for this service, and the War Office was prepared to accept them, but the war ended with the abdication of Napoleon in April 1814. Militia recruiting was halted and the regiments could be progressively disembodied. The Londonderrys were paid off in 1815.Hay, p. 153.McAnally, p. 256.
Long Peace After the Battle of Waterloo there was a long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots might still be held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of militia regiments were progressively reduced.Hay, p. 154.McAnally, p. 264. Lord Castlereagh (by then 2nd Marquess of Londonderry) remained colonel of the Londonderry Militia until his death by suicide in August 1822. Among the consequent promotions, Lt-Col Sir George Hill was promoted to colonel and Castlereagh's cousin Alexander Robert Stewart, MP for Londonderry, was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel in October that year. In 1839 Sir Robert Ferguson, 2nd Baronet became the colonel after Sir George Hill's death.Hart's, various dates.
1852 Reforms The long-standing national 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 home defence service in three circumstances:Litchfield, pp. 1–7.Dunlop, pp. 42–5.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'.
Londonderry Artillery Militia
The Militia Act 1852 introduced Artillery Militia units in addition to the traditional infantry regiments. Their role was to man coastal defences and fortifications, relieving the Royal Artillery (RA) for active service.Maurice-Jones, p. 161.
A Londonderry Artillery Militia was formed in January 1855, but it was always small, comprising a single company of just three officers, a surgeon, and 81 other ranks (ORs). It was not a successful unit, and after training of the Irish Militia was suspended between 1866 and 1871 because of the Fenian crisis the Londonderry Artillery Militia remained in abeyance, with no men enrolled. In May 1875 it was officially amalgamated with the Armagh and Tyrone units to form the Mid-Ulster Artillery.Frederick, p. 984.
Londonderry Light Infantry Meanwhile, the infantry of the Londonderry Militia had been reformed as the Londonderry Light Infantry and embodied in January 1855 during the Crimean War,Fermanagh–Londonderry–Tyrone–Donegal Militia at Milweb.
At first it was stationed at Londonderry,Edinburgh Gazette, 6 March 1855. before moving to Enniskillen in the late summer.Edinburgh Gazette, 2 October 1855. There it remained until after the waar was ended by the Treaty of Paris in March 1856.Edinburgh Gazette, 6 May 1856. It was disembodied on 20 August that year.