MEDALS OF THE MILITIA, YEOMANRY, AND VOLUNTEERS.
Reading edition
About the end of the last century, and the beginning of the present, England was in constant danger of invasion, and regiments of volunteers started into existence all over the country. The inhabitants of every town and village turned out to defend their homes and property, and in the years 1803–4, the number of the Volunteers in Great Britain amounted to nearly three hundred and eighty thousand men. Most of them were disbanded after the battle of Waterloo, in 1815. Medals and prizes were freely given by the officers of each regiment, as rewards for merit and good shooting, and there was scarcely a single corps that did not decorate some of its members. The shapes and designs of these medals were various, and the dates of their issue are generally from about 1790 to 1814.
651Appended is an alphabetical list of corps that issued medals, but with no pretensions to completeness.
Acrotormentarian Society of Riflemen.—1816. Brass.
Artillery Company, London.—1803. Silver. Oval shape.
Bank of England Volunteers.—1805. Gold.
Bantry Garrison.—1797.
Barrack Light Company.—Dublin, 1803. Silver. Oval.
Bethnal Green Volunteers.—1803. Silver, by P. Wyon.
Birmingham Light Horse.—1798. Bronze and white metal.
Birmingham Volunteers.—1802. Silver.
Breadalbane Highlanders.—1798. Silver.
Bristol Volunteers.—1814. Silver.
Bucks Yeomanry Cavalry.—1821. Silver. Given to the men who formed the royal escort at the coronation of George IV.
Camberwell Volunteers.—1805.
Carmarthen Militia.—1798. Silver.
Carmarthen Yeomanry Cavalry.—1827. Silver.
Cork True Blues.—1745. (A hundred gentlemen, equipped at their own expense.)
Cork (Royal) Volunteers.—1776. Silver. Oval.
Drumkeen Infantry.—1797. Silver-gilt.
Duke of Cumberland’s Sharpshooters.—1803. “The first Volunteer Rifle Corps in Great Britain” (now the Victoria Rifles). Silver and bronze; given by Colonel Beaumont.
Edinburgh Royal Volunteers.—1803. Silver. Oval.
Essex Light Dragoons.—1820. Bronze.
Fermoy Cavalry.—1798. Silver-gilt.
Godley Volunteer Cavalry.—1804. Silver. Oval.
Irvine Volunteers.—1820. Silver.
John of Gaunt’s Bowmen.—1795. Silver. Large oval.
Liberty Rangers.—Dublin, 1797. Silver-gilt.
Limerick Militia.—1798. Silver. (The Colooncy medal, given to the Militia for defeating the French, near Sligo.)
652Liverpool Volunteers.—1806. Silver-gilt.
London (Loyal) Volunteers.—1st., 1803. Silver. 5th., 1805. Gold. 6th., 1805. Silver. 7th., 1804. Silver. Oval.
Louth Volunteers.—1755. Silver.
Manchester Rifle Regiment.—1804. Gold.
Manchester and Salford Volunteers.—Light Horse, 1802. Gold, white metal, and bronze.
Manchester and Salford Volunteers.—Grenadier Company, 2nd. Battalion. Gold, silver, and bronze.
Mid-Lothian (Royal Loyal) Yeomanry Cavalry.—1808. Silver. Oval.
Mid-Lothian 3rd., the Westerns.—1803. Silver and bronze.
Montgomeryshire Yeomanry Cavalry.—1820. Silver.
Newcastle Volunteers.—1801. Silver.
Nithsdale Volunteers.—1805. Silver. Oval.
Norfolk (Loyal) Yeomanry Cavalry.—1796. Silver.
Norfolk (East) Militia.—1804. An oval badge. Gilt.
North Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry.—1814. Gold and silver. Also, a silver-gilt cross, given in 1800.
Nottinghamshire Riflemen.—1810. White metal.
Penrhyn Volunteers.—1794. Bronze.
Prince of Wales’s Loyal Volunteers.—1804. Large. Silver-gilt.
Rathdown Cavalry.—1796. Silver.
Renfrewshire Yeomanry.—1804. Silver.
Rutland Yeomanry.—1819. Silver. Oval.
Rutland Legion Riflemen.—1796. Silver, suspended from a clasp, inscribed “Good conduct.”
Sadborow Yeomanry Cavalry.—1823. Silver.
Sherwood Rangers (Yeomanry).—1821. Bronze.
South Devon Militia.—1799. Silver. Given by the citizens of Waterford.
South Circular Road Infantry.—1808. (Dublin). Silver. Large oval.
Stirlingshire Volunteers (East Battalion).—1804. Silver. Oval.
Suffolk Loyal Yeomanry Cavalry.—1795. Silver and bronze.
Surrey Volunteers (1st).—1808. Silver-gilt. Large oval.
Sutherland Volunteers.—1802. Silver-gilt. Large oval.
Sutton’s (Captain) Rifle Company.—1806. Silver. Large size.
Tyrone Militia (Royal).—1797. Silver and bronze.
Tyrone Volunteers (Royal). Silver. Oval.
Westminster Loyal Volunteers.—1803. Silver-gilt.
West and East Ham Loyal United Volunteers.—1798. Silver-gilt.
West Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry.—1820. Silver, and silver-gilt.
Wicklow Militia.—1797. Silver. Presented by the Westmeath Grand Jury.
Worlingworth Volunteers.—(Suffolk), 1798. Silver.
653These very interesting decorations are now almost the only memorials existing of the patriotic exertions of the people of the British Islands at an important epoch in the history of their country. It is to be regretted that of many medals issued, not a single specimen can now be found, having probably been consigned to the melting pot, and any descriptions of their designs, if such there were, have equally disappeared.[235]
The brave men who served in the campaigns of the latter half of the 19th. century, have been honoured by a far more lavish distribution of medals and clasps than were ever granted to the veterans, who, after a contest of years, vanquished Napoleon by sea and land; but the list of the glorious deeds of these, though unrewarded by medal or cross, form with the no less distinguished actions of their successors, a chronicle of achievements which none of their countrymen can regard but with feelings of pride and exultation, and which will ever be regarded as examples for imitation by the British Army.
THE END.
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