1st Rhode Island Infantry Regiment, 1st Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, Other units
In addition to the first regiment, the state of Rhode Island raised the following units for the war with Spain:


1st Rhode Island Regiment
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment (also known as Varnum's Regiment, the 9th Continental Regiment, the Black Regiment, the Rhode Island Regiment, and Olney's Battalion) was a regiment in the  Continental Army raised in Rhode Island during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83). It was one of the few units in the Continental Army to serve through the entire war, from the siege of Boston to the disbanding of the Continental Army on November 3, 1783.


1st Rhode Island Regiment
The unit went through several reorganizations and name changes, like most regiments of the Continental Army. It became known as the "Black Regiment" because it was composed mostly of black enlistees. However, there were also some Native Americans. It is regarded by some as the first black military unit, because all the enlistees were non-white.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Varnum's Regiment (1775)
The 1st Rhode Island was initially formed by the Colonial government before being taken into the Continental army. The revolutionary Rhode Island Assembly authorized the regiment on 6 May 1775 as part of the Rhode Island Army of Observation. The regiment was organized on 8 May 1775 under Colonel James Mitchell Varnum, and was therefore often known as "Varnum's Regiment." It originally consisted of eight companies of volunteers from Kent and Kings Counties.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Varnum's Regiment (1775)
Varnum marched the regiment to Roxbury, Massachusetts in June 1775, where it took part in the siege of Boston as part of the Army of Observation. It was adopted into the Continental Army by act of Congress on 14 June 1775. It was expanded to ten companies on 28 June, and was assigned to General Nathanael Greene's Brigade in General George Washington's Main Army on 28 July. Greene's Brigade was encamped at Prospect Hill in Somerville. General Washington officially took command of the Continental Army upon his arrival in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 3 July 1775.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Varnum's Regiment (1775)
The soldiers of Varnum's Regiment had enlisted until the end of 1775, like all others in the Continental Army, and the Regiment was discharged on December 31, along with the remainder of the Army.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 9th Continental Regiment (1776)
The Continental Army was completely reorganized at the beginning of 1776, with many regiments receiving new names and others being disbanded. Enlistments were for one year. Varnum's Regiment was reorganized with eight companies on 1 January 1776 and re-designated as the 9th Continental Regiment. Under Colonel Varnum, the regiment remained near Boston until the British evacuated the city in March. It was then ordered to Long Island and took part in the disastrous New York and New Jersey campaign, including the Battle of Long Island and the Battle of Harlem Heights, retreating from New York with the Main Army. The Continental Army was reorganized at the end of the year, as was the case in 1775, but soldiers were now given the option of enlisting for "three years or the war", unlike the previous practice of enlisting only until the end of the year.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80)
The Continental Army was reorganized once again in 1777, and the 9th Continental Regiment was re-designated as the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Colonel Varnum was promoted to brigadier general on February 27, 1777 and was succeeded by Colonel Christopher Greene, a distant cousin of General Nathanael Greene. Under Colonel Greene, the regiment, along with the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment, successfully defended Fort Mercer at the Battle of Red Bank on 22 October 1777 against an assault by 2,000 Hessians.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80)
The regiment spent the winter of 1777 to 1778 at Valley Forge near Philadelphia. It endured the hardships of hunger, disease and exposure to cold along with other units of the Continental Army. In early 1778 the regiment, along with the 2nd Rhode Island, returned to Rhode Island to prepare for an upcoming expedition to dislodge British and Hessian forces occupying the city of Newport.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), The "Black Regiment" (1778–81)
Black soldiers had been a part of the Continental Army since the first shots at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. In fact, the very first American casualty of the war was a black soldier named Crispus Attucks. The black soldiers in those militias served throughout the war. However, new recruits of black soldiers were barred from military service in the Continental Army from November 12, 1775 until February 23, 1778.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), The "Black Regiment" (1778–81)
Rhode Island was having difficulties recruiting enough white men to meet the troop quotas set by the Continental Congress in 1778, so the Rhode Island Assembly decided to pursue a suggestion made by General Varnum to enlist slaves in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Varnum had raised the idea in a letter to George Washington, who forwarded it to the governor of Rhode Island without explicitly approving or disapproving of the plan.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), The "Black Regiment" (1778–81)
On 14 February 1778, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to allow the enlistment of "every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave" who chose to do so, and voted that "every slave so enlisting shall, upon his passing muster before Colonel Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely free." The owners of enslaved men who enlisted were to be compensated by the Assembly in an amount equal to their market value.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), The "Black Regiment" (1778–81)
A total of 88 slaves enlisted in the regiment over the next four months, as well as some free black men. The regiment eventually totaled about 225 men; as many as 140 of these were black. The 1st Rhode Island became the only regiment of the Continental Army to have segregated companies of black soldiers; other regiments that allowed black men to enlist were integrated. The enlistment of slaves had been controversial, and no more non-white men were enlisted after June 1778. The unit continued to be known as the "Black Regiment" even though only white men were recruited to replace losses, a process which eventually made it an integrated unit.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), Battle of Rhode Island
The regiment fought in the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778 under the command of Major Samuel Ward Jr., as Colonel Greene had been assigned as a brigade commander for the campaign. It played an important role by defending a redoubt on West Main Road where it successfully repelled three charges by the Hessians. Repeated attacks from British regulars and Hessian forces failed to break the line of the Patriot forces and allowed the successful retreat of Sullivan's army. Historian Sidney Rider notes that the Hessians charged three times and were repulsed each time.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), Battle of Rhode Island
According to Rider, the Hessian Colonel "applied to exchange his command and go to New York, because he dared not lead his regiment" into battle again, "lest his men should shoot him for having caused them so much loss." The First Rhode Island suffered three killed, nine wounded, and eleven missing.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), Battle of Rhode Island
After a day of battle, General Sullivan decided that his forces were insufficient and ordered an orderly withdrawal during the night. His soldiers left their camp fires burning to make the Hessians think that they were still in place. The retreat lasted a total of four hours, with six Continental brigades retreating. Sullivan praised the Rhode Island Regiment for its actions, saying that they bore "a proper share of the day's honors." General Lafayette proclaimed the battle as “the best fought action of the war.”


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, 1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80), Battle of Rhode Island
The regiment saw little action over the next three years, since the focus of the war shifted to the south. It remained in Rhode Island to defend against a possible attack by the British forces in Newport, and was later sent to Westchester County in New York where the Continental Army was located.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Rhode Island Regiment (1781–1783)
On 1 January 1781, the regiment was consolidated with the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment at West Point, New York and was re-designated as the Rhode Island Regiment. The regiment spent the early months of 1781 in an area of the Hudson River Valley called by some historians the "Neutral Zone".


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Rhode Island Regiment (1781–1783), Campaign in the Neutral Zone
The "Neutral Zone" was an area in the Hudson River Valley east of the river described as “a desolate, sparsely populated buffer zone between the forces of the English to the South and the Americans to the North.” People who continued to live in the area had to deal with “theft, murder, and destruction” by renegade groups, such as the “cowboys” or the “skinners.” These renegade groups “cloaked their plundering under an alleged allegiance to one of the combatants.” To whichever side the renegade groups leaned, they would forage for goods to sustain “both men and beasts of burden.”


