Royal Cardigan Militia

The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England and was extended to Wales. King Henry VIII called a 'Great Muster' in 1539, which showed 2858 men available for service in the County of Cardiganshire, of whom 609 had 'harness' (armour), and 184 horsemen. The legal basis of the militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters (4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 3) and the maintenance of horses and armour (4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 2). The county militia was now under the Lord Lieutenant, assisted by the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace (JPs). The entry into force of these Acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised Militia of England and Wales. 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, who were mustered for regular training. In the 16th century little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions. However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than send the trained bandsmen. Between 1585 and 1602 Cardiganshire supplied 500 men for service in Ireland and 30 for the Netherlands. The men were given three days' 'conduct money' to get to Chester or Bristol, the main ports of embarkation for Ireland. Conduct money was recovered from the government, but replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties. With the passing of the threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th century. Later, King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control. The Cardigan Trained Bands of 1638 consisted of 300 men, half armed with muskets and half 'Corslets' (body armour, signifying pikemen). They also mustered 35 horse. Part of this force may have been organised as the North Cardigan Trained Band. Cardiganshire was ordered to send 150 men overland to Newcastle upon Tyne for the Second Bishops' War of 1640. However, substitution was rife and many of those sent on this unpopular service would have been untrained replacements. Civil Wars Control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War. When open war broke out between the King and Parliament, neither side made much use of the trained bands beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops. Most of Wales was under Royalist control for much of the war, and was a recruiting ground for the King's armies. In 1644 Colonel John Jones of Nanteos raised a regiment in Cardiganshire for Charles I. Once Parliament had established full control in 1648 it passed new Militia Acts that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners appointed by Parliament or the Council of State. At the same time the term 'Trained Band' began to disappear in most counties. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country. By 1651 the militias of the South Welsh counties appear to have been combined, with the 'South Wales Militia' being ordered to rendezvous at Gloucester to hold the city during the Worcester campaign. ==Cardiganshire Militia==

After the Restoration of the Monarchy, the Militia was re-established by the Militia Act 1661 under the control of the king's lords lieutenant, the men to be selected by ballot. This was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' to counterbalance a 'Standing Army' tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported Cromwell's military dictatorship. The militia forces in the Welsh counties were small, and were grouped together under the direction of the Lord President of the Council of Wales. As Lord President, the Duke of Beaufort carried out a tour of inspection of the Welsh militia in 1684, when the Cardiganshire Militia consisted of one troop of horse and three companies of foot. Generally the militia declined in the long peace after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Jacobites were numerous amongst the Welsh Militia, but they did not show their hands during the Risings of 1715 and 1745, and bloodshed was avoided. ==1757 reforms==

