Under threat of French invasion during the
Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 reorganised the
county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. In peacetime they assembled for 28 days' annual training. 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. Norfolk's quota was set at 960 men in two battalions, with the
City of Norwich contributing 151 of the men. The
Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk,
George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford, was an enthusiast for the militia, and made rapid progress with the assistance of the Townshend family, particularly
Colonel George Townshend,
MP for
Norfolk, a Regular soldier who promoted the militia legislation in parliament. A number of old soldiers were recruited as sergeants to train the balloted men, and a number of volunteers to the ranks were appointed as corporals. Both battalions received their arms from the
Tower of London on 7 October 1758 and paraded at
Fakenham in November. Orford appointed Townshend as colonel of the
1st or Western Battalion and
Sir Armine Wodehouse, 5th Baronet, of the
2nd or Eastern Battalion. The two battalions were embodied (mobilised) for fulltime service on 24 June 1759 and on 4 July marched by four 'divisions' (half battalions) to
Portsmouth to do duty under
Major General Holmes. Due to the heat, they set off soon after midnight, but were described as being in good spirits. The Western Battalion would have been under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel William Windham, because Townshend was serving as a brigadier in
Wolfe's expedition to Quebec.
En route the two battalions passed through London and under Orford's command were reviewed by
King George II in front of
Kensington Palace. They were the first of the reformed militia regiments 'which offered to march wherever they might be most serviceable to the public defence', and the King ordered that they 'should be distinguished by the title of Militia Royal', but this was never done. The
Prince of Wales (soon to be King George III) also showed the Norfolk Militia favour. By August the divisions of the two battalions were alternately guarding
prisoners of war and undergoing training. This is said to have become one of the most important drill manuals employed during the American Revolution. However, a report on the West Norfolks said that the officers were not well chosen, and the adjutant had been incapacitated by a stroke. Hilsea Barracks proved to be infected with
smallpox,
dysentery and
typhus, and the men from isolated Norfolk villages with little immunity succumbed in large numbers. Casualties were severe, and those who did not die suffered long convalescences. In October the Norfolks were relieved by the Warwickshire Militia, but only after the barracks had been thoroughly cleaned. During the autumn of 1759–60 the Norfolk companies were first dispersed in billets across
Hampshire and
Surrey, and then in November they were marched to
Cirencester in
Gloucestershire, where they were joined by a recruiting party and recruits from Norwich. Thereafter the battalions were posted to various towns for garrison duty and to guard prisoners. On 28 May 1761 King George granted
Regimental colours to the two battalions of the Norfolk Militia. With the Seven Years War drawing to an end, orders to disembody (demobilise) the two Norfolk battalions were issued on 15 December 1762. Annual training continued thereafter: the West Norfolks usually at
East Dereham. Ballots were held regularly, and officers were commissioned to fill vacancies.
American War of Independence The militia was called out after the outbreak of the
War of American Independence when the country was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. Orford ordered the Norfolk Militia to assemble on 13 April 1778 and he took personal command of the Western battalion. On its first assembly, Orford dismissed 20 'misshapen, underlimbed, distempered men' and told his deputies to send only 'sizeable, able-bodied men'. The battalion was reviewed on
Mousehold Heath outside Norwich by Lt-Gen Sir Richard Pierson in mid-May. It became normal policy to gather the militia regiments into encampments during the summer months where they could be exercised in larger formations, but the West Norfolks spent most of their embodied service camped by themselves on coast defence duties. The regiment benefited from the training opportunities of these camps even though isolated from other units, and despite Orford's bouts of mental illness he was enthusiastic and enterprising. He had instruction cards printed, and the regiment was put through every manoeuvre in
Lord Amherst's instructions. At
Aldeburgh in 1778 the regiment carried out a mock sea battle, practising forming orderly lines and columns of boats directed by flag signal, and in volley firing from the boats. The culmination was to row out and surround a ship moored offshore, fire two volleys and then board it with fixed bayonets, with a prize for the first boat to board. At the end of the camp the inspecting officer observed that 'they must have been a great deal manoeuvred and likely to be ready and attentive to orders in the noise and confusion of service', though he complained that they were not so good on parade. Orford was keen on marksmanship, and his 600-strong regiment used some 14,000 rounds of ammunition each camping season, then considered a large amount. The results were good by 18th century standards of musketry: on one occasion in 1780 130 shots out of 600 hit the target. One company that consistently won the shooting competitions was accused of loading with two balls instead of one, so Orford carried out experiments to see if this was a good idea. A frequent task for the militia was chasing smugglers. While camped at Aldeburgh in 1779 the West Norfolks sent a party up the coast to intercept a
