A HISTORY OF RUTLAND with, or changed its title to, the Rutland Dismounted Rifles, also commanded by Lord Winchilsea, which were not disbanded till 1812.^-^ There appears to have been also another volunteer force in the county during this period — the Rutland Volunteer Infantry or Rutland Association of Volunteers, which was raised in 1798 and continued in existence until the close of 1810;"- three troops of Gentlemen and Yeomanry raised by Lord Winchilsea in 1794 — the first yeomanry corps raised under 37 Geo. Ill, cap. 6"' — and the Rutland Fencible Cavalry, consisting of six troops, commanded by Colonel Gerald Noel Edwards, raised on 25 March 1794.* The last-named corps, which in 1794 had a strength of six officers, 335 non-commissioned officers and men and 276 horses, and had also a chaplain, surgeon, and surgeon's mate, was, soon after its embodiment, dispatched to the defensive camp at Brighton, when an un- kind critic wrote in the Sussex Advertiser of 23 August 1794 : — ' A part of the regiment marched through the town, and viewing it in a ttiilitary capacity it is to be sure the most curious assemblage of men and horses we ever remember to have seen.' In the following year the corps was moved to St. Albans, and in 1796 was stationed at Montrose, in 1797 at Aberdeen, and in 1798 at Perth,'^* but is said to have been disbanded in the following year.^-* Parliamentary Returns for 1803-4 give the numbers of men belonging to the Army of Reserve in the county as 39, and to yeomanry and volunteer corps as 160 cavalry and 335 infantry, a total of 534.^" The Rutland Militia, which in 1773 comprised two captains, five subalterns, and 130 non-commissioned officers and men, had by that time 'been raised five several times' — in 1759, 1762, 1765 and 1766, 1769, and 1772 — and had on 11 October 1773 and the following twenty-seven days gone through their second training since they were raised for the fifth time.^^* During the Peninsular War the militia, then under the command of Major Pierrepont, unanimously volunteered its services for Spain — an offer which elicited from the king an expression of ' great satisfaction,' sent through the lord lieutenant. Lord Winchilsea, ' at receiving this additional proof of the zeal and spirit which have been displayed by the corps on all occasions.' *'* The corps, which in 1851 was commanded by the Hon. H. L. Noel, Lieutenant Doria, and 2nd Lieutenant Costall, continued in existence till i860, when it was amalgamated with the militia of Northamptonshire, and is now known as the Northamptonshire and Rutland Militia, or 3rd Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. ^^° It was one of the ten selected from amongst fifty militia regiments which volunteered for service during the Crimean War to serve at the Mediterranean stations, "' W.O. Muster Rolls, Volunteers, 4524. •" Ibid. '" Fortescue, Hist. Brit. Army, iv (i), 218. See, too, C. Sebag Montefiore, /////. of Tolunteer Forces, 169. "* Fortescue, op. cit. iv (2), App. E. 941, 942. Fencibles were ' regular troops enlisted for home service and for the duration of the war only,' and were first raised in Scotland, where there was no militia, but began to be embodied in England in 1793. * At this time the Army, the Militia, and the Fencibles were all bidding against each other for recruits, which only the Army could turn to account ' ; ibid, iv (l), 89. »» W.O. Muster Rolls, Fencible Cavalry, 3777. "* Fortescue, op. cit. iv (2), App. E. 941, 942. It appears, however, from an imperfect augmentation list of 29 June 1805 to have been still in existence in that year ; see W.O. Muster Rolls, Fencible Cavalry, 3777. "'Pari. Papers, 1803-4 ('S)'^! '13 ; (io)> si, I ; (21), xi, 205, 203. Cf. Sub-Div. R. in Great Britain, 7 May 1804, where the figures are : ist class effective, 1,008 ; 2nd class do. 269 ; 3rd do. 470 j 4th do. 1,337 ; Vol. Service, 1,269 ! Army, Marines, and Volunteer Corps, 182. "* Rut. Mag. ii, 159. Extract from 'The Rutland Records' ; cf. S.P. Dom. 12 Jan. 1776. "" Ibid. "" Rut. Mag. ii, 69, 159 ; cf. Jrmy List, 1908. 208
