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. Montgomeryshire was given a quota of 240 men to raise, but failed to do so.
Major-General the
Earl of Cholmondeley was
Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire and several other counties, but found that he was unable to raise militia in any of his Welsh counties other than
Flintshire. 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. Cholmondeley was replaced as lord lieutenant by the
1st Earl of Powis in 1761 and the
Montgomeryshire Militia was finally raised on 11 May 1763 (the date its weapons were issued from the
Tower of London) at Welshpool under the command of
Sir John Powell Pryce, 6th Baronet. By then the war had ended with the
Treaty of Paris, so the new regiment was not actually embodied. The men mustered for a few days' training, then dispersed to their homes. Parliament did however provide the money to continue training the militia in peacetime (two periods of 14 days or one period of 28 days each year). The Montgomeryshire regiment periodically assembled, usually by companies at convenient locations, though the whole regiment was mustered for training in 1772, when it was commanded by
Viscount Hereford.
War of American Independence The militia were called out in 1778 after the outbreak of the
War of American Independence, when the country was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. The Montgomeryshire Militia were 'embodied' for permanent duty for the first time on 31 March 1778 at Welshpool. Viscount Hereford resigned the command and the
2nd Earl of Powis was appointed colonel in June. He obtained permission to 'augment' the regiment by an additional 80 men and from four to five companies (one of which now or later was a light company), though still smaller than an average regiment. The county quota was not increased so these men must have been obtained by voluntary enlistment rather than by ballot. The Montgomeryshire Militia marched out of Welshpool on 8 June bound for the invasion-threatened county of
Kent. It was stationed at
Coxheath Camp near
Maidstone, which was the army's largest training camp. Here the completely raw militia were exercised as part of a division alongside regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of
South East England. As an understrength unit the Montgomery Militia was attached to the artillery park with two other small Welsh regiments. On 6 November the regiment left the tented camp and moved into winter quarters in Maidstone. On 1 June 1779 the regiment began marching out to that summer's camp on the coast at
Fairlight Down on the
Sussex coast. It spent the winter in quarters at
Ashford and
Wye in Kent, where in January and April 1780 it received parties of recruits sent from Mellington and Welshpool in Montgomeryshire. From 8 June to 28 October the regiment was in camp at
Dartford. Then the whole regiment was ordered back to Montgomeryshire, arriving at Bishop's Castle on 2 November and taking up quarters at Montgomery, Welshpool and
Newtown. The regiment marched back to Kent in June 1781, spending the summer at
Lenham Heath Camp between Maidstone and Ashford. The Montgomeryshires spent the winter of 1781–2 quartered in
Croydon,
Surrey, and
Bromley, Kent. They returned to Coxheath Camp for the summer of 1782, then wintered in Dartford, with the Light Company detached to Maidstone. From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual peacetime training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually mustered each year. The whole of the Montgomeryshire Militia were mustered for annual training in the spring of 1787 The militia were augmented by Act of Parliament in 1794 and the Montgomeryshires were increased by two companies (145 men), the first on 8 April 1794 and the second on 13 February 1795. These were filled by voluntary enlistment rather than by the ballot, the bounty money for the volunteers being raised by patriotic subscriptions within the county. 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 Montgomeryshire Militia left Taunton on 31 March 1794 and moved to
Devizes. Then on 12 May the regiment was marched across southern England to
Folkestone Camp for the summer. On 31 October they went into temporary quarters across a number of villages in Kent before going to their winter quarters at Maidstone. By now the regiment was equipped with light 'battalion guns', but these remained behind when it moved into its summer camp at
Eastbourne in April 1795; it later moved to
Brighton in Sussex. In October it went into winter quarters at
Botley Barracks,
Hampshire. In June 1796 it was moved to Kent, first at
Canterbury Barracks, then quartered at Ashford Barracks for the winter. In the summer of 1798 the Irish Rebellion became serious, and the French were sending help to the rebels. The Montgomery was among the militia regiments that volunteered to serve in Ireland and once the necessary legislation was passed by parliament (the
Militia (No. 4) Act 1798) it was one of 13 regiments whose offer was accepted. It served there under Col Browne By February 1799 the regiment was stationed at
Chichester in Sussex, with the Grenadier Company detached to Canterbury. On 15 April it marched north to
Liverpool, being joined by the grenadiers on the way. The invasion threat had subsided, and on 29 November the regiment's supplementaries were marched home to Welshpool to be paid off. The regiment marched from Liverpool on 26 June to
Whitehaven,
Cumberland, which was to be its station for the next year. By the end of 1800, with the departure of the supplementaries and transfers to the regular army (the Montgomeryshires supplied 268 volunteers between July 1799 and the end of 1800), the regiment was only 209 strong. On 2 September 1801 the four understrength companies marched from Whitehaven to
Ipswich, being joined by a batch of newly-balloted men. By November it was at
Yarmouth, from where it marched to
Coventry for the winter.
Napoleonic Wars The Peace of Amiens was shortlived and war was resumed in May 1803. The regiment was embodied and marched on 17 May under Col Browne to
Plymouth. Its establishment was increased from four to six companies (24 officers, 54 non-commissioned officers and drummers, 418 privates) and 139 supplementary militiamen were embodied at Welshpool and marched to join the regiment in June. At Plymouth the regiment shared the sentry duties at the
Royal Navy establishments and guarding Mill Prison, which housed prisoners of war; the men of the battalion guns were seconded to do duty with the
Royal Artillery (RA). Early in 1804 the regiment crossed the
River Tamar to
Maker Camp to assist the RA manning the forts covering Plymouth, with a detachment at the
Yealm Batteries on the eastern side. In February 1805 the main body of the regiment was in Plymouth, but there were still detachments at Maker and Yealm. In April, 92 men volunteered to transfer to the Regulars and the supplementaries were stood down in June, when the regiment reverted to four companies. During the summer of 1805, when
Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at
Boulogne for a projected invasion, the regiment was still part of the Plymouth garrison. Its 308 men under Maj John Davies were deployed with 3 companies in Plymouth Dock Barracks and 1 company at
Pendennis Castle and Berry Head. The Royal Navy's victory at
Trafalgar in October 1805 reduced the likelihood of invasion, and the role of the militia changed, with less emphasis on coast defence and more as a reserve for the Regulars. In April 1804 the regiment was one of 12 Welsh militia regiments awarded the prefix 'Royal'. Then in March 1810 it was one of four Welsh militia regiments converted to
Light infantry, becoming the
Royal Montgomeryshire Light Infantry Militia and adopting bugles in place of drums.). The Local Militia quota set for Montgomeryshire was 1674 (six times the Regular Militia quota) and two regiments were formed in November 1808: •
Eastern Montgomeryshire Local Militia at Welshpool, commanded by Lt-Col
Viscount Clive (son of the Earl of Powis). •
Western Montgomeryshire Local Militia at
Machynlleth, under Lt-Col Commandant
John Edwards of
Plas Machynlleth. Most of the officers and men came from the western companies of the Montgomeryshire Volunteer Legion and the militia ballot was not required to complete the regiment. Both regiments carried out their 28 days' training early in 1809, the Eastern at
Powis Castle Park, the Western at Plas Machynlleth. The training was subsequently reduced to 21 days, and then to 14 days in 1811. Large numbers of the ex-volunteers left in 1812 after their term of service, and had to be replaced by unwilling balloted men. Annual training was suspended in 1814, and the local militia ballot was suspended and the regiments disbanded in 1816 after the return of peace. The regiments' weapons were returned to store at
Chester Castle. ==1852 reforms==