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179-712: The Hertfordshire Militia was an auxiliary military force in Hertfordshire in South East England . From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 and their service in the English Civil War , the Militia of Hertfordshire served during times of international tension and all of Britain's major wars. They provided internal security and home defence but sometimes operated further afield, including Ireland, relieving regular troops from routine garrison duties, and acted as

358-548: A lead ball of about 100 grams (3.5 oz). A standardized arquebus, the caliver , was introduced in the latter half of the 16th century. The name "caliver" is an English derivation from the French calibre – a reference to the gun's standardized bore. The caliver allowed troops to load bullets faster since they fit their guns more easily, whereas before soldiers often had to modify their bullets into suitable fits, or even made their own prior to battle. The matchlock arquebus

537-596: A zeppelin over Great Britain during WW1 happened in Cuffley. From the 1920s until the late 1980s , the town of Borehamwood was home to one of the major British film studio complexes, including the MGM-British Studios . Many well-known films were made here including the first three Star Wars movies ( IV , V , & VI ). The studios generally used the name of Elstree . American director Stanley Kubrick not only used to shoot in those studios but also lived in

716-530: A Romano-British soldier, took the place of a Christian priest and was beheaded on Holywell Hill. His martyr's cross of a yellow saltire on a blue field is reflected in the flag and coat of arms of Hertfordshire as the yellow field to the stag or Hart representing the county. He is the Patron Saint of Hertfordshire. With the departure of the Roman Legions in the early 5th century , the now-unprotected territory

895-495: A blast on the bamboo flute, at which they deploy themselves in front of the troops, with each platoon (哨) putting in front one team (隊). They [the musketeer team members] wait until they hear their own leader fire a shot, and only then are they allowed to give fire. Each time the trumpet gives a blast, they fire one time, spread out in battle array according to the drilling patterns. If the trumpet keeps blasting without stopping, then they are allowed to fire all together until their fire

1074-422: A bow or crossbow, so the arquebus required more standardization and this made it harder to resupply by looting bodies of fallen soldiers. Gunpowder production was also far more dangerous than arrow or bolt production. An arquebus was also significantly more dangerous to its user. The arquebusier carries a lot of gunpowder on his person and has a lit match in one hand. The same goes for the soldiers next to him. Amid

1253-474: A bow or crossbow. Although some plate armors were bulletproof, these armors were unique, heavy, and expensive. A cuirass with a tapul was able to absorb some musket fire due to being angled. Otherwise, most forms of armor a common soldier would wear (especially cloth, light plate, and mail) had little resistance against musket fire. Arrows, however, were relatively weaker in penetration, and heavier than bows or crossbows that required more skill and reload time than

1432-569: A fresh attempt to have as many men as possible under arms for home defence in order to release regulars, the Government created the Supplementary Militia, a compulsory levy of men to be trained in their spare time, and to be incorporated in the Militia in emergency. Hertfordshire's additional quota was fixed at 500 men, bringing the establishment of its regiment up to 1060. In May 1800 the regiment

1611-626: A gun during the 16th century took anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute under the most ideal conditions. The development of volley fire —by the Ottomans, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Dutch—made the arquebus more feasible for widespread adoption by militaries. The volley fire technique transformed soldiers carrying firearms into organized firing squads with each row of soldiers firing in turn and reloading in

1790-500: A highly skilled archer ; other military writers such as Humfrey Barwick and Barnabe Rich argued the opposite. An arquebus angled at 35 degrees could throw a bullet up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) or more. An arquebus shot was considered deadly at up to 400 yards (360 m) while the heavier Spanish musket was considered deadly at up to 600 yards (550 m). During the Japanese Invasions of Korea , Korean officials said they were at

1969-425: A historic centre, with many Tudor and Stuart era buildings interspersed amongst more contemporary structures. Hertfordshire's eastern regions are predominantly rural and arable, intermixed with villages and small to medium-sized towns. Royston, Buntingford and Bishop's Stortford , along with Ware and the county town of Hertford are major settlements in this regard. The physical geography of eastern Hertfordshire

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2148-406: A hot pricker to the touch hole to ignite the gunpowder. The matchlock, which appeared roughly around 1475, changed this by adding a firing mechanism consisting of two parts, the match, and the lock. The lock mechanism held within a clamp a 60-to-90 cm (2-to-3 ft) long length of smoldering rope soaked in saltpeter, which was the match. Connected to the lock lever was a trigger, which lowered

2327-468: A large arquebus, was introduced around 1521, but fell out of favor by the mid-16th century due to the decline of armor. The term, however, remained and musket became a generic descriptor for smoothbore gunpowder weapons fired from the shoulder ("shoulder arms") into the mid-19th century. At least on one occasion musket and arquebus were used interchangeably to refer to the same weapon, and even referred to as an arquebus musket . A Habsburg commander in

2506-432: A lit match made stealth and concealment nearly impossible, particularly at night. Even with successful concealment, the smoke emitted by a single arquebus shot would make it quite obvious where the shot came from, at least in daylight. While with a bow or crossbow a soldier could conceivably kill silently, this was of course impossible with an explosion-driven projectile weapon, such as the arquebus. The noise of arquebuses and

2685-566: A little before 1475. The matchlock arquebus was the first firearm equipped with a trigger mechanism. It is also considered to be the first portable shoulder-arms firearm. The Ottomans made use of arquebuses as early as the first half of the fifteenth century. During the Ottoman–Hungarian wars of 1443–1444, it was noted that Ottoman defenders in Vidin had arquebuses. Based on the earliest known contemporary written sources, Godfrey Goodwin dates

2864-402: A major when the battalion mobilised in 1914) was relieved as CO on 4 September and replaced by Maj A.E. Greenwell (the senior captain in 1914), with Capt (acting Maj) John Stanhope Collings-Wells as second-in-command. Collings-Wells had been commissioned into the 4th (Hertfordshire Militia) Bn on 17 September 1904 and promoted to captain on 3 January 1907. He went to France as a reinforcement for

3043-406: A method of getting the musketeers and others with guns not only to practice firing but to keep on doing so in a very effective battle order (that is to say, they do not fire at will or from behind a barrier ...). Just as soon as the first rank has fired, then by the drill [they have learned] they will march to the back. The second rank either marching forward or standing still, will then fire just like

3222-668: A mix of post-WWII new towns and older/more historical locales. The City of St. Albans is an example of a historical settlement, as its cathedral and abbey date to the Norman period, and there are ruins from the Roman settlement of Verulamium nearby the current city centre. Stevenage is a mix of post-WWII new town planning amidst its prior incarnation as a smaller town. The Old Town in Stevenage represents this historic core and has many shops and buildings reflecting its pre-WWII heritage. Hitchin also has

3401-698: A mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned regular and militia units to places in an order of battle of corps, divisions and brigades for the 'Active Army', even though these formations were entirely theoretical, with no staff or services assigned. The Hertfordshire Militia were assigned to 2nd Brigade of 3rd Division, VII Corps , alongside the Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Militia. The brigade would have mustered at Newcastle upon Tyne in time of war. The Childers Reforms of 1881 took Cardwell's reforms further, formally turning

3580-516: A peaceful transition on the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. 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. By 1638 the Hertfordshire Trained Bands mustered 750 muskets and 750 pikemen, with 27 lancers and 53 light horsemen. The trained bands including

3759-536: A quarter ducats while an arquebus only a little over one ducat. Another advantage of arquebuses over other equipment and weapons was its short training period. While a bow potentially took years to master, an effective arquebusier could be trained in just two weeks. The arquebus spread further east, reaching India by 1500, Southeast Asia by 1540, and China sometime between 1523 and 1548. They were introduced to Japan in 1543 by Portuguese traders who landed by accident on Tanegashima (種子島), an island south of Kyūshū in

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3938-660: A severe disadvantage against Japanese troops because their arquebuses "could reach beyond several hundred paces". In 1590, Smythe noted that arquebusiers and musketeers firing at such extreme distances rarely seemed to hit anything and instead decided to argue effective range, claiming that English archers like the ones from the Hundred Years' War would be more effective at 200–240 yards (180–220 m) than arquebusiers or musketeers, but by that point there were no longer enough skilled archers in England to properly test his theories. Perhaps