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Rhode Island Regiment (1781–1783), Campaign in the Neutral Zone
The constant foraging and raiding in the neutral zone, especially by the British supporting “cowboys,” (loyalist militia) caused Major-General Heath to command Colonel Greene and the Rhode Island Regiment to defend Pine's Bridge on the Croton River from “marauding Cowboys” who frequently made incursions from their base in Morrisiania (South Bronx), under the command of loyalist leader Brigadier General James Delancy.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Rhode Island Regiment (1781–1783), Battle of Pines Bridge
On the 14th May 1781, Colonel Delancey and his unit of loyalist militia, De Lancey's Refugee Corps, assaulted Pine's Bridge (near present day Yorktown, New York) and caught Colonel Greene and the Rhode Island Regiment by surprise. Delancey's troops killed Colonel Greene, Major Ebenezer Flagg and eight African-American soldiers of the Rhode Island Regiment. The black troops were reported to have “defended their beloved Col. Greene so well that it was only over their dead bodies that the enemy reached and murdered him.”  Colonel Greene and Major Flagg were buried at the First Presbyterian Church in Yorktown.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Last years
Following the death of Colonel Greene, Lieutenant Colonel Jeremiah Olney took command of the regiment. Under Olney's command, the regiment took part in the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 which proved to be the last major battle of the Revolution. After Yorktown, the regiment moved with the Main Army to Newburgh, New York where its primary purpose was to be ready to react if British forces in the city went on the offensive.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Last years
On January 22, 1783, the regiment was placed under command of Colonel Marinus Willett of the New York Militia, along with other units, to capture Fort Ontario in the town of Oswego, New York on the shore of Lake Ontario. On February 8, the force of about 500 soldiers, with 120 horse-drawn sleighs, left Fort Herkimer near Utica. Although the expedition was able to get within a mile of Fort Ontario, the attack was called off at the last minute as the moon was not due to set with enough time before daybreak to make a surprise attack. After the expedition, the Rhode Island Regiment returned to Newburgh, where it remained for the remainder of its service.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Regimental history, Rhode Island Battalion (1783)
On March 1, 1783, the regiment was reorganized into six companies and designated as the Rhode Island Battalion (a.k.a. "Olney's Rhode Island Battalion"). On June 15, the Rhode Island Regiment veterans with at least 3 years of service were discharged at Saratoga, New York, and the remaining soldiers of the battalion who were enlisted for three years, were organized into a small battalion of two companies. The British evacuated New York on November 25, and the Rhode Island Battalion disbanded on December 25 at Saratoga, New York. It was one of the few units in the Continental Army to have served through the Continental Army's entire existence.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Disbandment
The Rhode Island Regiment served its final days in Saratoga, New York under the command of Brevet Major William Allen. The regiment was left waiting in Saratoga for months, with low supplies and a terrible snowstorm, until Major William Allen and Adjutant Jeremiah Greenman printed the discharge certificates on December 25, 1783. The discharged troops were "dumped back into civilian society," according to one historian, with only the white soldiers being guaranteed 100 acres of bounty land from the federal government, as well as a pension.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Disbandment
The Rhode Island General Assembly had already guaranteed the black soldiers their freedom after the war, and the Rhode Island General Assembly passed an act on February 23, 1784 which forbade "any person born in Rhode Island after March 1, 1784 from being made a slave." The act also stipulated that children born to slaves were to be supported financially by the Rhode Island town in which they were born.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Disbandment
During the same meeting, Colonel Olney presented the colors of Rhode Island's Continental Regiment to the General Assembly, and they have been housed in the Rhode Island State House ever since. Olney had promised his men his "interest in their favour," and he continued to advocate for his former troops' right to remain free and to have the government pay them the wages or pensions that they deserved.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Disbandment
In June 1784, 13 black veterans of the Rhode Island Regiment hired Samuel Emory to present their claims for back pay to the War Department Accounts Office, in order to help alleviate the financial difficulties that most black veterans faced after the war. In response, the Rhode Island Assembly passed a special act for these soldiers on February 28, 1785 which called for "the support of paupers, who heretofore were slaves, and enlisted into the Continental battalions."


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Disbandment
Therefore, any "Indian, negro or mulatto" who was sick or unable to support himself must be taken care of by the town council where he lived. Most black veterans remained in Rhode Island, although many moved onto the 100 acres of Bounty Land that they were promised in New York or Ohio. Most veterans who survived into their 50s or 60s were in desperate poverty, including the whites, because of the economic depression that occurred after the Revolution.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Senior officers
(Colonel Varnum was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Rhode Island state militia on 12 December 1776 and commanded a brigade of Rhode Island state troops serving in Rhode Island until his promotion to brigadier general in the Continental Army on 27 February 1777.)


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Senior officers
(Colonel Crary was appointed lieutenant colonel of Stanton's State Regiment on 12 August 1776.)


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Legacy
There is a monument to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment at Patriots Park in Portsmouth, Rhode Island on the site of the Battle of Rhode Island. The regimental flag is preserved at the Rhode Island State House in Providence.


1st Rhode Island Regiment, Legacy
Colonel Greene and Major Flagg are buried at the First Presbyterian Church in Yorktown, New York where there is a large monument in their honor, about two miles north of the site of their deaths. There is also a Monument to First Rhode Island Regiment made of stone next to Greene's marker to honor the black soldiers who died defending them; this memorial was added to the African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County in 2004.


1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 1st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, it is unclear when the division was first established. Some sources indicate 1918, others indicate 1924 or 1927. The division was formed from units already stationed in Moscow as the 1st Moscow Rifle Division. It became a motorized unit in 1940.


1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union), First Formation
The division was initially placed on "cadre" status, but in 1932 it was upgraded to a "shock" division and tank and motorized elements were added. In August 1939, as the Soviet Union began to mobilize and expand the army, the division was broken up to provide cadres for two new divisions. The 2nd Rifle Regiment was used to form the 115th Rifle Division and the 3rd Rifle Regiment was used to form the 126th Rifle Division. The 1st Rifle Regiment was then used to form new 1st Rifle Division.


1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Second Formation
The division was formed from the remaining cadre of the division. The division was assigned as the garrison for the city of Moscow. In December 1939 the division was ordered to convert to a motorized division and in January 1940 was redesignated the 1st Motorized Division. This division eventually became the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division.


1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Third Formation
It was reformed for the third time on 13 March 1942 at Kuibyshev (though a second source, probably Poirer and Connor, says June 1942 was also a possibility). After completion of training the division was transferred to the 5th Reserve Army. Assigned to 63rd Army from August to November 1942, and fought at Stalingrad. It became the 58th Guards Rifle Division on 31 December 1942.


1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Third Formation, Subordinate Units
Units were awarded their 'Guards' designation on 27 February 1943


1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Fourth Formation
The division was reformed for the fourth time in December 1943, or January 1944, at Nevel in the rear areas of 6th Guards Army. The 31st and 100th Rifle Brigades provided the basis for the new formation. It was transferred to 70th Army, 2nd Belorussian Front, and with that Army took Brest, Belarus, winning the title 'Brest'. It later advanced into Poland, fighting at Gdynia. It became part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany briefly, but with the rest of 70th Army and 114th Rifle Corps moved to the South Urals region and was disbanded on 24 July 1945.


1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union), Fourth Formation
However, the division appears to have been disbanded in the summer of 1945 in accordance with Stavka Directive No. 11095, which directed the formation of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.


1st Rifle Division NKVD
The 1st Rifle Division NKVD was a division of the NKVD of the Soviet Union during World War II.


1st Rifle Division NKVD, History
The 1st Rifle Division NKVD was formed in August 1941 from the 3rd, 7th, 33rd and 102nd Border Guard Detachments and the 7th and 33rd NKVD Rifle Regiments. In December 1941 the division was then assigned to the 8th Army where it remained until February 1942 when it moved back to the Neva Operational Group as part of the Leningrad Front. Later that year in August the division was transferred to the Red Army and redesignated as the 46th Rifle Division.


1st Rifle Division NKVD, Organization at beginning
Organization of the "division" before it was actually considered a division sized unit. :


1st Rifle Division NKVD, Organization during War
When the war started the division was de-organized and re-organized as a rifle division within the army. It was then known (in the army) as the "46th (Dzerzhinsky) Rifle Division): see for further information. The structure when it entered the army:


1st Robert Awards
The  1st Robert Awards ceremony was held in 1984 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Organized by the Danish Film Academy, the awards honoured the best in Danish and foreign film of 1983.


1st Rockbridge Artillery
The 1st Rockbridge Artillery was a light artillery battery in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.


1st Rockbridge Artillery
The 1st Rockbridge Artillery were organized as part of the Stonewall Brigade in late April 1861 in Lexington, Virginia, from men of Rockbridge County. The battery fought at the First Battle of Manassas, supporting the brigade in its defense of Henry House Hill on 21 July. The battery provided artillery support for the brigade in the First Battle of Kernstown, the Battle of Port Republic, the Battle of Malvern Hill, the Second Battle of Manassas, and the Battle of Antietam.


1st Rockbridge Artillery
In October 1862 the 1st Rockbridge Artillery was detached from the brigade, and from that point in the war would be part of corps artillery battalions. The battery fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and the Siege of Petersburg. After the Confederate abandonment of Petersburg, the 1st Rockbridge Artillery joined in the retreat and surrendered at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865.


1st Rockbridge Artillery, History, Formation
The seventy men of the 1st Rockbridge Artillery were organized in April 1861 by VMI professor John McCausland. William N. Pendleton took command of the battery in late April after McCausland was transferred to command another unit. The battery was initially equipped with two 6-pounders from VMI and two guns from Richmond. Pendleton named the first four guns "Matthew", "Mark", "Luke", and "John", after the Apostles. On 11 May, the battery departed for Harpers Ferry, where it joined Thomas J. Jackson's Virginia brigade, which was later called the Stonewall Brigade.


1st Rockbridge Artillery, History, First Manassas
On 18 July, the battery moved east with the Stonewall Brigade to link up with Confederate general P. G. T. Beauregard's troops at Manassas Junction. On 21 July, during the First Battle of Manassas, Pendleton's Battery was among the Confederate batteries defending the key position of the battle, Henry House Hill. The battery was visited by Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who had gone to Manassas to watch the battle, during the Union retreat. In the aftermath of the battle, the battery received captured Union cannon.


1st Rojdenstvenskoe
1st Rojdenstvenskoe (Russian: 1-е Рождественское) is a rural locality (a selo) in Verkhnekhotemlsky Selsoviet of Fatezhsky District, Kursk Oblast, Russia. The population was 34 as of 2010.


1st Rojdenstvenskoe, Geography
The village is located on the right bank of the Khoteml River, 10 km south of Fatezh (the district's administrative centre) by road.


