"British Militia Organisation 1790s" Topic

As part of my ongoing research regarding the Fishguard Landing of 1797, I've been trying to fathom out how Militia battalions were organised and how strong they were.

With regard to the historical events, this is fairly irrelevant, as the only Militia involvement in the immediate events was a detachment of 100 men of the Cardiganshire Militia. At this time, the Cardiganshire Militia had recently returned from a period of garrison service in Cumberland, had released the time-expired men and was about to start training the new Militia and Supplementary Militia drafts. As a consequence, these 100 men were virtually the entire 'regiment' present under arms.

However, there were a number of Militia regiments marching to Fishguard in response to the alarm and these were presumably at full-strength. However, I've been unable to definitively discover just how strong a Militia battalion was meant to be and how many companies it contained and of what type.

The figure of 300 men keeps cropping up in my research – this was the strength of the Cardiganshire Militia when stationed in Cumberland and this was also the strength of the Carmarthenshire Militia who relieved them. This was also the strength of the Pembrokeshire Militia, who at this time were stationed in Norfolk. This was also the strength of the Staffordshire Militia garrison of Windsor Castle at one point during the late 1790s.

So was 300 men the 'typical' strength of a Militia regiment? Or is this just a coincidental number?

There were numerous complaints of parishes failing to draft their full allocation of men. Men were selected by parish ballot, though men would often pay others to do their Militia service for them. Some would then take the money and run, leading to arguments and a shortfall in the draft. These problems in drafting Militiamen led to Pitt's Supplementary Militia Act of 1796. All this does therefore suggest that the Militia battalions should have been significantly stronger than 300 men.

If we are to assume that 300 was the typical strength of a Militia battalion, would they still be organised as ten companies, including Lights and Grenadiers? If not, might they have operated with a reduced number of companies (e.g. six companies, each of fifty men)?

Re elite companies: Militia battalions certainly had Grenadiers – Grenadier uniforms were a part of all the Militia regiments I've researched. However, would they have had a full company of them? I've yet to find evidence of Light Companies in any of the Militia regiments I've looked at. Some of the Volunteer Corps by contrast, were often 100% Light Infantry.

Note that most Militia regiments expanded massively into multi-battalion entities following the resumption of hostilities in 1804 and some (including the Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire Militia) were converted to Rifles in 1810 & 1811. This was often achieved through incorporating the former Volunteer Infantry Corps into the Militia structure.

Thoughts? Please note that I'd like to restrict this discussion to the 1790s, as there were far too many organisational changes after 1800 to make comparison meaningful.

Mark,

As far as I know, Militia battalions were organised in the same way as Regular battalions, with flank companies, pioneers and bands (the last two subject to funds). How well appointed the flank companies were would depend on the county's funds; how well trained would depend on the professionalism of the officers chosen to lead those companies.

Whether this official organisation was always realised is a moot point, because obviously some counties – or their colonels – were wealthier than others, just as some Regular regiments had more indulgent and generous Colonels who were prepared to dip their hands into their pockets and ensure their corps looked good. Equally, whilst attempts were made to keep the catchment area of a Militia battalion as local as possible, and the individual companies filled with men from the same town/villages, with flank companies you either had to simply designate one company as grenadiers and another as light on a relatively arbitrary basis, or else face the problem of the rank-and-file of the flank companies being spread all over the catchment area – an administrative and tactical nightmare.

Hi SM,

I agree it was often a case of money and a wealthy colonel-patron that made a good Militia regiment. The Royal Bucks and the Staffs Militia both apparently earned the honorific 'King's Own' based on their regimental bands' fine turnout in front of the King! This was seen as something unusual. However, neither of these regiments seem to have been any larger than their less-wealthy peers.

Re organisation: I agree that in all likelihood, Militia battalions would have had both grenadiers and lights. I'd forgotten that Carmarthen Museum does have a Militia Light Infantry officer's coat from 1804 and Militia grenadier caps are recorded for virtually all Militia regiments. However, in a battalion of 300, would thay have had six companies, with two of these being elites? Or would they have simply had ten tiny companies of 30 men apiece?

