Special Reserve

Special Reserve
Recruitment poster for the British Army and Special Reserve
Active	1908–1919
Country	UKGBI
Type	Army reserve

The Special Reserve was established on 1 April 1908 with the function of maintaining a reservoir of manpower for the British Army and training replacement drafts in times of war. Its formation was part of the military reforms implemented by Richard Haldane, the Secretary of State for War, which also created the Territorial Force. Haldane originally intended that the Militia would provide the reserve, but opposition from its representatives forced him to abolish it and create the Special Reserve instead. Only 60 per cent of the Militia transferred into the new reserve, and it was consistently under strength, particularly in officers. Reservists enlisted for a six-year term of service, and had to undergo six months of basic training on recruitment and three to four weeks training annually. ^[1]

Contents

• Background
• Formation
• First World War
• Postwar
• Notes
• References
• Bibliography
• External links

The Special Reserve was organised into battalions, providing the third for each of the regular army's 64 two-battalion infantry regiments and a fifth and sixth for the five four-battalion infantry regiments. In addition to providing replacements to the regular army, the Special Reserve was deployed on home defence duties guarding the coast and key installations during the First World War. The routine nature of its duties meant that scant attention was paid to it in regimental histories. After the war, the Special Reserve was abolished and the Militia was resurrected in 1921 to take on its former role. No effort was made to restart recruitment, and in 1924 the new Militia's functions were absorbed into the Supplementary Reserve.

Background

Traditional mistrust of a standing army resulted in a strong tradition of part-time military institutions in England and later the United Kingdom. The oldest of these, the English Militia, traced its origins to the military obligations of the Anglo-Saxon period, and its formal existence can be dated back to the first militia statutes of 1558. Originally recruited by various means of compulsion, the British Militia had become a voluntary institution by the late 19th century, and over 950,000 men had served in its ranks between 1882 and 1904. ^[2] The Militia was, alongside the Yeomanry and the Volunteer Force, designed to supplement the regular army in defending the country against invasion and insurrection, and the three auxiliary institutions were not liable for service overseas. ^[3] Those militiamen who subsequently joined the Militia Reserve, a pool of individuals within the Militia, consequently accepted an overseas service liability. ^[4] They were poorly organised, with inadequate equipment and training, and operated as discrete institutions integrated neither with each other nor the regular army. ^{[5] [6]}

To make the small, professional British Army better able to cope with the increasing commitments of defending the empire, a series of reforms were begun by Edward Cardwell in 1871 and completed by Hugh Childers in 1881. They were designed to foster the integration of auxiliary and professional by linking militia and volunteer battalions with regular army regiments, and provide the means by which army battalions abroad could be reinforced by linked battalions at home. ^{[7] [lower-alpha 1]} The reforms effectively ended the Militia's existence as an independent body capable of operating in independent units, and it became little more than a source of recruitment into the army, with 35 per cent of its men enlisting each year. ^[5]

The reorganisation did little to ease the army's manpower problems, and as early as 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War, there were just 59 regular home battalions supporting 82 abroad. ^[9] The situation became untenable at the turn of the century when, during the Second Boer War, the strain placed on the army severely denuded Britain's home defences and forced the government to appeal for volunteers to augment the regular forces overseas. ^[10] > Nearly 46,000 militiamen served in South Africa, another 74,000 were enlisted into the army, and five battalions were deployed as garrison troops on Malta, St. Helena and in Egypt. Some 20,000 men of the Volunteer Force were transferred voluntarily into the army reserve and sent to South Africa, and the yeomanry provided the nucleus of the separate Imperial Yeomanry in which over 34,000 volunteered. ^{[11] [12]}

