LIST OF THE OFFICERS OF THE MILITIA – THE GENTLEMEN & YEOMANRY CAVALRY – AND VOLUNTEER INFANTRY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1805

This is a remarkable publication, a precurser of the Army List, in which every Militia and Volunteer unit is listed with the names of their officers. The date of publication, 14th October 1805, is precisely one week before the Battle of Trafalgar. The history of the Militia and the Volunteers goes back several hundred years, before the creation of the regular army in 1660, when they provided armed forces for the defence of the kingdom as well as men for overseas campaigns. Once the regular army had come into being they provided a reserve and were, from time to time, called upon to aid the government during civil unrest or when rioting broke out. The threat of invasion brought them out in their thousands and the extent of the response to the threat from Napoleon may be judged from these pages and pages of names of officers and their units. The list is arranged alphabetically by county, from Abedeen to York (including the counties of Ireland). In each case the Militia (regiment) is shown first followed by the Volunteer units, which include every unit, infantry, cavalry, artillery and pioneers, no matter how small, in each county, and these are listed alphabetically by towns or areas where they were raised. Each county is paginated separately and begins with page 1.Thus, taking Esex as an example, we have first three militia regiments: Essex East, West and South, mustering 92 officers between them, then follow the volunteers, fifty units in all beginning with Baddow, Barking, Barnstaple and Chafford Cavalry, through Colchester (28 officers), Dunmow Pioneers (3 officers) and so on to Witham Riflemen and Writtle, 18 pages in all listing some 370 officers. Where they are appointed, adjutants, quartermasters, surgeons, paymasters and chaplains are identified. After 1805 the perceived threat of invasion receded till the first months of the Great War and so the volunteers slowly faded in numbers. In 1908 existing volunteer and yeomanry regiments were converted to form the Territorial Force, and the Militias to form the special reserve battalions of the infantry of the line. Apart from its historical and research value this document will certainly improve your geographical knowledge of the British Isles.