The Volunteer Corps, by contrast, seem to have used the 50-100 man Company as their organisational building-block. Thus the Pembroke Volunteers, Towyn Volunteers & Brecon Volunteers, with around 100 men apiece, each had only one or two companies, while the much stronger Fishguard & Newport Volunteers, with 270 men, was organised into four companies and an officer establishment to match.

It therefore seems unlikely that a Militia battalion with only 300 men would have the full regular infantry establishment of ten companies, when the Volunteers didn't follow suit.

Re geographic spread: I don't think you're correct there. The wartime Militia was raised for full-time service and would generally serve on the other side of the country, so the locality of recruits would not be an issue. I agree however, that it would be an issue in peacetime, when the Militia reverted to part-time service, as well as in the part-time 'Local Militia' battalions, which emerged after 1804 from the pre-1803 Volunteer Corps.

I agree with you that I may be wrong on the "spread" issue.

The trend in Regular units was to keep the flank companies (and any other "special" sub-units) at full strength at the expense of any centre companies. Whether this was done in the Militia as well may probably vary from unit to unit, as the "proprietorship" of a company would be related more to social status and influence than in the Regulars.

Again, among the Regulars it was not unusual on occasion to have fewer than eight centre companies (for the last year or so of the AWI, the units in America were ordered to reduce to six), but the two flank companies were both still retained. With the Militia, whether the flank companies were maintained in such circumstances might be dependent on "why" the number of centre companies was reduced and how early in the battalion's service history this occurred.

Cheers SM, that does make sense.

I imagine that this is something that won't be resolved without visiting every county archive in the UK and digging out their Militia ballot records!

Some interesting info here from the work of the late Bryn Owen (former curator of the Welch Regiment Museum at Cardiff Castle) which contradicts some of the other sources (and consequently what I've already written), but does have the ring of truth about it due to the detail:

The figures here describe the strength of the west Wales Militia regiments when they were called up for full-time war service during the period 1792 to 1797. Note that the enlisted strengths listed generally do not include officers:

The Pembrokeshire Militia had a strength of 160 men, organised into four companies. This had remained unchanged since the Seven Years War. The Supplementary Militia Act of 1796 increased the regiment's strength to 331 men (number of companies unknown). It is recorded that Lt Col Colby, who had commanded the regiment since the AWI, returned to Pembrokeshire in January 1797 to supervise training of the Supplementaries and so happened to be in the right place when the French landings occurred in February. Owen records that Colby ordered the Supplementaries to relieve the 100 men of the Cardiganshire Militia who were guarding the PoW cage in Pembroke, thus allowing the experienced Cardiganshire men to march to Fishguard. Interestingly, during the AWI they had been supplemented by two companies of volunteers; one of which served as the regiment's Light Company. Another source records four companies of volunteers – two of them Light. These were presumably the precursors of the Pembroke Volunteer Infantry who served at Fishguard, but there is no record of the later Volunteers being so closely linked to the 'regular' Militia.

The Cardiganshire Militia had a strength of 120 men, organised into four companies. The Supplementary Militia Act increased this in late 1796 to 474 men (number of companies unknown). However, none of these Supplementaries were available to counter the French landings at Fishguard. Interestingly, during the regiment's earlier period of full-time service (1778-83), it had also had 120 men organised in four companies, but this was increased in 1781 to 228 men, organised into six companies.

The Carmarthenshire Miltia had 226 men, organised into three companies. During the AWI they had numbered 360 men. Following the passing of the Supplementary Militia Act, the strength of the Carmarthenshire Militia was increased to a whopping 790 men, organised in ten companies. However, it seems that only 263 of these new men actually served full-time with the regiment (from 1798). The rest were trained and put on 'furlough'.

From this it's clear that Militia regiment strengths were clearly a moveable feast – presumaby based on the wealth and population of each county? Some of the wealthy and populous English counties seem to have had massive Militia regiments, if their officer strength is anything to go by.

