101-475: The Society for Constitutional Information was a British activist group founded in 1780 by Major John Cartwright , to promote parliamentary reform and knowledge of the English constitution. It was an organisation of social reformers, many of whom were drawn from the rational dissenting community, dedicated to publishing political tracts aimed at educating fellow citizens on their lost ancient liberties. It promoted
202-460: A 600-strong 2nd Battalion, the greater part comprising former Nottinghamshire militiamen. The Nottinghamshire Militia wintered at Lewes from September 1808 to February 1809 and then spent the spring at Rye, Winchelsea and Pleydon before returning to Lewes and then Bletchingdon. At the end of the year it moved to Salisbury , then in May 1810 to Frankfort Barracks, Plymouth , where the duties included guarding
303-503: A Great Muster of all the counties, recording the number of armed men available in each hundred or wapentake . Nottinghamshire reported 284 men, of whom 21 bowmen and 10 billmen equipped with horses and 'harness' (armour) were ready to serve the king at all times. In addition the 'North Clyde' part of Bassetlaw Wapentake had 107 harness, 270 bowmen and 480 billmen, Broxtowe Wapentake had 154 harness, 300 billmen and 200 bowmen, and Rushcliffe Wapentake had 342 men. The legal basis of
404-544: A county basis, and filled by voluntary enlistment (although conscription by means of the Militia Ballot might be used if the counties failed to meet their quotas). Training was for 56 days on enlistment, then for 21–28 days per year, during which the men received full army pay. Under the Act, Militia units could be embodied by Royal Proclamation for full-time home defence service in three circumstances: The Royal Sherwood Foresters
505-608: A court of enquiry. He was finally removed on 23 October 1791 after he had celebrated the Storming of the Bastille , the method used being a misapplication of a requirement in the Militia Act that a proportion of officers should retire every five years. The militia had already been called out before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793. The Nottinghamshire Militia assembled for permanent duty on 28 January. About
606-522: A detachment at Tynemouth . In April a serious riot broke out amongst the English and Irish coalminers at Shotley Bridge in County Durham , and Lt-Col Mellish led a strong detachment of the Royal Sherwood Foresters to aid the civil power. They found that the contending bodies rioters had armed themselves with firearms and even small cannon, but the appearance of the militia immediately quelled
707-474: A first group of 'inland' counties (including Nottinghamshire) whose TBs were organised from May 1585 onwards. In April 1588, as the threat from the Spanish Armada grew, Nottinghamshire reported 2800 able-bodied men available, and during the crisis that summer actually furnished 1,000 footmen, of whom 400 were trained, together with 100 pioneers , 20 lancers , 60 light horse and 20 ' petronels ' (the petronel
808-453: A former naval officer, as Major . The men were organised into eight companies, including a Grenadier Company and a Light Company. The order to provide weapons to the regiment from the Tower of London was issued on 14 November 1775 and they arrived to be stored at Nottingham Castle about a month before the regiment was assembled for its first 28 days' training at Nottingham on 20 March 1776. Training
909-599: A gratuity. However, the Peace of Amiens was short-lived and Britain declared war on France once more on 18 May 1803. The Nottinghamshire Militia was immediately embodied and the main body sent to Dover , later to Margate and then Ramsgate , while the rifle companies were stationed on the Isle of Wight . In June 1804 it moved to Canterbury and then in November to Ridding Street Barracks near Tenterden before taking up winter quarters in
1010-749: A large fine instead of raising their regiment. Nottinghamshire remained a defaulter county liable for militia fines throughout the 1760s. An attempt to raise the county regiment in 1765 failed because of a dispute over the town of Nottingham's quota. It was not until 1775, when war with the American colonies broke out, that agreement was reached in the county, and the balloting passed off without trouble. As Lord Lieutenant, Henry Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle , appointed Lord George Manners-Sutton , Member of Parliament (MP) for Grantham , as Colonel, his own son Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln , MP for Nottinghamshire , as Lt-Colonel, and John Cartwright ,
1111-612: A large mill at the bottom of Spital Hill in Retford . It was called the Revolution Mill in celebration of the centenary of the Glorious Revolution . He hoped to weave cloth using the weaving patents of his brother Edmund Cartwright . He also began the mechanical spinning of wool , or rather worsted . This business was not successful. The mill stood idle within a few years and was advertised to sale in 1798 and 1805. The mill
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#17328477541371212-523: A month later it received orders to proceed to the Lincolnshire coast, and marched out of Nottingham on 6 March, never again being quartered in the county town. In Lincolnshire it was based at Boston , with outlying detachments at Spalding and elsewhere. The French Revolutionary Wars saw a new phase for the English militia: they were embodied for a whole generation, and became regiments of full-time professional soldiers (though restricted to service in