1st Rojdenstvenskoe, History
During the Great Patriotic War, a hospital was organized inside the village school. In 1965, the village of Dolgintsevo was added to the village.


1st Rossoshinskiy
1st Rossoshinskiy (Russian: 1-й Россошинский) is a rural locality (a khutor) and the administrative center of Rossoshinskoye Rural Settlement of Zernogradsky District, Russia. The population was 911 as of 2010.


1st Rossoshinskiy, Geography
The khutor is located on the Sredny Elbuzd River, 18 km from Zernograd.


1st Rossoshinskiy, Geography
1st Rossoshinskiy is located 35 km south of Zernograd (the district's administrative centre) by road.


1st Round (album)
1st Round is an album by Italian musician and producer Pino Presti, released in 1976 under Atlantic Records. It's considered one of the most innovative albums of the 70's in the  Italian music scene. All songs are composed by Pino Presti, except for "Smile" (Charlie Chaplin), "Sunny" (Bobby Hebb) and "Firefly" (Kenny Nolan).


1st Royal Bavarian Chevau-légers "Emperor Nicholas of Russia"
The 1st Royal Bavarian Chevau-légers "Emperor Nicholas of Russia" (Königlich Bayerisches Chevaulegers-Regiment „Kaiser Nikolaus von Rußland“ Nr. 1) was a light cavalry regiment of the Royal Bavarian Army. The regiment was formed in 1682 and fought in the Battle of Vienna, the Great Turkish War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Napoleonic Wars, the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War, and World War I. The regiment was disbanded in 1919.


1st Royal Bavarian Division
The 1st Royal Bavarian Division was a unit of the Royal Bavarian Army that served alongside the Prussian Army as part of the Imperial German Army. The division was formed on November 27, 1815, as the Infantry Division of the Munich General Command (Infanterie-Division des Generalkommandos München.). It was called the 1st Army Division between 1822 and 1848, again between 1851 and 1859, and again from 1869 to 1872. It was called the 1st Infantry Division from 1848 to 1851 (as well as during wartime) and was named the Munich General Command from 1859 to 1869.


1st Royal Bavarian Division
From April 1, 1872, until mobilization for World War I, it was the 1st Division. Within Bavaria, it was not generally referred to as a "Royal Bavarian" division, but outside Bavaria, this designation was used for it, and other Bavarian units, to distinguish them from similarly numbered Prussian units. The division was headquartered in Munich from 1815 to 1919. The division was part of the 1st Royal Bavarian Army Corps.


1st Royal Bavarian Division
The division fought against Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the division fought alongside the Prussians. It saw action in battles of Wörth, Beaumont, and Sedan, the 1st and 2nd battles of Orleans, the battle of Loigny-Poupry, and the siege of Paris.


1st Royal Bavarian Division
During World War I, the division served on the Western Front. It fought in the Battle of the Frontiers against French forces in the early stages, and then participated in the Race to the Sea. Thereafter, it remained on the northern part of the front facing the British Army through 1915 and early 1916. The Infantry Life Regiment was transferred from the division in 1915 to become part of a provisional German mountain division, the Alpenkorps, sent to the Italian Front. In 1916, the division went into the Battle of Verdun. After Verdun, it went to the Somme in that battle's later stages. 1917 was spent mainly occupying the trench lines. In 1918, the division participated in the German spring offensive. The division was generally rated one of the better German divisions by Allied intelligence.


1st Royal Bavarian Division, Pre-World War I peacetime organization
In 1914, the peacetime organization of the 1st Royal Bavarian Division was as follows:


1st Royal Bavarian Division, Order of battle on mobilization
On mobilization, in August 1914, at the beginning of World War I, most divisional cavalry, including brigade headquarters, was withdrawn to form cavalry divisions or split up among divisions as reconnaissance units. Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from their higher headquarters. The 1st Division was renamed the 1st Bavarian Infantry Division. Its initial wartime organization (major units) was as follows:


1st Royal Bavarian Division, Late World War I organization
Divisions underwent many changes during the war, with regiments moving from division to division, and some being destroyed and rebuilt. During the war, most divisions became triangular - one infantry brigade with three infantry regiments rather than two infantry brigades of two regiments (a "square division"). An artillery commander replaced the artillery brigade headquarters, the cavalry was further reduced, and the engineer contingent was increased. Divisional signals commanders were established to better control communications, a major problem in coordinating infantry and artillery operations during the war. The division's order of battle on March 21, 1918, was as follows:


1st Royal Bavarian Division, Late World War I organization, History
At the beginning of the First World War, the division was mobilized under the command of the 6th Army, on the Western Front.


1st Royal Bavarian Heavy Cavalry (Prince Charles of Bavaria's)
The 1st Royal Bavarian Heavy Cavalry “Prince Charles of Bavaria” (Königlich Bayerisches Schwere-Reiter-Regiment „Prinz Karl von Bayern“ Nr. 1) were a heavy cavalry regiment of the Royal Bavarian Army. The regiment was formed in 1814 as Garde du Corps to the King of Bavaria. The normal peacetime location of the regiment was Munich. The regiment fought in the War of the Sixth Coalition, the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. The regiment was disbanded in 1919.


1st Royal Bavarian Uhlans "Emperor William II, King of Prussia"
The 1st Royal Bavarian Uhlans "Emperor William II, King of Prussia" (Königlich Bayerisches Ulanen-Regiment „Kaiser Wilhelm II., König von Preußen“ Nr. 1) was a light cavalry regiment of the Royal Bavarian Army. The regiment was formed in 1863 as a Uhlans unit. It fought in the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. In 1919 the regiment was disbanded.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own)
The 1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own) was an auxiliary regiment raised in the county of Lancashire in North West England during the 17th Century. Primarily intended for home defence, it saw active service in Ireland under King William III, as well as against the Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745. It spent long periods on defence duties during the wars of the 18th Century and early 19th Century, and was stationed on the Ionian Islands during the Crimean War.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own)
It later became part of the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) and saw active service in the Second Boer War. After its conversion to the Special Reserve under the Haldane Reforms, it supplied reinforcements to the fighting battalions during World War I. After a shadowy postwar existence the unit was finally disbanded in 1953.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Background
Universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England, and its legal basis was updated by two Acts of 1557. This legislation placed selected men, the 'Trained Bands', under the command of a Lord Lieutenant appointed by the monarch; this is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Background
The trained bands were an important element in the country's defence at the time of the Armada in the 1580s, and control of the bands was an area of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War. Lord Wharton had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire by Parliament in 1641, and on the outbreak of hostilities in July 1642 he attempted to seize the trained bands' magazine at Manchester.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Background
However, he was forestalled by Lord Strange and William Farington (appointed Commissioner of Array by the King), who had already gained control of the magazines at Liverpool and Preston for the Royalists. The resulting skirmish at Manchester on 15 July, when Strange and his men were driven out by Wharton's Parliamentarians, was among the first battles of the war.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Background
Once Parliament had established full control in 1648 it passed new Militia Acts that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners, who were appointed by Parliament or the Council of State, after which 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.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment
After the Restoration of the Monarchy, the English Militia was re-established by the Militia Act of 1661 under the control of the king's lords-lieutenant, the men to be selected by ballot. It was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' to counterbalance a 'Standing Army', a concept that was tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported Cromwell's military dictatorship, and almost the whole burden of home defence and internal security was entrusted to the militia.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment
The Lancashire Militia were called out in 1663 when there were rumours of plots against the new regime, and no sooner had they been sent home in October than they were called out again on receipt of new information. Some counties were slacking in training and equipping their men: in 1674 most of the weapons of the Lancashire Militia were found to be defective, and many had to be replaced again in 1689.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Nine Years' War
Following the Glorious Revolution, in which King William III supplanted James II, the militia were called out in 1689. The Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, William Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby, organised three regiments of foot and three Troops of horse from the County palatine of Lancaster:


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Nine Years' War
These regiments volunteered for service in William's campaign in Ireland. After training on Fulwood Moor, near Preston, the Lancashire brigade, commanded by the Earl of Derby's brother, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon James Stanley (1st Foot Guards), sailed with the army from Wallasey and landed at Carrickfergus on 14 June 1690. It played a full part in the campaign, serving in the Siege of Carrickfergus, at the Battle of the Boyne, and the Siege of Athlone.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Nine Years' War
After a short tour of garrison duty in Dublin, the Lancashire brigade embarked at Howth in September to return to England to be disembodied on 15 October. Lieutenant-Colonel Stanley then recruited a number of veterans from the brigade for the regiment he was joining in Flanders. He succeeded to the command after his colonel was killed at the Battle of Steenkerque, after which the unit became 'Stanley's Regiment' (later the Bedfordshire Regiment). Colonel Stanley succeeded his brother as 10th Earl of Derby and Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire in 1702.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Nine Years' War
At the end of the Nine Years War in 1697 the militia in Lancashire consisted of 1601 men organized into 22 companies and three regiments, with 150 horsemen in three Troops. The three colonels were Major-General the Earl of Macclesfield (lord lieutenant), Roger Kirkby, MP, and Sir Ralph Assheton, 2nd Baronet, of Middleton, MP.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1715
After the outbreak of the Jacobite Rising of 1715 the Lancashire Militia was ordered in August to assemble at Lancaster Castle under the command of Col Philip Hoghton. He found that fewer than half of the balloted men turned out, only 560 in all, enough to organise a single battalion. When a force of reputedly 3–4000 Scottish Highlanders and English Jacobites advanced from Carlisle, Hoghton was ordered to fall back from Lancaster to Preston to await further orders.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1715
He marched out early on 7 November and the Jacobites entered Lancaster the same day, taking over the ordnance stores in the castle. From Preston the Lancashire Militia and a newly arrived regiment of dragoons were ordered to Wigan, and the Jacobites occupied Preston on 9 November, where they built street barricades and placed the town in a state of defence. However, they were disappointed by the small number of Lancashire Jacobites who joined them, about 1200 badly-armed men. Major-General Charles Wills reached Wigan from Manchester on 11 November with a considerable force of government troops. Further troops under Lieutenant-General George Carpenter were also approaching from Clitheroe.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1715
Wills advanced on Preston next day, and finding the bridge over the River Ribble unguarded, began his attack on the town. Brigadier-General Philip Honywood led the Lancashire Militia together with three dismounted troops of dragoons against the barricade at the west end of Fishergate. They first stormed the houses west of the churchyard and set fire to them as a diversion to assist the column attacking the churchyard barricade, and then moved against Fishergate, preceded by skirmishers.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1715
Colonel Hoghton detached the left wing of the Lancashire Militia and a troop of dragoons to attack the Friargate barricade while he led the right wing and remaining dragoons in columns of attack against Fishergate. Hoghton and his men reached the top of the barricade but were driven back by heavy musketry fire from the neighbouring houses, having suffered serious casualties; Honywood ordered them to withdraw. The attack at Friargate fared no better. But the Government troops renewed the attack after dark, Col Hoghton leading his men silently up to the Fishergate barricade then rushed it with the bayonet.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1715
The rebels took refuge in the houses, which were set on fire, and the street fighting continued by the light of the fires. Carpenter's troops arrived in the morning, to relieve the exhausted militia and completely invest the town, poised to complete the task of capturing it. A brigade of Dutch troops was also about to arrive, having marched from London. The rebel commanders, realising that they could hold out no longer, surrendered.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1715
The Lancashire Militia had four officers killed, seven wounded, and 105 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and privates killed and wounded, around a third of the total government casualties at the Battle of Preston. On 16 November the regiment marched back to Lancaster with 250 prisoners to be lodged in the castle. It remained there for the rest of the year, escorting parties of prisoners for trial, until it was disembodied about 15 January 1716.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
The Lancashire Militia was next called out for service against the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Orders to embody the militia were issued to the lord lieutenant, Edward Stanley, 11th Earl of Derby, on 26 September after the government's forces had been defeated at the Battle of Prestonpans. Derby complained that although there were sufficient weapons (though of poor quality), the three regiments of foot and three troops of horse had not been called out for training in the 30 years since the Battle of Preston.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
He and his deputy lieutenants scrambled to raise money and find officers and army pensioners who could train the raw troops gathering at Bury. By 5 November Derby had assembled a regiment of eight companies. The Lancaster and Lonsdale Company, under the command of Captain William Bradshaw, was left at Lancaster to guard the ordnance stores and prison there. Major William Ffarington of Shaw Hall, Leyland, was sent with a detachment of two companies to guard Chorley. In the meantime, the Corporation of Liverpool had raised a 648-strong volunteer regiment, the Liverpool Blues, which was fully armed and could be put into the field.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
On 17 November the Jacobite army reached Carlisle, which soon surrendered, and began moving south. Two days later Derby ordered the companies at Bury and Chorley to concentrate at Liverpool, and ordered Bradshaw to requisition as many waggons and carts as he could to move the ordnance stores out of Lancaster to 'a secure and secret place' at Ulverston. These moves were carried out next day, regimental headquarters (HQ) was established at the Talbot Hotel in Liverpool, and the Earl handed over command to Maj Ffarington.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
The commander of the government forces, Field Marshal George Wade, advised the militia to operate in small bodies to harry the advancing rebel army, firing from hedges and preventing it from sending out plundering parties. The Jacobites reached Lancaster on 24 November and Preston on 27 November, while detachments marched through Wigan, Chorley and Bolton. They hoped to gather recruits in Lancashire but were disappointed until they reached Manchester on 28 November, where there were sufficient volunteers to form the Manchester Regiment.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
The Liverpool Blues, being better armed and equipped than the Lancashire Militia, were sent out on 29 November under Colonel Campbell to Warrington to prevent the rebels from using the bridge over the Mersey. As darkness approached they opened fire on what was thought to be a group of Highlanders but turned out to be a flock of geese. Next day they repulsed the Jacobite detachment from Preston, and broke down Warrington Bridge. On 1 December Col Campbell marched to Cheadle and Stockport, blowing up the bridges there and forcing the Jacobite artillery and baggage to cross by temporary rafts.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
After feinting towards Wales, the Jacobites reached Derby on 4 December. Government forces were now closing in on the Jacobite army and it was clear that there was not going to be an uprising in their favour in England. The Jacobite commanders decided to retreat to Scotland. Hindered by the Liverpool Blues' demolitions, they did not reach Manchester until 8 December, with stragglers being picked off by the Blues.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
The advance guards of the government forces under Maj-Gens James Oglethorpe and Sir John Ligonier joined the Liverpool Blues at Lancaster on 14 December. Next day Capt Bradshaw and his company (95 all ranks) arrived from Ulverston with orders to put himself under Campbell's command. By now the Duke of Cumberland had arrived to take overall command, and he sent Oglethorpe with his dragoons and the Liverpool Blues to harry the Jacobite rearguard. They marched via Kendal (17 December) and continued over Shap Fell in moonlight and a snowstorm to surprise the Jacobites next morning.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
The dragoons pursued the Jacobite rearguard through Shap village as far as Clifton Moor, where the Jacobites were drawn up to cover the retreat of their guns across the bridges into Penrith. The Liverpool Blues deployed in front of Clifton, with Bradshaw's company and some dragoons covering the road at Clifton Dykes. They piled arms and cooked a meal, then at 20.00 that evening Oglethorpe ordered them to advance in support of his dragoons. Bradshaw's company formed on the right of the Liverpool Blues (the position taken by the grenadier company in a line regiment).


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
The delaying action (the Clifton Moor Skirmish) was well handled by the Jacobite commander, Lord George Murray, who led a counter-charge of Highlanders, and Oglethorpe was blamed for the heavy losses suffered by his dragoons in their dismounted attack. The Liverpool Blues followed the Highlanders with volley fire, but the Jacobites succeeded in reaching Penrith with the loss of a few guns and waggons. Bradshaw commended Corporal Shaw of his company for rescuing three people from a burning house in Clifton. The company had lost one killed and three wounded in the two skirmishes at Shap and Clifton


