POLITICAL HISTORY 



military way on the north side of the river Eden. Before the making 

 of the military road, communication between Carlisle and Newcastle 

 was by a road crossing the Eden at Warwick Bridge, which was 

 by all accounts of difficult transit. The grand jury of the county, 

 at the Quarter Sessions held at Carlisle in July 1691, requested 

 ' that a bridge at Botcherby be built and a new way purchased 

 there ; the whole river of Petterill having broken into the old way, by 

 which means neither the Judges nor any other persons can safely passe, 

 unlesse they goe through the corne fieldes ; and if the river be high noe 

 person can passe that way ; and the present bridge at Botcherby hath 

 twice beene repaired by the county of late yeares.' The new road to the 

 eastern districts was the beginning of an era of road making in Cumber- 

 land. From this time forward, under a settled government, and with the 

 blessing of continuing peace, so long denied to the Border counties, dates 

 that steady growth of trade and agriculture which has taken place. 



The failure of the territorial levies to check the inroad of the 

 rebel forces directed men's minds to national defence. But as time 

 went on the enthusiasm of the military reformers cooled down, and 

 little was done for the improvement of the county forces till 17567, 

 when the Act 30 George II. brought into existence what is known as 

 the new militia. In 17612 it was thought necessary to repeal the old 

 militia laws and reduce their substance into one act of parliament. By 

 this statute (2 Geo. III. cap. 20, sec. 41) the contribution of Cumber- 

 land to the national forces was fixed at the quota of 320 men. A 

 scheme was adopted in 1782 by which every English regiment, not 

 bearing the title of royal, was attached to a county and granted the 

 county title in order to cultivate a local connection for the populariza- 

 tion of each unit of the army and the furtherance of recruiting. For 

 some reason not known the 34th Regiment, first raised in 1702, was 

 allotted to Cumberland, and the 55th, first raised in 1756,10 Westmor- 

 land. It must be admitted that the attempt at localization had failed, 

 as no real connection between the regiments and the counties was ever 

 attained. Under the army localization scheme of 1871 the two 

 regiments were linked together in the second sub-district or Cumberland 

 and Westmorland brigade, with the headquarters or depot at Carlisle 

 Castle. When Colonel Newdigate assumed the command in 1873 

 sanguine hopes were expressed that the ranks of these two regiments 

 would soon be filled with Cumberland and Westmorland men. To 

 celebrate the formation of the regimental district, two sets of shot- 

 torn and weather-beaten colours of the 34th Regiment were deposited 

 with much solemnity over the regimental tablet in Carlisle Cathedral 

 on 9 October 1873, and on 18 July 1874 a Chinese standard cap- 

 tured by a lieutenant of the 55th Regiment at the battle of Tinghai 

 in 1841 was laid up in Kendal church amongst the old colours 

 placed there in 1851.* By another military device the Cumberland 



1 Much information about the services of these two regiments will be found in Noakes's Historical 

 Account of the 34^ and 55^ Regiments (Carlisle, 1875). 



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