1313-515: A monument from a design by Macdowell was erected to him in Bloomsbury , London, where he had lived. Burton Crescent, the original name of the street, was later renamed Cartwright Gardens in his honour. His statue faces a student hall of residence and backs onto tennis courts and a terrace of houses , most of which serve as small hotels. Captain George Vancouver named Cartwright Sound - on
1414-546: A night watch of women to patrol the town in companies of 50 and give alarm of attack. Newark was one of the last Royalist garrisons to surrender after the end of the First Civil War in May 1646. As Parliament tightened its grip on the country after winning the First Civil War it passed new Militia Acts in 1648 and 1650 that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners. Militia commissioners for Nottinghamshire and
1515-690: A number of the blocks were named after social and political reformers. In 2006, the Estate transferred to Tower Hamlets Community Housing, a local housing association . Nottinghamshire Militia The Royal Sherwood Foresters , originally the Nottinghamshire Militia , was an auxiliary regiment of the British Army from the English Midland county of Nottinghamshire . From its formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until its final service in
1616-563: A planned invasion of Scotland. He listed 407 men from the county out of an assessment of 1,050, the Privy Council 'sparing' the remainder for a 'Second Army' to be held in reserve. Of the 407, 282 were musketeers, and125 ' Corslets ' (signifying pikemen); there were also 50 Cuirassiers and 10 Dragoons . The TBs were mustered in late November and December 1638, and the Midland contingents were used in an abortive amphibious attack on Eastern Scotland
1717-614: A recruitment drive for the regular army encouraged about 300 men from the Nottinghamshire Militia to accept the offered bounty and transfer to various regiments of the line. At the end of the year a company's worth (over 100 men) volunteered for the 35th Foot and four officers received regular commissions in that regiment, while a further 60 men volunteered for other regiments. In March 1800 the regiment marched from Glasgow to Dumfries , and from there moved in August 1801 to Kelso . With
1818-640: A shadowy existence until final disbandment in 1953. The English militia was descended from the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd , the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriffs . It continued under the Norman kings , and was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252 , and again by King Edward I 's Statute of Winchester of 1285. Nottinghamshire levies are first mentioned when they served under William de Peverel at
1919-435: A speedy meeting. We may then commune at leisure, and more fully, on the good and evil, which in the course of our long lives, we have both witnessed; and in the mean time, I pray you to accept assurances of my high veneration and esteem for your person and character. In 1788, Major Cartwight sold his heavily mortgaged estates at Marnham , buying others at Brothertoft , Lincolnshire . The same year with 18 others, he erected
2020-707: The By May they were back in Hull, in new barracks, and were part of a large brigade in the area. The grenadier and light infantry companies of each regiment in the brigade were grouped into composite battalions, of which Lt-Col Carlton commanded the Light Battalion. The Royal Navy 's victory at the Battle of Camperdown in October 1797 ended the threat to North East England. On 1 May 1798 the regiment marched out of Hull and camped at Dimlington on
2121-570: The Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, and paid soldiers from the county were at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). The levies of Nottinghamshire under Sir John Markham fought against Lambert Simnel 's rebels at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487, and when the Pilgrimage of Grace revolt broke out in 1536, the Earl of Shrewsbury called them out to confront the rebels without waiting for the king's orders. With invasion threatened in 1539 King Henry VIII held
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#17328477541372222-699: The Battle of the Standard against the Scots in the 1138. By the end of the 13th Century the Nottinghamshire men of Sherwood Forest were renowned for their skill in archery and they were often called out in the later Anglo-Scottish Wars , such as the Siege of Caerlaverock in 1300, the Weardale campaign of 1327, the Battle of Halidon Hill and Siege of Berwick in 1333, and the campaign of 1335 . Nottingham levies were present at
2323-641: The British Isles ), which the Regular Army increasingly saw as a prime source of recruits. They served in coast defences, manned garrisons, guarded prisoners of war, and were used for internal security, while their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry . In the summer of 1794 the Nottinghamshires were sent to join a militia camp at Danbury, Essex . This camp
2424-534: The English Civil War . The king appointed Henry Pierrepont, Viscount Newark , as Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire , and on 13 July 1642 at Newark-on-Trent he made an appeal to the trained bandsmen of the county to take up arms for the king, though few did so. In August Lord Newark and the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire , Sir John Digby of Mansfield Woodhouse Manor , with a Troop of horse, tried to seize
2525-559: The Foot Guards . With the numbers of men who had transferred to the regulars and the detachments, the regiment was short of men and had to arm the bandsmen, who guarded the Tower gates in their white uniforms. The title of Royal Sherwood Foresters was conferred on the regiment by the Prince Regent on 16 December 1813 as a reward for having done duty at the Tower and Palace. After duty at
