The Radnorshire Militia, later the Royal Radnor Rifles, was an auxiliary regiment reorganised from earlier precursors in the Welsh county of Radnorshire in the 17th century. Primarily intended for home defence, it served in Britain and Ireland through all Britain's major wars. After a previous short-lived merger it was finally amalgamated into the Royal South Wales Borderers Militia in 1876.
Radnor Trained Bands
The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England and was extended to Wales. King Henry VIII called a 'Great Muster' in 1539, in which William Croft listed all the men between the ages of 16 and 60 in the lordships making up the new county of Radnorshire: Town and Lordship of Presteigne: 146 persons, of which 10 were 'horsemen furnished', 22 were 'footmen harnessed' (ie armoured) and 60 were 'able men with gleyves' (Glaives or bills) Lordships of Norton, Knighton and Knucklas: 137, of which 4 horse, 14-foot and 62 glaives Town and Lordships of Radnor (Radnor 'Foren' (foreign) and Radnor Bridge) and Gladestry: 288, of which 13 horse, 36-foot, 80 glaives, 40 'maris pykes' (pikes) and 93 able men without weapons Lordships of Millenethe: 437, of which 13 horse, 36 foot, 164 glaives and 34 pikes Lordships of Gwerthronyon: 262, of which 15 horse, 40 foot, 92 glaives, 29 pikes
The legal basis of the militia was updated by two Acts of 1557 covering musters and the maintenance of horses and armour. The county militia was now under the Lord Lieutenant, assisted by the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace (JPs). The entry into force of these Acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised Militia of England and Wales. 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. In April 1588, ahead of the Spanish Armada crisis, Radnorshire mustered 200 'trayned men reduced into bandes under Captaines and soarted with weapons'. In 1598 the Radnorshire quota was 50 men.
In the 16th century little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions. However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than send the trained bandsmen. Radnorshire earned the government's displeasure for recruiting men from prison, but mainly because they were so 'naked and bare' that the royal treasury was forced to fit them out and sent the bill to the county for settlement. Between 1585 and 1602 Radnorshire supplied 530 men for service in Ireland and 75 for France. The men were given three days' 'conduct money' to get to Bristol, the port of embarkation for Ireland. Conduct money was recovered from the government, but replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties. As late as 1623, when Ireland was officially at peace, 150 men were levied in Radnorshire and Brecknockshire for service there and sent from Bristol to Waterford, and another 50 from Radnorshire were sent to Plymouth in 1627 (probably for Buckingham's expedition to the Île de Ré).
With the passing of the threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th century. Later, King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control. The Radnorshire Trained Bands of 1638 consisted of 200 men, 112 armed with muskets and 88 'Corslets' (body armour, signifying pikemen). They also mustered 25 horse. For the First Bishops' War in 1639 detachments of trained bandsmen were selected for service from Radnorshire and Herefordshire. The following year Radnorshire was ordered to send 100 men overland to Newcastle upon Tyne for the Second Bishops' War. However, substitution was rife and many of those sent on this unpopular service would have been untrained replacements. These pressed men rioted at Presteigne and the Trained Bands had to step in to prevent them murdering their captain, whom they claimed to be a 'Papist'. The Radnor and Herefordshire Trained Bands then forced the levies to leave the county on their march to Newcastle.
Civil Wars
Control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War. When open war broke out between the King and Parliament, neither side made much use of the trained bands beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops. Most of Wales was under Royalist control for much of the war, and was a recruiting ground for the King's armies.