Seven Years' War 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. Cardiganshire was given a quota of 120 men to raise. The Welsh counties were slow to complete their regiments: 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. Arms were issued to the Cardiganshire Militia at Aberystwyth on 1 October 1762, and it appears that the regiment carried out a short period of training. However, the war was now drawing to an end, and no further militia were required. The regiment was not embodied for permanent service, and the embodied militia regiments were stood down in 1763. After 1763 militia training was sporadic, and the Cardigan regiment rarely assembled in a single body: instead the companies trained separately at convenient places in the north, centre and south of the county. In 1764 the adjutant and four men of the permanent staff were called out to salvage and guard the cargo of a ship stranded on the coast. In 1766 and 1769 quantities of weapons and stores held at the town of Cardigan were moved to storage at Aberystwyth, while in 1777 other stores arrived at Cardigan from Carmarthen, probably having been transported by sea. Despite substitutes replacing many of the balloted men, the regiment's ranks contained many relatively well-to-do men. In 1780 a high proportion of the men requested leave to go home to vote in the general election that year: only three officers but 42 other ranks present with the main body and perhaps another 70 on the march had applied, proportionately much higher than for any English regiment for which figures remain. In 1781 the regimental establishment was increased from 120 privates to 228, the augmentation being achieved by recruiting two volunteer companies paid for by public subscription. The regiment was now organised in six companies and Maj Campbell was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. The regiment remained in Hampshire, at Bishop's Waltham in October 1781 and at Winchester before the end of the year. In June 1782 it was back in the Portsmouth area. In October the regiment returned to South Wales to winter quarters in Carmarthen. In February 1783 the Cardigan Militia marched through Aberystwyth on the way to take up duties at Monmouth. However, the Treaty of Paris ended hostilities, and the militia was ordered to stand down on 28 February. In March the regiment returned to Aberystwyth to be disembodied. French Revolutionary War The militia was already being embodied when Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. In August the Cardigan Militia (120 men in four companies) under the command of Maj William Lewis marched via Gloucester to take up duties on the invasion-threatened Sussex coast. In the autumn of 1793 the Cardigan Militia marched to join the garrison of Chester for the winter, with one company detached to Northwich. Early in 1794 it concentrated at Northwich, but rejoined the Chester Garrison in April 1795. In June that year the regiment was called upon to send a detachment to Wrexham to stand by to aid the civil magistrates, but it was not called upon and rejoined the main body. In July the Cardiganshires moved to Cumberland and were stationed in Whitehaven and other towns. On being relieved by the Carmarthenshire Militia in April 1796 the regiment returned to Chester. In August it moved back to West Wales to carry out duties in Pembrokeshire. Regimental headquarters (HQ) was established in Haverfordwest and detachments were employed at Pembroke Dock and other key points. On the march south the regiment had dropped a company at Aberystwyth, where in October it was placed at the disposal of the Revenue officers to assist in preventing smuggling. Battle of Fishguard In January 1797 regimental HQ summoned a detachment back from Aberystwyth to reinforce the company guarding French prisoners of war at Pembroke Dock. On 22 February a French force made a landing at Fishguard on the north Pembrokeshire coast. A force of militia, yeomanry and volunteers was quickly gathered at Haverfordwest under the command of Lord Cawdor to oppose this invasion. The three officers and 100 men of the Cardigan Militia guarding the prisoners at Pembroke Dock were relieved by the Pembrokeshire Supplementary Militia and marched to join Cawdor. There was some minor skirmishing, but with discipline collapsing among his troops (the Légion Noire) and wrongly believing himself outnumbered by Cawdor's force, the French commander surrendered. The Cardiganshire Militia contingent was present at the surrender on Goodwick Sands on 24 February. The Cardigan Militia returned to its duties, with detachments stationed at Haverfordwest, Pembroke Dock, Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Tenby. In November 1798 Lt-Col John Brooks was appointed to command the regiment. In 1799 the militia quotas were relaxed and after bounties had been offered to the supplementary militiamen to enlist in the regular army, the rest of them were stood down. For some years the regiment had unofficially called itself the Royal Cardiganshire Militia: the Royal title was officially conferred upon it (together with a number of other Welsh regiments) in April 1804. In February 1806 it had detachments stationed at Maidstone and in the Dungeness forts. By January 1807 it was at Sheerness, where the regiment volunteered for service in Ireland. The offer was not accepted, but a number of the men transferred to the regular army, especially the 23rd Foot (Royal Welch Fusiliers). As a result, the regiment was reduced to 174 privates, of whom 120 were substitutes: 150 new men had to be selected by ballot in Cardiganshire. In May 1808 the Royal Cardigan left Sheerness and moved first to Ospringe Barracks near Faversham, and then to Deal for duties in the coastal defences and Martello towers. The regiment volunteered for service in the Peninsular War, but the offer was again turned down. Ireland The Interchange Act 1811 allowed English and Welsh militia regiments to serve in Ireland and vice versa. In July, while stationed at Deal, the Cardigan Militia once again volunteered for service in Ireland, and this time was accepted. It arrived on 8 August and was first stationed at Loughrea and later at Limerick. ==1852 Reforms==

The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, enacted during a renewed period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on a county basis, and filled by voluntary enlistment (although conscription by means of the Militia Ballot might be used if the counties failed to meet their quotas). Training was for 56 days on enlistment, then for 21–28 days per year, during which the men received full army pay. Under the Act, militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time home defence service in three circumstances: • 1. 'Whenever a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power'. • 2. 'In all cases of invasion or upon imminent danger thereof'. • 3. 'In all cases of rebellion or insurrection'. Obtaining the 300 recruits to complete the Royal Cardigan Rifles was hampered by opposition from the strongly Nonconformist community in Cardiganshire, and some men from outside the county had to be enlisted. In 1854 Lt-Col William T.R. Powell (formerly of the 37th Foot) succeeded Col William E. Powell as CO. The revived regiment finally carried out its first 21 days' training at Aberystwyth in March 1856. Since 1809 the regiment had used the Shire Hall in Aberystwyth as its regimental HQ and Armoury. The Shire Hall was demolished in 1855 and the HQ and armoury were accommodated, along with the sergeant-major's family, in a town house in Bridge Street. Consequently, the men had to be billeted in overcrowded inns and lodging houses during their annual training. A purpose-built Militia Barracks, designed by Sir James Szlumper, was constructed for the regiment in Borth Road, Abersytwyth, in 1867. Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia units were grouped into county brigades with their local Regular and Volunteer battalions – Sub-District No 25 in Western District for the Royal Cadigan Rifles, grouped with the 24th Foot and the Monmouthshire, Radnor and Brecknock militia regiments. Following the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned places in an order of battle to Militia units serving alongside Regular units in an 'Active Army' and a 'Garrison Army'. The Royal Cardigan's assigned war station was with the Garrison Army in the Pembroke defences. ==Royal Cardigan Artillery==