2626-600: The Hampden Clubs , named after John Hampden , an English Civil War Parliamentary leader, aiming to bring together middle class moderates and lower class radicals in the reform cause. To promote the idea, he toured northwest England later in 1812, in 1813 (getting arrested in Huddersfield ) and in 1815. He recruited John Knight who founded the first Hampden Club in Lancashire . In 1818, Knight, John Saxton and James Wroe formed
2727-667: The Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745 . However, the Duke of Kingston did raise a unit of volunteer cavalry in Nottinghamshire in 1745, the Duke of Kingston's Regiment of Light Horse or 'Royal Foresters', which saw action against the rebels. Under threat of French invasion during the Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 re-established county militia regiments, the men being conscripted by means of parish ballots (paid substitutes were permitted) to serve for three years. There
2828-523: The Luddites , who had begun their machine-breaking in Nottingham. On 26 August the regiment under the command of Col Gould embarked at Plymouth on board the transports Margaret , Nestor , Wadstay and Fame , which sailed for Dublin , where it was housed at Palatine Square Barracks. Unlike the other militia regiments of the first group, which were scattered across Ireland, the Nottinghamshires were kept in
2929-564: The Militia Act of 1661 under the control of the king's lords-lieutenant, the men to be selected by ballot. This was popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' to counterbalance a 'Standing Army' tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported Cromwell's military dictatorship, and almost the whole burden of home defence and internal security was entrusted to the militia under politically reliable local landowners. In 1697
3030-688: The Society for Constitutional Information , including among its members some of the most distinguished men of the day. From this society sprang the more famous London Corresponding Society . Major Cartwright worked unweariedly for the promotion of reform. He was one of the witnesses on the trial of his friends, John Horne Tooke , John Thelwall and Thomas Hardy , in 1794. He left his large estate in Lincolnshire in 1803 or 1805 to move to Enfield , Middlesex , where he made friends with other leading Radicals including Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet , William Cobbett and Francis Place . In 1812, he initiated
3131-689: The Special Reserve , the Militia regiment of the county carried out internal security and home defence duties in all of Britain's major wars. It became a battalion of the Sherwood Foresters regiment in 1881 and fought in the Second Boer War , where the whole battalion was captured at the Rhenoster River bridge. It then trained thousands of reservists and recruits during World War I . It maintained
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3232-516: The United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . John Cartwright (political reformer) John Cartwright (17 September 1740 – 23 September 1824) was an English naval officer, Nottinghamshire militia major and prominent campaigner for parliamentary reform. He subsequently became known as the Father of Reform . His younger brother Edmund Cartwright became famous as
3333-469: The ' cap of liberty ' in the regimental badge he designed (he saw the militia as the constitutional force and a safeguard against tyranny). He was also a campaigner for parliamentary reform, which embarrassed the government. It is clear that the intention was to induce him to resign, but he would not do so. The regimental officers supported him, demanding assurances that promotion would be by seniority, and that that no officer would be removed without there being
3434-493: The American War the army began linking its regiments of the line to particular counties as an aid to recruitment. The 45th Foot began sending recruiting parties into Nottinghamshire and gained the county name as its official subtitle in 1782. Although the county links were a dead letter for many regiments, the 45th gained a large proportion of its recruits during the following French wars from Nottinghamshire, and particularly from
3535-456: The Glory and Interest of Great Britain." In 1765, when the Nottinghamshire Militia was first raised, he was appointed major, and in this capacity he served for seventeen years. He was at last illegally superseded. In 1776 appeared his first work on reform in parliament, which, with the exception of Earl Stanhope's pamphlets (1774), appears to have been the earliest publication on the subject. It
3636-664: The Irish capital throughout their tour of duty there. Men continued to volunteer for the regulars, many of them being shipped to the Peninsula still wearing their militia uniforms. The regiment returned to England in 1812, landing at Bristol on 1 August and marching to Colchester . At the beginning of October the Nottinghamshire Militia left Colchester and marched to the Tower of London, with detachments at Kew , Epsom and Guildford . The Tower detachment provided guards for St James's Palace , Bank of England and other places usually protected by
3737-523: The Nottinghamshire Militia was stationed at Plymouth in July 1811, the government invited militia regiments to volunteer to serve in Ireland . All but 14 men out of about 900 did so, and the regiment was selected as one of the first group to do a tour of duty there. It appears that the government was happy to send the Nottinghamshires (and other Midlands militia regiments) to Ireland in case they developed sympathies with