4117-669: A shoulder stock, priming pan, and matchlock mechanism in the late 15th century turned the arquebus into a handheld firearm and also the first firearm equipped with a trigger. The exact dating of the matchlock's appearance is disputed. It could have appeared in the Ottoman Empire as early as 1465 and in Europe a little before 1475. The heavy arquebus, which was then called a musket , was developed to better penetrate plate armor and appeared in Europe around 1521. Heavy arquebuses mounted on war wagons were called arquebus à croc . These carried

4296-413: A siege, it was also easier to fire an arquebus out of loopholes than it was a bow and arrow. It was sometimes advocated that an arquebusier should load his weapon with multiple bullets or small shot at close ranges rather than a single ball. Small shot did not pack the same punch as a single round ball but the shot could hit and wound multiple enemies. An arquebus also has superior penetrating power to

4475-804: A source of trained officers and men for the Regular Army . Under the Cardwell Reforms they were linked with the neighbouring Bedfordshire Regiment and went on active service during the Second Boer War . The Militia were converted into the Special Reserve under the Haldane Reforms of 1908 intended to supply reinforcements to the Regulars. However, the Hertfordshire battalion saw considerable action on

4654-541: A systematic fashion. Volley fire was implemented with cannons as early as 1388 by Ming artillerists, but volley fire with matchlocks was not implemented until 1526 when the Ottoman Janissaries utilized it during the Battle of Mohács . The matchlock volley fire technique was next seen in mid-16th-century China as pioneered by Qi Jiguang and in late-16th-century Japan. Qi Jiguang elaborates on his volley fire technique in

4833-465: Is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties . It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford , and the county town is Hertford . The county has an area of 634 square miles (1,640 km ) and had a population of 1,198,800 at

5012-502: Is also the UK base of multi-nationals Hilton Worldwide , TotalEnergies , TK Maxx , Costco , JJ Kavanagh and Sons , Vinci and Beko . The 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference , took place at The Grove hotel . Warner Bros. owns and runs its main UK base since the 2000s, Warner Studios, in Leavesden, Watford. Rickmansworth hosts Skanska . Most of the county

5191-472: Is considered the forerunner to the flintlock musket . The term arquebus is derived from the Dutch word haakbus ("hook gun"). which was applied to an assortment of firearms from the 15th to 17th centuries. It originally referred to "a hand-gun with a hook-like projection or lug on its under surface, useful for steadying it against battlements or other objects when firing". The first certain attestation of

5370-527: Is exhausted, and it's not necessary [in this case] to divide into layers. In Europe, William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg theorized that by applying to firearms the same Roman counter march technique as described by Aelianus Tacticus , matchlocks could provide fire without cease. In a letter to his cousin Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange , on 8 December 1594, he wrote: I have discovered evolutionibus [a term that would eventually be translated as drill ]

5549-639: Is less elevated than the far west, but with lower rising hills and prominent rivers such as the Stort . This river rises in Essex and terminates via a confluence with the Lea near to Ware. Apart from the Lea and Stort, the River Colne is the major watercourse in the county's west. This runs near Watford and Radlett, and has a complex system/drainage area running south into both Greater London and Buckinghamshire. An unofficial status,

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5728-560: Is served by BBC London & ITV London , however Stevenage and North Hertfordshire is served by BBC East & ITV Anglia . Some northwestern parts of the county around Tring can also receive BBC South and ITV Meridian . Local radio for the county is provided by BBC Three Counties Radio , BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (covering Royston ), Heart Hertfordshire , Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96), Mix 92.6 (formerly Radio Verulam St. Albans) and Community Radio Dacorum (Hemel Hempstead). Local newspapers in

5907-447: Is such a powerful weapon and is so accurate that even bow and arrow cannot match it, and ... nothing is so strong as to be able to defend against it. In Europe, Maurice of Nassau pioneered the countermarch volley fire technique. After outfitting his entire army with new, standardized arms in 1599, Maurice of Nassau attempted to recapture Spanish forts built on former Dutch lands. In the Battle of Nieuwpoort in 1600, he administered

6086-628: Is supplied to London from Ware , using the New River built by Hugh Myddleton and opened in 1613. Local rivers, although small, supported developing industries such as paper production at Nash Mills . Hertfordshire affords habitat for a variety of flora and fauna. A bird once common in the shire is the hooded crow , the old name of which is the eponymous name of the regional newspaper, the Royston Crow published in Royston . A product, now largely defunct,

6265-468: Is the bedrock of much of the county provides an aquifer that feeds streams and is also exploited to provide water supplies for much of the county and beyond. Chalk has also been used as a building material and, once fired, the resultant lime was spread on agricultural land to improve fertility. The mining of chalk since the early 18th century has left unrecorded underground galleries that occasionally collapse unexpectedly and endanger buildings. Fresh water

6444-403: Is unclear whether these were arquebuses or small cannons as late as 1444, but according to Gábor Ágoston the fact that they were listed separately from cannons in mid-15th century inventories suggest they were handheld firearms. In Europe, a shoulder stock , probably inspired by the crossbow stock, was added to the arquebus around 1470 and the appearance of the matchlock mechanism is dated to

6623-508: The Jixiao Xinshu : All the musketeers, when they get near the enemy are not allowed to fire early, and they're not allowed to just fire everything off in one go, [because] whenever the enemy then approaches close, there won't be enough time to load the guns (銃裝不及), and frequently this mismanagement costs the lives of many people. Thus, whenever the enemy gets to within a hundred paces' distance, they [the musketeers] are to wait until they hear

6802-490: The 2021 census . After Watford (131,325), the largest settlements are Hemel Hempstead (95,985), Stevenage (94,470) and the city of St Albans (75,540). For local government purposes Hertfordshire is a non-metropolitan county with ten districts beneath Hertfordshire County Council . Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than 800 feet (240 m) in the Chilterns near Tring . The county centres on

6981-510: The 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment , on completion of its annual training on 14 June 1908. On the declaration of war on 4 August 1914 the 3rd and 4th SR battalions of the Bedfords went to Felixstowe and took up their war station in the Harwich garrison. The Marquess of Salisbury (formerly Viscount Cranborne) was still officially in command of the 4th Bn at the time. At Felixstowe

7160-540: The Battle of the Ancre was meticulously planned. The attack was launched at 05.45 on 13 November behind a Creeping barrage . 190th Brigade was in support behind 189th Bde, with 4th Bedfords in its second line. 189th Brigade successfully overran the German front system of trenches. Thereafter confusion set in, with troops attempting to move onto the next objectives through fog, shellholes and waterlogged communication trenches. By 06.30

7339-512: The Black Army of Hungary wielded an arquebus, and one in five when accounting for the whole army, which was an unusually high proportion at the time. Although they were present on the battlefield King Mathias preferred enlisting shielded men instead due to the arquebus's low rate of fire. While the Black Army adopted arquebuses relatively early, the trend did not catch on for decades in Europe and by

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7518-588: The Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Militia were grouped into county brigades with their local Regular battalions and Rifle Volunteer Corps . However, no regular regiment was assigned to Hertfordshire, so the county's militia and volunteers were attached to the 16th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot in Brigade No 33 (Huntingdon, Bedford and Hertford) together with the Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire Militia and volunteers. These were purely administrative arrangements, but

7697-681: The Chiltern Hills surrounding Tring , Berkhamsted and the Ashridge estate. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty runs from near Hitchin in the north to Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Many of the county's major settlements are in the central, northern and southern areas, such as Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley , Rickmansworth , St. Albans , Harpenden , Redbourn , Radlett , Borehamwood , Potters Bar , Stevenage, Hatfield , Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City, Hitchin , Letchworth and Baldock. These are all small to medium-sized locations, featuring

7876-601: The Chilterns , clayland buffer zone countryside of Braughing and the Hadhams across to ancient hornbeam coppices west of the upper Lea valley. The county has sweeping panoramas of chalklands near Royston , Baldock , Hexton and Tring . Large parts of the county are used for agriculture. Some quarrying of sand and gravel occurs around St Albans. In the past, clay has supplied local brick-making and still does in Bovingdon , just south-west of Hemel Hempstead. The chalk that