The 1852 Act introduced Artillery Militia corps in addition to the traditional infantry regiments. Their role was to man coastal defences and fortifications, relieving the Royal Artillery (RA) for active service. The Royal Carmarthen and Royal Pembrokeshire regiments had been converted to artillery militia in 1861, and trained alongside the Royal Cardigan Rifles in the Pembroke Garrison. Lieutenant-Col Pryse retired, to become the independent unit's first Honorary Colonel, and was succeeded by Lt-Col J.A. Lloyd Phillips of Mabws. The infantry adjutant and drill sergeants of the permanent staff were replaced by artillerymen, and drill purpose guns were installed at Aberystwyth Militia Barracks for training. Later, a battery for live firing practice was installed in the grounds of Aberystwyth Castle overlooking the sea. Two of these may have been 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loaders that were still in use for training in 1880. At least four guns were in the battery in 1902. The establishment of the unit was set at 342 other ranks, but at first it fell short of this number. Recruiting improved, and in 1881 the establishment was raised to 414, organised into four batteries. In 1889 the territorial divisions were reorganised into three large divisions of garrison artillery, the units regaining their county titles (though without any 'Royal' prefixes). The brigade based in Aberystwyth was redesignated The Cardigan Artillery (Western Division, RA), with its establishment increased to 619 other ranks in six batteries. Annual training was now carried out on the guns in the Milford Haven defences (usually at Fort Hubberstone or South Hook Fort), which was also the unit's war station. The RA was divided into field and garrison branches in 1899, with all the militia and volunteer units becoming part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). The RGA's divisional structure was abolished in 1902, when the unit became the Cardigan Royal Garrison Artillery (Militia) During the Second Boer War the Cardigan Artillery was embodied from 2 May to 5 October 1900 and manned South Hook Fort. Although it did not serve overseas, two of its officers served with 15th Company, Western Division RGA, and were awarded the campaign medals. ==Disbandment==

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 St John Brodrick as Secretary of State for War. Some batteries of militia artillery were to be converted to field artillery. However, little of Brodrick's scheme was carried out. Under the sweeping Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Militia was replaced by the Special Reserve, a semi-professional force whose role was to provide reinforcement drafts for regular units serving overseas in wartime. Although the Cardigan RGA (M) accepted transfer to the Special Reserve Royal Field Artillery, as the Cardigan Royal Field Reserve Artillery in April 1908, it was disbanded on 21 October 1909. ==Commanders==

The following served as commanding officer of the regiment: ==Heritage and ceremonial==

Uniforms and insignia When the regiment was inspected in 1684 the Company colours of the foot were white (suggesting that they may have worn white facings on their coats), while the cornet of the troop of horse was white with a scroll inscribed 'PRO REGE' ('For the King') surmounted by a right arm holding a red heart. The Regimental colour issued to the Cardigan Militia in 1762 was made of green silk, matching the green facings on its red coats. In line with the other Welsh militia regiments, the flag probably bore the Coat of arms of the Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire, at that time the Earl of Lisburne. After 1779 the regimental colour was made of Garter blue silk to match the changed facings. From the time it became a rifle corps the regiment gave up regimental colours and was clothed in Rifle green uniforms with scarlet facings, similar to the King's Royal Rifle Corps. An officer's Gorget of ca 1770 is engraved with the Royal arms and 'GR' cypher above a scroll carrying the title 'CARDIGAN'; by ca 1800 this design had changed to the Prince of Wales's feathers, coronet and 'Ich Dien' motto scroll over the word 'CARDIGAN' and was also used on the shoulder belt plate. The buttons carried the Prince of Wales's device surrounded by a belt carrying the title 'CARDIGAN'. In ca 1857 the other ranks' Forage caps had a two-part badge, with a stringed bugle-horn above a scroll inscribed 'ROYAL CARDIGAN'. Between 1867 and 1877 the officers' silver pouch belt plate consisted of a crowned Maltese cross, in the centre of which was a stringed bugle-horn surrounded by a circle inscribed 'ROYAL CARDIGAN RIFLES', the cross having small decorative balls on the eight points and small lions in the four angles; the whole was surrounded by a laurel wreath. In 1855 the first 29 regiments of artillery militia were given precedence numbers in alphabetical order; later regiments took the next available number, with the Royal Cardigan Artillery assigned 33rd when it was converted in 1877. ==See also==

• David Plant, British Civil Wars, Commonwealth & Protectorate, 1638–1660 (The BCW Project) Regimental Wiki.