page_title: North Devon Militia
section_title: Devon Artillery Militia
hierarchical_section_title: North Devon Militia / Devon Artillery Militia
caption_attribution_description: English: Plymouth Breakwater Fort. Seen from inside the Sound
context_page_description: The North Devon Militia, later the Devon Artillery Militia, was a part-time military unit in the maritime county of Devonshire in the West of England. The Militia had always been important in the county, which was vulnerable to invasion, and from its formal creation in 1758 the regiment served in home defence in all Britain's major wars until 1909. Having always been an infantry regiment, the North Devon Militia was converted into an artillery unit in 1853, with a role in manning the forts that protected the vital naval base at Plymouth.
context_section_description: The Militia of  the United Kingdom was reformed by the Militia Act of 1852, enacted during a period of international tension. As before, units were raised and administered on 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:
  1. 'Whenever a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power'.
  2. 'In all cases of invasion or upon imminent danger thereof'.
  3. 'In all cases of rebellion or insurrection'.
  The 1852 Act introduced Artillery Militia units in addition to the traditional infantry regiments. Their role was to man coastal defences and fortifications, relieving the Royal Artillery (RA) for active service. Under the Act, the militia establishment for Devon was fixed at two regiments of infantry and one of artillery, and the North Devon Militia was converted into the Devon Artillery Militia in May 1853. The Colonel, Lord Poltimore, retired and Lt-Col George Buck (formerly of the Royal Horse Guards), the Surgeon, and most of the other officers of the North Devon Militia transferred to the new corps, together with 367 volunteers, all over 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 m) in height; deficiencies in men of the correct height were made up by exchanging men with the two infantry regiments. The new regiment assembled at the Cavalry Barracks at Exeter, and then established its HQ at Devonport, Plymouth. The unit was embodied for full-time duty in home defence from January 1855 to June 1856 during the Crimean War. It volunteered for overseas service but was not accepted.
  After the Cardwell Reforms the Militia were controlled by the War Office rather than their county Lord Lieutenant, and officers' commissions were signed by the Queen. A mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875. This assigned places to Militia Artillery units in an order of battle for the 'Garrison Army': the Devon Artillery's war station was in the Plymouth defences, including Staddon Fort, Fort Bovisand, Breakwater, Maker Heights and the Whitsand Bay works.
  The Artillery Militia was reorganised into 11 territorial divisions of garrison artillery on 1 April 1882, the regiments formally becoming 'brigades' of the RA. The Devon unit became the 3rd Brigade, Western Division, RA . The unit was embodied on 9 March 1885 when an international crisis arose over the Panjdeh incident while much of the Regular Army was simultaneously engaged on the Nile Expedition, but it was stood down on 30 September 1885. The garrison artillery divisions were reduced to just three from 1 July 1889, and county titles were adopted once more, with the Plymouth unit becoming The Devon Artillery (Western Division, RA).
  The Devon Artillery were embodied from 1 May to 17 October 1900 during the 
  Second Boer War. 
  The RA abandoned its divisional structure in 1902 and the Militia Artillery became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery, the Devonport unit becoming the Devon RGA (Militia).
caption: Plymouth Breakwater Fort, completed in 1879.
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