Suffolk Militia

The Suffolk Militia was an auxiliary

• Risbridge: 161 archers, 178 billmen
• Wilford: 58 men in 'harness' (armour), 56 archers, 180 billmen
• Loes: 179 men
• Woodbridge (detached from Loes): 85 men
• Thredling: 141 men
• Cosford: 530 men

Under the

Although the militia obligation was universal, it was clearly impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, so after 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands (TBs), who were mustered for regular training. From 1583 the maritime counties such as Suffolk were given precedence for training: in return for a reduced quota they were supplied with professional captains to muster and train them. The Armada Crisis in 1588 led to the TBs being called out as the Armada approached. Suffolk was ordered to assign 2000 men to defend the county's ports and landing places and to send 2500 into Essex to join the Queen's army at Tilbury.^{[6][13][14][15][16][17]}

With the passing of the threat of invasion, the TBs declined in the early 17th Century, but renewed Anglo-French tensions in the 1620s led to the Suffolk TBs being placed on alert for duty at Landguard Fort.^[18] Later, King Charles I attempted to reform the TBs into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control.^[19][20] In 1638 the Suffolk Trained Bands mustered four regiments of foot and one of horse.^[21] The TBs were called upon to send contingents for the Bishops' Wars, in 1639 and 1640. Suffolk was unusually obedient in providing good men and weapons in 1639, but in 1640 the Suffolk men were unwilling, and mutinied.^[22]

Control of the trained bands was one of the major points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War. When open warfare broke out between the King and Parliament, neither side made much use of the TBs beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops who would serve anywhere in the country, many of whom were former trained bandsmen.^[23][24][25]

However, when the

James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk, was re-appointed Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk (and Cambridge), having previously held the post in 1640–42. He personally held the colonelcy of the Suffolk regiment of horse militia, and was also governor of Landguard Fort from 1665.^[36]

Militia musters were supposed to be held for four days each year, but in many counties this did not happen for several years at a time. Suffolk was one of the offending counties, and several times in the 1660s the Earl of Suffolk had to 'iterate' his orders for the settlement of the militia, as he was being called on for progress reports and feared the displeasure of Parliament. It was not until 1664 that the county militia had been reorganised:^[21][37]

• Col Sir Henry North, 1st Baronet's Foot Regiment – Bury St Edmunds division
• Col Sir Philip Cooke's Foot Regiment – Ipswich division
• Col Sir Edmund Bacon's Foot Regiment – Half in Bury and half in Ipswich divisions
• Probably a foot regiment allocated to the Beccles division
• Suffolk Horse Militia under the Earl of Suffolk

Second Dutch War

During this period of the Anglo-Dutch wars Suffolk was one of the counties most vulnerable to invasion and raids, and after the

A Dutch fleet cruised off the Suffolk coast for several weeks after the Four Days' Battle in June 1666, and the guns of Landguard Fort opened fire on a Dutch scout ship. The two militia companies stationed at Southwold were stood down, then on 10 July the Dutch appeared off the town, and the troops there had to be hurriedly reinforced. Next day the inhabitants of Aldeburgh were frightened by the appearance of Dutch warships, having only '35 ill-disciplined men of the trained band and 20 guns, but not enough to manage them'. Then on 22 July coast watchers saw the refitted and reinforced English fleet sailing up from the Thames Estuary. Three days later it routed the Dutch fleet at the St. James' Day Battle. The Earl of Suffolk ordered this victory to be celebrated at Ipswich with 'bonfires, guns and bells'.^[38]

After the success at the St James's Day Battle, and with peace negotiations in progress, the British government became complacent and to save money it did not commission all its warships for the 1667 campaign. However, in June the Dutch fleet carried out a devastating raid on the River Medway, destroying a partly-built fort at Sheerness and burning or capturing many of the warships laid up in the estuary. The fleet then sailed north to the Suffolk coast.^[39][40][41]

In early June the distinguished soldier

The Suffolk Militia fell back into decay after the end of the war, and in 1671 the Earl of Suffolk instructed his deputies to put the 'trayned force' in order, because he did not know when the King might order a muster, and he feared they were in bad state. When the Third Dutch War broke out the following year, the Suffolk Militia were short of men through the neglect of the deputy lieutenants, and short of officers because of 'death', 'sulking' and 'fear'. The Suffolk Militia was called out to reinforce Landguard Fort in 1673, but the Earl was still complaining of the discontinuance of musters when the war ended in 1674.[47]

The Earl of Suffolk was one of a number of lords lieutenant removed from office for their political views during the