Formation

The experience in South Africa prompted further debate about the abilities of the army to intervene in a major foreign conflict and of the auxiliaries, which were perceived to have performed poorly during the war, to support it. ^[13] The reform efforts of the conservative Secretaries of State for War, William St John Brodrick and H. O. Arnold-Forster, foundered in the face of opposition from auxiliary interests in the government, but their successor, the liberal Richard Haldane fared better with his efforts. He improved the army's capability to fight in a major foreign conflict by creating a six-division Expeditionary Force, and the auxiliary forces were re-organised into the better trained, equipped and integrated Territorial Force. His reforms did not, however, escape vested interests unscathed, and he was forced to make some fundamental compromises before he could be sure of successfully passing the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 in Parliament. His plan to assign 31,000 of the Militia to the Expeditionary Force, allocate a further 56,000 as a reserve for it and transfer the remainder into the Territorial Force was met with opposition by militia representatives. Their intransigence forced Haldane to abolish the Militia altogether and create the Special Reserve as a separate institution to the Territorial Force, both of which were established on 1 April 1908. ^{[14] [15]}

There was opposition from Militia colonels, who would have preferred that the battalions deployed as a body, overseas, rather than drafts of personnel dispersed to line battalions, as had happened in the Boer War. ^[16]

The infantry of the Special Reserve were integrated into the regular army's regimental system. Of the existing 124 Militia battalions 23 were disbanded. Of those remaining, 74 become Reserve Battalions and 27 Extra Reserve. ^[17] Each of the 69 infantry regiments received a 3rd (Reserve) battalion (or, for regiments with four battalions, a 5th and 6th (Reserve) Battalion), and 23 regiments also established between them an additional 27 (Extra Reserve) battalions. ^{[lower-alpha 2]} These Extra Reserve Battalions, who were to deploy as a unit, for home or active service, were hindered as recruiting was generally poor. ^[19] The reserve battalions were to be 550 strong, increasing to 1,500 on mobilisation with the arrival of Army Reservists not immediately required by the Expeditionary Force. Each infantry regiment was to have ‘a Reserve battalion composed of Special Reservists’ primarily, its purpose was not to go to war as a unit, but to provide drafts to the regular battalions. ^[19] It was also Haldane's intention that the Extra Reserve battalions would be available for garrison duties in the Mediterranean or line of communications duties in support of the Expeditionary Force, and ambiguous statements he made later suggested that Special Reserve battalions might also serve overseas. Reservists were volunteers at least 17 years old who committed to a six-year term of service, six months full time basic training on enlistment and three to four weeks training annually. Officers were recruited from a newly created Special Reserve of Officers, though Haldane also hoped that another of his innovations, the university-based Officers' Training Corps (OTC), would be a source of reserve officers. They were required to undergo twelve months of basic training, later reduced to six, and then attend an annual camp and other training schemes as required. ^[20]

In contrast with the soldier serving in the militia, those who served under Special Reserve terms of service had an obligation to serve overseas, as stipulated in paragraph 54. ^[21] The standards of medical fitness were lower than for recruits to the regular infantry. ^[19] The possibility of enlisting in the army under Regular terms of service were facilitated under paragraph 38, one precondition was that the recruit 'fulfils the necessary physical requirements.' ^[22]

A similar contrast was the replacement of several weeks of preliminary training with six months of full time training upon enlisting in the Special Reserve. ^[19]

In addition, three Imperial Yeomanry regiments (the North Irish Horse, South Irish Horse and King Edward's Horse (The King's Overseas Dominions Regiment)) created after the Boer War could not be incorporated into the Territorial Forces because the Act did not cover Ireland or the Dominions. These were transferred to the Special Reserve. ^{[23] [24] [25]} It had been intended to convert the Royal Garrison Artillery Militia units into Royal Field Artillery brigades of the Special Reserve, but this was abandoned and the units disbanded in 1909. ^[26] Instead the Special Reserve artillerymen would form Brigade Ammunition Columns for the Regular RFA brigades on the outbreak of war. ^[27]

Some 35,000 former militiamen, representing about 60 per cent of the Militia, transferred into the Special Reserve. A further 20,000 new recruits were enlisted, though 6,100 of them joined the army before completing their initial six months' training and some 2,000 were quickly rejected on medical grounds. Many that did pass the medical were nevertheless in poor shape physically. The reserve failed to attract sufficient recruits, and it was consistently 16–18 per cent short of its 80,300 establishment. Because of the long training requirement, those it did attract tended to be the unemployed and the young, in many cases too young, with boys as young as 15 being accepted. The problem was particularly acute in the officer corps; only 283 of the 18,000 men who had by 1912 graduated from the OTC had joined, leaving the Special Reserve some 50 per cent short in subalterns. ^{[28] [29]}