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Old County Regiment, Jacobite Rising of 1745
Cumberland's army followed the Jacobites through Penrith to Carlisle. The Lancashire Militia company was left at Penrith to guard the prisoners, while the Liverpool Blues were present at the 10-day siege of Carlisle Castle. Cumberland marched into Scotland on 4 January 1746 (finally defeating the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April) while the Liverpool Blues escorted the prisoners from Carlisle (including those of the Manchester Regiment) to Lancashire for trial. Bradshaw's company similarly escorted the prisoners from Penrith to Lancaster. The Lancashire Militia was then disembodied on 12 January 1746; it was not called out again for training or active service until the Seven Years' War.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Seven Years' War
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. Lancashire's quota was set at 800 men in one regiment, but despite the enthusiasm of the acting lord lieutenant, Lord Strange, the county was slow to raise its quota. A regiment would have its arms issued from the Tower of London when it reached 60 per cent of its established strength, but in the case of Lancashire this was not until 18 July 1760, and the regiment was finally embodied for service on 23 December that year.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Seven Years' War
The regiment assembled on 28 December with six companies at Preston and four at Manchester. After training, it marched on 9 July 1761 to join other militia regiments at Warley Camp in Essex, arriving on 13 August. On 15 October King George III presented the Lancashire Militia with its new Regimental Colours, and on 23 October they were granted the title Royal Lancashire Militia (RLM) with the colonel's company designated 'the King's Company'. The regiment then marched to Nottingham for winter quarters. On 11 June 1762 the regiment was marched south again to join the militia camp at Winchester in Hampshire on 30 June. Preliminaries of peace having been signed, the regiment was ordered on 18 October to march back to Lancashire, where it was disembodied at Manchester on 15 December 1762.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Seven Years' War
In peacetime, the reformed militia regiments were supposed to be assembled for 28 days' annual training. In 1763 part of the RLM camped at Fulwood Moor near Preston from 18 May to 14 June, but it was not called out again until 1778.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, War of American 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. The Royal Warrant for the embodiment of the Royal Lancashire Militia was issued on 26 March and the regiment was embodied on 1 April 1778 under the command of the 12th Earl of Derby. After six weeks' training the regiment was marched to camp at Winchester. In October it was billeted among small Hampshire towns: Lymington (HQ + 3 companies), Romsey (3 companies), Ringwood, Christchurch, Downton and Fordingbridge (1 company each). Then in November it marched back to Liverpool for the winter, setting up its HQ at the Talbot Hotel once more.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, War of American Independence
While at Liverpool a large number of unfit and time-expired men were discharged and a new ballot held to refill the ranks, necessitating a great deal of training. In June 1779 the regiment moved to Newcastle upon Tyne, with two companies detached to Sunderland until February 1780 when they relieved the Regular garrison of Tynemouth Castle. In June 1780 the regiment marched to Chester Castle; three companies were detached at Macclesfield and two at Nantwich. It spent the winter from November 1780 at Manchester, with some companies detached to Warrington.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, War of American Independence
In June 1781 two companies each from Manchester and Warrington moved to Chester, returning to Warrington the following November. By now the regiment was organised like the regulars with a Grenadier Company (the King's Company), a Light Company, and eight line or 'hat' companies. From April 1782 the regiment was broken up in detachments across Cumberland: Carlisle Castle (4 companies), Cockermouth (2 companies), Workington (2 companies), Whitehaven and Maryport (1 company each). Although Cumberland was remote from a possible French invasion, Whitehaven had been attacked by John Paul Jones in 1778.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, War of American Independence
The regiment remained at these stations until 22 January 1783, when two companies were ordered from Carlisle Castle to Lancaster, and then on 17 February marched with HQ from Lancaster to Manchester. By now a peace treaty had been drawn up (it was signed in September) and orders were issued to the Earl of Derby on 28 February to disembody the RLM. This was carried out at Manchester in March 1783. The Earl of Derby then resigned the colonelcy to concentrate on his parliamentary duties; he nominated a distant kinsman, Thomas Stanley of Cross Hill, MP, to succeed him.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, War of American Independence
From 1784 to 1792 the militia were generally assembled for their 28 days' annual training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out each year. However, it appears that the Royal Lancashire Militia did no training until the Stanleys called them out in 1790.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
The militia were re-embodied in January 1793 shortly before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain. The Royal Lancashire Militia assembled at Preston on 22 January, but on 25 January were ordered to disperse across Lancashire – Liverpool (4 companies), Wigan (3 companies), Blackburn (2 companies) and Chorley (1 company) – which hindered training.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
During the French Wars the militia were employed anywhere in the country for coast defence, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while the regulars regarded them as a source of trained men if they could be persuaded to transfer. Their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the part-time Volunteers and later by a compulsory Local Militia.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
In February 1793 the civil authorities in the West Riding of Yorkshire feared an outbreak of disorder and requested a military force. The RLM was sent, with HQ and four companies going to Leeds, three companies to Halifax, then to Sheffield and Barnsley, and three to Wakefield, Horset and Horbury. When regular troops arrived to keep the peace in May the RLM was moved to Doncaster, with detached companies at Bawtry, Blyth, Retford and Moorgate. During the rest of the year companies and pairs of companies went out to other towns before returning to Doncaster.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
In April 1794 the regiment was moved to the East Midlands, with six companies at Stamford and four at Peterborough. In June 1794 the RLM joined the great anti-invasion camp on the South Downs above Brighton, which included regular and fencible regiments as well as militia. In November it moved to winter quarters across Kent, with HQ at Canterbury Barracks. In 1795 it went to Dover Castle, spending May in camp at Hythe, returning to Canterbury in October with the companies in billets across north Kent.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
The regiment was then moved to billets around Greenwich and Deptford in November as part of a concentration round London to prevent disorder. In the spring of 1796 detachments were marched through Surrey before returning to Greenwich, then in June the regiment crossed to Warley Camp before going into winter quarters at Chelmsford.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
Lancashire's militia quota set in 1760 was small in proportion to its population, which soared during the Industrial Revolution. By 1796 it represented only one man in every 43 of those eligible. But in that year an additional ballot was carried out to raise men for the 'Supplementary Militia' to reinforce the standing militia regiments and to form additional temporary regiments. Lancashire's quota was increased to five regiments, and on 1 March 1797 the RLM was ordered to send a party to Lancaster to begin training them.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
Although recruitment of such large numbers became difficult, the 1st Royal Lancashire Supplementary Militia was raised on 1 March 1797 at Liverpool under the personal command of the 13th Earl of Derby as lord lieutenant. On 17 August 1798 it was placed on a permanent footing as the 2nd Royal Lancashire Militia (2nd RLM), after which the 'Old County Regiment' became the 1st Royal Lancashire Militia (1st RLM).


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, French Revolutionary War
In March 1797 the 1st RLM was scattered across villages north of London, but on 11 April it was ordered to Plymouth, where it was quartered at the Maker Redoubts overlooking Plymouth Sound for the rest of the year. By the end of the year, with so many senior officers in parliament and the parties away training the supplementary militia, the strength of the regiment at Plymouth was down to about 400 men, under the command of the senior captain. Two of the companies may have been organised and equipped as rifle companies at this time.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Irish Rebellion
In March 1798 legislation was passed to allow the militia to volunteer for service in Ireland, where a Rebellion had broken out. The 1st Royal Lancashire Militia immediately volunteered, and the regiment was recruited to full strength (1200 men) from the supplementary militia to replace the time-expired men. The contractors having failed to provide enough uniforms in time, the 136 time-expired men were stripped of their uniforms, hats and boots to clothe the recruits, leading to a serious complaint to the War Office about their treatment.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Irish Rebellion
The recruits arrived at Plymouth from Lancashire and the regiment embarked at the end of June. But the news from Ireland having improved the voyage was cancelled and the regiment returned to camp on Maker Heights. It was not until the end of August that the 1st RLM embarked again as part of a militia brigade in response to the French intervention in Ireland. The regiment landed at Ballyhack in Waterford Harbour on 11 September and then marched to New Ross, preparatory to moving north.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Irish Rebellion
However, the French expedition had already been defeated at the Battle of Ballinamuck, and the follow-up expedition was defeated at sea without landing. When the regiment reached Clonmel on 21 October the rebellion was effectively over. The regiment went into winter quarters but guard and picket duties heavy while the area was still in disorder.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Irish Rebellion
With the end of the Irish Rebellion the government encouraged militiamen to volunteer for the regular army: the 1st RLM was one of a number of regiments that offered to serve abroad as a complete unit. However the legislation did not allow for this and the offer was declined, though Col Stanley encouraged his men to volunteer as individuals, and some 350 did so, over 150 joining the 20th Foot (later the Lancashire Fusiliers).