Re Grenadiers, etc: It still seems unlikely to me that a regiment with only 200 men and three companies would retain full elite companies. Might they therefore, perhaps have had elite platoons? Or a few 'chosen men' picked form each company?

Interesting stuff; has anyone dug up any stuff on arms and uniforms of the militia of this period?

One day I'd like to do a French invasion of Britain set in 1804 or 1805 and it would be interesting to know what sort of strength and appearance contemporary militia would have had.

I assume, based on how Wellington played Torres Vedras, they'd mostly have been kept in garrisons and REMF locations. Then again, based on Waterloo, maybe not.

<<Re Grenadiers, etc: It still seems unlikely to me that a regiment with only 200 men and three companies would retain full elite companies. Might they therefore, perhaps have had elite platoons? Or a few 'chosen men' picked form each company?>>

I agree – I think there would be a point of critical mass, prior to which flank companies would not be viable (unless a wealthy officer decided to deck out his company as such), either because there were insufficient men of the right quality/experience, or because the unit was too small.

During the AWI, a number of Regular regiments nominated the best shots from the centre companies as "marksmen" and used them as an advance/flank guard on the march, as well as snipers when in contact with the enemy (4th and 23rd Foot in Percy's Brigade at Lexington, for example). Possibly this was a British adaptation of the Prussian "heckenfueur" (where every "nth" file would step out of the ranks and employ aimed fire at a dispersed enemy) used to drive off Cossacks and other annoying little fokkers in the SYW. In the French Revolutionary War and the early years of the Napoleonic conflict, these men became known as "flankers" in the British service and were used to provide skirmishing capability if no light or grenadier company was present.

I have no evidence to hand that this was what happened with the County Militias, but given the number of AWI "vets" you have identified among the officers in some of the units in the Fishguard campaign, I would say there is a fair chance that past practices were adopted – in fact, the County Militias, especially the smaller ones, would offer much more of a "blank canvas" for experienced officers to try out their favourite tactics etc than a Regular battalion.

4C,

Have you seen the 'Fishguard 1797' thread? Additionally, have you seen my Fishguard gallery at link

I've just finished painting the Cardiganshire Militia, so they'll be up soon.

Militia uniforms were very similar to the line infantry of the period – nowhere near as much in the way of wild and wacky uniforms as the Volunteer Corps of the period had. Flags were usually as for the line, often emblazoned with the coat of arms of the County Lord Lieutenant.

4C,

Sorry for the truncated reply earlier. Are you looking at any counties in particular? Remember however, that the 'regular' Militia regiments were generally deployed away from their home counties, as having to suppress riots in your home town often created a conflict of interest! Consequently, local defence would generally have been conducted by Militia regiments from other counties supplemented by local Yeomanry, local Volunteer Infantry and any Fencible or regular Army units that happened to be in the area.

In 1804 the Volunteer Infantry and Yeomanry were just getting re-established, following wholescale disbandment during the brief Peace of Amiens 1802-1803. However, there were more of them than ever – in my own county of Pembrokeshire, there were roughly four or five times as many Yeomanry and Volunteers as there had been in 1797.

In 1808 the various disparate Volunteer Infantry Corps (which were frequently independent companies with more enthusiasm than training) were brought under the Militia umbrella as 'Local Militia' Battalions, often being designated as the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th etc Battalions of the County Militia.

In terms of uniforms, as mentioned above, the 'regular' Militia were generally uniformed very much as the regular Regiments of Foot. There were some oddball uniforms in the 1790s, but standardisation generally increased as the war went on. Fro my own part of the world, uniforms were as follows:

Carmarthenshire Militia:

Red coats with dark blue facings and white, square-ended lace loops arranged in pairs. Gold officers' distinctions. Informally known as 'Royal' from 1799, this was formalised by the King in 1804, along with a change in title to 'Royal Carmarthenshire Fuzileers Militia'.

Some sources cite the wearing of fur Fusilier caps – the Grenadier Company certainly wore such items. A surviving grenadier officer's cap in Carmarthen Museum is akin to a red-backed mitre cap, fronted with brown fur and surmounted with the Prince of Wales' Feathers in metal.

