A List of the Officers of the Local Militia of Great Britain, 1811.

NAPOLEONIC WARS.

Published by London: War Office; printed by C. Roworth, 1811

About this Item

Very scarce officer list, one of only two published for the short-lived Local Militia, presented here in a choice period binding, and with an engaging martial provenance, bearing the finely-engraved bookplate of Astley Terry (1840-1926), commissioned into the King's Royal Rifle Corps in 1858, served in the Zulu War, retiring with the rank of honorary major-general in 1887. The massive conscription-based armies raised by Napoleonic France forced all European states to consider how to increase their military manpower. However, by 1807 the number of volunteers joining the colours in Britain had declined markedly and it was Lord Castlereagh who was responsible for the introduction of a permanent local militia in 1808. "The Local Militia has been called 'the first comprehensive attempt to alter national attitudes to military service'" (Gee, p. 47). The force was disbanded in 1816. Remarkably comprehensive, these War Office lists are arranged alphabetically by county from Aberdeenshire to Yorkshire, and name all officers and their date of enlistment; the officers themselves being gentlemen chosen by the local landowner, for example, in the case of the 1st Argyllshire. by George, sixth duke of Argyll, who drew on his fellow Campbells to supply both the major, four captains, three lieutenants, an ensign and an adjutant. Austin Gee, The British Volunteer Movement 1794-1814, 2003. An online search of institutional libraries gives just three locations: National Museums Scotland, Cambridge, and Belton House. Octavo (198 x 118 mm). Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, smooth spine divided by quadruple gilt fillets and wavy-line rolls, olive green morocco label, central neoclassical roundels, sides with border of concentric dog-tooth, single fillet, oval, and foliate rolls, gilt milled edge roll, gilt turn-ins decorated with a leaf-form roll, drab grey-green endpapers, gilt edges. Binding a little chafed at extremities, spine a touch dulled, label chipped, neat pencil note at foot of p. 1 (dated 1930). A most handsome copy.

Seller Inventory # 143095

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A List of the Officers of the Local Militia of Great Britain, 1811.
• Publisher: London: War Office; printed by C. Roworth, 1811