3838-642: The Nottinghamshire Militia. After being stationed at Hull for a year, the Nottinghamshire Militia marched to Southsea Common near Portsmouth , for summer camp. Leaving in two 'divisions' on 9 and 10 June 1779, it arrived on 28 June and remained in camp until going into winter quarters in Gosport in December. Here the duties included providing guards for the French prisoners of war confined in Forton Prison . In June 1780
3939-598: The Nottinghamshire Supplementaries were called out and sent into Northern England. However, the force was disbanded in 1799, the discharged men being encouraged to volunteer for the regular army. For the winter of 1798–99 the Nottinghamshire Militia marched via York to winter quarters in Edinburgh . In June 1799 it exchanged stations with the North Yorkshire Militia at Glasgow . The following month
4040-459: The Nottinghamshires formed a brigade under Maj Gen Alexander Mackenzie Fraser , defending Dungeness . It also took part in a royal review at Brighton that summer. On 1 September the Nottinghamshires had 633 men in 10 companies under Lt Col John Need at Rye and Pleydon Barracks, sharing with five companies of the East Norfolks. It spent the winter in barracks at nearby Steyning . In May 1807
4141-524: The Royal Sherwood Foresters were charged with guarding the regimental stores in Newark Town Hall . This became an important duty towards the end of 1816, when it was feared that the Luddites would attempt to seize the arms. Night sentries were posted and the staff issued with live ammunition. One of the permanent staff was the poet Robert Millhouse , who had enlisted as a private in 1811. His poems attracted
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4242-715: The Royalist army had left, Nottingham was secured by the Parliamentarians. Hutchinson was commissioned to raise the Nottingham TBs for Parliament and was later made governor of the town. Parliament nominated three local men to command the regiments as Colonels : Sir Francis Molyneux of Teversal, 2nd Baronet (who refused the commission), Sir Francis Thornhagh of Fenton, and Viscount Newark's younger brother Francis Pierrepont , who supported Parliament. Thornhagh appointed his son Francis Thornhagh as his Lieutenant-Colonel to command
4343-654: The TB armoury at Nottingham Castle , but were prevented by John Hutchinson until the rest of the king's army gathered. The King raised his standard at Nottingham on 22 August 1642, officially declaring war. From then on, both sides paid little attention to the part-time TBs, treating them as a source of arms and potential recruits for their permanent forces, or as town guards to supplement permanent garrisons. The Nottingham TB not having supported him, King Charles disbanded it in September and confiscated its weapons for his regulars. After
4444-434: The TB foot regiment while he busied himself with raising a regiment of horse; Pierrepont appointed Hutchinson as his lt-col and eventual successor. Meanwhile, Newark declared for the king, the local TBs being raised for him by Sir John Digby, Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet , Robert Sutton of Averham , and a troop of horse under Sir John Byron of Newstead Abbey . (Digby's regiment was taken over by Col Anthony Gilby by
4545-637: The Tower, the Royal Sherwood Foresters wintered at Deal and Margate in Kent, supplying a guard of honour for the Prince Regent and King Louis XVIII when the latter sailed from Dover in April 1814 to assume the throne of France following Napoleon's abdication. Soon afterwards the regiment marched to Norman Cross Prison in Huntingdonshire , where large numbers of French prisoners of war were being released. The regiment
4646-620: The United Kingdom". Among the other names Cartwright proposed— Sir Francis Burdett , Rev. William Draper; George Ensor , Rev. Richard Hayes, Robert Williams, Sir Charles Wolseley , and Matthew Wood —Bentham described himself as a "nonentity", and declined the offer. Cartwright had sent a copy of The English Constitution to former President of the United States , Thomas Jefferson . Jefferson wrote to Cartwright in July 1824: Your age of eighty-four, and mine of eighty-one years, ensure us
4747-428: The age of eighteen entered the Royal Navy . He was present, in his first year of service, at the capture of Cherbourg , and served in the following year in the Battle of Quiberon Bay between Sir Edward Hawke and Admiral Hubert de Brienne . Engaged afterwards under Sir Hugh Palliser and Admiral John Byron on the Newfoundland Station , he was appointed to act as chief magistrate of the settlement. He served in
4848-532: The apparatus used to process the crop. In 1780, he married Ann Catherine Dashwood, a daughter of prominent Lincolnshire landowner Samuel Dashwood and Anne ( née Bateman) Dashwood. She was a granddaughter of George Dashwood , MP for Stockbridge (and son of Lord Mayor of London Sir Samuel Dashwood ), and James Bateman , MP for Carlisle (and son of banker Sir James Bateman ). He adopted his niece Frances Dorothy Cartwright , daughter of his brother Edmund. Cartwright died in London on 23 September 1824, and
4949-428: The arms, uniforms and equipment were stored in the castle. The ballot was employed to keep the disembodied regiment up to strength. From 1784 to 1792 the militia were supposed to assemble for 28 days' annual training, even though to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out each year. In 1786 the number of permanent non-commissioned officers (NCOs) was reduced. Colonel Willoughby rarely served with
