The Devon Militia was a part-time military force in the maritime county of Devonshire in the West of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as a Special Reserve unit of the Devonshire Regiment in World War I, the Militia regiments of Devonshire served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars.
Devonshire Trained Bands
The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy or Posse comitatus was long established in England and its legal basis was updated by two Acts of 1557, covering musters and the maintenance of horses and armour. The county militia was now placed under the Lord Lieutenant, assisted by the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace. The entry into force of these Acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. Although the militia obligation was universal, it was clearly impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, so after 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands, who were mustered for regular training. The men from the Hundreds of Devonshire were organised in four groups for the defence of the harbours on the north and south coasts of the county, each with a nominated officer in command, supported by 'Assistants' and 'Petty Captains'. By 1577 the Devon Trained Bands were divided into three 'Divisions' (East, North and South), each with two Colonels and a number of Captains. Later in the reign of Elizabeth I the threat of Spanish invasion led to emphasis being placed on the 17 'maritime' counties most vulnerable to invasion, and in 1584 the Devonshire Trained Bands fielded more men than any other county: assessed at 1200 'shot' (men with firearms), 800 bowmen, and 1000 'corslets' (armoured men), the county actually provided more than was required in each category, a total of 3178 men. In the Armada year of 1588 the three Devonshire Divisions (each of two or three large companies, totalling 3661 men) were instructed to join the army forming to defend the South Coast of England, while 1650 able-bodied untrained men remained to defend the county. By 1633 the seven companies were each regarded as a regiment and, together with the companies in the main towns, amounted to almost 6750 trained men, one-third armed with pikes and two-thirds with muskets.
Although control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War, most of the county Trained Bands played little part in the fighting. An attempt by the Royalists to call out the posse comitatus of Devonshire in 1642 was a failure (compared with their success in raising the Trained Bands in neighbouring Cornwall) and it was quickly dispersed by Parliamentarian forces. The following year the Devonshire Trained Bands loyal to Parliament refused to invade Cornwall. Once Parliament had established full control in 1648 it passed legislation to reorganise the militia in various counties, including an Ordinance to settle the Militia of Devon on 7 June (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. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the militia of Devon were called out on a number of occasions when the appearance of hostile fleets caused alarm. For example, on 15 July 1667 the Dutch fleet anchored in Plymouth Sound and all the militia of Devon and Cornwall were assembled.