Peeblesshire Local Militia

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Hi, Back in January I posted a first draft of an article I'd prepared for the Peebles Archaeological Society magazine. However I went on to expand that article after doing further research, and I attach the final article here. If anyone would like me to e-mail them a copy of the article with its accompanying photos drop me an e-mail at dsbart92@gmail.com. Kind regards, David Bartholomew.

A Lost Button with a Tale to Tell
While detecting at Drumelzier on 6th December 2024 I found a small silvered button decorated with a crown and the letters P, V, Y and C (see photo). From past experience of finding similar buttons I suspected it had belonged to a member of a local militia that had been created at the time of the Napoleonic wars when there were fears of an invasion by France. It seemed likely to me that the ‘P’ stood for Peebles. I shared a photo of the button with Trevor Cowie and together we came to the conclusion that the letters probably stood for Peeblesshire Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry. We could find no record of similar buttons online and a notable lack of information on the Peebles local militia on the internet. It seemed however that a 1911 article by B.F.M. Freeman in the Transactions of the Hawick Archaeological Society entitled ‘Historical Records of the Border Yeomanry Regiments’ would help to answer many of our questions and I requested the relevant volume on inter-library loan. It was indeed very helpful and informative.

Peeblesshire Yeomanry Cavalry
The first mention of any Yeomanry Force for the County of Peebles is found in 1803 when, on the renewal of the war with France, Sir James Montgomery of Stobo offered to raise a troop of Yeomanry Cavalry for the county. This was transmitted to the relevant authorities and on 23rd May 1803 George III accepted the offer. The troop was recruited mainly from the neighbourhood of Peebles, and at the beginning consisted of a Captain Commandant (Sir James Montgomery), Lieutenant William Loch of Rachan, Cornet Gideon Needham, Quartermaster Walter Laidlaw, 3 Sergeants, 3 Corporals, 1 Trumpeter and 37 Privates – a total of 48 of all ranks. In the following years it regularly went out for training and exercise. In 1814 when peace came it was thanked by both Houses of Parliament along with other Yeomanry and Volunteer Corps. In 1817 its numbers were increased to 59.
In 1821, as a result of the Radical Rising (a week of strikes and unrest in April 1820 that culminated in the trial for the crime of treason of a number of ‘radicals’ intent on establishing a radical republic), a second troop was raised for the Peeblesshire Yeomanry Cavalry by Captain Colin Mackenzie of Portmore, Eddleston, with Lieutenant John Hay, Cornet John Patterson as his subaltern, and Alexander Bartram as his Quartermaster. The total of all ranks was 41. The Peeblesshire Yeomanry Cavalry was one of the Yeomanry Corps that marched past His Majesty George IV on Portobello Sands on August 23rd 1822. In 1826 we find the 1st Troop still headed by Captain Commandant Sir James Montgomery, along with Lieutenant Robert Welsh, Cornet James Murray and Quartermaster John Watson. The 2nd Troop was headed by Captain Colin Mackenzie, along with Cornet John Patterson and Quartermaster George Williamson. The position of Lieutenant was vacant. The total strength was 88 officers and men. In December 1827 they were ordered to be disbanded, after 24 years of service on behalf of their country. The uniform of the Peebles Yeomanry Cavalry was a blue jacket with yellow collar and silver lace and buttons, and white breeches.
The other Borders Yeomanry and Volunteer Corps were the Roxburghshire Light Dragoons Yeomanry Cavalry, the Selkirkshire Light Dragoons and the Berwickshire Yeomanry Cavalry.

Peeblesshire Volunteer Infantry
As I continued research I found other sources of information which built up a more detailed picture of the efforts made at that time to protect the nation from the threat of invasion by France. Freeman does not mention it, but there was also the creation of a regiment of Peeblesshire Volunteer Infantry by Lord Elibank, the Lord Lieutenant of Peeblesshire, on 20th June 1803. Its Colours were consecrated in the Church of Peebles on 9th March 1804, by William Dalgleish, Minister of Peebles and Chaplain to the regiment. J.W. Buchan in Volume 1 of his ‘History of Peeblesshire’ records that there were three companies in Peebles, each of eighty rank and file, as well as a company at Innerleithen, one at West Linton, and a sixth for Kirkurd and Skirling.