cutter that was landing contraband. They were too late to intercept the boat, but found casks of spirits hidden in a cave. A party was left to prevent more landings. A little later a landing was made at
Dunwich, and 20 militiamen mounted on baggage horses chased the smugglers for in 4 hours, capturing a letter giving details of the next run. Again, a detachment was sent to camp at the landing point, to deter a cutter that was loitering offshore. Orford remarked that the clergy, lawyers and doctors of the area were all smugglers, and in Aldeburgh itself every inhabitant was one except the
parson. The government always took the precaution of stationing the militia outside their own counties, so that they would not be called upon to fight their friends and relations. When the regiment camped by itself in 1779 and 1780, Orford took upon himself the role of food contractor, supplying the cattle and sheep rather than relying on the retail market. In February 1780 the battalion was billeted at
Ipswich. In August it was camped on Tenpenny Common, and on 18 August it was reviewed by its former commanding officer, now Lt-Gen
Viscount Townshend,
Master-General of the Ordnance, on his way to
Landguard Fort. It went into winter quarters at
Hull in November 1780. In May 1782 it was at
Swaffham and Dereham on its way to camp at
Caister near
Yarmouth. At Caister the Earl of Orford erected a battery for four cannon between the camp and the sea. The battalion was reviewed at
Herringfleet by Gen
Henry Conway in September. The camp at Caister broke up in mid-November and the battalion marched back through Norwich to winter quarters in Dereham, Swaffham,
King's Lynn and
Downham Market. The
Treaty of Paris to end the war was now being negotiated, and the militia could be stood down. The West Norfolks were disembodied at King's Lynn in March 1783. 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 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) was reduced. The Earl of Orford died in 1791 and was succeeded on 31 March 1792 by his kinsman, the Hon
Horatio Walpole, MP for King's Lynn.
French Revolutionary War The militia had already been called out before
Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. George Townshend, now 1st Marquess Townshend and Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, was ordered on 19 December to embody (mobilise) the Norfolk Militia. 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, manned garrisons, guarded prisoners of war, and carried out internal security duties, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the
Volunteers and mounted
Yeomanry. In August 1793 the West Norfolk regiment, with 8 companies, was at
Lexden Camp in
Essex, along with the
East Kent and South Lincolnshire Militia. In May 1794 the regiment was in camp at
Danbury, Essex, in June 1795 at a large camp at
Warley, Essex, under Lt-Gen Cornwallis, and it was at
Shorncliffe Army Camp in
Kent in October 1796. With the signing of the
Treaty of Amiens the war ended and the militia were disembodied in 1802. In June 1804 the West and East Norfolks, with other militia regiments, were stationed at
Colchester, using Lexden Heath for parades. On 25 July 1804 both regiments marched from Colchester barracks and arrived at Coxheath Camp in Kent on 27 July after a rapid and fatiguing march. The East and West Norfolks with the
Royal Buckinghamshire Militia formed Maj-Gen Baird's Brigade. Large numbers of militia were recruited into the Regulars during 1805, and recourse was made to the ballot to make up the numbers, when large amounts were paid for substitutes, though the establishments of the Norfolk regiments were reduced to the numbers before the Supplementaries were added (98 NCOs and drummers, 786 privates). During the
invasion crisis of 1805, while Napoleon assembled an expeditionary force across the
English Channel at
Boulogne, the Norfolk Militia were stationed in the Southern District (Sussex), the most vulnerable sector. Together with the
Nottinghamshire Militia the East and West Norfolks formed a brigade under Maj Gen
Alexander Mackenzie Fraser, defending
Dungeness, with headquarters (HQ) in
Winchelsea. On 1 September the West Norfolks had 712 men under Lt Col George Nelthorpe at Clifford Camp, together with five companies of the East Norfolks. The West Norfolks were inspected at
Canterbury by the
Commander-in-Chief, the
Duke of York, in August 1806. On 16 August 1809 the West Norfolk Militia, under the command of Col Walpole (now the 2nd Earl of Orford of the third creation), marched from Colchester into Norwich, the first time the regiment had been stationed in the city for nearly 30 years. In May 1811 they were at King's Lynn and in December that year they were at
Woodbridge, Suffolk, from where they went to
Harwich. By April 1813 the regiment was stationed at
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and from there it went to
Edinburgh Castle. Once again, George Borrow accompanied his father (now a captain) on this service and dramatised it in
Lavengro. The regiment returned to Norwich on 11 May 1816 and so was on hand to help put down the riots that broke out in the city in June. The regiment was finally disembodied on 27 June.
Long Peace After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held until suspended by the
Militia Act 1829, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers (who were occasionally used to maintain public order) were progressively reduced.
Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (of the third creation) was appointed colonel of the West Norfolks on 26 June 1822 after the death of his father. His lt-col was George Nelthorpe, who had been appointed in 1799, and both retained these positions until after the 1852 reforms. ==1852 reforms==