5050-406: The attention of Maj John Gilbert-Cooper-Gardiner, who promoted him to corporal and placed him on the permanent staff in 1817. Colonel Gould resigned his commission in 1819, and Lt-Col Henry Coape was promoted to succeed him in command. In 1820 the regiment carried out its first training since 1814, then again in 1821, 1825 and 1831, but not thereafter, and the permanent staff of NCOs and drummers
5151-404: The barracks at Rye and Winchelsea . Once again, the regiment supplied its quota of volunteers for the regulars. During the invasion crisis of 1805 , while Napoleon assembled the ' Army of England ' across the English Channel at Boulogne , the Nottinghamshire Militia were stationed in the Southern District (Sussex), the most vulnerable sector. Together with the East and West Norfolks ,
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#17328477541375252-415: The beginning of 1645.) The townspeople and TBs, with a few regular troops, fortified the town and withstood a succession of sieges from May 1643 under the command of Sir Robert Byron and later John, Lord Belasyse . In September 1643 and January 1644 detachments from Newark almost succeeded in seizing Nottingham town and castle from its Parliamentarian garrison, and there was constant skirmishing between
5353-461: The coast near Spurn Point . In an attempt to have as many men as possible under arms for home defence in order to release regulars, the Government created the Supplementary Militia in 1796, a compulsory levy of men to be trained in their spare time, and to be incorporated in the Militia in emergency. Nottinghamshire's additional quota was fixed at 896 men. The lieutenancies were required to carry out 20 days' initial training as soon as possible. There
5454-425: The colonists had right on their side, warmly supported their cause and, at the outbreak of the ensuing American War of Independence , refused an appointment as first lieutenant to the Duke of Cumberland . Thus he gave up a path to certain promotion, since he did not wish to fight against the cause which he felt to be just. In 1774 he published his first plea on behalf of the colonists, entitled "American Independence
5555-416: The command of Maj Cartwright. Lieutenant-Col Lord John Pelham-Clinton died later in the year and was succeeded by Edward Thoroton Gould of Mansfield Woodhouse, who had been a junior officer in the 4th Foot at the first action of the American war at Concord , where he had been wounded and captured. After release he returned to England, married and sold his regular army commission in 1776. Again, Maj Cartwright
5656-429: The counties were required to submit detailed lists of their militia. Nottinghamshire had one foot regiment of 400 men in six companies under the command of the Lord-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire , John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle as colonel, and two troops of horse each of 60 men. The Militia passed into virtual abeyance during the long peace after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and few units were called out during
5757-456: The declining numbers of Volunteers, and if their ranks could not be filled voluntarily the militia ballot was employed. The various units of Nottinghamshire Volunteers were disbanded and incorporated into four regiments of Local Militia: When their regiments were not under training, the permanent staffs of the local militia were employed as recruiting parties for their county's regular militia. The Local Militia were disbanded in 1816. While
5858-403: The disturbance. As a precaution one company remained at Shotley Bridge for several days. In September the regiment (now consisting of 12 companies including the grenadier and light companies), moved to Glasgow, with a detachment at Ayr . During the year the regiment won the British Army shooting competition, berating every other regular or embodied militia regiment in the country. The regiment
5959-410: The following summer. For the Second Bishops' War of 1640 Nottinghamshire was ordered to raise 300 men and march them to Grimsby for shipment to Scotland. However, many of those sent on this unpopular service were untrained replacements and conscripts, and many officers were corrupt or inefficient. Control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to
6060-406: The impressment of able-bodied unemployed men, and the Queen ordered 'none of her trayned-bands to be pressed'. Replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties. In 1596 and 1615 the corporation of Nottingham maintained its own militia of 16 trained men, and a further 24 bowmen and halberdiers were maintained at the expense of private individuals in
6161-412: The inventor of the power loom . He was born at Marnham in Nottinghamshire on 17 September 1740 to Anne and William Cartwright of Marnham Hall . He was the elder brother of Edmund Cartwright , inventor of the power loom and the younger brother of George Cartwright , trader and explorer of Labrador . He was educated at Newark-on-Trent grammar school and Heath Academy in Yorkshire , and at
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#17328477541376262-490: The large number of prisoners of war in Millbay Prison. In October the regiment was moved to the same duty at Dartmoor Prison , where it foiled an attempted breakout during a violent storm. It returned to Frankfort Barracks in November. While the Regular Militia were the mainstay of national defence during the Napoleonic Wars , they were supplemented from 1808 by the Local Militia, which were part-time and only to be used within their own districts. These were raised to counter