8055-786: The Council of State . At the same time the term 'Trained Band' began to disappear in most counties. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country. After the Restoration of the Monarchy , the English Militia was re-established by the Militia Act 1661 under the control of the king's lords-lieutenant,

8234-580: The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 which eliminated exclaves ; amended when, in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 , East Barnet Urban District and Barnet Urban District were abolished, their area was transferred to form part of the present-day London Borough of Barnet and the Potters Bar Urban District of Middlesex was transferred to Hertfordshire. The highest point in

8413-600: The Earl of Verulam as Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire called for some 450 volunteers and the new battalion did its first training in November that year, later building up to an establishment of 30 officers and 825 other ranks. Hatfield was established as the HQ, and the Marquess of Salisbury built an office, store and armoury, which were rented to the county authorities. The active rank of colonel in

8592-756: The Gordon Riots the regiment was camped in Hyde Park and deployed on the streets of London. By this date troops were inoculated against Smallpox : in 1781 100 of the Hertfordshires required inoculation, which rendered them unfit for service for about three weeks. A peace treaty having ended the American war, the Hertfordshire Militia was disembodied in October 1783. To help his discharged men re-enter civilian life,

8771-553: The Great Fire of London , equipped with pickaxes, ropes and buckets. For the gentry service in the militia was both an honour and a burden. For the 1666 embodiment the acting Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire , Viscount Fanshawe only selected those of the Hertfordshire Cavalry Militia who had voted the 'wrong' way in the previous election. The militia returns of 1697 show that Hertfordshire had one regiment commanded by

8950-560: The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships twice. First in 2015 , and most recently in 2023 , where Britain topped the medal table with 5 golds. Arquebus An arquebus ( / ˈ ɑːr k ( w ) ə b ə s / AR -k(w)ə-bəs ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier . The term arquebus

9129-455: The Italian Wars in the first half of the 16th century. Frederick Lewis Taylor claims that a kneeling volley fire may have been employed by Prospero Colonna 's arquebusiers as early as the Battle of Bicocca (1522). However, this has been called into question by Tonio Andrade who believes this is an overinterpretation as well as a mis-citation of a passage by Charles Oman suggesting that

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9308-862: The King's South Africa Medal with the clasps for 'South Africa 1901' and 'South Africa 1902'. Viscount Cranborne was awarded a companionship of the Order of the Bath (CB), three of his officers the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and five ORs the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). After the Boer War, the future of the militia was called into question. There were moves to reform the Auxiliary Forces (Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteers) to take their place in

9487-660: The Modder River and the Orange River until it was ordered up to Fourteen Streams on the north bank of the Vaal on 19 May after du Toit had been manoeuvred out of his position, allowing the Relief of Mafeking . The battalion remained at Fourteen Streams until 26 June when it went to Mafeking on 1 August. Here it formed a Mounted infantry company that served with Lord Methuen 's column for most of 1901, taking part in many engagements. At

9666-425: The Norman kings , notably at the Battle of the Standard (1138). The force was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252 , and again by King Edward I 's Statute of Winchester of 1285. Under this statute 'Commissioners of Array' would levy the required number of men from each shire, divided into companies of 100 commanded by ductores , and subdivided into platoons of 20 led by vintenars . The custom

9845-758: The Rising of the North in 1569. Although the militia obligation was universal, this assembly confirmed that it was clearly impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man. After 1572 the practice was to select a proportion of men for the Trained Bands (TBs), who were mustered for regular training, though Hertfordshire was short of experienced captains to train them. Although the trained bands were exempt from foreign service, they and their armouries were frequently drawn upon to supply and arm levies (usually untrained substitutes) employed overseas. In 1584 Hertfordshire mustered its full quota of 400 'shot' (armed with calivers or arquebuses ), 500 bowmen, and 100 'corslets' (armoured pikemen ). The Armada Crisis in 1588 led to

10024-448: The River Thames near Henley . This had been garrisoned and fortified by the Royalists in December 1643 to block Parliamentary supplies travelling down the Thames. Of the three TB regiments that Hertfordshire now maintained for Parliament, one commanded by Colonel Mitchell saw service at the short Siege of Greenland House. After Browne captured the place on 11 July he went to garrison Reading, Berkshire , with his three London regiments and

10203-472: The Seven Years' War a series of Militia Acts from 1757 re-established the county militia regiments, raised by conscription by means of parish ballots, or paid substitutes, to serve for three years. Hertfordshire's quota was set at 560 men in one regiment. There was considerable opposition to the militia ballot: in many places the JPs were prevented from drawing up lists of those liable to serve, and trouble broke out in Hertfordshire on 5 September. At Berkhamsted

10382-432: The Third Ypres Offensive , the Second Battle of Passchendaele . 4th Bedfords were bussed to Ourton on 24 September and began training for the next attack. On 25 October the battalion went into the line in the Canal Bank sector near Ypres , and next day part of 63rd (RN) Division tried to advance up the valley of the Lekkerboterbeek stream through knee-deep mud. It tried again on 30 October, this time on higher ground above

10561-428: The Tower of London on 5 March 1759. It was embodied for service on 11 October that year. (From 1759 to its transfer to the Special Reserve in 1908, the regiment styled itself the 'Hartfordshire Militia', reflecting the correct pronunciation (and its choice of a Hart for its cap badge) but this spelling was never officially recognised.) At first the regiment was dispersed across a number of locations and to do his rounds

10740-427: The Western Front during World War I , when its commanding officer won a Victoria Cross and it led the final pursuit in the days before the Armistice . After 1921 the militia had only a shadowy existence until its final abolition 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 Sheriff . It continued under

10919-462: The feudal knights , even until the time of Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616). Eventually the Mamluks under Qaitbay were ordered in 1489 to train in the use of al-bunduq al-rasas (arquebuses). However, in 1514 an Ottoman army of 12,000 soldiers wielding arquebuses devastated a much larger Mamluk army. The arquebus had become a common infantry weapon by the 16th century due to its relative cheapness—a helmet, breastplate and pike cost about three and

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11098-406: The 16–17th century, surpassing even Ottoman, Japanese, and European firearms. European observers of the Lê–Mạc War and later Trịnh–Nguyễn War also noted the proficiency of matchlock making by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese matchlock was said to have been able to pierce several layers of iron armour, kill two to five men in one shot, yet also fire quietly for a weapon of its caliber. The arquebus

11277-411: The 2nd (Regular) Bn on 6 November 1914 and had been wounded on 12 January 1915 and evacuated to the UK. He was promoted to temporary major on 30 January 1916 and was serving as commander of A Company in 4th Bn when it landed in France in July 1916. Collings-Wells took over command of the battalion as acting Lt-Col on 20 October 1916. The reformed division, both veteran units and newly-joined ones such as

11456-414: The 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion was one of only a few SR battalions that was employed for combat during World War I . On 10 July 1916 the battalion was at Landguard Fort , Felixstowe, when it was ordered to mobilise for overseas service. On 24 July it entrained for Southampton where it embarked on SS Inventor , arriving in France at Le Havre early next day. Three days later at Coupigny, together with

11635-414: The Anglo-Saxons: "ford", "ton", "den", "bourn", "ley", "stead", "ing", "lett", "wood", and "worth", are represented in this county by Hertford, Royston, Harpenden, Redbourn, Cuffley, Wheathampstead, Tring, Radlett, Borehamwood and Rickmansworth. There is evidence of human life in Hertfordshire from the Mesolithic period . It was first farmed during the Neolithic period and permanent habitation appeared at

11814-432: The Dutch side. Although the battle was principally won by the decisive counterattack of the Dutch cavalry and despite the failure of the new Dutch infantry tactic in stopping the veteran Spanish tercios , the battle is considered a decisive step forward in the development early modern warfare , where firearms took on an increasingly large role in Europe in the following centuries. "Musket" eventually overtook "arquebus" as

11993-450: The Earl of Salisbury employed 200 of them on the improvements he was making to his Hatfield estate. From 1784 to 1792 the militia were assembled for their 28 days' annual training, but to save money only two-thirds of the men were actually called out each year. The militia were called out in January 1793 shortly before Revolutionary France declared war on Britain. The Hertfordshire Militia was embodied at St Albans in February, still under