From March 1911, former Regular soldiers, up to 36 years of age, could enlist into the Special Reserve as long as certain conditions were met. They were not permitted to serve beyond the age of 42. They were exempted from basic training, but would attend the annual camp. ^[17]

In 1910, Haldane established the Veteran Reserve, renamed later to National Reserve. It was recruited from former pre-Territorial Force auxiliaries, time-expired territorials and ex-regular soldiers. Faced with a shortfall in the Special Reserve of 13,000 in 1914, Haldane's successor, John Seely, identified the similar number of National Reservists who had agreed to be liable for service overseas as the means of bringing it up to establishment. ^[30]

First World War

The Special Reserve, unlike the militia, did have an overseas service commitment for its members and, in wartime, it was seen that the Special Reserve battalions would take on the twin roles of draft finding for regular units, and home defence. ^[31]

In August 1914, the line infantry could call upon 80,688 men of the Army Reserve, in addition to the Special Reserve. The Special Reserve with only 47,893 men against an establishment of 63,170, was a quarter below strength. Nearly one in five were under 19 years of age, thus ineligible for active service. The Army Reserve soldiers were the first to be sent as drafts, with the Special Reserve second in precedence. ^[32] The Official History notes that Special Reserve drafts were despatched a month into the fighting, with the Army Reserve component having already being depleted. ^{[33] [lower-alpha 3]}

In support of staffing the Special Reserve battalions, War Office Instruction 117 dated 17 August 1914 demanded new recruits aged 30 years and over were posted to Reserve battalion, not to New Army. ^[35] In contrast, Army Order 341 dated 30 August 1914 changed the age threshold to 35, with former non-commissioned officers, regardless of age, being posted to the New Army units. ^{[lower-alpha 4]} The order changed the age limit for ex-soldiers to enlist in the Special Reserve, being raised to 45 for ORs and 50 for certain NCOs. ^{[lower-alpha 5] [36]} Despite the conflict of interest - on the one hand, the New Army battalions needed to be recruited and trained, on the other the regular battalions in the field still required reinforcements - on 17 September 1914 Kitchener made a statement in Parliament that 'Special Reserve units will be maintained at their full establishments as feeders to the Expeditionary Force.' ^[37] The priority placement of recruits was to make up the strength of K1 units, then the Reserve battalions, and then the K2 units. ^{[lower-alpha 6]}

Drafts began to be sent to the regular battalions; the 3rd Battalion, Essex Regiment, for example, had already sent 300 men to the regiment's 2nd Battalion. The huge increase in numbers led to over-crowded depots, and the 3rd Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, was so overwhelmed that it had to send many men on to other regimental depots. Special Reserve units experienced a high turnover of men in bringing their regular battalions up to strength and, once battle had been joined in France, replacing casualties. ^{[39] [40]} At one stage in 1914, consideration was given to reinforcing the Central Force, the mobile element of Britain's home defence force, with three Special Reserve divisions, but the idea was quickly dropped because of the transient population of the Special Reserve battalions at any given time. ^[41]

On the outbreak of war the three regiments of Special Reserve Horse were broken up to provide divisional cavalry squadrons for infantry divisions on the Western Front. They formed reserve regiments to supply their own drafts. ^[24] Similarly, the Special Reserve artillery manned the ammunition columns, but there were no subsequent replacements for this pool of men. ^[27]

The demographic of the Special Reserve was transformed, from that of young men, to that of older men with prior military experience. Army Order 295, dated 6 August 1914, announced supplementary terms of service by which a man could enlist in the Special Reserve. Ex-soldiers were eligible to 'enlist in the Special Reserve for a period of one year, or, if the war lasts longer, for the duration of the war.' ^[35] Given the promptness with which AO 295 was published, it seems likely that the authorities had realised that they would be in deep trouble without the use of the Special Reserve as a pool to absorb ex–regulars. ^[42] 64,223 infantrymen enlisted under AO 295 by 30 September 1914, out of a larger total of 74,846 reenlisted men. ^{[43] [44]} From 1 October 1914 onwards a further 42,636 men re-enlisted, of which 27,188 were Line Infantry. ^[45] These supplementary terms were rescinded on 7 November 1914 by Army Order 470, having served the purpose of facilitating the reenlistment of former soldiers, but it stressed that men could still enlist in the Special Reserve 'under conditions that existed before the war'. ^[42]