6363-457: The leadership of John Horne Tooke collaborated with other reform societies, metropolitan and provincial, such as the London Corresponding Society , with which it met in 1794 to discuss a further national convention as well as producing many pamphlets and periodicals . After the government repression and 1794 Treason Trials in October, in which the leaders were acquitted, the society ceased to meet. This article about an organisation in
6464-415: The militia obligation was universal, it was impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, so after 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands (TBs), who were mustered for regular training. The threat of invasion during the Spanish War led to an increase in training. The government initially emphasised the 17 'maritime' counties most vulnerable to attack, then
6565-420: The militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters ( 4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 3) and the maintenance of horses and armour ( 4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 2). The county militia was now under the Lord Lieutenant , assisted by the deputy lieutenants and justices of the peace (JPs). The entry into force of these acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. Although
6666-399: The post for five years (1765–1770). From 1763 to 14 May 1766, Cartwright was commander of HM Cutter Sherborne . His brother George, when at loose ends, went with him on a cruise out of Plymouth to chase smugglers in Sherborne . Ill-health necessitated Cartwright's retirement from active service for a time in 1771. When the disputes with the American colonies began, he believed that
6767-424: The protesters in Nottinghamshire feared being forced into overseas service if they were selected by lot: some said that they would rather be hanged in England than scalped in America. There was also religious opposition to any form of census. Even when the riots were quelled and other counties' militia had been called out in the invasion crisis of 1759, the Nottinghamshire county gentry were apathetic, preferring to pay
6868-451: The reformist and popularist newspaper the Manchester Observer . In 1819, the same team formed the Patriotic Union Society, which invited Henry "Orator" Hunt and Major Cartwright to speak at a reformist public rally in Manchester, but the elderly Cartwright was unable to attend what became the Peterloo Massacre . Later in 1819, Cartwright was arrested for speaking at a parliamentary reform meeting in Birmingham , indicted for conspiracy and
6969-419: The regiment and resigned in 1790; Edward Thoroton Gould was appointed colonel in his place, with Thomas Charlton of Chilwell as lt-col. </ref> Major Cartwright was continually passed over for promotion, even though he claimed to have been the effective commander of the regiment for much of the American war. He was a Radical Whig – he supported both the American and French revolutionaries, incorporating
7070-403: The regiment in a march-past at Nottingham, Col Manners-Sutton died. The Hon Henry Willoughby , 23-year-old son of Lord Middleton, was appointed to the colonelcy. The Treaty of Paris having been agreed, the war ended and the militia returned to their headquarters to be disembodied, the Nottinghamshires completing this in March 1783. The regiment's permanent staff were housed in Nottingham and
7171-422: The regiment marched from Steyning to Portsmouth. An increase in pay for the regulars (but not the militia) encouraged another 225 men to transfer in 1807, including one whole company, with its officers. Many of these volunteers served with the 45th Foot in the battles of the Peninsular War . However, the militiamen who stayed with the regiment were awarded extra pay for labouring on the defences of Portsmouth. During
7272-584: The regiment was part of a large encampment at Warley , Essex, under the command of Lt-Gen Cornwallis. In early 1796 it moved to King's Lynn in Norfolk . By now the regiment had two rifle companies (which paraded on either flank of the line) and two light 'battalion guns'. A number of militiamen were taught gun drill by a party from the Royal Artillery . About now the regiment gained its second nickname of 'Saucy Notts', which it kept for many years. From King's Lynn
7373-590: The regiment was relieved at Gosport and went to camp on Ranmore Common in Surrey . This camp was broken up in bad weather in November, and the regiment was billeted with one division in Basingstoke and the other split between Farnham and Bagshot . It returned to Gosport from late January to March 1781, and was then moved to Poole in Dorset on anti-smuggling duty until May, when it camped at Stokes Bay , near Gosport, under
7474-489: The regiment was sent to York , and then into garrison at Hull. Early in 1797 there was an invasion scare, and the Yorkshire coast was deemed a possible target for a Franco-Dutch landing. The Nottinghamshires were relieved at Hull and were posted in detachments along the coast around Bridlington . The whole coast was carefully reconnoitred, a black-out enforced, and the troops practised in rapidly turning out on alarm. However,
7575-636: The regiment went by rail to Liverpool where it embarked for Ireland on the Niagara . It was quartered at Athlone [] for several months. The war was ended by the Treaty of Paris signed at the end of March 1856, and the militia could be stood down. The Royal Sherwood Foresters left Athlone for Dublin on 21 May and then embarked at Kingstown on the Cleopatra for Liverpool on 23 May. It proceeded at once to Newark, where it remained until orders for disembodiment arrived. This