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Irish Rebellion
Meanwhile, the trials of the rebels were continuing, and in May 1799 the militia brigade at Clonmel was put on alert to march at short notice in case of trouble, or of another French landing. In September, after a year's service in Ireland, the 1st RLM prepared to embark for England. Before departure one whole company, about 100 strong, recruited from Bolton and its neighbourhood, volunteered to transfer to the 36th Foot. The reduced regiment – about 560 other ranks (ORs) – embarked from Waterford on 9 October, landing at Bristol on 12 October. It rested at Tetbury and then on 21 October it began its march back to Lancashire. On arrival at Preston on 6 November the regiment was ordered to disembody.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Irish Rebellion
The supplementary militia having been abolished, the remaining balloted men in Lancashire were distributed to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd RLM to fill vacancies – the officers of the 1st RLM complaining about the quality of the men they were assigned. The regiment completed disembodiment on 28 December 1799. It was called out again for training 5 August 1801, assembling at Lancaster (now its permanent HQ). A few days later it was informed that it would be embodied for active service again at the end of the training.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Irish Rebellion
On 26 September it began the march to its new station of Tynemouth Castle. On arrival, with the newly balloted men, it had a strength of 900 ORs. The Peace of Amiens was signed on 27 March 1802, and on 1 April the regiment was ordered to march back to Lancaster to disembody once more, apart from the small permanent staff.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Napoleonic Wars
The Peace of Amiens was short-lived, and the militia was called out again on 1 April 1803. After establishing a depot at Lancaster to train the newly balloted men the 1st RLM marched on 23 May to join the encampment at Danbury, Essex, under the command of Lt-Col John Plumbe, Col Stanley being unwell. The recruits followed from Lancaster on 20 July, bringing the regiment up to full strength of 1200 men in 12 companies. It remained at Danbury Camp until August 1804, when it was transferred to Brabourne Lees Camp in Kent, and then in June 1805 to Portsmouth.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Napoleonic Wars
In August and September 1805 the 1st RLM was at Weymouth, Dorset, while the royal family was in residence, then in October moved to Exeter and the surrounding villages, where it spent the winter. In the spring it returned to Weymouth where it trained the newly balloted men, who replaced those time-expired and those who had volunteered for the regulars (one whole company had done so). It returned to Exeter for the winter of 1806, staying there and at Stonehouse Barracks, Plymouth, until May 1809.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Napoleonic Wars
At that time it was ordered to Tavistock and then to Bristol, detaching 100 men to embark at Ilfracombe to sail to Milford Haven and Haverfordwest to reinforce the garrison there. The detachment rejoined HQ at Bristol in June, and the regiment stayed there until March 1811. During 1810 it had recruiting parties detached to Bolton, Manchester, Preston and Wigan. On 8 March 1811 the 1st RLM was ordered to march from Bristol to Hull; however on 25 March it was diverted en route to deal with Luddite disturbances that had broken out at Nottingham.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Napoleonic Wars
It was ordered to resumed its march to Hull Barracks on 22 April. In October it was sent to Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth, with detachments at Eyemouth and Holy Island. In March 1812 it moved into Scotland, to Dunbar and Haddington, and then to Dalkeith. It remained there, with occasional detachments to Penicuik where there was a large Prisoner-of-war camp to be guarded, until December 1814.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Napoleonic Wars
The militia had become one of the biggest sources of recruits to the regular army, and the 1st RLM was expected to supply a quota of 100 volunteers each year, rising to a draft or 244 men in February 1814. Colonel Plumbe also volunteered the whole regiment for service in Ireland, and roughly half the men agreed to extend their service accordingly. In March 1814 this body (12 officers and about 340 ORs) embarked at Portpatrick for Donaghadee, from where it marched to Belfast and then Athlone, arriving on 14 June.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon had abdicated in April and peace was declared on 30 May, but the 1st RLM had still not been disembodied in February 1815 when he escaped from Elba and the war was resumed. The three regiments of Lancashire Militia, which happened to be stationed together at Dublin, were allowed to recruit back to full strength by ballot and 'by beat of drum'. They also provided drafts of around 1000 volunteers to the regular regiments being sent to Belgium. The 1st RLM supplied 23 NCOs and men to the 1st Foot Guards, and 11 each to the 33rd Foot and 71st (Highland) Light Infantry, with individuals to other regiments. There is a story that many of the Guardsmen at the Battle of Waterloo were still wearing their Militia uniforms.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Napoleonic Wars
Waterloo ended the war, but much of the regular army remained in France as part of the Army of Occupation for several months, and the Lancashire Militia continue their garrison duty at Dublin. The 1st RLM now being very weak, drafts of balloted men continued to be despatched from Lancaster until February 1816, when it was finally ordered to return for disembodiment. It embarked from Dublin on 25 March and landed at Liverpool, arriving at Lancaster on 5 April and being disembodied on 15 April.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Long peace
Militia training was suspended in most years after Waterloo, but the 1st RLM was called out for its 28 days' training in 1821, 1825 and 1831. Balloting continued, but the permanent staff was progressively reduced over the years. Just before the 1831 training King William IV bestowed on the three Lancashire Militia Regiments the additional title The Duke of Lancaster's Own. No further militia training took place for the next 21 years. Although officers continued to be appointed to fill vacancies the ballot was suspended.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, 1852 reforms
The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act of 1852, enacted during a 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 service in three circumstances:


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, 1852 reforms
In the case of the 1st RLM some younger officers were appointed, including John Talbot Clifton of Lytham Hall, formerly of the 1st Life Guards, as colonel, together with new permanent staff officers and regular army NCOs, and the revived regiment was called out for its first 21 day training on 8 November 1852. The staff NCOs and the few experienced officers had their hands full when the special trains brought the 500 undisciplined recruits from Bolton and Manchester, but had made good progress after three weeks' drilling on Giant Axe Field. The officers' mess now adopted the traditional Lancashire form of the Loyal toast: 'The Queen, Duke of Lancaster', which the regiment kept thereafter.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
In May 1853, in view of the worsening international situation, the government ordered the lord lieutenant (the Earl of Sefton) to recruit the three Lancashire militia regiments up to their full strengths of 1200 each. The 1st RLM was called out for 28 day's annual training on 24 May, in which the staff were assisted by drill sergeants from the 50th Foot stationed nearby at Preston.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
War having broken out with Russia in March 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the Militia were called out for home defence. The 1st RLM assembled at Lancaster on 24 May for 28 days' training before embodiment. Colonel Clifton had already offered the regiment for overseas service – the first such offer made in this war by a militia regiment – and the government accepted a body of 500 men. On 16 June the regiment divided, 500 men for the service companies, the other 700 dismissed to their homes until further notice.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
The service battalion travelled by train to Deptford Dockyard, moving on 16 July to Portsmouth. In September, training began with the new Enfield rifled musket. In November there was a call to reinforce the army in the Crimea, and 250 men from the service companies of the 1st RLM volunteered. It was not until December that Parliament passed Acts allowing whole militia regiments to volunteer, and recalling out the men who had been disembodied in order to fill the vacancies.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
The regiment now prepared to embark for the Ionian Islands (then a British protectorate) to release the garrison to fight in the Crimea. The men who had not volunteered or were unfit for overseas service were formed into a regimental depot at Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth. The depot returned to Lancaster on 1 March 1855, and the service companies embarked on the transport Calcutta two days later. It sailed on 4 March and they disembarked at Corfu on 16 March, taking up quarters in the Citadel Barracks, with detachments on the islands of Fano, Paxo and Santa Maura.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
Its first task was to send the Grenadier Company on 20 March to suppress a riot on Vido among the convalescent soldiers from the Crimea. On 15 May the bulk of the regiment re-embarked for Zante, leaving detachments on Santa Maura, Cerigo and Cephalonia. In September there was a cholera outbreak at Zante, and in two weeks the regiment lost one officer, two NCOs and 275 men dead, and 54 invalided home. Two drafts of reinforcements arrived from the depot at Lancaster, 150 men on 25 November and 250 more on 15 January 1856.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
The Grenadier Company at Santa Maura had been unaffected by cholera, and was chosen to go to the Crimea to reinforce the army for its projected operations following the fall of Sevastopol in September 1855 (the only militia unit accepted). However, there were no further operations and the war ended on 30 March 1856 before the company had left the islands. The 1st RLM embarked on the troopship Colombo on 21 May, but its passage was delayed when the ship ran aground at Argostoli Bay, where it had gone to pick up the Grenadier Company.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
The ship was deemed to be overcrowded, and two companies were left at Malta to follow by a later steamer. The main body reached Portsmouth on 3 June, and went by trains to Lancaster on 8 and 9 June. The two companies from Malta were not disembodied until 16 July. After the regiment was disembodied it was awarded the Battle honour Mediterranean for its service.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
Further militia regiments had been raised in Lancashire after 1852, bringing the total to seven of infantry and one of artillery. Each had its own recruiting areas across the county, those of the 1st RLM being Bolton (Great and Little), Fylde, Lancaster and Manchester. During the Crimean War the depot of the 1st RLM built a barracks on Windy Hill at Lancaster for 200 men and a storehouse with a parade ground for 800 men later known as Springfield Barracks. Plans to convert some old warehouses at St Georges Quay were scrapped when the war ended.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Crimean War
Annual training for the 1st RLM resumed in 1857. It was usually held on Giant Axe Field, but at Ulverston when camp coincided with elections in Lancaster. In some years a joint field day was held with one of the Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps during annual training. From 1876 the regiment adopted the practice of camping at Scale Hall field, about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Lancaster, during its annual training.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Cardwell reforms
Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia regiments were brigaded with their local regular and Volunteer battalions – for the 1st RLM this was with the 4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot in Sub-District No 11 (County of Lancaster). The Militia now came under the War Office rather than their county lords lieutenant, and officers' commissions were signed by the Queen.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Cardwell reforms
Although often referred to as brigades, the sub-districts were purely administrative organisations, but in a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned regular and militia units to places in an order of battle of corps, divisions and brigades for the 'Active Army', even though these formations were entirely theoretical, with no staff or services assigned. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Royal Lancashire Militia formed 1st Brigade of 3rd Division, VI Corps. The brigade would have mustered at Manchester in time of war.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Cardwell reforms
The Hon Frederick Stanley, MP, formerly captain in the Grenadier Guards, was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant of the regiment (later of the 1st Battalion) on 23 June 1874, the rank of colonel in the militia having been abolished. He was also Financial Secretary to the War Office from 1874 to 1877, and Secretary of State for War 1878–80, which meant that he was often absent during training.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Cardwell reforms
Cardwell's localisation scheme provided for the regular and militia regiments to be linked in pairs, sharing a single permanent depot. The 4th (King's Own) already had two battalions; the 1st RLM split to form its own second battalion on 26 September 1877, each being initially of six companies. A new regimental depot, Bowerham Barracks, was built at Lancaster between 1876 and 1880.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Cardwell reforms
Militia battalions now had a large cadre of permanent staff (about 30). Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the regular army. In addition, the Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war. During the international crisis caused by the Russo-Turkish War in 1877, the 1st RLM offered its service and was informed that it might be embodied for garrison duty.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, Cardwell reforms
In the event the militia was not embodied, but the regular and militia reserves were called out the following year, those belonging to Sub-District No 11 assembling at Lancaster on 3 April. On 22 April they entrained to join the depot of the 4th (King's Own) at the Portsdown Hill Forts, where they served until 30 July when they were dismissed to heir homes.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
The Childers Reforms of 1881 took Cardwell's reforms further, with the linked regular and militia regiments becoming single county regiments. In the case of the Lancaster district this was the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) ('The King's Own') of four battalions: the 1st and 2nd were the regulars, while the 1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own) became the 3rd and 4th Bns, together with affiliated Volunteer Force battalions. As the regimental history put it, the 1st and 2nd Bns King's Own had amalgamated with the 1st and 2nd Bns Duke's Own. The two militia battalions continued to be administered as a single double-battalion regiment until 1 August 1900.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
In 1882 the 3rd and 4th Battalions began their annual training at Lancaster on 3 July, but at the end of the month their training was extended for 56 days, embodying them for garrison duty during the crisis surrounding the Anglo-Egyptian War. Both battalions entrained for Preston on 31 July, and went to Fulwood Barracks, which were grossly overcrowded by the arrival of their 12 companies in addition to the reservists of the regular regiment stationed there. The two battalions returned to Lancaster on 26 August to be disembodied.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the regular army was sent to South Africa, and many militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and to garrison certain overseas stations. The 4th Bn King's Own was embodied on 13 December 1899 and the 3rd Bn on 23 January 1900. Both battalions volunteered for overseas service.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
The 4th Battalion left first, embarking with a strength of 25 officers and 666 ORs under the command of Lt-Col W. Kemmis and landing at Cape Town on 1 February 1900. It proceeded to the advanced base at Naauwpoort and was employed on the lines of communication with detachments guarding towns, bridges and culverts between Norvalspont and Port Elizabeth, Graaff-Reinet and Hanover Road. In August 1900 a column consisting of 200 men of the battalion and 40 of Nesbitt's Horse carried out a demonstration through the disaffected district of Hanover.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
On 30 December the Boers attacked and burned a train at the 'Gates of Hell' about 16 miles (26 km) from Naauwpoort: two companies of the battalion only arrived in time to exchange a few shots with the retiring enemy. In December, Lt-Col Kemmis was appointed commandant of Naauwpoort. On 23 February 1901 2nd Lt Hunt with 30 men guarding the Fish River bridge and station successfully held off Commandant Kritzinger and about 250 Boers for four hours before the armoured train came to their assistance and drove off the Boers.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
On 7 March Capt Worsley Taylor with 40 men of the 4th Bn and about 60 Mounted infantry (MI) was attacked by a superior force while repairing the Colesberg–Philippolis telegraph line. Taylor and his men took up a defensive position on a Kopje and held it for 24 hours until a relief column arrived from Colesberg. On 29 May Battalion HQ moved to Norvalspont and the battalion occupied the northern bank of the Orange River. Finally, it concentrated at De Aar on 5 July preparatory to embarking for home.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
During the campaign the battalion lost one officer and 21 ORs killed or died of disease. The 4th Bn was disembodied on 3 August 1901. It was awarded the battle honour South Africa 1900–01, and the officers and men received the Queen's South Africa Medal with the clasps 'Cape Colony', 'Orange Free State', and 'South Africa 1901'.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
The 3rd Bn embarked for South Africa with a strength of 25 officers and 686 ORs under the command of Col B.N. North. It landed at Cape Town on 1 March 1900 and was deployed along the lines of communication in Orange River Colony, with Battalion HQ and three companies guarding the important railway bridge and supply depot at Zand River Bridge. They were attacked on 14 March by a Boer force that included artillery, driving them off after a day's fighting.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
The battalion also supplied an MI company that took part in the action at Ventersburg with a column under Col North operating with armoured trains. This force obliged the Boers to abandon their position at Zeegatacht, near Brandfort, on 16 January 1901, and North with the MI and armoured train drove them from Huten Beck on 28 January. At this time the rest of the battalion was holding the blockhouse line and railway from Kroonstad to Bloemfontein, driving off several attacks. In October 1901 the battalion was divided into several detachments that engaged Theron's Commando around Ceres.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), 3rd and 4th Battalions, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), Second Boer War
The battalion re-assembled on 10 January 1902 to embark for England, where it was disembodied on 8 February 1902. During the campaign the battalion had lost 51 ORs killed or died of disease. It was awarded the battle honour South Africa 1900–02, the Queen's South Africa Medal with the clasps 'Cape Colony' and 'Orange Free State', and the King's South Africa Medal with the clasps 'South Africa 1901' and 'South Africa 1902', and Lt-Col North was awarded a Companionship of the Order of the Bath (CB).