A surviving drummer's coat from 1812 now in Cardiff Castle is in reversed colours (blue, faced red), which is most unusual for a blue-faced regiment. Lace was white, worked through with red & blue chevrons.

Pembrokeshire Militia:

Red coats with 'bright blue' facings and white, square-ended lace loops, arranged in pairs. Gold officers' distinctions.

Being known unofficially as 'Royal' from around 1800, this was formalised in 1804 and like the Carmarthenshire Militia, were re-designated as 'Royal Pembrokeshire Fuzileer Militia'. Fur caps are mentioned in one source.

The Pembrokeshire Militia unusually (an uniquely for a Welsh regiment) had two Regimental Colours – one bearing the arms of the Lord Lieutenant for Pembrokeshire (Richard Philipps, Lord Milford) and the other bearing the Arms of Haverfordwest Town. However, it seems that these colours were laid up at some point (possibly with the change in facing colour?), AS by 1809 the regiment had a single Regimental ColouR (which still hangs in St Mary's Church, Haverfordwest), the central device of which was the Union Wreath, with 'ROYAL PEMBROKE FUZILEERS' within and surmounted by the Prince of Wales' Feathers.

The Royal Pembrokeshire Fuzileer Militia had a major change in 1812, when they were re-designated as the 'Royal Pembrokeshire Rifle Corps'. The colours were laid up and they changed to the a uniform very much like that of the 95th Rifles – dark green with black facings.

Cardiganshire Militia:

Red coats with 'garter' blue facings and white, square-ended lace loops arranged in pairs. Silver officers' distinctions. The regiment seems to have retained hat lace long after its discontinuation in other regiments.

The regiment used the 'Royal' prefix unofficially from around 1800, but this was formalised in 1804 and facing colour changed to dark blue. It is not clear if the officers changed to gold distinctions at this point, as was normally the case with Royal regiments.

In 1810 the regiment was re-designated as the 'Royal Cardiganshire Light Infantry', with uniforms changed accordingly (i.e. light infantry distinctions of shoulder-wings and green plumes for all companies). Drums were exchanged for hunting-horns.

In 1812 the regiment was re-designated yet again, this time as the 'Royal Cardiganshire Rifle Corps'. Colours were laid up and the uniform changed to one closely resembling that of the 60th Rifles – green coats with scarlet facings and silver officers' distinctions. Curiously, 'blue lace' is also mentioned for junior ranks.

Some other Militia regiments I know off the top of my head are:

Royal Buckinghamshire Militia (King's Own):

Before gaining their 'Royal' status in the mid-1790s, the regiment had red coats, faced yellow, with white lace edging to the facings and no buttonhole loops. Officers' distinctions were silver.

Following the re-designation to 'Royal', the regiment adopted blue facings and white, square-ended lace loops, arranged in pairs. However, the officers retained their silver distinctions.

The regiment's usual station was as the Bristol Garrison Battalion.

Staffordshire Militia (King's Own):

Red coats, faced yellow with no lace. Silver officers' distinctions.

A painting of the regiment parading at Windsor in 1804 shows that the regiment continued to wear unlaced coats after the adoption of the new single-breasted coat. Even drummers' uniforms were plain yellow with red facings and no lace (they also had yellow plumes).

The regiment's usual station was as Windsor Castle Garrison Battalion.

I'd missed that thread somehow.

I'm at work so can't see pictures. What do you reckon the equipment would have been like? Would these guys have had the full kit with backpack and waterbottle, or would they have been short of stuff like that and had just a musket?

It's kind of hard to guess – either they were close to home so had access to everything; or, they were mere militia and had to get by without anything.

I did a French invasion set in 1815 once, as a campaign. We were short of civvy and militia figures so we used ECW Minifigs…

No worries.

As discussed earlier, it was all down to patronage – the richer the patron, the better-equipped and dressed the regiment would be. Nevertheless, everything I've read leads me to suspect that the Militia. Yeomanry and Volunteers were often a lot better dressed and equipped than the regulars! Some regiments (particularly Volunteers and Yeomanry) went well beyond the regulation uniforms in their finery and 'extras' such as regimental bands.