12172-400: The Hertfordshire Militia provided seven commissioned officers and 500 recruits to the Regulars. The Militia Reserve introduced in 1867 consisted of present and former militiamen who undertook to serve overseas in case of war. During its training in 1869 the regiment was part of a militia brigade paraded for inspection at Woburn Park . Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by

12351-402: The Hertfordshire Militia was deployed to the Sevenoaks area and later to Ipswich and Warley , returning to winter quarters around Hertford in October. It marched out again in May 1794 and spent the summer under canvas, camped on Warley Common. It was billeted in the Chelmsford area for the winter. A steep rise in food prices in 1795 led to trouble in many militia regiments. During the year

12530-513: The Hertfordshire Militia was disembodied at Hertford on 29 July. It was not re-embodied during the short Waterloo Campaign . After the Battle of 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 (only in 1820, 1821, 1825 and 1831) and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced. The 2nd Marquess of Salisbury succeeded his father as colonel of

12709-431: The Hertfordshire contingent were called out in 1639 and 1640 for the Bishops' Wars , though many of the men who actually went were untrained hired substitutes. In March 1640 Hertfordshire was ordered to provide 650 selected men for the force to rendezvous on 20 May to sail to Newcastle upon Tyne from Harwich on 31 May. However, under the leadership of Edmund Aylee the largely Puritan Hertfordshire trained bandsmen took

12888-513: The Hertfordshires volunteered accordingly. The regiment embarked in September that year, being stationed at Castle Barracks, Limerick , and at Carlow , with detachments at Leitrim and Athy . It returned to England in June 1813, and after a short stay at Ipswich was guarding the French prisoners at Norman Cross from September 1813 to July 1814. By now Napoleon had abdicated and the war seemed to be over;

13067-694: The Hertfordshires were involved in food riots while stationed in Chichester . In June 1795 the regiment was part of a large camp at Warley , Essex, under Lt-Gen Cornwallis. In April 1797 the Hertfordshires were stationed at Harwich in Essex, and provided a guard of honour when the Prince of Wurttemberg arrived by sea to marry Princess Charlotte . In 1797 the regiment returned to Ipswich and then in 1798 it moved to Reading Street Barracks at Ashford, Kent , where it remained until October 1799, when it marched to Beaconsfield. In

13246-576: The King broke out of Oxford and after feinting west, moved eastwards with his force. Browne was directed towards Hertford to protect the Eastern Association counties. He reached Leighton Buzzard on 1 July with three regiments of LTBs, where he was joined by the Hertfordshire and Essex TBs. Browne was too late to intervene in the Battle of Cropredy Bridge and when he joined the beaten Parliamentary force under Sir William Waller near Towcester on 2 July

13425-474: The King was already 30 miles (48 km) away. By now Waller's original LTB brigade was deserting for home, and the Essex TBs began to join them, while the Hertfordshire men complained bitterly of their poor quarters. On 6 July Browne was wounded in the face when he confronted his mutinous troops. Waller's army was dispersed, and under his original orders Browne was sent with his brigade to capture Greenland House on

13604-777: The Lekkerboterbeek. 190th Brigade attacked at 05.50, with 4th Bedfords in the centre, 7th RF on its left and 1st Artists Rifles on its right. Although the adjacent Canadian Corps was successful, 190th Bde was held up by the boggy ground of the Paddebeek stream and could only advance 150–200 yards (140–180 m). Men lay out in the mud all day and the next night until the battalion was relieved at 19.00 on 31 October having suffered 54 killed, 157 wounded and 23 missing. Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( / ˈ h ɑːr t f ər d ʃ ɪər / HART -fərd-sheer or /- ʃ ər / -⁠shər ; often abbreviated Herts )

13783-597: The Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Essex , with 10 companies of foot (1025 men) and three Troops of horse (183 men) commanded by Captains Henry Gore, John Charlton and Gilbert Hookate. The Militia passed into virtual abeyance during the long peace after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1712, although a few counties (not Hertfordshire) were called out during the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 . Under threat of French invasion during

13962-547: The Ottoman Empire. This early firearm was a hand cannon , whose roots trace back to China, with a serpentine lever to hold matches. However it did not have the matchlock mechanism traditionally associated with the arquebus. The exact dating of the matchlock addition is disputed. The first references to the use of what may have been arquebuses ( tüfek ) by the Janissary corps of the Ottoman army date them from 1394 to 1465. However, it

14141-532: The Ottomans they criticized them thus, "God curse the man who invented them, and God curse the man who fires on Muslims with them." Insults were also levied against the Ottomans for having "brought with you this contrivance artfully devised by the Christians of Europe when they were incapable of meeting the Muslim armies on the battlefield". Similarly, musketeers and musket-wielding infantrymen were despised in society by

14320-515: The Right Wing under Maj-Gen William Amherst . Each battalion had two small field-pieces or 'battalion guns' attached to it, manned by men of the regiment instructed by a Royal Artillery sergeant and two gunners. From 1762 to 1786 militia regiments on service were obliged to recruit from their own county, so when the Hertfordshires were short of men in 1778 the Sergeant-Major had to be sent back to

14499-622: The Roses, St. Albans was the scene of two major battles between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. In Tudor times, Hatfield House was often frequented by Queen Elizabeth I. Stuart King James I used the locale for hunting and facilitated the construction of a waterway, the New River , supplying drinking water to London. As London grew, Hertfordshire became conveniently close to the English capital; much of

14678-637: The SR battalions carried out the dual tasks of garrison duty and preparing reinforcement drafts of regular reservists, special reservists, recruits and returning wounded for the regular battalions of the Bedfords serving on the Western Front . They organised the 9th and 10th (Reserve) Bns ( see below ) in the Harwich Garrison to carry out the same role for the Kitchener's Army battalions of the Bedfords. Later, however,

14857-698: The SR battalions, was thoroughly trained for operations on the Western Front, with companies of 4th Bedfords attached to the Hawke and Hood (RN) battalions for their first tours of duty in the front line at Souchez and Calonne under First Army . 63rd (RN) Division then moved on 3 October to join Fifth Army in the Somme sector, where the Somme Offensive was coming to an end. 63rd (RN) Division's first offensive operation,

15036-486: The Spanish arquebusiers knelt to reload, when in fact Oman never made such a claim. This is contested by Idan Sherer, who quotes Paolo Giovio saying that the arquebusiers kneeled to reload so that the second line of arquebusiers could fire without endangering those in front of them. The Mamluks in particular were conservatively against the incorporation of gunpowder weapons. When faced with cannons and arquebuses wielded by

15215-796: The UK Cereal Partners factory and in pharmaceuticals it hosts Roche UK's headquarters (subsidiary of the Swiss Hoffman-La Roche ). GlaxoSmithKline has plants in Ware and Stevenage . Hemel Hempstead has large premises of Dixons Carphone . The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), the trade association for UK pharmacies, is based in St Albans . Kings Langley has the plant-office of Pure , making DAB digital radios . Watford hosts national companies such as J D Wetherspoon , Camelot Group , Bathstore , and Caversham Finance (BrightHouse). It

15394-465: The Unready . A century later, William of Normandy received the surrender of some senior English Lords and Clergy at Berkhamsted , before entering London unopposed and being crowned at Westminster . Hertfordshire was used for some of the new Norman castles at Bishop's Stortford , and at King's Langley , a staging post between London and the royal residence of Berkhamsted . The Domesday Book recorded

15573-517: The area until his death. Big Brother UK and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? have been filmed there. EastEnders is filmed at Elstree. Hertfordshire has seen development at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden ; the Harry Potter series was filmed here and the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye . On 17 October 2000, the Hatfield rail crash killed four people with over 70 injured. The crash exposed

15752-559: The area was owned by the nobility and aristocracy , this patronage helped to boost the local economy. However, the greatest boost to Hertfordshire came during the Industrial Revolution , after which the population rose dramatically. In 1903, Letchworth became the world's first garden city and Stevenage became the first town to redevelop under the New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). The first shooting-down of

