Volunteers of 1802.
In this war-scare, which far exceeded in its intensity that of 1859, 420,000 Volunteers were enrolled in a few months—many more, in fact, than the Government could or ever did arm.
The Civil Service were represented in this body by two corps: the Excise Corps, which in 1804 was 576 strong, under the command of Lord George Seymour, and the Customs Corps, about 300 strong.
In the same year (1804), the Bank of England had a corps of 433, under the command of William Manning, and a supplementary corps of 122, under the command of Beeston Long.
Some of the records of the last-named corps are still in existence in the Bank. From them we gather that the parades were usually held at 7 or 8 a.m. The most notable period in their history appears to have been in 1812, at the time of the assassination of Mr. Percival in the House of Commons. In the state of public alarm that followed this event, it was considered necessary that the Bank Volunteers should be under arms to guard the Bank, night and day.