The word 'Militia' does tend to summon up a mental image of a rag-tag bunch of armed civilians, but that couldn't be further from the reality of the British Militia, Volunteer and Yeomanry regiments of the Napoleonic Wars.

Of course, in the case of emergencies and invasion scares, volunteers would often simply come running to the alarm 'as they were' – there simply might not be time to run home for your uniform before reporting for duty. This was certainly the case at Fishguard. It's also true that patriotic civilians would also arm themselves and flock to the colours – thousands of them did exactly that at Fishguard.

In some cases, volunteer 'regiments' would be formed at very short notice – the Loyal Haverfordwest Volunteers was formed from 300 volunteers within hours of the invasion alarm being raised. Within 24 hours they had been armed (probably from the county militia depot), officers had been appointed and given commissions by the Lord Lieutenant and they were on the march to Fishguard. Obviously, it is highly unlikely that these men were uniformed in this time, save some 'half-pay' officers wearing their regimentals and former militiamen wearing their old coats. These men would therefore be closer to the popular mental image of 'militia' – as would the hordes of locals who simply turned up as individuals with fowling-pieces, blunderbuses, pitchforks and straightened scythes mounted on poles.

I think the attraction of a "rabble"-style militia force is that it can be deemed to be the militia of any nation!

Absolutely! Undoubtedly there is plenty of scope for fielding such units in a hypothetical invasion of the UK. We're putting some together that can be used for ad hoc anti-French 'militia', or as Welsh/Irish rebels with little modification. We'll probably make up some command bases with specific flags or uniformed officers that can be swapped depending on allegiance.

In fact, I'll happily mix in my AWI militia… I'm not proud! ;o)

The new 'Canadian Sedentary Militia' from Knuckleduster Miniatures certainly look interesting. They might be just the job for hastily-formed militia such as the Haverfordwest Volunteers:

picture

I saw some Trent Miniatures Irish rebels of 1798 today at Salute and they looked the absolute business. Tailless jackets, open shirts, loose trousers and boots. They would do for any armed civilians from 1750 to 1850 I'd think.

4th C, I did look at them and they do look great. I'm undoubtedly going to get some of those for civvy rabble. The Knuckleduster figures do seem to look more like civilians that have been hastily armed and equipped from the militia armoury though, which is what I was really after for the H'West Vols.

The militia system changed several times between 1792 and 1806, with several variations and additions, from the Fencibles and Yeomanry to the Volunteers and Reserve Army. They weren't all the same in organization or operation.

Fencibles were far more permanent militia that could be sent out of England proper. The length of service supposedly was the duration of the current hostilities--in this case, 1800. No new formations were formed after 1800 that I know of, but some of the Fencible units were kept. I know of two that served in Canada afterwards. These were almost all infantry, often light infantry designations.

Yeomanry were units formed directly from the servants and tenants of a large landowner. They served at the landowner's discretion, acting as a local military and police force. These too were not seen much after 1800. These units had no length of service per se, and cavalry, infantry and artillery formations were seen.

Militia generally were formed around each parish, and the parish was held responsible for supplying the recruits. If they didn't, they had to pay a fine to the government. 5 years was the length of service. The militia could not be used outside of England. The militia were almost all infantry.

Volunteers: There were two types. One was the pre-1800 local organization of men formed during the invasion scares. They were not necessarily uniformed, or had locally made and often fanciful uniforms. Some cavalry small units were formed.

The formal Volunteer units were authorized after 1801. The stipulation was that they could not be ordered out of their county unless of invasion. These volunteer units were chartered in various ways, and uniforms authorized. They were of very mixed value. Some were no more than social clubs, others real military units. There were any number of problems with them because they were internally administered with no one set of regulations or discipline standards. There were both cavalry and infantry units, but mostly infantry. The biggest problem was that being in a volunteer unit exempted one from militia service and thus the possibility of being moved into the regular army. By 1805 there were nearly 300,000 men in the volunteers, more than the militia or the regular army. Castlereagh did away with the volunteers, disbanding them or moving them into the militia in 1807-1809. One result were the militia revolts of 1813.