7676-492: The second training in May 1853. War having broken out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea , the militia were called out for home defence. The Royal Sherwood Foresters was embodied at Newark on 1 December 1854. As in previous wars, volunteering from the militia for the regular army was encouraged. The regiment stayed at Newark until 20 August when it entrained for Aldershot Camp . Over 26–7 December
7777-578: The summer they were camped on Southsea Common. In February 1808 the Nottinghamshire Militia marched from Portsmouth to Lewes in Sussex, then in June moved to Bletchingdon Barracks near Brighton. That summer the whole regiment volunteered to serve in the Peninsular war; the offer was politely turned down, but individual militiamen were encouraged to continue volunteering for active service. The 45th Foot had recently formed
7878-561: The town of Nottingham were appointed on 2 December 1648. The establishment of The Protectorate saw Oliver Cromwell take control of the militia as a paid force under politically selected officers to support his Rule by Major-Generals . From now on the term 'Trained Band' began to be replaced by 'Militia'. After the Restoration of the Monarchy , the English Militia was re-established by
7979-538: The town. With the passing of the threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th century. Later, King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control. Before the First Bishops' War of 1639, Sir Jacob Astley was charged with organising and reviewing the TBs of a number of North Midland counties, including Nottinghamshire, ahead of
8080-528: The two towns. After the first raid a detachment of the Royalist TBs retained a fort near the Trent Bridge . Colonel Hutchinson complained of Thornhagh's regiment that the men tended to slip away to their homes in Nottingham when they should have been on night guard and that on one occasion this allowed the 'Newarkers' to 'beat up their quarters' and capture 'almost two whole troops of the regiment'. He instituted
8181-456: The war apparently ending, it was ordered to return to the Nottinghamshire area in March 1802, detachments being quartered at Doncaster (initially, then to Retford and Southwell ) and at Retford and Newark. With the signing of the Treaty of Amiens the war ended and in late April 1802 the detachments concentrated at Newark to be disembodied, the other ranks (ORs) being paid off with a month's pay as
8282-605: The west coast of Graham Island in Haida Gwaii , British Columbia , Canada - in his honour in relation to his Royal Navy service under Admiral Howe. The Life and Correspondence of Major Cartwright , edited by his niece Frances Dorothy Cartwright , was published in 1826. John Cartwright House, built in 1976 on the Mansford Estate in Bethnal Green , was named in his honour. The estate was built by Tower Hamlets Council and
8383-502: The work of Thomas Paine and other campaigners for parliamentary reform . Most members of the Society for Constitutional Information were also opposed to the slave trade. It was particularly strong in Sheffield. The Society flourished until 1783, but thereafter made little headway. The organization actively promoted Thomas Paine 's Rights of Man and other radical publications, and under
8484-576: Was a property qualification for officers, who were commissioned by the lord lieutenant. An adjutant and drill sergeants were to be provided to each regiment from the Regular Army , and arms and accoutrements would be supplied when the county had secured 60 per cent of its quota of recruits. Nottinghamshire was given a quota of 480 men to raise, but failed to do so, partly because the Lord Lieutenant, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle ,
8585-547: Was also carried out in 1777. With the threat of invasion from the Americans' allies, France and Spain, the militia was embodied for permanent duty on 31 March 1778. The regiment had been reduced to 320 men by the number of militiamen who had volunteered for the regular forces. The Earl of Lincoln died on 22 October 1778, and the Duke of Newcastle appointed his youngest son, Lord John Pelham-Clinton, to succeed him. Major Cartwright
8686-534: Was an early cavalry firearm). In the 16th Century little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions, and between 1585 and 1601 Nottinghamshire supplied 737 levies for service in Ireland and 150 for France . However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than the Trained Bandsmen – in 1585 the Privy Council had ordered
8787-403: Was broken up at the end of October. The regiment then wintered in 13 separate detachments in and around Braintree and Bocking, Essex . The quarters of the regiment were so dispersed that it received permission to give the men cash to buy food locally rather than attempt to supply them through a central contractor. The regiment then moved to Ely , with a detachment at Newmarket . By June 1795
8888-503: Was buried at St Mary's Church, Finchley , north London. In 1835, a monument to him was erected in the churchyard, paid for by public subscription. It is a Grade II listed building and was on the English Heritage Heritage at Risk Register due to its dangerous condition. However the monument has since been removed from the register after being restored in 2019, as a result of a £79,000 grant from Historic England. In 1831,
