CHAPTER XLIX.
Volunteer Regulations—The Brunswick Rifle—“Brown Bess”—Volunteer shooting—Amount subscribed to Patriotic Fund—Mr. Miller’s patriotic offer.
THE VOLUNTEERS were a useful body. They served as police, and were duly drummed to church on the National Fast and Thanksgiving days, to represent the national party; and, as I do not know whether the terms under which they were called into being, are generally known, I venture to transcribe them, even though they be at some length. Times, September 30, 1803:
“Regulations
for the
Establishments, Allowances, &c.
of
Corps and Companies of Volunteer Infantry,
accepted subsequently to August 3, 1803.
War Office, September 3, 1803.
“A Regiment to consist of not more than 12 Companies, nor less than 8 Companies.
“A Battallion to consist of not more than 7 Companies, nor less than 4 Companies.
“A Corps to consist of not less than 3 Companies.
“Companies to consist of not less than 60, nor more than 120 Privates.
“To each Company 1 Captain, 1 Lieutenant, 1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign.
“It is, however, to be understood that where the establishment of any Companies has already been fixed at a lower number by Government, it is to remain unaltered by the Regulation.
“Companies of 90 Privates and upwards to have 2 Lieutenants and 1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign; or 3 Lieutenants, if a Grenadier or Light Infantry Company.
“Regiments consisting of 1,000 Privates to have 1 Lieut.-Col. Commandant, 2 Lieut.-Colonels, and 2 Majors.
“No higher rank than that of Lieut.-Col. Commandant to be given, unless where persons have, already, borne high rank in His Majesty’s forces.
“Regiments of not less than 800 Privates, to have 1 Lieut.-Col. Commandant, 1 Lieut.-Colonel, and 2 Majors.
“Regiments of not more than 480 Privates to have 1 Lieut.-Col. Commandant, 1 Lieut.-Colonel, and 1 Major.
“Battalions of less than 480 Privates to have 1 Lieut.-Colonel, and 1 Major.
“Corps consisting of 3 Companies, to have 1 Major Commandant, and no other Field Officer.
“Every Regiment of 8 Companies, or more, may have 1 Company of Grenadiers, and 1 Company of Light Infantry, each of which to have 2 Lieutenants instead of 1 Lieutenant, and 1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign.
“Every Battalion of 7 Companies, and not less than 4, may have 1 Company of Grenadiers, or 1 Company of Light Infantry, which Company may have 2 Lieutenants instead of 1, and 1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign.
“One Serjeant and 1 Corporal to every 20 Privates.
“One Drummer to every Company, when not called out into actual service.
“Two Drummers when called out.
“Staff.
“An Adjutant, Surgeon, Quarter-Master, and Serjeant-Major, may be allowed on the establishment of Corps of sufficient strength, as directed by the Militia Laws; but neither the said Staff Officers, nor any other Commissioned Officer, will have any pay or allowance whatever, except in the following cases, viz.:
“If a Corps, or any part thereof, shall be called upon to act in cases of riot or disturbance, the charge of constant pay may be made for such services, for all the effective Officers and Men employed on such duty, at the following rates, the same being supported by a Certificate from His Majesty’s Lieutenant, or the Sheriff of the County; but, if called out in case of actual invasion, the corps is to be paid and disciplined in all respects, as the regular Infantry; the Artillery Companies excepted, which are then to be paid as the Royal Artillery.
| Per diem. | s. | d. |
| Field Officer or Captain of a Company | 9 | 5 |
| Lieutenant | 5 | 8 |
| Second Lieutenant or Ensign | 4 | 8 |
| Adjutant | 8 | 0 |
| Quarter-Master | 5 | 8 |
| Surgeon | 10 | 0 |
| Serjeant-Major, and 2s. 6d. per week in addition | 1 | 6 |
| Serjeant | 1 | 6 |
| Corporal | 1 | 2 |
| Drummer | 1 | 0 |
| Private | 1 | 0 |
“The only instances in which pay will be allowed, by Government, for any individual of the Corps when not so called out, are those of an Adjutant and Serjeant-Major, for whom pay will be granted at the rates following: Adjutant 6s. a day, Serjeant-Major 1s. 6d. per diem, and 2s. 6d. per week—in addition, if authorized by His Majesty’s Secretary of State, in consequence of a particular application from the Lord Lieutenant of the County, founded upon the necessity of the case; but this indulgence cannot be allowed under any circumstances unless the Corps to which the Adjutant may belong, shall consist of not less than 500 effective rank and file, and he shall have served at least five years as a Commissioned Officer in the Regulars, embodied Militia, Fencibles, or East India Company’s Service; and, unless the Corps to which the Serjeant-Major may belong, shall consist of not less than 200 effective rank and file, and he shall have served at least three years in some of His Majesty’s forces.
“Drill Serjeants of Companies are to be paid by the Parishes to which their respective Companies belong, as is provided in the 43rd Geo. III. cap. 120. sec. 11, and no charge to be made for them in the accounts to be transmitted to the War Office.
“Pay at the rate of one shilling per man per day for twenty days’ exercise within the year to the effective Non-commissioned Officers—(not being Drill Serjeants paid by the Parish) Drummers and Privates of the Corps, agreeably to their terms of service. No pay can be allowed for any man who shall not have attended for the complete period of twenty days.
“When a charge of constant pay is made for an Adjutant, or Serjeant-Major, his former services must be particularly stated in the pay list wherein the first charge is made.
“The allowance for clothing is twenty shillings per man, once in three years, to the effective non-commissioned officers, drummers, and privates of the Corps.