In 1697 the counties were required to submit detailed lists of their militia. Suffolk complied, but had to base its list on the county's most recent muster, which had been in 1692. Under Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis as Lord Lieutenant, the Suffolk Militia then comprised:^[52]

• Red Regiment, Col Anthony Crofts, from Hoxne,^[53] 460 men in 6 companies
• White Regiment, Col
  Sir Philip Parker, 2nd Baronet, from South Suffolk,^[43]
  509 men in 7 companies
• Blew (sic) Regiment, late Col Sir Philip Skippon (died 1691), from Beccles,^[53] 657 men in 8 companies
• Yellow Regiment, Col Sir Thomas Barnardiston, 2nd Baronet, from West Suffolk, around Clare,^[43] 660 men in 8 companies
• Ipswich, 181 men in two companies
• Horse, Col Lord Cornwallis, 208 men in 4 troops

Giving a total of 2675 men.

The Militia passed into virtual abeyance during the long peace after the

Under threat of French invasion during the

Suffolk was also one of the first counties to tackle the question of family allowances for the balloted militiamen: the justices of the peace were ordered to fix uniform rates for the allowances, a method that was incorporated into later militia legislation.[67] Soldiers' pay was subject to various stoppages at the discretion of the Colonel for cleaning, repair and replacement of clothing and equipment. A venal colonel could make a great deal of money from his command, but the East Suffolks were proud that their regiment only had one stoppage, of 5 pence (2p) per week for 'small clothing'>^[68]

At the end of 1759 the Suffolk Militia regiments made their first marches outside the county, which was a novel experience for most of the junior officers and men. The West Suffolks went to Peterborough and Oundle, the East Suffoks to Leicester. In October 1760 both regiments marched back to Bury St Edmunds and went into winter quarters in their home county. In May 1761 the West Suffolks went to Hilsea outside Portsmouth until October while the East Suffolks remained in Suffolk, detaching five companies to Landguard Fort. Both regiments spent the rest of their embodied service in their home county, apart from June 1762, when the East Suffolks attended a training camp at Sandheath, near Ripley.^[69][70]

With the Seven Years War drawing to a close, Grafton and Orwell were instructed on 20 December 1762 to disembody the two battalions.^[6][62][71] Annual training continued thereafter, and officers were commissioned to fill vacancies. Although Ensign Cobbold was described as a Yeoman, the officers were generally drawn from the landed gentry of the county and guarded their status jealously: in 1768 one of the Suffolk battalions demanded the resignation of one of their ensigns who had become an innkeeper.^[69][72]

War of American Independence

The militia was called out after the outbreak of the

From 1784 to 1792 the militia were supposed to assemble for 28 days' annual training, even though to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out each year. In 1786 the number of permanent NCOs was reduced.[75]^[76]

French Revolutionary Wars

The militia was already being called out when Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. The order to embody the Suffolk Militia had gone out on 4 December 1792. Each of the two battalions was to consist of eight companies, one of which was a light company, and could include an additional company of volunteers.^[6][62][77] Lord Euston reported from Suffolk that substitutes would be unwilling to serve if their families were not eligible for the allowances given to balloted men, and so they were included in the Militia Bill before Parliament.^[78]

The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in the British Isles), which the regular army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry.^[33][79]

With a French invasion possible, the government augmented the strength of the embodied militia in 1794: the West Suffolks by 63 men and the East Suffolks by 56, the men recruited by voluntary enlistment and paid for by county subscriptions.^[80][81] In a fresh attempt to have as many men as possible under arms for home defence in order to release regulars, the Government created the Supplementary Militia in 1796, a compulsory levy of men to be trained in their spare time, and to be incorporated in the Militia in emergency. Suffolk's additional quota was fixed at 1470 men, and these were called out at Ipswich on 31 January 1798, the supplementary battalions of the West and East Suffolks going to Colchester and Ashford respectively. The purpose of the call-out was to replace militiamen who had volunteered to transfer to the Regular Army, and to augment the embodied militia, the West Suffolks to 1125 all ranks in 10 companies, the East Suffolks to 1073 in 8 companies.^{[61][82][83][84][85]}

Part of the reason for the augmentation was the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which drew away many of the regulars from mainland Britain. Legislation passed in March 1798 also allowed the militia to volunteer for service in Ireland. The augmented West Suffolk Militia volunteered, but only half the East Suffolk were prepared to go. The West Suffolks served there in 1798–99, while the last embers of the rebellion were put down.^{[6][84][86][87]}

Napoleonic Wars

By now the danger of invasion seemed to have passed, and the militia were reduced, the two Suffolk battalions to less than 500 each. Hostilities ended with the Treaty of Amiens on 27 March 1802, and on 14 April warrants were issued to disembody the Suffolk Militia. However, the Peace of Amiens was short-lived and Britain declared war on France once more in May 1803 when both Suffolk Militia regiments were re-embodied.^[6][61][88]