Reserve Army: This was a militia formation above and beyond the parish militia. It was meant to form a reserve force for the regulars in case of invasion, and a source of recruits. Both infantry and cavalry units were formed, but again, overwhelmingly infantry. It did neither well. It was created @ 1803 and disbanded @ 1806 IIRC.

The parish militia, Fencibles and Reserve army had regular
army organization and numbers. The Yeomanry and Volunteers were formed of whatever was available, numbers and organization varying widely depending on circumstances.

It is my understanding that the militia had the same uniform as the regulars, often with the same facings as the regular regiment formed in the area. However, I understood that the basic distinction between the militia uniform and the regulars was that the militia had no lace around the button holes. So I was interested in Mark Davies' descriptions of the various militia uniforms. What time were those uniforms used?

Bill

Hi Bill,

Great post! Just to add to your excellent summary; the 'Local Militia' were formed in 1807, largely from the disbanded Volunteers and Reserves. These were organised as additional battalions, tacked onto the county Militia regiments. They were sometimes still described as 'Volunteers'. Looking at the rolls for the Local Militia battalions that were formed in Wales, the officers were generally the same ones who had been leading the earlier Volunteer Corps.

However, for this discussion I was looking more at how the units were organised at the company level – i.e. how many companies and of what type. There doesn't seem to be a universal answer, as they all seem to have organised locally, with an arbitrary number of companies being formed, based on the number of men they had managed to raise from the parish ballots.

Re uniforms: The Welsh militia regiments mentioned above had those uniforms from the SYW right through to the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the uniforms were definitely laced (though the Cardiganshire Militia changed from green to blue facings in 1789), based on contemporary sketches, paintings and surviving uniforms. As discussed, the Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire Militia changed to Rifles in 1812. Apparently five county Militia regiments in the UK switched to Rifles at this time, being the first to do so, but I don't know who the other three regiments were.

I hadn't heard that the Militia were meant to have unlaced uniforms before, though I've certainly seen plenty of pictures of various English Militia regiments wearing unlaced coats. Was this perhaps where there was already a regular county regiment? In the case of the west Wales counties there were no regular county regiments, so perhaps that's why they were allowed to have lace? It's not something I've previously thought about. The Staffordshires were certainly unlaced throughout, while the Buckinghamshires had lace only on the egdes of the facings until they changed to 'Royal', when they changed to buttonhole lace.

This is excellent stuff and so much better than relying on guesswork!

The lace detail is interesting. So a militia unit might look like a line unit, except the horizontal bands of lace across the chest would not be there?

Mark, yes, those Knuckledusters are nice figures. It is nice to have such a choice. I can see myself acquiring some of each and creating some generic armed civilian bands. I bought the Trent 4-horse open cart at Salute, plus some generic plastic barrels to go in it for £3.00 GBP I can see this forming part of a village perimeter at some point, defended by civvies with a motley assortment of fowling pieces and dodgy old firelock muskets.

While some Militia regiments certainly had unlaced coats (such as the Staffordshire Militia and West Yorks Militia), the vast majority certainly seem to have had laced coats if Bryn Owen and Cecil Lawson's works are anything to go by: Owen lists all the Welsh county Militia regiments (Pembroke, Carmarthen, Cardigan, Glamorgan, Brecknock, Monmouth, Radnor, Merioneth, Montgomery, Anglesea and Carnarvon) as having lace, while Lawson also lists the West Norfolk, Royal Buckinghamshire, South Gloucerstershire, Royal Lacaster, East Yorkshire, Westmorland & Royal Jersey Militia as all having lace. That list however, does only scratch the surface of the complete Militia list.

The Buckinghamshire Militia (before it turned 'Royal') and South Hampshire Militia had lace edging to their facings, rather than buttonhole lace.

