24 DORSET VOLUNTEERS DURING THE FRENCH WARS. 



" services of the King's loyal subjects." To this end the Lords 

 Lieutenant were to furnish returns of men between the ages of 

 15 and 60 years, not already in any Corps, who would be 

 willing to be trained for the defence of the kingdom. There 

 was a further influx of volunteers, as we shall learn, and the 

 system, as amended, continued until the ratification of peace 

 at Amiens in March, 1802, when the existing statutes expired 

 and many companies were disbanded. War broke out again 

 in 1803, however, and a series of Acts were passed authorizing 

 the embodiment of new corps of Volunteers to meet the 

 emergency (Cf. 44 George III, cap. 54). The total then 

 raised in Great Britain and Ireland amounted to 463,000 men, 

 a number which was said to check materially the flow of 

 recruits for the regular army. 



In the course of the investigation I noticed that the Dorset 

 companies of infantry and artillery were not formed until 1798, 

 if the muster rolls were conclusive proof, whereas the Volunteer 

 cavalry was raised in 1794 (as will presently appear), the year 

 of recognition by the Government.* The apparent tardiness 

 of the unmounted forces may be due, I think, to the loss of 

 their earliest records. In this connection it may be mentioned 

 that no muster rolls from Sherborne exist before 1803, and 

 none at all from Lyme Regis; the latter town, being open to 

 raids from the Channel, would certainly have enrolled a local 

 corps on the first opportunity granted to it. There is the 

 further point that two Weymouth officers were gazetted to 

 their respective corps, vice two others who had resigned, on 

 9th June, 1795, but the War Office musters are silent until 1798. 

 On the whole, therefore, it seems to be a fair inference that 

 infantry and artillery were raised soon after they were 

 authorized, and that their records are not complete during the 

 first period. Let us hope that some of the descendants of the 

 men who served at that time will be able to supply from private 

 sources the information which is now missing. A welcome 



* It is possible that the transmission of returns of strength, 

 through the General commanding the district, was not 

 compulsory until 1798. 