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Special Reserve
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 the Secretary of State for War, St John Brodrick. However, little of Brodrick's scheme was carried out. Under the more sweeping Haldane Reforms of 1908, the militia was replaced by the Special Reserve, (SR) a semi-professional force whose role was to provide reinforcement drafts for Regular units serving overseas in wartime, rather like the earlier Militia Reserve. The 3rd Battalion became the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, King's Own, on 19 July 1908, but the 4th Bn was disbanded on 31 August.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Special Reserve, World War I
On the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914 the battalion was embodied at Lancaster under Lt-Col J.M.A. Graham. It then moved to its war station at Saltash, Cornwall, for a few days before the bulk of the battalion moved to Sunderland. It probably helped to organise the 10th (Reserve) Battalion, King's Own, from Kitchener's Army volunteers, when that was formed at Saltash in October 1914. From 1915 to 1917 the 3rd Bn was at Plymouth, but by November 1917 it had moved to Harwich.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Special Reserve, World War I
As well as forming part of the Plymouth and Harwich Garrisons, the battalion's role was to train and despatch drafts of reservists, special reservists, recruits and returning wounded for the regular battalions. The 1st King's Own served on the Western Front, while the 2nd Bn returned from India and after a few months on the Western Front spent the rest of the war on the Macedonian Front.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Special Reserve, World War I
Thousands of men for the regular battalions would have passed through the ranks of the 3rd Bn during the war. It was disembodied on 30 July 1919, when the remaining personnel were drafted to the 1st Bn.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Special Reserve, Postwar
The SR resumed its old title of Militia in 1921 and then became the Supplementary Reserve in 1924, but like most militia battalions the 3rd King's Own remained in abeyance after World War I. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, no officers remained listed for the battalion. The militia was formally disbanded in April 1953.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Commanders
The following officers commanded the regiment as Colonel, as Honorary Colonel, or served as Lt-Col Commandant of one of its battalions:


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Uniforms & Insignia
The uniform of the Royal Lancashire Militia was red with the blue facings appropriate to 'Royal' regiments. The regimental colour presented in 1761 was blue and bore the coat of arms of the Duchy of Lancaster (on a shield gules, three lions of England (passant gardant) or, in chief a label azure of three points, each charged with three fleur-de-lis of France). The regimental colour presented by Queen Charlotte at Weymouth in 1806 simply carried the words 'FIRST ROYAL LANCASHIRE MILITIA' surrounded by a wreath of roses, thistles and shamrocks.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Uniforms & Insignia
As a reward for its service in Ireland in 1798 the badge of the 'Harp and Crown' was bestowed on the regiment, and the 'Red Rose of Lancaster' in 1803. The set of colours believed to have been presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland when the regiment was stationed in Dublin in 1816 bore the harp in the centre of the King's colour and the crowned red rose with 'LANCASTER' in Old English script in the three outer corners of the regimental colour.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Uniforms & Insignia
The colonel's wife, Mrs Clifton, presented new colours to the reformed regiment in 1853 and again in 1870 after the regulation size of colours was made smaller. The regimental colour bore a red rose inside a circle with the words 'DUKE OF LANCASTER'S OWN' surrounded by a wreath of roses, thistles and shamrocks. Above was a crown, below were the Roman numeral 'I' and two scrolls, the upper saying 'ROYAL LANCASHIRE MILITIA', the lower the battle honour 'MEDITERRANEAN'; the crown, numeral and upper scroll also appeared on the Queen's colour.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Uniforms & Insignia
The smaller 1870 colours were similar, but the numeral I had disappeared and the scroll now read '1. ROYAL LANCASHIRE MILITIA'. Lady Constance Stanley presented the 2nd Bn's colours in 1880: the design was the same, but the lettering on the scrolls was 'First Royal Lancashire Militia, 2nd Battalion, Mediterranean', which was repeated in black on a yellow ground in the centre of the Queens colour.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Uniforms & Insignia
About 1790 the buttons had the letters 'RL' inside a crowned star; the figure '1' was added above the letters after the creation of the 2nd RLM, and these buttons were retained until 1829. The officers' shako plate in 1812–16 consisted of the stylised cipher 'GR' above an enamelled red rose, with a silver spray of leaves beneath and the numeral '1' at the bottom, the whole plate a highly stylised escutcheon topped with a crown. The ORs' plate was plain brass, the word 'LANCASTER" appearing between the cipher and rose, and no numeral at the bottom.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Uniforms & Insignia
The cap badge of 1852 was circular, with 'LANCASTER' in Old English lettering above a red rose, a spray of leaves below; the officer's belt plate carried this badge without the spray of leaves but surmounted by a crown, on a decorated star. The OR's Glengarry badge of 1874–81 had the royal crest (a crowned lion statant gardant on a crown) over the red rose within a spray of grass, with a scroll underneath inscribed 'THE DUKE OF LANCASTER'S OWN'.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Uniforms & Insignia
In 1881 the regiment combined the insignia of the King's Own and the Duke's Own, with the Red Rose of Lancaster surmounted by the Lion of England. Later this was replaced by the lion over the words 'KING'S OWN'.