15931-463: The arquebus was apparent by the Battle of Cerignola of 1503, which is the earliest-recorded military conflict where arquebuses played a decisive role in the outcome of the battle. In Russia, a small arquebus called pishchal ( Russian : пищаль ) appeared in 1478 in Pskov. The Russian arquebusiers, or pishchal'niki , were seen as integral parts of the army and one thousand pishchal'niki participated in

16110-577: The arquebus, much of the credit for their increase in use can be attributed to Shah Ismail I who, after being defeated by the firearm-using Ottomans in 1514, began extensive use of arquebuses and other firearms himself with an estimated 12,000 arquebusiers in service less than 10 years after his initial defeat by the Ottomans. According to a 1571 report by Vincentio d'Alessandri, Persian arms including arquebuses "were superior and better tempered than those of any other nation", suggesting that such firearms were in common use among middle eastern powers by at least

16289-508: The arquebusiers by the English and the Venetians often used archers to lay down cover fire during the long reloading process. The Ottomans often supported their arquebusiers with artillery fire or placed them in fortified wagons, a tactic they borrowed from the Hussites. Sixteenth-century military writer John Smythe thought that an arquebus could not match the accuracy of a bow in the hands of

16468-399: The basis of reliable evidence." They claim that the version of events describing volley fire was written several years after the battle, and an earlier account says to the contrary that guns were fired en masse. Even so, both Korean and Chinese sources note that Japanese gunners were making use of volley fire during the Japanese invasions of Korea from 1592 to 1598. Regarding Iranian use of

16647-692: The beginning of the Bronze Age . This was followed by tribes settling in the area during the Iron Age . Following the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43 , the Catuvellauni tribe accepted peace and adapted to the Roman life; resulting in the development of several new towns, including Verulamium (St Albans) where in c.  293 the first recorded British martyrdom is traditionally believed to have taken place. Saint Alban ,

16826-433: The blast of a bamboo flute. They started firing after their leader fired and fired once at the blast of a trumpet, and then spread out according to their drilling pattern. Each layer could also fire once at the blowing of a horn and were supported by close-quarters troops who could advance should the need arise. To avoid self-inflicted injuries and ensure a consistent rate of fire in the heat of battle, Qi emphasized drilling in

17005-485: The command of the Marquess of Salisbury. During the French Wars the militia were employed anywhere in the country for coast defence, manning garrisons, guarding prisoners of war, and for internal security, while the regulars regarded them as a source of trained men if they could be persuaded to transfer. Their traditional local defence duties were taken over by the part-time Volunteers and mounted Yeomanry . In March 1793

17184-455: The confusion, stress and fumbling of a battle, arquebusiers are potentially a danger to themselves. Early arquebuses tended to have a drastic recoil. They took a long time to load making them vulnerable while reloading unless using the 'continuous fire' tactic, where one line would shoot and, while the next line shot, would reload. They also tended to overheat. During repeated firing, guns could become clogged and explode, which could be dangerous to

17363-606: The country was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. During the summer of 1778 the Hertfordshire Militia was at Coxheath Camp near Maidstone in Kent, which was the army's largest training camp, where the completely raw Militia were exercised as part of a division alongside Regular troops while providing a reserve in case of French invasion of South East England. The Hertfordshires under Col Lord Cranborne (later 7th Earl and 1st Marquess of Salisbury) formed part of

17542-480: The county are: Waltham Cross , Broxbourne , is the location of the Lee Valley White Water Centre , a purpose-built venue opened in 2010 for the 2012 Summer Olympics . The site consists of two white water courses; one 300m Grade IV "Olympic" run; and one 160m Grade III "legacy" run. During the games the center was the venue for the canoe and kayak slalom events . Lee Valley has since hosted

17721-407: The county as having nine hundreds . Tring and Danais became one— Dacorum —from Danis Corum or Danish rule harking back to a Viking not Saxon past. The other seven were Braughing , Stevenage , Cashio , Buntingford , Hertford , Hitchin and Odsey . In the later Plantagenet period, St. Albans Abbey was an initial drafting place of what was to become Magna Carta . And in the later Wars of

17900-510: The county is at 244 m (801 ft) ( AOD ) on the Ridgeway long distance national path, on the border of Hastoe near Tring with Drayton Beauchamp , Buckinghamshire. At the 2011 census, among the county's ten districts, East Hertfordshire had the lowest population density (290 people per km ) and Watford the highest (4210 per km ). Compared with neighbouring Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire lacks large towns or cities on

18079-434: The county to find recruits. By December the regiment had dispersed to eight (soon to be 12) different winter quarters across Kent, and Lord Cranbourne was faced with the problem of training almost a complete new regiment after the previous men's terms of service ended. He complained that his officers could not prevent the new men from 'moroding ' [marauding] and appealed for concentration in fewer locations. In June 1780 during

18258-489: The dominant term for similar firearms starting from the 1550s. Arquebuses are most often associated with matchlocks. The arquebus had many advantages but also severe limitations on the battlefield. This led to it often being paired up with other weaponry to mitigate these weaknesses. Qi Jiguang from China developed systems where soldiers with traditional weaponry stayed right behind the arquebusiers to protect them should enemy infantry get too close. Pikemen were used to protect

18437-483: The edge of Hemel Hempstead. Hertfordshire is located in the south-eastern part of England and is the county immediately north of London. It is officially part of the East of England region, a mainly statistical unit . To the east is Essex , to the west is Buckinghamshire and to the north are Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire . A significant minority of the population across all districts commute to Central London . The county's boundaries were roughly fixed by

18616-410: The effective use of arquebus equipped troops with different mixtures of troops deployed in 12-man teams. The number of arquebuses assigned to each team could vary depending on the context but theoretically in certain cases all members of the team could have been deployed as gunners. These formations also made use of countermarch volley fire techniques. Firearm platoons deployed one team in front of them at

18795-422: The end of the day a mixed force of 63rd (RN) Division was just short of the second objective in front of Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre . The battalion had lost 57 killed and died of wounds, 108 wounded and 16 missing. Next morning the barrage was renewed at 06.20 and the division was able to complete the capture of Beaucourt, with 4th Bedfords providing carrying parties to take bombs , sandbags, etc up to help consolidate

18974-535: The end of the war the battalion returned home and was disembodied on 11 June 1902. It had lost 32 ORs killed or died of disease during the campaign. The battalion was awarded the Battle Honour South Africa 1900–02 and participants received the Queen's South Africa Medal with the clasps for 'Cape Colony', 'Orange Free State' and 'Transvaal', and a number also earned the 'Wittebergen' clasp; they also received

19153-671: The existing volunteers units, and commanded by the local members of parliament (MPs): There was a mutiny of the Hertfordshire Local Militia at St Albans in 1810 when the men demanded extra pay while training. They broke open the local prison but the ringleaders were caught and five of them received sentences of between 100 and 150 lashes. The Local Militia was stood down in 1814. The 'Interchange Act' passed in July 1811 allowed English militia regiments to serve in Ireland for two years, and

19332-561: The final annexation of Pskov in 1510 as well as the conquest of Smolensk in 1512. The Russian need to acquire gunpowder weaponry bears some resemblance to the situation the Iranians were in. In 1545 two thousand pishchal'niki (one thousand on horseback) were levied by the towns and outfitted at treasury expense. Their use of mounted troops was also unique to the time period. The pishchal'niki eventually became skilled hereditary tradesmen farmers rather than conscripts. Arquebuses were used in

19511-571: The first use of the arquebus by the Janissaries to no earlier than 1465. According to contemporary accounts, 400 arquebusiers served in Sultan Murad II's campaign in the 1440s when he crossed Bosporus straits and arquebuses were used in combat by the Ottomans at the second battle of Kosovo in 1448. Ottomans also made some use of Wagon Fortresses which they copied from the Hussites , which often involved

19690-419: The first. After that the third and following ranks will do the same. When the last rank has fired, the first will have reloaded, as the following diagram shows. Once volley firing had been developed, the rate of fire and efficiency was greatly increased and the arquebus went from being a support weapon to the primary focus of most early modern armies. The wheellock mechanism was utilized as an alternative to