Militia and Local Militia
In addition to the Peeblesshire Yeomanry Cavalry and Peeblesshire Volunteer Infantry, there were also regiments of Militia.
In ‘The History of the Scottish Borderers Militia’ published by R.W. Weir in 1877 we read that Alexander Murray, 7th Lord Elibank, the Lord Lieutenant of Peeblesshire, was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Fourth Dumfriesshire Regiment of Militia in 1798. The Militia Act of 1797 had given county lieutenancies the power to raise militia forces. Lord Elibank lived at Darnhall at Eddleston, now known as the Barony Castle Hotel.
J.M. Bulloch’s 1914 book ‘Territorial Soldiering in the North East of Scotland during 1759 – 1814’ records that in June 1802 a new Act was passed increasing the Scots Militia to 7950 men, and the ten original battalions to fifteen. The 4th or Dumfries Regiment of Militia became the 10th for Dumfries, Selkirk and Roxburgh, and the 14th for Kirkcudbright and Wigtown. Peebles, which had originally been part of the old 4th was joined with Berwick, Linlithgow and Haddington to form a new 8th regiment or battalion. The Earl of Home, as Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, was appointed colonel of the new regiment on 5th October 1802. The other three had originally previously been part of the 10th or Edinburgh Regiment of Militia. In 1802 Edinburgh became a new 11th Regiment on its own.
The Militias were raised through compulsory measures and were far from popular, in Peeblesshire no less than elsewhere. For every parish a list was returned of men between the ages of 19 and 23 and names were chosen by ballot to raise the required number of men from the parish. Men in certain professions or situations qualified for exemption. It was possible to avoid conscription by paying for a substitute to take one’s place or paying an equivalent fine. At the beginning this was £10, though later the amount required was often £50 or even £100. Many men formed themselves into clubs and insurance societies into which they paid perhaps £10 a year for the purpose of providing substitutes for those of their members who were unlucky enough to be victims of the ballot. Those who took their place as substitutes often found their sudden wealth a temptation to spend freely, and drinking establishments did a brisk trade. The men were enlisted to serve in Scotland for the duration of the war and for one month after the proclamation of peace. The officers all had to be landed gentry or their future heirs. One further consequence of the creation of the militias was that the number of volunteers for the regular army went down, as the bounty one received as a substitute was a far more attractive proposition.
With voluntary recruitment insufficient to meet the needs of the regular army and Britain again feeling under serious threat, in 1807 it was decided to call on the militia to provide recruits for the regular army and the resulting deficiencies in the militia to be made up by another ballot. It was recognised that the rush of recruits to the Volunteers and Yeomanry had been largely a result of the fact that such service was held to confer exemption from the ballot for the militia. But in addition to filling the ranks of the regular militia, it was seen as necessary to maintain the strength of the Volunteers. This was done in 1808 with the creation of a new force called the Local Militia, which was also raised by ballot. Only men between the ages of 18 and 30 were liable for the ballot, and they were sworn in for five years. Those who came forward voluntarily received a bounty of two guineas. The Local Militia were liable to be called out for annual training for not more than 28 days in the year, and to no greater distance than an adjoining county. In the case of invasion or rebellion, however, they could be marched to any part of Great Britain; and they could also be called out by the Lord Lieutenant to suppress riots. The option of providing substitutes was abolished, though exemption for two years could be obtained by paying a fine.
It was made possible for a whole corps of volunteers to transfer themselves bodily to the Local Militia, and the absence of further references to the Peeblesshire Volunteer Infantry after 1808 suggests that this is what happened in Peeblesshire. As the Local Militia grew the number of Volunteers decreased, and those corps of Volunteers that were not self-supporting received their death-blow in 1809 when the Government stopped all further allowances for clothing to Volunteer Infantry. Enlistment in the Local Militia conferred exemption from the ballot for the regular Militia. Consequently, although in many parts of the country service in the Local Militia was unpopular, the local force grew in strength. The Local Militia of Peeblesshire was commanded by Colonel Lord Elibank, who must have taken over its leadership when the Peeblesshire Volunteer Infantry that he had previously commanded ceased to exist. The Peeblesshire Local Militia was in existence from 1808 to 1816. It was about 700 strong and mustered once a year for fourteen days in Peebles. When not on duty the arms and accoutrements of the regiment were stored in Neidpath Castle under the guardianship of Sergeant Veitch.
In 2011 the Tweeddale museum in Peebles acquired the uniform of an officer of the Peeblesshire Local Militia. It is a bright yellow and red coatee with accompanying white trousers and with gilded buttons. The buttons are inscribed ‘Peeblesshire L.M.’ for ‘Local Militia’ round the margin (see photo). The uniform had come up for auction following the sale of the contents of Kinross House, Kinross-shire, which belonged to the Montgomery family of Stobo. This led to the suggestion that it had belonged to Sir James Montgomery of Stobo. But there is no evidence that he ever had any involvement with the Peeblesshire Local Militia. He continued to lead the Peeblesshire Yeomanry Cavalry right up until its disbandment in 1827. However his son, Sir Graham Graham-Montgomery, the 3rd Baronet, was Lieutenant of the Midlothian Yeomanry Cavalry from 1850-54 and MP for Peeblesshire from 1852-68. He owned both Stobo Castle and Kinross House and it would be perfectly plausible that with a personal interest in the militia and as a man of some substance he might have acquired the uniform that the museum later acquired.
The discovery of that button in a field at Drumelzier has led me on a journey of further discoveries that I never imagined I would have when I lifted it from the soil!