Militia duties during the Napoleonic War were much as before: home defence and garrisons, prisoners of war, and increasingly internal security in the industrial areas where there was unrest. Increasingly the regular army regarded the militia as a source of trained men and many militiamen took the proffered bounty and transferred, leaving the militia regiments to replace them through the ballot or 'by beat of drum'.^[33][89] The Suffolk Militia resumed their annual moves around the country, the West Suffolks spending 1808–13 in Northern England, where they had to deal with Luddite disturbances. The East Suffolks spent 1805–6 in Scotland, but generally were deployed in the South Coast defences.^[88]

Local Militia

While the Militia were the mainstay of national defence during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, they were supplemented from 1808 by the Local Militia, which were part-time and only to be used within their own districts. These were raised to counter the declining numbers of Volunteers, and if their ranks could not be filled voluntarily the Militia Ballot was employed. They would be trained once a year.^[90][91][92] On 24 December 1808 the 4th Duke of Grafton, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, issued commissions to officers in the Colneis Battalion (in Colneis Hundred, south of Ipswich), under Maj George Wenyeve, and the Risbridge Battalion (in Risbridge Hundred, in the west of the county) under Maj William Robinson, and by 1 June 1809 he was issuing commissions in the Babergh Battalion (in Babergh Hundred around Sudbury). However, he also issued commissions in a number of continuing volunteer corps.^[93][94]

The Local Militia was strengthened in 1812: on 1 May Gilbert Affleck was appointed Lt-Col of the Risbridge Battalion, and Martin Cocksedge as Lt-Col of the Babergh Battalion, which were now referred to as regiments;^[91][95] on 1 June George Wenyeve of the Colneis Battalion was also promoted to Lt-Col.^[96] Towards the end of the war the Suffolk Local Militia must have been reorganised, because on 1 May 1815 Roger Pettiward was commissioned as Lt-Col of the 1st Eastern Regiment of Suffolk Local Militia.^[97] There were presumably at least two regiments in East Suffolk, because a uniform button is recorded for the 2nd East Suffolk Local Militia raised at Woodbridge.^[98]

Ireland

Legislation passed in 1811 permitted English militia regiments to serve in Ireland once again, for a period of two years. The West Suffolks served there from April 1813 until September 1814, when they returned to Bury St Edmunds to be disembodied at the end of the Napoleonic War. The East Suffolks also went to Ireland, in February 1814, and were still serving there while the short Waterloo campaign was fought. They finally returned to Ipswich to be disembodied in February 1816.^{[6][62][83][86][88][99]}

After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced.^[100] The East Suffolks became a Light Infantry regiment in 1831.^{[59][65][63][101][102][103]}

1852 reforms

The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the

Thereafter the militia regiments were called out for their annual training. The Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war.[104]^[108]

Cardwell and Childers reforms

Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, militia regiments were brigaded with their local regular and Volunteer battalions. Sub-District No 32 (Suffolk & Cambridge) set up its depot at the County Buildings in Bury St Edmunds, headquarters of the West Suffolk Militia. It comprised:^{[62][109][110]}

• 1st and 2nd Battalions, 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot
• West Suffolk Militia
• Cambridgeshire Militia at Ely
• 1st Administrative Battalion, Suffolk Rifle Volunteer Corps at Sudbury
• 2nd Administrative Battalion, Suffolk Rifle Volunteer Corps at Woodbridge
• 3rd Administrative Battalion, Suffolk Rifle Volunteer Corps at Lowestoft
• 1st Administrative Battalion, Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteer Corps at Cambridge
• 3rd (Cambridge University) Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteer Corps at Cambridge

Gibraltar Barracks, was opened at Bury St Edmunds as the new depot for the sub-district in 1878.^[111]

The militia now came under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant. Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the regular army.^{[104][109][112]} The Childers Reforms of 1881 completed the Cardwell process by converting the linked regular regiments into county regiments and incorporating the militia battalions into them:^{[6][62][59][64][109][113]}

• 3rd (West Suffolk Militia) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
• 4th (Cambridge Militia) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment

The Artillery Militia was reorganised into 11 divisions of garrison artillery in 1882, and the Suffolk unit became the 3rd Brigade, Eastern Division, RA. from 1 April 1882. This was changed to Suffolk Artillery, Eastern Division, RA on 1 July 1889.^{[101][105][102][109]}