19869-504: The forthcoming Arras Offensive . It stood fast on the opening day (9 April), and remained in reserve until 14 April when 4th Bedfords went up to the line by motor buses. Next day the battalion suffered almost 60 casualties in a reconnaissance towards the village of Gavrelle . It was back in the line of 22 April for next day's attack (the Second Battle of the Scarpe ). The battalion's objective

20048-654: The front of their formations and bowmen at the back, where they could not see their targets and aim appropriately. Arquebuse de L'Hermitage, a clear spirit made by macerating and distilling a large variety of plants, was supposedly invented in 1857 by a herbalist of the Marist Brothers in the Hermitage Monastery in Saint-Genis-Laval , France although other sources assert it was produced in France and Piedmont since

20227-559: The gun. In some instances the match would also go out, so both ends of the match were kept lit. This proved cumbersome to maneuver as both hands were required to hold the match during removal, one end in each hand. The procedure was so complex that a 1607 drill manual published by Jacob de Gheyn in the Netherlands listed 28 steps just to fire and load the gun. In 1584 the Ming General Qi Jiguang composed an 11-step song to practice

20406-405: The gunner and those around him. Furthermore, the amount of smoke produced by black-powder weapons was considerable, making it hard to see the enemy after a few salvos, unless there was enough wind to disperse the smoke quickly. (Conversely, this cloud of smoke also served to make it difficult for any archers to target the opposing soldiers who were using firearms.) Before the wheellock, the need for

20585-566: The headwaters and upper valleys of the rivers Lea and the Colne ; both flow south and each is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural and much of the county is covered by the Metropolitan green belt . Since 1903, Letchworth has served as the prototype garden city while Stevenage became the first town to expand under post-war Britain 's New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6 . c. 68). Services have become

20764-542: The infantry battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) and the 1st Artists Rifles , both former officer training units of the Territorial Force , and the 7th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers , (7th RF) of the SR, it constituted 190th Brigade in 63rd (Royal Naval) Division . The Royal Naval Division had been formed from surplus Royal Navy (RN) reservists and Royal Marines (RM) on

20943-502: The infantry were mainly equipped with the English longbow . This system remained in place under the early Tudors and the shire levies were occasionally mustered by Hundreds for inspection of the men and arms. Henry VIII ordered a Great Muster in 1539, when Hertford Town and Hertford Hundred mustered the following: The legal basis of the militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters ( 4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 3) and

21122-547: The largest sector of the county's economy. The county's landmarks span many centuries, ranging from the Six Hills in Stevenage built by local inhabitants during the Roman period, to Leavesden Film Studios . The volume of intact medieval and Tudor buildings surpasses London, in places in well-preserved conservation areas , especially in St Albans , which includes remains of the Roman town of Verulamium . In 913, Hertfordshire

21301-429: The magistrates argued with the bomb for several hours before adjourning and surrendering the lists they had made. At Hertford the meeting was undisturbed, but people threatened to tear down the magistrates' houses if they made any more. At Royston the magistrates were intimidated from meeting at all. Nevertheless the county regiment was one of the first to achieve 60 per cent of its establishment and received its arms from

21480-403: 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. Hertfordshire was one of the southern counties called upon to send troops to suppress

21659-439: The match into a priming pan when squeezed, igniting the priming powder, causing a flash to travel through the touch hole, also igniting the gunpowder within the barrel, and propelling the bullet out the muzzle. While matchlocks provided a crucial advantage by allowing the user to aim the firearm using both hands, it was also awkward to utilize. To avoid accidentally igniting the gunpowder the match had to be detached while loading

21838-550: The matchlock as early as 1505, but was more expensive to produce at three times the cost of a matchlock and prone to breakdown, thus limiting it primarily to specialist firearms and pistols. The snaphance flintlock was invented by the mid-16th century and then the "true" flintlock in the early 17th century, but by this time the generic term for firearms had shifted to musket , and flintlocks are not usually associated with arquebuses. The earliest known examples of an "arquebus" date back to 1411 in Europe and no later than 1425 in

22017-527: The men of Hertfordshire. Once open war broke out in 1642 neither side made much use of the trained bands beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops. Hertfordshire's TBs saw more service than most. The county was included in Parliament's Eastern Association to supply troops, supplies and finance. After Parliament's army seized Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire on 27 October 1643, it

22196-486: 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. The Hertfordshire Militia were called out on anti-invasion duties in 1666 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War , and on 4 September the same year 200 Hertfordshire militiamen were sent to help fight

22375-401: The mid-1560s once referred to muskets as double arquebuses . The matchlock firing mechanism also became a common term for the arquebus after it was added to the firearm. Later flintlock firearms were sometimes called fusils or fuzees . Prior to the appearance of the serpentine lever by around 1411, handguns were fired from the chest, tucked under one arm, while the other arm maneuvered

22554-493: The mid-16th century. While the use of 12,000 arquebusiers is impressive, the firearms were not widely adopted in Iran. This is in no small part due to the reliance on light cavalry by the Iranians. Riding a horse and operating an arquebus are incredibly difficult which helped lead to both limited use and heavy stagnation in the technology associated with firearms. These limitations aside, the Iranians still made use of firearms and Europe

22733-670: The midst of the Norse invasions, Hertfordshire was on the front lines of much of the fighting. King Edward the Elder , in his reconquest of Norse-held lands in what was to become England , established a " burh " or fort in Hertford, which was to curb Norse activities in the area. His father, King Alfred the Great , established the River Lea as a boundary between his kingdom and that of the Norse lord Guthrum , with

22912-547: The militia having been abolished, the Marquess of Salisbury became Colonel of the Regiment and Robert Smith-Dorrien, a former captain in the 3rd Light Dragoons and 16th Lancers , was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the reformed Hertfordshire Militia on 2 December 1854. War broke out with Russia in 1854 and an expeditionary force was sent to the Crimea , the militia being called out for home defence. The Hertfordshire Militia

23091-578: The militia regiments into battalions of their linked regular regiments. Consequently, the regiment became the 4th (Hertfordshire Militia) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment on 1 July 1881 (the Bedfordshire Militia being the 3rd Bn). A permanent barracks was erected for the battalion in London Road, Hertford, in 1883–4. In 1889 the 4th (Herts) Bn was brigaded with 3rd Bedfords and 3rd and 4th Suffolks for royal review at Aldershot . In October 1892, when

23270-458: The mobilisation of the trained bands, when Hertfordshire furnished 1500 trained men, organised into companies under captains, and 1500 untrained men (often employed as pioneers ). The Hertfordshire Trained Bands were on duty in London in 1601 to guard against disorder during the Earl of Essex 's trial and subsequent execution. They were also among the trained bands camped in the London suburbs to ensure

23449-587: The most important advantage of the arquebus over muscle-powered weapons like longbows was sheer power. A shot from a typical 16th-century arquebus boasted between 1,300 to 1,750 J (960 to 1,290 ft⋅lbf) of kinetic energy , depending on the powder quality. A longbow arrow by contrast was about 80 J (59 ft⋅lbf), while crossbows could vary from 100 to 200 J (74 to 148 ft⋅lbf) depending on construction. Thus, arquebuses could easily defeat armor that would be highly effective against arrows or bolts, and inflict far greater wounds on flesh. The disparity

23628-626: The most important weapons in Japan. Oda Nobunaga revolutionized musket tactics in Japan by splitting loaders and shooters and assigning three guns to a shooter at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, during which volley fire may have been implemented. However, the volley fire technique of 1575 has been called into dispute in recent years by J. S. A. Elisonas and J. P. Lamers in their translation of The Chronicle of Oda Nobunaga by Ota Gyuichi. In Lamers' Japonius he says that "whether or not Nobunaga actually operated with three rotating ranks cannot be determined on

23807-407: The much-reduced 63rd (RN) Division was relieved, but fighting continued at Oppy Wood for another two months, with a steady trickle of casualties. Collings-Wells was awarded a DSO for his leadership at Gavrelle on 23 and 24 April and at Oppy on 29 April. The division remained in the now-quiet Oppy Wood sector from July to September and was not committed to the offensive again until the final stage of

