REGIMENTAL RECORDS OF THE BEDFORDSHIRE MILITIA From 1759 to 1884. BY LIEUT.-COL. SIR JOHN M. BURGOYNE, ᏴᎪᎡᎢ . LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE. S.W. PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE. 1884. (All rights reserved.) PREFACE. To the THIRD BATTALION, THE BEDFORdshire Regiment. IN 1882, certain old Books, Papers, &c., were left to me by the late Colonel Sir Richard Gilpin, Bart., with a request that I would look through them, and place in order those referring to the Bedfordshire Militia. I have gone further, and as far as I have been able, have sketched out the early history of the Regiment. I shall be amply repaid many weeks' work, if these "Records" meet with the approbation of my Brother Officers, past and present, and of the Battalion. Feb. 1884. J. MONTAGU BURGOYNE, Lieut.-Col. Comm. 3rd Batt. Bedf. Regt. RECORDS OF SERVICE OF THE BEDFORDSHIRE MILITIA. 1759. ALTHOUGH armed men of various designations had been formed in England from a remote period, it was not until 1759 that the Militia was raised. It is very difficult to trace the early history of Militia regiments, as during the last century, and early part of the present, they were entirely under the Home Department, and the lists of their Officers were kept distinct, and were not published in the Army List. Early in 1759, a Militia Act was passed by Parliament, to raise regiments of Militia in England and Wales, and on the 5th June a Circular was sent round to the Lords |