Under threat of French invasion during the
Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 re-established county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. There was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the lord lieutenant. An
adjutant and
drill sergeants were to be provided to each regiment from the
Regular Army, and arms and accoutrements would be supplied when the county had secured 60 per cent of its quota of recruits. Denbighshire was given a quota of 280 men to raise, but recruitment throughout Wales was slow. The problem was less with the other ranks raised by ballot than the shortage of men qualified to be officers, even after the requirements were lowered for Welsh counties.
Richard Myddleton of Chirk Castle,
Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire, took command of the regiment himself and its arms and
Regimental Colours were finally issued to it at Wrexham on 8 May 1760. It was organised into five companies and was embodied for fulltime service on 17 July 1760. Shortly after embodiment the regiment was sent to North
Devon where it established regimental headquarters (HQ) at
Barnstaple. The main duty was to guard
prisoners of war and to escort parties of them from Barnstaple to
Plymouth. In October 1761 the regiment moved the short distance to relieve the
East Devon Militia at
Bideford where the duties were similar. Early the following month the regiment marched to
Shrewsbury in
Shropshire where it probably stayed for the remainder of its embodied service. In January 1763 it marched back to Wrexham to be disembodied. In peacetime the adjutant, sergeants and drummers of the disembodied regiment maintained the militia store and armoury in Wrexham Town Hall at the top of the High Street. Training was sporadic and usually by isolated companies rather than the whole regiment, but the numbers were maintained by periodic enforcement of the ballot. Conscription by means of the ballot was unpopular even in peacetime, and Denbighshire suffered anti-militia riots in 1769.
War of American Independence The militia were called out on 26 March 1778 during the
War of American Independence, when the country was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. Having assembled at Wrexham under the command of John Myddleton of Gwaenynog, the Denbighshires marched off to garrison
Cockermouth in
Cumberland. Nevertheless, the other officers and the drill sergeants must have made progress: next year an inspecting officer commented that the Denbighshires were fine men and quite proficient, although they had had little chance to train together. The pauses between the movements in the manual exercise were too long, a fault that the commanding officer promised to correct. During the American war a number of counties raised additional volunteer companies for their militia regiments, manned by men enlisted for a cash bounty. There is evidence that Denbighshire formed one such company, paid for by patriotic subscription. Nine officers and 43 other ranks claimed leave to go home to vote in the
1780 general election. By March 1781 the whole regiment was back in Denbighshire, with companies stationed in Denbigh, Ruthin and
Llanrwst. Shortly afterwards it was sent to
Sussex, and spent some time at
Warley Camp in
Essex. It continued serving in
South East England until the
Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 and orders were issued on 28 February to disembody the militia. The regiment was already marching back to North Wales, and on arrival at Wrexham it was promptly paid off.
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. The Denbighshire Militia were embodied shortly afterwards, still under the command of John Myddleton, and once again were sent to Cumberland, to garrison Whitehaven until November. The
French Revolutionary War and
Napoleonic 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. The Denbighshire marched south in November 1793, being stationed in
Oxfordshire and
Berkshire over the winter, moving to
Hampshire in the spring. From 1 April it was at
Andover with detachments at
Salisbury and
Winchester, and was joined on 24 June by two newly raised volunteer companies (147 men) whose clothing, equipment and bounties had been paid for by patriotic subscription. By 14 July 1794 the regiment was at
Porchester with the
Dorset Militia where the two regiments guarded French prisoners of war. One dark night a sentry of the Dorsets saw what he thought was an apparition of a white devil's face with horns and a beard. He challenged the apparition and when it did not reply he fired his musket at it, to find himself being charged by the Denbighshire's white goat mascot. Hearing the shot, the guard turned out and the goat put them to flight as well before returning to the Denbighshire drum major's quarters. In March 1796 the regiment marched back to Kent and was stationed at various towns before moving into the
Dover garrison in May, where the first batch of 70 supplementary militiamen joined the regiment. Between June 1796 and July 1799 the regiment was moved around Kent and Sussex. In the summer of 1798 the Irish Rebellion became serious, and the French were sending help to the rebels. An Act authorising the deployment of British militia units in
Ireland was passed and the Denbighshires were among six Welsh regiments that volunteered for this service. It served there under Col
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet, MP. In December 1799 the regiment returned to the Portsmouth defences. A year later it moved on to Devon, first to
Honiton in November and then to
Ottery St Mary for winter quarters, with detachments in the surrounding villages. In April 1804 the regiment was one of 12 Welsh militia regiments awarded the prefix 'Royal'. By 1 September the regiment, with 348 men in 5 companies, under Lt-Col John Lloyd Salusbury, was stationed with the
Fifeshire Militia at
Chatham Camp in Kent, forming part of Maj-Gen the Hon
Edward Finch's Brigade of Guards. The following summer it was at the newly built
Fort Pitt at Chatham, then between August 1806 and July 1808 it moved around Kent, with a spell back at Fort Pitt between March and May 1807. It returned to Fort Pitt again in July 1808 and remained there until 1811. In 1809 the regiment was converted to Light Infantry: apart from the title, the changes to dress and weaponry were minor, the drums being replaced by bugles and the sergeants'
halberds by fusils (light muskets). In May 1811 the regiment marched out of Fort Pitt on its way to
Bristol, where the duties included guarding prisoners of war at
Stapleton Prison and manning the
Avon forts. It was ordered to Portsmouth in April 1812 but on the way it was diverted to the industrial north of England where there had been an outbreak of
Luddite machine-breaking. The regiment went to
Yorkshire, first to
Sheffield and then
Hull, where it arrived in June. Between January and June 1813 it was at
Mansfield in
Nottinghamshire, then moved to
Nantwich in
Cheshire. The regiment then moved into the Chester Garrison, where it stayed for the remainder of its embodiment.
3rd Provisional Battalion • Royal Denbighshire Rifles – 135 all ranks •
Derbyshire Militia – 125 all ranks •
Herefordshire Militia – 110 all ranks •
Westmorland Militia – 162 all ranks •
2nd West Yorkshire Militia – 349 all ranks The battalion assembled at Chester and marched to Portsmouth where the Militia Brigade under the
Marquess of Buckingham was assembling. The brigade embarked on 10–11 March 1814 and three days later arrived at
Bordeaux, which had just been occupied by the
Earl of Dalhousie's
7th Division. It did not take part in the
Battle of Toulouse on 10 April, but carried out garrison and occupation duties as the war was ending. The 3rd Provisional Battalion was quartered in a villages along the River Gironde. The brigade did not form part of the Army of Occupation after the abdication of
Napoleon and returned to Plymouth in June. The Denbigh detachment marched back to Wrexham for disbandment.
Waterloo and the long peace The rest of the Royal Denbighshire Rifles at Chester had been brought up to strength by means of the ballot. It too marched back to Wrexham in June 1814 to be disembodied. However, Napoleon's return to France in 1815 led to another war and the Royal Denbighshire Rifles were embodied once more in May. The regiment was recruited up to strength by 'beat of drum' and by the ballot and returned to the Chester garrison. The short war was ended by the
Battle of Waterloo in June, and the regiment was disembodied again in September. 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 (the Denbighs only trained in 1821, 1825 and 1831, and then not again for 21 years) and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced. Other than those of the permanent staff, who supported the parish constables, all weapons were returned to store at Chester Castle.
Robert Myddelton-Biddulph of Chirk Castle became colonel of the Royal Denbighshire Rifles after the death of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn in 1840. ==1852 reforms==