Name Index

To Introduction pp. xi-xv; and Chapter I

Historical Records of the 1st Devon Militia (4th Battalion the Devonshire Regiment). With a Notice of the 2nd and North Devon Militia Regiments

London, Longmans, Green & Co (1897), illus. xv + 444 pp.

By Colonel H. Walrond

Prepared by Michael Steer

With Britain's standing army increasingly fighting wars abroad, the need for civil defence led to the re-establishment of local militia in the 1750s. The Militia Act of 1757 established militia regiments for each county and required each parish to provide a number of able-bodied men, aged between 18 and 50 (reduced to 45 in 1762) for military training. Militia regiments served in Britain or Ireland but not overseas. Men had to serve for three years (for five years after 1786). In peacetime the men spent just a few weeks at a military camp. The introduction and first chapter of Colonel Walrond's book are together a treasure trove of information on this early period of military history in our county. This rare and much sought-after book was produced digitally by Google from a copy in the New York Public Library collection and can be downloaded from HathiTrust. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.