8989-455: Was completed with a parade on 1 July, which the townspeople of Newark treated as a public holiday. In January 1857 a new regimental store was completed at Newark, and the arms, clothing and accoutrements were moved there from the Corn Exchange. The Royal Sherwood Foresters had not been mustered for their annual training when they were called out again for garrison duty when much of the army
9090-728: Was condemned to pay a fine of £100. Cartwright then wrote The English Constitution , which outlined his ideas including government by the people and legal equality which he considered could only be achieved by universal suffrage, the secret ballot and equal electoral districts. He became the main patron of the Radical publisher Thomas Jonathan Wooler , best known for his satirical journal The Black Dwarf , who actively supported Cartwright's campaigning. In 1821, he invited Jeremy Bentham to serve with him as one of "seven wise men" to act as "Guardians of Constitutional Reform", their reports and observations to concern "the entire Democracy or Commons of
9191-488: Was entitled, Take your Choice ,. a second edition appearing under the new title of The Legislative Rights of the Commonalty Vindicated (1777) and advocated annual parliaments, the secret ballot and manhood suffrage . The task of his life was thenceforth chiefly the attainment of universal suffrage and annual parliaments. In 1798, he conceived the project of a political association, which took shape in 1780 as
9292-432: Was later largely demolished and only one building remains. Cartwright took a keen interest in agricultural improvement and used his estate at Brothertoft to conduct crop trials and to develop new agricultural implements, several of which were invented by his bailiff and later estate steward, William Amos . He also turned over a large part of his estate to the cultivation of woad , creating dedicated buildings and improving
9393-409: Was opposed to the militia, and his Pelham family members were powerful in the county. There was also widespread anti-militia feeling in the county, with intimidation of parish constables, many of whose ballot lists were seized by rioters before they reached the lieutenancy meeting at Mansfield on 5 September 1757. A mob armed with clubs then invaded the meeting and destroyed the remaining lists. Many of
9494-562: Was passed over for the promotion. In the autumn of 1781 the regiment went into winter quarters, with detachments at Basingstoke, Andover, Hampshire , and nearby places. The following summer it was concentrated and camped on Brompton Common in Kent , where the principal duty was to mount guard over the stores and batteries of the Chatham Dockyard defences. Early in November 1782 it was ordered back to Nottinghamshire. Shortly after he had led
9595-451: Was posted to commanding points along the coast and reinforcing the town guard while the Invalids manned the town's guns. After approaching close to the batteries the French sheered away. While the regiment was stationed at Hull it practised musketry to good effect and gained the unofficial nickname 'Nottinghamshire Marksmen', which it used on recruiting advertisements for substitutes. During
9696-459: Was reduced. The Lord Lieutenant continued to commission officers in the regiment, Lt-Col Gilbert-Cooper-Gardiner succeeding Col Coape on his resignation in 1825, and after his death in 1833 Lancelot Rolleston , MP for South Nottinghamshire , was appointed to the colonelcy. The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852 , enacted during a renewed period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on
9797-480: Was reformed at Newark in 1852, still under the command of Col Rolleston, but with a number of new officers, including William Leigh Mellish , appointed Lt-Col, and several who had seen service in the regular army. The regimental stores moved from Newark Town Hall into rooms beneath the new Corn Exchange . The reformed regiment carried out its first training in November 1852 with 600 men, but had reached its full establishment of 1223 ORs by voluntary enlistment in time for
9898-501: Was sent to quell the Indian Mutiny . The regiment was embodied on 1 October 1857, and went by train to the new South Camp barracks at Aldershot on 1 December, leaving a depot company at Newark. Having been issued with 1842 pattern percussion cap smoothbore muskets when reformed in 1852, the regiment was now equipped with the 1853 pattern Enfield Rifled Musket . In February 1858 the regiment moved by train to Newcastle upon Tyne , with
9999-550: Was still opposition to the ballot in Nottinghamshire: in 1796 a radically inclined Friendly society held a meeting to consider either opposition to or infiltration of the new force. There were rumours of a 'Pistol Club', and some loyal citizens were terrorised by shots fired into their houses. Nevertheless, Nottinghamshire fulfilled its quota and the men were trained in the Hundreds from which they were recruited. In March 1798 half
10100-401: Was then ordered to be disembodied, marching to Newark to complete the process on 5 August 1814. The Royal Sherwood Foresters were not re-embodied during the short Waterloo campaign . After Waterloo there was another long peace. Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training. The permanent staff of
10201-478: Was thereby passed over for the lieutenant-colonelcy, but while the regiment was stationed at Hull in late 1778, he was asked by Col Manners-Sutton to compile a book of regimental standing orders. This book was published and afterwards adopted by a number of other regiments. On the evening of 11 November 1778 a group of French warships entered the Humber , threatening Hull. The Nottinghamshire Militia Beat to quarters and
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