Second Boer War

After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the regular army was sent to South Africa, and many militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and to garrison certain overseas stations. The 3rd Suffolks were embodied in December 1899 and served in the Channel Islands from January 1900 to April 1901.The battalion was disembodied in July 1901, but the war dragged on and the battalion was re-embodied in February 1902 and served until finally disembodied in September 1902.^[6][62][114]

The Suffolk Artillery was also embodied from May to November 1900. In the postwar reorganisation of the Royal Artillery, the divisions were scrapped and the Suffolk Artillery became the

After the Boer War, the future of the Militia was called into question. There were moves to reform the Auxiliary Forces (Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteers) to take their place in the six Army Corps proposed by the Secretary of State for War, St John Brodrick. However, little of Brodrick's scheme was carried out.^[115][116] Under the more sweeping Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Militia was replaced by the Special Reserve (SR), a semi-professional force whose role was to provide reinforcement drafts for regular units serving overseas in wartime, rather like the earlier Militia Reserve.^[117][118]

The 3rd Battalion transferred to the SR on 7 June 1908 becoming the

The Suffolk RGA (M) converted into the Suffolk Royal Field Reserve Artillery on 24 May 1908, but after a change in policy it was disbanded on 15 October 1909.[62]^[101][102]

World War I

On the outbreak of

The SR resumed its old title of Militia in 1921 but like most militia units the 3rd Suffolks remained in abeyance after World War I. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, only one officer other than the Hon Colonel remained listed for the 3rd Bn. The Militia was formally disbanded in April 1953.^{[62][64][109]}

Heritage and ceremonial

Uniforms and insignia

It might be assumed that the 'Red', 'White', 'Blew' and 'Yellow' regiments of Suffolk Militia of the 1690s were clothed in uniforms of those colours, but it is more likely that these titles refer to distinguishing facings on the uniform red coats and the field of the regimental colour.^[55][d] At the end of the Seven Years War In 1762 both battalions of the Suffolk Militia wore red facings,^[122] and the East Suffolks were recorded at Warley Camp in 1778 as still wearing red.^[59][123] But by 1780 both regiments wore yellow facings,^[124] and continued with these through the Napoleonic Wars.^[59][103] By 1850 the West Suffolks still wore yellow facings but the East Suffolk LI had changed to white.^[86][99] When it became a battalion of the Suffolk Regiment in 1881, the West Suffolks adopted the white facings of that regiment.^[109][113]

Around 1810 the officers' shoulder-belt plate of the 1st or West Suffolk Militia had an 'S' below the numeral 'I' within a crowned garter inscribed 'West Suffolk Militia'. Prior to 1855 the buttons also bore the numeral 'I' within a crowned circle inscribed 'West Suffolk'. The regiment used the Roman numeral 'X' (signifying its 10th place in the militia order of precedence) in its forage cap badge. Similarly, the East Sussex LI wore buttons with the numeral '34' within the strings of a light infantry bugle-horn.^[59][107]

From 1853 to 1881, the West Suffolks used the twin-towered castle badge of Suffolk within a crowned wreath, with a scroll beneath bearing the words 'West Suffolk Militia'. This was first worn as an ornament on the skirts of officers' coats, and from 1874 was adopted as the cap badge. The 12th Foot began using the triple-towered 'castle with key' (signifying the

In the Seven Years War militia regiments camped together took precedence according to the order in which they had arrived. During the War of American Independence the counties were given an order of precedence determined by ballot each year. For the Suffolk Militia the positions were:[64]^{[65][70][126][100]}

• 39th on 1 June 1778
• 36th on12 May 1779
• 42nd on 6 May 1780
• 31st on 28 April 1781
• 26th on 7 May 1782

The militia order of precedence balloted for in 1793 (Suffolk was 19th) remained in force throughout the French Revolutionary War: this covered all the regiments in the county. Another ballot for precedence took place at the start of the Napoleonic War, when Suffolk was 59th.This order continued until 1833. In that year the King drew the lots for individual regiments and the resulting list remained in force with minor amendments until the end of the militia. The regiments raised before the peace of 1763 took the first 47 places: the West Suffolk was 10th and the East Suffolk LI was 34th. Formally, the regiments became the '10th, or West Suffolk Militia' and '34th, or East Suffolk Light Infantry'. Although most regiments paid little notice to the additional number, both Suffolk regiments did include the numerals in their insignia. When the Militia Artillery was formed its regiments took precedence alphabetically; Suffolk was 25th.^{[64][74][59][86][99][107][126][127]}

See also

• Militia (English)
• Militia (Great Britain)
• Militia (United Kingdom)
• Special Reserve
• Suffolk Trained Bands
• West Suffolk Militia
• East Suffolk Militia
• Suffolk Artillery Militia

Footnotes