23986-421: The new techniques and technologies for the first time. The Dutch marched onto the beach where the fort was located and fully utilized the countermarching tactic. By orienting all of his arquebusiers into a block, he was able to maintain a steady stream of fire out of a disciplined formation using volley fire tactics. The result was a lopsided victory with 4,000 Spanish casualties to only 1,000 dead and 700 wounded on

24165-628: The north and eastern parts of the county being within the Danelaw . There is little evidence however of Norse placenames within this region, and many of the Anglo-Saxon features remained intact to this day. The county however suffered from renewed Norse raids in the late 10th to early 11th centuries, as armies led by Danish kings Swein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great harried the country as part of their attempts to undermine and overthrow English king Athelred

24344-485: The north and west of the county, forming the Chiltern Hills and the younger Palaeocene , Reading Beds and Eocene , London Clay which occupy the remaining southern part. The eastern half of the county was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age and has a superficial layer of glacial boulder clays . Much of the west – and much more in the east – have richly diverse countryside. These range from beech woods of

24523-423: The only reinforcement available was the composite battalion: 1st HAC and this battalion recaptured a strongpoint won and lost the previous day, and then 'bombed' their way forward through the German defences to get in touch with 2nd Division . 2nd Division was able to 'dribble' in some reinforcements to help, and together the mixed parties then worked their way up to within 200 yards (180 m) of Oppy Wood. Later

24702-414: The opportunity to carry out acts of iconoclasm against churches in their own county, tearing down and burning communion rails, which they considered to be ' Popish '. Control of the trained bands was one of the major points of dispute between Charles I and Parliament that led to the English Civil War . In 1641 the moderate Earl of Salisbury of Hatfield House was named as a suitable person to command

24881-566: The outbreak of war and had taken part in the Defence of Antwerp and the Gallipoli campaign . In April 1916 the division was transferred to the War Office , taking the number of a disbanded 63rd Division, and was transported to the Western Front, where it was reorganised with one army brigade (190th) and two RN/RM brigades ( 188th and 189th ). After a few weeks in France, Lt-Col R.P. Croft (who had been

25060-465: The physical strength of the user for propulsion of the projectile, making it easier to find a suitable recruit. It also meant that, compared to an archer or crossbowman, an arquebusier lost less of his battlefield effectiveness due to fatigue, malnutrition, or sickness. The arquebusier also had the added advantage of frightening enemies (and horses) with the noise. Wind could reduce the accuracy of archery, but had much less of an effect on an arquebus. During

25239-403: The placing of arquebusiers in the protective wagons and using them against the enemy. Arquebusiers were also used effectively at the battle of Bashkent in 1473 when they were used in conjunction with artillery. The arquebus was used in substantial numbers for the first time in Europe during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (r. 1458–1490). One in four soldiers in the infantry of

25418-427: The previous 10 days of fighting. On 23 February the Germans began their withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line ( Operation Alberich ). Patrols from 7th RF discovered this next day, and 4th Bedfords were ordered to push forward fighting patrols. On the morning of 25 February 63rd (RN) Division followed up through Miraumont until it was relieved by a fresher division later in the day. In March the division marched north for

25597-434: The procedure in rhythm: "One, clean the gun. Two, pour the powder. Three, tamp the powder down. Four, drop the pellet. Five, drive the pellet down. Six, put in paper (stopper). Seven, drive the paper down. Eight, open the flashpan cover. Nine, pour in the flash powder. Ten, close the flashpan, and clamp the fuse. Eleven, listen for the signal, then open the flashpan cover. Aiming at the enemy, raise your gun and fire." Reloading

25776-404: The procedure required to reload the weapon. Qi Jiguang gave a eulogy on the effectiveness of the gun in 1560: It is unlike any other of the many types of fire weapons. In strength it can pierce armor. In accuracy it can strike the center of targets, even to the point of hitting the eye of a coin [i.e., shooting right through a coin], and not just for exceptional shooters. ... The arquebus [鳥銃]

25955-405: The purple star-shaped flower with yellow stamens, the Pasqueflower is among endemic county flowers . The rocks of Hertfordshire belong to the great shallow syncline known as the London Basin . The beds dip in a south-easterly direction towards the syncline's lowest point roughly under the River Thames . The most important formations are the Cretaceous Chalk , exposed as the high ground in

26134-533: The regiment's honorary colonel was the former (and future) Prime Minister , the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury , his eldest son Viscount Cranborne was appointed Lt-Col in command. After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the regular army was sent to South Africa, and many militia units were called out to replace them for home defence. The 4th Bedfords were embodied on 16 January 1900 and volunteered for service in South Africa. The battalion embarked on 27 February in

26313-503: The regiment. The Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852 , enacted during a period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on a county basis, and filled by voluntary enlistment. 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: In August 1852

26492-408: The regimental surgeon had to cover 36 miles (58 km). After serving in home defence for two years the regiment was disembodied in January 1763 once a peace treaty had been agreed. In peacetime, the reformed militia regiments were supposed to be assembled for 28 days' annual training. The Hertfordshire Militia was called out in May 1778 after the outbreak of the War of American Independence when

26671-483: The region controlled by the Shimazu clan . By 1550, arquebuses known as tanegashima , teppō (鉄砲) or hinawaju (火縄銃) were being produced in large numbers in Japan. The tanegashima seem to have utilized snap matchlocks based on firearms from Goa , India, which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510. Within ten years of its introduction upwards of three hundred thousand tanegashima were reported to have been manufactured. The tanegashima eventually became one of

26850-428: The resources needed to make gunpowder were less universally available than the resources needed to make bolts and arrows. Finding and reusing arrows or bolts was a lot easier than doing the same with arquebus bullets. This was a useful way to reduce the cost of practice or resupply oneself if control of the battlefield after a battle was retained. A bullet must fit a barrel much more precisely than an arrow or bolt must fit

27029-449: The rest of the TBs went home. In September 1645 the Hertfordshire Trained Band Horse, apparently numbering 500, served in a force under Col Richard Graves of the New Model Army marching from Thame towards Cheshire , but may have gone home before the Battle of Rowton Heath . Once Parliament had established full control in 1648 it passed new Militia Acts that replaced lords lieutenant with county commissioners appointed by Parliament or

27208-417: The results were patchy: some parties were in the German support and reserve lines, in other places the front line had not been secured. 190th Brigade was ordered forward at 06.45, and 4th Bedfords sustained heavy casualties from a strongpoint between the German first and support lines that had been missed by the leading waves. The battalion got into the support line and pushed patrols forward to Station Road. At

27387-445: The ringing in the ears that it caused could also make it hard to hear shouted commands. In the long run, the weapon could make the user permanently hard of hearing. Though bows and crossbows could shoot over obstacles by firing with high-arcing ballistic trajectories they could not do so very accurately or effectively. Sir John Smythe blamed the declining effectiveness of the longbow in part on English commanders who would place firearms at

27566-419: The same town, Airbus (Defence & Space Division) produces satellites. Hatfield was where de Havilland developed the first commercial jet liner, the Comet . Now the site is a business park and new campus for the University of Hertfordshire . This major employment site notably hosts EE , Computacenter and Ocado groceries and other goods e-commerce. Welwyn Garden City hosts Tesco 's UK base, hosts

27745-409: The scale of Luton or Milton Keynes , whose populations exceed 200,000, but its overall population (1.2 million in 2021) is greater than those of the two aforementioned counties. The River Lea near Harpenden runs through Wheathampstead , Welwyn Garden City, Hertford, Ware, and Broxbourne before reaching Cheshunt and ultimately the River Thames. The far west of the county is the most hilly, with

27924-446: The shortcomings of Railtrack , and resulted in speed restrictions and major track replacement. On 10 May 2002, seven people died in the fourth of the Potters Bar rail accidents ; the train was travelling at high speed when it derailed and flipped into the air when one of the carriages slid along the platform where it came to rest. In early December 2005, there were explosions at the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal at Buncefield on

28103-427: The six Army Corps proposed by the Secretary of State for War , St John Brodrick . However, little of Brodrick's scheme was carried out. Under the more sweeping Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Militia was replaced by the Special Reserve (SR), a semi-professional force whose role was to provide reinforcement drafts for regular units serving overseas in wartime, rather like the earlier Militia Reserve. The battalion became