By September 1914, the Special Reserve had provided 35,000 replacements and was becoming so short of trained men that its ability to perform its home defence functions was in doubt. The problem was exacerbated by the loss of many of its instructors to the New Army. ^[46] In the first year of the war, the 3rd Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, supplied over 3,800 officers and men in drafts to its regular battalions, and similar efforts were made by almost every reserve battalion. ^[47] Field Marshal Sir John French, Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, acknowledged the great difficulties the Special Reserve faced in "performing the double duty of training drafts...and defending our shores". ^[48]

Because of the large number of pre-existing Irish Militia regiments, the Irish regular regiments had been assigned an unusually high proportion of 4th and 5th 'Extra Reserve' battalions in 1908. These units believed that they had been promised that they would serve overseas as formed units, leaving the draft-finding role to the 3rd (Reserve) battalions. After the outbreak of war there was a proposal to form the eight 4th battalions and four 5th battalions into a complete Irish Division, which was supported by the Nationalist leader John Redmond, who lobbied the War Office on the subject. However, the Irish Extra Reserve battalions became draft-finding units, duplicating the work of the 3rd battalions. They steadily declined in numbers as volunteering dropped off and conscription was never imposed in Ireland. In May 1918 many were absorbed into their regiment's 3rd battalions. ^{[49] [50]}

In 1915, Special Reserve units began assisting in the training of Volunteer Training Corps battalions; the Suffolk Volunteers, for example, received training from the instructors of the 3rd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, and the Huddersfield Volunteers were attached to the Special Reserve battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders. ^[51] The introduction of conscription early in 1916 overwhelmed the New Army's regiment-based system of training new recruits, resulting in the reorganisation of its training battalions into the centralised Training Reserve in September 1916. The Special Reserve battalions remained responsible for training replacements for their own regular battalions, but when they were at full establishment, new recruits were sent to the Training Reserve. ^{[52] [53]}

It is noted that none of the 3rd (Reserve) battalions served overseas as a complete unit during the conflict. ^[54] In 1916, after conscription had been introduced a number of Special Reserve battalions (all 'Extra Reserve') were selected for service on the Western Front.

• 7th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers ^[55]
• 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment) ^[56]
• 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment ^[57]
• 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment ^[58]
• 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment ^[59]

The few casualties among Special Reservist units at home were a result of air raids – the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Manchester Regiment, lost 31 men during a Zeppelin raid on Cleethorpes in April 1916. ^[60] The 3rd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, suffered a number of fatalities in two air raids at Felixstowe during July 1917 – and most losses were due to sickness or training accidents.

The outbreak of the war saw a transformation of the Special Reserve, as its men were quickly posted to make good the losses suffered by the British Expeditionary Force. The initiative of Army Order 295 had absorbed the pool of ex-soldiers that were available by autumn 1914. Whilst it was still possible to enlist in the Special Reserve, it was preferred that recruits would enlist under Regular terms of service, for the duration of the war, as announced by Army Order 470 on 7 November 1914. The introduction of conscription, by the Military Service Act of 27 January 1916, effectively ended recruitment of other ranks under Special Reserve terms of service. ^[61] Around 30,000 were commissioned into the Special Reserve of officers. ^{[lower-alpha 7]}