The East Yorkshire changed at some point to a short, single-breasted jacket without lace on the breast, but they retained buttonhole lace on the cuffs.

If you're interested, I have the following list of Militia facing colours, though sadly the corresponding lace details are incomplete. The dates are the years upon which a particular uniform was recorded (usually during a periodic inspection) – they may therefore have worn the listed uniform earlier than the date listed:

Anglesea – 1779 blue, light infantry caps.
Bedfordshire – 1778 green
Berkshire – 1778 light blue
Brecknockshire – 1779 green, 1793 yellow with silver lace
Buckinghamshire – 1760 black, 1793 yellow with lace edging & silver officers' lace. 1796(?) became Royal with blue facings and buttonhole lace in pairs & silver officers' lace.
Cambridgeshire – 1760 green
Cardiganshire – 1779 green. 1778 garter blue with silver officers' lace. 1804 became 'Royal' with dark blue and gold officers' lace. 1810 became Light Infantry. 1812 became Rifles with green jackets, red facings and silver officers' lace.
Carmarthenshire – 1779 blue, with white lace worn in pairs & gold officers' lace. 1804 became 'Royal Carmarthen Fuzileers' and wore fusilier caps (red-over-blue mitres with brown fur front and PoW feathers in metal).
Carnarvoshire – 1779 blue
Cheshire – 1778 blue with silver officers' lace.
Cornwall – 1760 black. 1778 deep blue.
'Cornwall & Devon Miners' – 1778 blue with gold officers' lace.
Cumberland – 1760 red. 1778 blue with gold officers' lace.
Denbighshire – 1778 blue with gold officers' lace.
Derbyshire – 1778 green with silver officers' lace.
1st (East) Devonshire – 1770 yellow. 1780 wearing light infantry caps.
2nd (North) Devonshire – 1760 green. 1780 yellow with light infantry uniforms. 1788 green (possible return to conventional line infantry style?)
3rd (South) Devonshire – 1778 green. 1781 yellow.
Dorsetshire – 1763 Green with gold officers' lace.
Durham – 1760 Green. 1778 purple with silver officers' lace. 1782 Light Company described as 'still in blue' (?)
East Essex – 1759 green
West Essex – 1778 green with silver officers' lace.
Glamorganshire – 1779 black with silver officers' lace. 1781 blue with gold officers' lace and plain hats.
1st (South) Gloucestershire – 1778 blue
2nd (North) Gloucestershire – 1778 blue
1st (North) Hampshire – black with silver officers' lace
2nd (South) Hampshire – black with silver officers' lace. 1780 yellow
Herefordshire – Apple green
Hertfordshire – Buff
Huntingdonshire – Black facings. 1779 & 1780 – listed as light infantry, wearing short jackets with leather helmets bearing red horsehair manes.
East Kent – 1780 Kentish grey
West Kent – 1778 Grey with silver officers' lace
1st Royal Lancashire – blue with gold officers' lace
2nd Royal Lancashire – blue with gold officers' lace
3rd Royal Lancashire – blue with gold officers' lace
Leicestershire – not recorded
Royal North Lincolnshire – 1759 red. 1778 blue (probably changed to blue on becoming 'Royal' in 1760).
Royal South Lincolnshire – 1778 blue
Merionethshire – 1779 blue facings. 1781 recorded as being 'in the service of the artillery' and having short jackets with tarleton helmets. The Captain (this was only a company) had also purchased blue jackets with red facings – presumably to keep red coats clean when working guns?
East Middlesex – 1760 white. 1778 blue with gold officers' lace.
West Middlesex – 1778 blue
Monmouthshire Fuzileers – 1779 blue. 1782 converted to light infantry
Montgomeryshire – 1778 blue with silver officers' lace.
1st (West) Norfolk – 1778 black with silver officers' lace
2nd (East) Norfolk – 1778 black with silver officers' lace
Northamptonshire – 1781 black with gold officers' lace. All wearing helmets.
Northumberland – 1778 light buff
Nottinghamshire – 1775 black with gold officers' lace. 1780 white.
Oxfordshire – 1778 green with gold officers' lace. 1779 black with gold officers' lace. 1780 all wearing tarletons.
Pembrokeshire – bright blue with gold officers' lace. 1804 became 'Royal' and changed to dark blue. 1812 became Rifles and changed to green jackets, faced black with silver officers' lace.
Radnorshire – Blue
Rutland – 1759 pale buff. 1778 yellow. 1782 short jackets and caps.
Shropshire – Green with silver officers' lace.
1st Somersetshire – Black. 1787 yellow.
2nd Somersetshire – Black. 1787 yellow.
Staffordshire – Yellow with silver officers' metal. Unlaced coats.
1st (West) Suffolk – Yellow
2nd (East) Suffolk – 'Plain' (might this mean unlaced coats?) red with silver officers' metal.
1st Surrey – White
2nd (West) Surrey – White
Sussex – Red
Warwickshire – Green with silver officers' lace.
Westminster – Blue
Westmorland – 1759 red. 1781 blue with gold officers' lace and Light Company in blue jackets, faced red, with caps.
Isle of Wight – Independent company dressed as light infantry.
Wiltshire – Yellow with silver officers' lace.
Worcestershire – Green
East Riding of Yorkshire – Buff with silver officers' lace
North Riding of Yorkshire – 1759 blue. 1778 black with silver officers' lace.
1st West Riding of Yorkshire – green
2nd West Riding of Yorkshire – green. 1795 – two companies of marksmen added; armed with 'fuzees', dressed in green with black buttons.
3rd West Riding of Yorkshire – green