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Precedence
In September 1759 it was ordered that militia regiments on service were to take their relative precedence from the date of their arrival in camp. In 1760 this was altered to a system of drawing lots where regiments did duty together. During the War of American Independence all the counties were given an order of precedence determined by ballot each year, beginning in 1778. For the Lancashire Militia the positions were:


1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own), Precedence
The militia order of precedence balloted for in 1793 (when Lancashire was 37th) remained in force throughout the French Revolutionary War: this covered all the regiments formed in the county. Another ballot for precedence took place at the start of the Napoleonic War, when Lancashire was 52nd. This order continued until 1833. In that year the King drew the lots for individual regiments and the resulting list remained in force with minor amendments until the end of the militia. The regiments raised before the peace of 1763 took the first 47 places: the 1st RLM was 45th. Formally, the regiment became the 45th, or 1st Royal Lancashire Militia, but the 1st RLM like most regiments seems to have paid little attention to the additional number.


1st Royal Naval Brigade
The 1st Royal Naval Brigade was an infantry brigade of the Royal Navy. It was assigned to the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and served on the Western Front during the First World War.


1st Royal Naval Brigade
The brigade was raised in August 1914, from surplus naval reserves. By April 1915, it was known as 1st (Royal Naval) Brigade, but was re-designated as 1st Brigade on 2 August 1915. The Brigade was broken up on 2 July 1916, the staff joining the 3rd (Royal Marine) Brigade.


1st Royal Naval Brigade, Formation
The infantry battalions did not all serve at once, but all were assigned to the brigade during the war.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers
The 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers was an Australian Army light cavalry (reconnaissance) regiment. Its complicated lineage includes the New South Wales Lancers which was first formed as a colonial unit in 1885 as the New South Wales Cavalry, and subsequently saw action in the Second Boer War, and later during First World War at Gallipoli and Palestine as the 1st Light Horse Regiment. The unit subsequently served during the Second World War as the 1st Armoured Regiment equipped with Matilda tanks, fighting the Japanese in New Guinea and Borneo.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers
The Lancers was reformed after the Second World War in 1948 as a reserve formation in the Citizens Military Forces (CMF) known as the 1st Armoured Regiment (Royal New South Wales Lancers). In 1949, the regiment was renamed the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers however, in order to reallocate the former name to the tank regiment that was to be established in the new Australian Regular Army. In 1956, the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers was merged with the 15th Northern River Lancers to create the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers, a unit which continues to serve today in the Australian Army Reserve.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Second Boer War
The unit's complicated lineage included the New South Wales Lancers, which had been first formed as the New South Wales Cavalry, a reserve colonial unit in 1885 and had later served in the Second Boer War. A half squadron of the Regiment had been in Great Britain where they participated in the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. When war was declared they were transported to South Africa. The Lancers contributed a squadron that had served under John French in Lord Roberts' army, and participated in a counter-invasion of the Orange Free State that eventually lifted the Siege of Kimberley in 1900.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, First World War and inter-war years
In August 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War, the 1st Light Horse Regiment was formed at Rosebury Park in Sydney, as part of the raising of a 20,000-man expeditionary force known as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The new regiment was raised mainly from volunteers of the 7th Australian Light Horse (New South Wales Lancers), an existing militia unit based in Sydney and on the New South Wales south coast.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, First World War and inter-war years
Upon establishment, the men from the 7th ALH formed the bulk of Regimental Headquarters, and A and B Squadrons, while AIF volunteers made up the remainder of the new unit. Among them were veterans of the New South Wales Lancers who had fought in South Africa. Sailing from Sydney on 19 October, the 1st Light Horse disembarked in Egypt on 8 December 1914 and later went on to fight in Gallipoli, after being dispatched there in May 1915 with the 1st Light Horse Brigade.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, First World War and inter-war years
Serving in a dismounted role, they reinforced the New Zealand and Australian Division around Anzac Cove, and undertook mainly defensive tasks. In August, the regiment mounted a diversionary assault around a position dubbed "the Chessboard", where they suffered heavy casualties. After withdrawal from Gallipoli in December 1915, the regiment returned to a mounted role and was assigned to the Anzac Mounted Division. After defensive duties around the Suez Canal, the regiment joined the Sinai and Palestine campaign against Turkish forces. Its first battle came at Romani. It was followed by numerous others over the next two-and-a-half years, including Maghdaba, Rafa, Gaza, Jaffa, Es Salt, before the war end in late 1918.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, First World War and inter-war years
The regiment returned to Australia in mid-1919, and the AIF was disbanded in 1921. Serving in the part-time Citizens Force (later known as the "Militia") after the war, the Lancers was designated as successor to the 1st Light Horse Regiment, and they consequently inherited the former unit's battle honours. The regiment continued as the 1st Light Horse Regiment until 1929, its ranks augmented with conscripts. In 1929, universal service ended, and the unit was linked with the 21st Light Horse to become the 1st/21st Light Horse (New South Wales Lancers) in the wake of the Great Depression. In 1935, the regiment received the prefix "Royal", while the 1st and 21st Light Horse were uncoupled the following year. The unit was subsequently converted into a motorised machine-gun regiment, and was renamed the 1st Light Horse (Machine Gun) Regiment (Royal New South Wales Lancers).


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Second World War
At the start of the Second World War, due to the limitations of the Defence Act (1903), which prevented the government from sending the Militia to fight outside Australian territory, it was decided to raise an all volunteer force to serve overseas. This force was known as the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF), and many of the 1st Light Horse (Machine Gun) Regiment's members volunteered. Assigned to the 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion, they took part in the fighting in the Mediterranean theatre. In December 1941 the regiment became the 1st Machine Gun Regiment and was given its first operational role securing the northern Newcastle beaches as part of the Newcastle Covering Force.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Second World War
In March 1942, the regiment was again renamed, being converted to the 1st Motor Regiment. This change was short lived however, and it was changed again in May to the 1st Tank Battalion, becoming part of the 3rd Army Tank Brigade, equipped with Matilda tanks. In 1943 the unit became part of the 4th Armoured Brigade and was designated as an AIF unit, thus allowing it to be deployed to any theatre of the conflict.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Second World War
Later, after completing training in Caboolture, Queensland it deployed to New Guinea in August 1943 where it supported the 9th Division fighting the Japanese 20th Division around Lae, on the Huon Peninsula and around Finschhafen, Sattelberg and Lakona. The unit was then withdrawn to Australia in mid-1944. During the fighting the tanks had performed well, and despite the difficult jungle terrain, the suitability of the Matilda for such operations had been proven with the Australians effectively employing combined arms tactics against which the Japanese had no effective response.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Second World War
On 1 June 1944, the unit was renamed the 1st Armoured Regiment. The unit then spent the next year in training, and during this time it was based at Southport, Queensland. In May 1945, it took part in the amphibious landings at Balikpapan in support of the 7th Division, being involved in one of the final Australian campaigns of the war in Borneo. The landings took place on 1 July 1945 and had been preceded by heavy bombing and shelling by Australian and US air and naval forces.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Second World War
Landing with the infantry, the tanks—including newly modified Matilda Frog flamethrower tanks—mainly operated in small detachments in close support of the troops, even though the terrain offered the opportunity for more mobile tactics to be employed. Although the Australians were ultimately successful, casualties among the infantry were heavy and during this time the regiment was involved in some hard fighting, with the Japanese able to make effective use of strong natural defences in conjunction with minefields and anti-tank ditches in order to compensate for their lack of anti-tank guns. With the fighting coming to a conclusion however, tank operations ceased on 24 July. In total, casualties suffered by the regiment during the war included 14 dead.


1st Royal New South Wales Lancers, History, Post-war era
Following the end of the war the Australian Army was demobilised. In 1948, the Citizens Military Forces (CMF) was re-raised, albeit on a reduced establishment of two divisions. As a part of this force, the regiment was reconstituted as a reserve formation on 1 April 1948, adopting the designation of the 1st Armoured Regiment (Royal New South Wales Lancers), in recognition of its previous history. During this time the regiment continued to operate Matilda tanks and was based at Lancer Barracks in Parramatta, in New South Wales.