“The necessary pay lists will be sent from the War Office, addressed to the several Commandants, who will take care that the Certificates be regularly signed whenever the twenty days’ exercise shall have been completed, and the clothing actually furnished to the man. The allowance for the twenty days’ exercise may be drawn for immediately, and that for clothing, in one month from the receipt of such pay lists at the War Office, by bills, signed by the several Commandants, at thirty days’ sight, upon the general agent: unless any objection to the latter charges shall be signified officially to the said Commandant in the meantime.
“The whole to be clothed in red, with the exception of the Corps of Artillery, which may have blue clothing, and Rifle Corps, which may have green, with black belts.
“Serjeant-Major receiving constant pay and Drill Serjeants paid by the parish, to be attested, and to be subject to military law, as under 43 Geo. III. cap. 121.
“All applications for arms and accoutrements should be made through the Lord Lieutenant of the County, directly to the Board of Ordnance, and all applications for ammunition, for exercise, or practice, should be made through the inspecting Field Officers of Yeomanry and Volunteers to the Board of Ordnance annually. Ammunition for service should be drawn through the medium of the inspecting Field Officer, from the depôt under the orders of the General Officer of the District.
“The arms furnished by the Board of Ordnance to Corps of Volunteer Infantry are as follows: Musquets, complete with accoutrements; drummer’s swords; drums with sticks; spears for serjeants.
“The articles furnished to Volunteer Artillery by the Board of Ordnance, are pikes, drummer’s swords, and drums with sticks.
“Spears are allowed for Serjeants, and pikes to any extent for accepted men not otherwise armed.
“The following allowances, in lieu of accoutrements, &c., when required, may be obtained on application by the Commandant of the Corps to the Board of Ordnance: 10s. 6d. per set in lieu of accoutrements; 3s. each drummer’s sword belt; 2s. each drum carriage.
“Such Corps as have offered to serve free of expense, and have been accepted on those terms, can claim no allowance under these heads of service.
“Every Officer, Non-commissioned Officer, Corporal, Drummer, and Private Man, to take the oath of allegiance and fidelity to His Majesty, his heirs and successors.
“If the Commandant of a Corps should at any time desire an augmentation in the establishment thereof, or alteration in the title of the Corps, or the names, or dates of commissions of the officers, the same must be transmitted through the Lord Lieutenant of the County, in order to the amendment being submitted to His Majesty.
“All effective Members of Volunteer Corps and Companies accepted by His Majesty, are entitled to the exemptions from ballot allowed by 42 Geo. III. cap. 66, and Geo. III. cap. 121, provided that such persons are regularly returned in the muster rolls to be sent in to the Lord Lieutenant, or Clerk of the General Meetings of his County, at the times, in the manner, and certified upon honour by the Commandant, in the form prescribed by those Acts, and schedules thereto annexed.
“The Monthly Returns should be transmitted to the Inspecting Field Officer appointed to superintend the District in which the Corps is situated, and to the Secretary of State for the Home Department.”
Thus, we see that the regulations for the Volunteers were very similar to what they are now.
Of course the arms served out to them were, to our modern ideas, beneath contempt. There were a few Rifle Corps, who were armed with what was then called the Brunswick Rifle. It was short, because the barrel was very thick and heavy. The rifling was poly-grooved, the bullet spherical, and somewhat larger than the bore, so that when wrapped in a greased linen patch (carried in a box, or trap, in the butt of the gun) it required a mallet applied to the ramrod—to drive the bullet home—and fill up the grooves of the rifling. Of course it was a far superior weapon to the musket, or “Brown Bess”[75]—which was not calculated even to “hit a haystack” at thirty yards. The Morning Post, July 24, 1810, thus speaks of the shooting of a Corps: “The Hampstead Volunteers fired at a target yesterday on the Heath. Many excellent shots were fired, and some nearly entered ‘the Bull’s eye.’”
They were always holding Volunteer reviews, and having Volunteer dinners, and Volunteers, generally, were raised to the rank, at least, of demigods—they were the saviours of their country. Never was there such bravery as that of these fire-eaters: and, if Boney dared show his nose on English soil—why—every British Volunteer would, individually, capture him! Volunteering even made them moral, and religious—teste the Times, September 3, 1803: “Since the formation of Volunteer Corps, the very manners of many have taken a more moral turn: public-houses are deserted for the drill, our churches are better frequented, profane swearing is banished, every man looks to his character, respects the Corps in which he is enrolled, and is cautious in all he says or does, lest he should disgrace the name of a British Volunteer.”
There was a large Patriotic Fund got up, which on December 31, 1803, amounted in Consols to £21,000, and in Money, to £153,982 5s. 7d., and it must be remembered that the taxes were very heavy. But there is an individual case of patriotism I cannot help chronicling, it is so typical of the predominant feeling of that time, that a man, and his goods, belonged to his country, and should be at his country’s disposal. Times, September 6, 1803: “A Mr. Miller,[76] of Dalswinton, in Scotland, has written a letter to the Deputy Lieutenants of the County wherein he resides, in which he says: ‘I wish to insure my property, my share in the British Constitution, my family, myself, and my religion, against the French Invasion. As a premium, I offer to clothe and arm with pikes one hundred Volunteers, to be raised in this, or any of the neighbouring parishes, and to furnish them with three light field pieces ready for service. This way of arming, I consider superior with infantry, whether for attack or defence, to that now in use; but as to this, Government must determine. I am too old and infirm to march with these men, but I desire my eldest son to do so. He was ten years a soldier in the Foot and Horse service. In case of an invasion, I will be ready to furnish, when requested, 20 horses, 16 carts, and 16 drivers; and Government may command all my crops of hay, straw, and grain, which I estimate at 16,700 stones of hay, 14 lbs. to the stone, 14,000 bushels of pease, 5,000 bushels of oats, 3,080 bushels of barley.’”