Great list Mark. Something to keep.

As the British were only just 'getting it together' over the twenty years of the Napoleonic wars, there could have been a wide variation in what was done with militia uniforms over that period.

Here are a few pictures from the most recent versions of Pride and Prejudice that show the Militia uniform without the lace. Hardly evidence for it, but at least it gives you an idea of what it would look like. I have seen portraits of Militia uniforms without lace, but can't find any on line at the moment.

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Ah, the officers' edging lace was a variation that was often worn by regiments after the switch from the 1768 'cutaway' coat to the closed-fronted 'Austrian' style coat, circa 1797 onwards. Thus you might see officers dressed in that manner alongside rank & file wearing buttonhole lace.

As we've moved on to the subject of Militia uniforms, why not post them up as you find them? Here's one:

The East Norfolk Militia uniform is interesting. I don't know exactly which year this is for, but the uniform is the single-breasted 'Austrian' or 1799 Pattern coat and stovepipe shako, exactly as for the line Regiments of Foot. Collars, cuffs and shoulder-straps were black and contrary to the list above, officers' metal was gold.

Most unusually, the rank-and-file had yellow lace rather than the usual white. Collars and shoulder-straps were edged with lace and there were five pairs of square-ended lace loops on the chest, as well as two pairs of lace loops on each cuff.

Drummers had a white coat, faced black with yellow lace as for the rank-and-file, as well as upward-pointing lace chevrons on each sleeve.

RMD -

ADC Books (they have a banner ad on here somewhere) has the following title for sale:-

Owen, Bryn – The History of the Welsh Militia and Volunteer Corps – 2 Volumes Complete
Caernarfon WALES; Palace Books; 1989 1st Edition; Cloth Hardcover; as-new; as-new dj; op; 8.5 x 6.25 x 1.5 (2 volumes) inches.
8vo.; 2 VOLUMES – Volume 1; Anglesey and Caernafronshire; 245 pages, photos, illustrations, tables. Volume 2; Glamorgan Regiments of Militia. Great unit detail from 1750's to 1908. Outstanding.
Price: 50.00 USD

Cheers SM, yes they're excellent, but I've got them all :o)

Bryn Owen was the curator of the RRW Museum in Cardiff Castle and sadly passed away before he completed the set (having completed six volumes). Annoyingly, the critical volume on west Wales Volunteers and Yeomanry was never completed. His papers and unfinished manuscripts are in the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, so Martin Small and I are going to pop up there sometime soon.