Postwar

After the war, the Special Reserve was only some 9,000 strong, and a committee chaired by General Alexander Hamilton-Gordon concluded in July 1919 that it should be abolished. By the end of the year it had effectively ceased to exist. The routine nature of its wartime duties meant that it received little attention in most post-war regimental histories. ^[63] When the Territorial Force was reconstituted as the Territorial Army in 1921, the Special Reserve was also renamed, becoming the Militia. Its units retained the same role, acting as regiments' third battalions in the provision of a reserve for the regular battalions, but no effort was made to recruit into it, other than in Northern Ireland where they provided the only auxiliary force. Militia battalions existed on paper until they were disbanded in April 1953. In 1924 the Special Reserve/Militia's function was absorbed by the Supplementary Reserve, which was tasked with providing the regular army with specialist technical support in times of crisis. ^{[15] [64]}

Notes

Related Research Articles

The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. The Army Reserve was known as the Territorial Force from 1908 to 1921, the Territorial Army (TA) from 1921 to 1967, the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) from 1967 to 1979, and again the Territorial Army (TA) from 1979 to 2014.

The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry into a unified auxiliary, commanded by the War Office and administered by local county territorial associations. The Territorial Force was designed to reinforce the regular army in expeditionary operations abroad, but because of political opposition it was assigned to home defence. Members were liable for service anywhere in the UK and could not be compelled to serve overseas. In the first two months of the First World War, territorials volunteered for foreign service in significant numbers, allowing territorial units to be deployed abroad. They saw their first action on the Western Front during the initial German offensive of 1914, and the force filled the gap between the near destruction of the regular army that year and the arrival of the New Army in 1915. Territorial units were deployed to Gallipoli in 1915 and, following the failure of that campaign, provided the bulk of the British contribution to allied forces in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. By the war's end, the Territorial Force had fielded twenty-three infantry divisions and two mounted divisions on foreign soil. It was demobilised after the war and reconstituted in 1921 as the Territorial Army.

The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen Military Forces, the Militia and, unofficially, the Australian Military Forces. In 1980, however, the current name—Australian Army Reserve—was officially adopted, and it now consists of a number of components based around the level of commitment and training obligation that its members are required to meet.

The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the auxiliary forces of the British Army by transferring existing Volunteer and Yeomanry units into a new Territorial Force (TF); and disbanding the Militia to form a new Special Reserve of the Regular Army. This reorganisation formed a major part of the Haldane Reforms, named after the creator of the Act, Richard Haldane.

The British Militia was the principal military reserve force of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Militia units were repeatedly raised in Great Britain during the Victorian and Edwardian eras for internal security duties and to defend against external invasions. The British Militia was transformed into the Special Reserve under the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, which integrated all militia formations into the British Army.

The Haldane Reforms were a series of far-ranging reforms of the British Army made from 1906 to 1912, and named after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane. They were the first major reforms since the "Childers Reforms" of the early 1880s, and were made in the light of lessons newly learned in the Second Boer War.

The article lists British Army reserve brigades in World War I. At the start of the war volunteers in the vast majority of cases joined their local infantry regiment's reserve battalion. As the army expanded rapidly, further reserve battalions and brigades were formed. After conscription was introduced in 1916 the existing regimental system could not cope with the large influx of recruits and the existing reserve brigades were incorporated into the Training Reserve, with an official complement of over 209,000 soldiers, in addition to the regimental training units.

The Volunteer Training Corps was a voluntary home defence reserve force in the United Kingdom during World War I.

The Militia and Volunteers of County Durham are those military units raised in the County independent of the regular Army. The "modern" militia dates from legislation enacted during the Seven Years' War. The volunteers had several forms and separate periods of existence until made a permanent body in 1859.

The Lancashire Militia was an auxiliary military force in Lancashire in North West England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 and their service in the Williamite War in Ireland and against the Jacobite Risings, the Militia regiments of Lancashire served during times of international tension and all of Britain's major wars. They provided internal security and home defence but sometimes operated further afield, including Ireland and the Mediterranean, relieving regular troops from routine garrison duties, and acting as a source of trained officers and men for the Regular Army. All the infantry battalions went on active service during the Second Boer War and all served as Special Reserve training units in World War I, with one battalion seeing considerable action on the Western Front. After 1921 the militia had only a shadowy existence until its final abolition in 1953.

