Cambridgeshire Militia

The Cambridgeshire Militia was a militia regiment in the United Kingdom from 1759 to 1881, when it was amalgamated into The Suffolk Regiment.

The regiment was organised in 1759. It was embodied in 1778, at which time it was ranked the 31st regiment of militia, and remained active for five years. It was regularly re-ranked through its embodiment, becoming the 27th in 1779, 44th in 1780, 34th in 1781, and 25th in 1782.

It was embodied again in 1793 for the French Revolutionary Wars, ranked as the 11th, and disembodied in 1802, having seen garrison service in Ireland. With the resumption of hostilities in 1803, it was embodied as the 24th, and disembodied in 1816 following the peace.

In 1833, it was ranked as the 68th. It saw service during the Crimean War, being embodied in 1854 and disembodied in 1856.

In 1881, under the Childers Reforms, the regiment was transferred into The Suffolk Regiment as the 4th Battalion. The Haldane Reforms in 1908 converted the former Militia battalions into the Special Reserve, one per regiment. A number of duplicate battalions were disbanded; the Suffolk Regiment had two militia battalions, and so the junior - the 4th - was disbanded.

Publications

• Beckett, Ian F W (2011). Britain's Part Time Soldiers. The Amateur Military Tradition 1558—1945 (2 ed.). Barnsley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 9781848843950.
• Hay, George Jackson (Colonel) (1987) [1908]. An Epitomized History of the Militia (The "Constitutional Force"). Ray Westlake Military Books. ISBN 0-9508530-7-0.
• The Cambridgeshire Regiment, GenWeb