28282-460: The small arms ranks. This idea of lower-skilled, lightly armoured units was the driving force in the infantry revolution that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries and allowed early modern infantries to phase out the longbow . An arquebusier could carry more ammunition and powder than a crossbowman or longbowman could with bolts or arrows . Once the methods were developed, powder and shot were relatively easy to mass-produce, while arrow making

28461-408: The standard bows. Producing an effective arquebusier required much less training than producing an effective bowman. Most archers spent their whole lives training to shoot with accuracy, but with drill and instruction, the arquebusier was able to learn his profession in months as opposed to years. This low level of skill made it a lot easier to outfit an army in a short amount of time as well as expand

28640-402: The term arquebus dates back to 1364, when the lord of Milan Bernabò Visconti recruited 70 archibuxoli , although in this case it almost certainly referred to a hand cannon . The arquebus has at times been known as the harquebus , harkbus , hackbut , hagbut , archibugio , haakbus , schiopo , sclopus , tüfenk , tofak , matchlock , and firelock . The musket, essentially

28819-413: The transport Goorkha , with a strength of 25 officers and 451 other ranks (ORs) under the command of Lord Cranborne. The battalion disembarked at Cape Town on 24 March and proceeded to Dronfield, near Kimberley , where it joined 9th Brigade occupying the south bank of the Vaal River facing General S.P. du Toit's Commando on the opposite side. On 4 April the battalion occupied the stations between

28998-470: The turn of the 16th century only around 10% of Western European infantrymen used firearms. Arquebuses were used as early as 1472 by the Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used arquebuses as well in 1476. The French started adopting the arquebus in 1520. However, arquebus designs continued to develop and in 1496 Philip Monch of the Palatinate composed an illustrated Buch der Strynt un(d) Buchsse(n) on guns and "harquebuses". The effectiveness of

29177-423: The usage of arquebuses by the Ming army ten years earlier, and the capture of arquebuses from Europeans by the Xu brother pirates, which later came into possession of a man named Bald Li, from whom the Ming officials captured the arquebuses. About 10,000 muskets were ordered by the Central Military Weaponry Bureau in 1558 and the firearms were used to fight off pirates. Qi Jiguang developed military formations for

29356-510: The village. A protective field gun barrage deterred German counter-attacks, and 63rd (RN) Division was relieved on the morning of 15 November, having suffered heavy casualties. After rest and training at Nouvion , 63rd (RN) Division marched back to the Ancre and was in action on the Ancre Heights in January and February 1917. 190th Brigade did not take part in the Actions of Miraumont (17–18 February), but 4th Bedfords had suffered 68 killed, 90 wounded and 48 missing (mostly believed killed) in

29535-468: The volunteer corps had been reformed after the resumption of the war, their quality varied widely and their numbers steadily declined. One of the chief reasons to join was to avoid the militia ballot. They were supplemented from 1808 by the Local Militia, which were part-time and only to be used within their own districts. If their ranks could not be filled voluntarily the militia ballot was employed. Three regiments were organised in Hertfordshire, largely from

29714-491: Was watercress , based in Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted supported by reliable, clean chalk rivers. This is a table of trends of regional gross value added of Hertfordshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Hertfordshire has the main operational and/or headquarters UK site of some very large employers. Clockwise from north: In Stevenage (a subsidiary of: BAE Systems , Airbus and Finmeccanica ) MBDA , develops missiles . In

29893-474: Was Gavrelle, which it captured and then held against fierce counter-attacks, even though 7th RF covering its left flank had been held up by uncut barbed wire . The battalion had suffered over 270 casualties and was relieved at midnight. For the next attack (the Battle of Arleux ) the battered 4th Bedfords and 7th RF formed a composite battalion under the command of Collings-Wells. The attack by 188th Bde and 1st HAC on 28 April failed, and for its renewal next day

30072-411: Was a genuine craft requiring highly skilled labor. However, the arquebus was more sensitive to rain, wind, and humid weather. At the Battle of Villalar , rebel troops experienced a significant defeat partially due to having a high proportion of arquebusiers in a rainstorm which rendered the weapons useless. Gunpowder also ages much faster than a bolt or an arrow, particularly if improperly stored. Also,

30251-400: Was applied to many different forms of firearms from the 15th to 17th centuries, but it originally referred to "a hand-gun with a hook-like projection or lug on its under surface, useful for steadying it against battlements or other objects when firing". These "hook guns" were in their earliest forms of defensive weapons mounted on German city walls in the early 15th century. The addition of

30430-446: Was at Ipswich and during the summer of 1805, when Napoleon was massing his 'Army of England' at Boulogne for a projected invasion, the Hertfordshires, with 514 men in 10 companies under Lt-Col Robert Chester, were at Ipswich Barracks as part of a militia brigade under Lt-Gen Lord Charles Fitzroy . It remained in East Anglia until July 1808 when it moved to Sunderland and later Hull , returning to Ipswich in October 1809. Although

30609-451: Was embodied from 27 December 1854 to June 1856 and served in Aldershot Command . However, unlike some regiments, it was not embodied when regular forces were sent to quell the Indian Mutiny . Militia battalions now had a large cadre of permanent staff (about 30) and a number of the officers were former regulars. Around a third of the recruits and many young officers went on to join the Regular Army. During its two years of embodied service

30788-447: Was even greater with a 16th-century heavy musket, which were 2,300 to 3,000 J (1,700 to 2,200 ft⋅lbf). Most high-skilled bowmen achieved a far higher rate of shot than the matchlock arquebus, which took 30–60 seconds to reload properly. The arquebus did, however, have a faster rate of fire than the most powerful crossbow , a shorter learning curve than a longbow , and was more powerful than either. The arquebus did not rely on

30967-430: Was garrisoned by two regiments of the London Trained Bands (LTBs) and a Hertfordshire regiment under Sir John Garrard until a permanent garrison could be recruited from the Eastern Association. Parliament commissioned Colonel Richard Browne of the LTBs as Major-General of Oxfordshire , Buckinghamshire and Berkshire and gave him the task of reducing the Royalist garrisons in those counties. However, in June 1644

31146-449: Was introduced to the Ming dynasty in the early 16th century and was used in small numbers to fight off pirates by 1548. There is, however, no exact date for its introduction and sources conflict on the time and manner in which it was introduced. Versions of the arquebus' introduction to China include the capture of firearms by the Ming during a battle in 1523, the capture of the pirate Wang Zhi, who had arquebuses, in 1558, which contradicts

31325-416: Was invaded and colonised by the Anglo-Saxons . By the 6th century, the majority of the modern county was part of the East Saxon kingdom. This relatively short-lived kingdom collapsed in the 9th century, ceding the territory of Hertfordshire to the control of the West Anglians of Mercia . The region finally became an English shire in the 10th century, on the merger of the West Saxon and Mercian kingdoms. In

31504-442: Was stationed in the St Albans area to take part in a Royal Review at Hatfield, after which it moved to Colchester. In July 1801 it was sent to guard the great Prisoner-of-war camp at Norman Cross . In December it went to winter quarters in the Hertford district until it was disembodied in April 1802 after the Treaty of Amiens . The Peace of Amiens was short-lived and the regiment was re-embodied at St Albans in May 1803. In 1804 it

31683-464: Was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder . Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing (of a watercourse). The name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems. Many of the names of the current settlements date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, with many featuring standard placename suffixes attributed to

31862-423: Was to requisition men for service from the shires closest to the scene of action, and Hertfordshire was too distant from the Welsh and Scottish borders for most of the campaigns under the Plantagenet kings. However Edward III called out a small contingent of Hertfordshire levies for his Scottish campaign in 1335 . It comprised one ductor, two vintenars and 53 foot archers, serving from 23 June to 22 August. By now

32041-438: Was very important in facilitating that as Europeans supplied Iran with firearms and sent experts to help them produce some of the firearms themselves. Iran also made use of elephant mounted arquebusiers which would give them a clear view of their targets and better mobility. Southeast Asian powers started fielding arquebuses by 1540. Đại Việt was considered by the Ming to have produced particularly advanced matchlocks during

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