The National Reserve was created in 1910 as a means of retaining the option to call on the services of ex-military personnel to augment the regular and auxiliary military forces of the United Kingdom in the event of a major war. At its inception it was little more than a register of men with previous military experience who would be willing to return to arms should their services be required. The government refused to grant the reserve any funding, and until three weeks after the start of the First World War, could not definitively say how it would be used. On the outbreak of the war, many of the younger, fitter reservists re-enlisted in the British Army or Territorial Force on their own initiative, without waiting to be called up. When the reserve was finally called to duty, it was used to augment the home defence forces in the guarding of key installations and infrastructure. The older reservists, considered unfit for more active duties, played a leading role in the creation of the Volunteer Training Corps, a civilian auxiliary recruited from those ineligible for military service, largely on account of age. The introduction of conscription early in 1916 resulted in the younger reservists being called up for service in the army. The remaining reservists were transferred into the Royal Defence Corps, established in March 1916 as part of the re-organisation of the home defence forces, and the National Reserve effectively ceased to exist as a distinct organisation.

The British home army in the First World War served the dual purpose of defending the country against invasion and training reinforcements for the army overseas. Initial responsibility for defending the nation lay with the Territorial Force, a part-time auxiliary designed in 1908 as a means of expanding the army in a major foreign conflict but, as a result of political compromise, implemented as a home defence army. It was supported in this role by 42,000 regular army troops, primarily belonging to the Royal Garrison Artillery and the Royal Engineers. The 14 infantry divisions and 14 mounted brigades of the Territorial Force were mainly allocated either to the Local Force, stationed near the coast and tasked with disrupting an invasion at the point of landing, or the Central Force, a mobile element tasked with defeating the invading force as it marched on London. The Local Force was augmented by units of the Special Reserve and Extra Reserve, which were the third battalions of the regular army line infantry regiments established to recruit and train replacements for their regiments' two combat battalions. The home army was also largely responsible for guarding vulnerable points, such as the communications infrastructure, rail network and munitions works.

The East York Militia was a part time home defence force in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The Militia and its predecessors had always been important in Yorkshire, and from its formal creation in 1759 the regiment served in home defence in all Britain's major wars until 1919. It became a battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, and its role during World War I was to train thousands of reinforcements for the regiment's battalions serving overseas.

The Devon Militia was a part-time military force in the maritime county of Devonshire in the West of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as a Special Reserve unit of the Devonshire Regiment in World War I, the Militia regiments of Devonshire served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars.

The 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own) was an auxiliary regiment raised in the county of Lancashire in North West England during the French Revolutionary War. It later became part of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Although primarily intended for home defence, its battalions served in Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta and saw 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. After a shadowy postwar existence the unit was finally disbanded in 1953.

The 4th Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own Light Infantry) 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 South Lancashire Regiment. Although primarily intended for home defence, it saw considerable 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.

The King's Own Light Infantry Militia, later the 3rd Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment was an auxiliary regiment raised in Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England in 1853. Under the Cardwell and Childers Reforms it became part of the North Staffordshire Regiment and saw active service during the Second Boer War. During World War I it trained thousands of reinforcements for the battalions serving overseas. After a shadowy postwar existence it was formally disbanded in 1953.

The Sussex Militia was an auxiliary military force in Sussex on the South Coast of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1572 they defended the coastline, watched the Spanish Armada and took an active part in the English Civil War. It was the Sussex Militia who captured the Duke of Monmouth after his unsuccessful Rebellion in 1685. After a long hiatus, the Sussex Militia was reformed in 1778 and provided internal security and home defence in all of Britain's major wars thereafter. It eventually became the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia (RSLIM) and also formed the Royal Sussex Militia Artillery. After the Cardwell Reforms the RSLIM became a battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment and saw active service in the Second Boer War. It served as a Special Reserve training unit in World War I. After 1921 the militia had only a shadowy existence until its final abolition in 1953.

The Gloucestershire Militia was a part-time military force in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as a Special Reserve unit of the Gloucestershire Regiment in World War I, the Militia regiments of the county served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars.

The Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry (RSGLI), later the 3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a Militia regiment raised in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From its formal creation in 1759 the regiment served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1918.

References

Bibliography