Peeblesshire Local Militia

[Colinafflec]

Good day all.
Been away for what seems like forever but now that I'm back, I, naturally, have a query. (If this query is in the wrong spot, please info me ASAP and I’ll move it!!!) Bit of a toughie. It has me stumped anyway. Before my dad Hugh Affleck passed away, he produced, sometime in the 1970s, a document regarding one of our ancestors, one Robert Affleck who hailed from Drumelzier in Peeblesshire. In 1820, this Robert immigrated to Canada with the Lesmahagow Society over in Lanarkshire. Before he did this, however, he was enrolled in the militia. My father Hugh even somehow dug up Robert's enlistment papers (which stated):

Enrolled 2 Nov. 1808 in Militia.
Robert Affleck, age 27, height 5'5", dark complexion, brown eyes, dark hair, born Drumelzier.

Now we get to the difficult part. We have no idea where my dad got this. Produced by him back in the pre-Internet, pre-E search days, his paper-based document just reads "Militia Records" with no details. We have searched all the obvious sources (NAS and so forth) but with no success. Further, we don't even know which county militia Robert enlisted in; Lanarkshire or Peeblesshire, and the latter also has second type of militia unit, the Peeblesshire Local Militia
Any hints or clues as to where or how to access Robert's militia record, or parts thereof, gratefully accepted.
Cheers all. Colin Affleck.

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings Colin.

Not my field of research, but if you type Militia 1800 into the search box at the top of the page you will get to see other forum discussions re the early militia, and that will give you some back ground info, until a specialist can reply to you.

Alan SHARP.

[Colinafflec]

Thanks for the tip Alan. I'm off!!

[Currie]

Hello Colin,

You'll be a long time waiting for a Militia specialist.

Depending on where your father was located back then you would think the LDS church would have been a likely source of the document. They were scanning, or should I say filming, anything that stood still long enough.

It seems there was the Berwick, Haddington, Linlithgow and Peebles Militia as well as the Peebles Local Militia. Here’s the NAS story on Militia records. http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/military.asp

A search at SCAN brings up this record, but perhaps you’ve already seen it.
http://195.153.34.9/catalogue/details.a ... =p&r=&ro=s&

There’s a comprehensive study of the Militia and Volunteer systems in “The County Lieutenancies and the Army, 1803-1814“, published 1909. Not much there specific to Peebles, but there’s a comment on page 48 about the “unwillingness of men” there, and that Bute only had five men not drawn from other counties. So ending up in a ‘foreign’ militia seems likely to have been fairly common.
http://archive.org/stream/countylieuten ... 5/mode/2up

Hope that helps a bit,
Alan

[Colinafflec]

Hello Alan
It does indeed help. I am normally a big fan of the LDS archives’ but they were, unfortunately, no help this time. And that’s correct, I have already visited the NAS site but without any success. As for the SCAN site, while there was no immediate joy there, there were hints of something, so I did leave them a nice note promising them my first born, right arm, diamonds, eternal glory, etc if they would chase this for me. Perhaps something will come of it.
The archive.org site was new to me. A very interesting book, which I am ploughing through as we speak. Full of fascinating bit and pieces. Very useful. At any rate, many thanks for this and with luck, and persistence, I’ll stumble across something somewhere. Thanks again.
Regards,
Colin

[AndrewP]

Hi Colin,

Is there any material in the Scottish Borders Archive and Local History Centre in Hawick of use to you?

http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub/

All the best,

AndrewP

[Colinafflec]

Hello Andrew
Not sure, as I am not familiar with the site. So I'm off to look. Thanks for the tip.
Regards,
Colin

[sjramonat]

Colin: were you ever successful in tracking down the original record?

I have the same (or at least almost the same) item in my notes but have no idea where it came from originally (but have, like you, always wanted to know). What I have reads:
Militia Records: "Robert Affleck, weaver, Lanark. Age 27, height 5'5", dark complexion, brown eyes, dark hair. Born Drummelzier. Enrolled 2 November, 1808."

So, this version says he was in Lanark, Lanarkshire when he enrolled (he did marry in Lanark in 1802, and his son Robert Affleck Jr. is supposed to have been born June 1808 in Lanarkshire). All this would seem to make it more likely that he was in a Lanarkshire militia as opposed to a Peebleshire one.

Stefan Ramonat

[StewL]

Hello Stefan

I am sure Colin will get back to you soon.
TS is a great helpful and friendly site.

[dsbart92]

Hi Colin, I found a Peebles militia button at Drumelzier last month and have just written an article for the Peebles Archaeological Society magazine, which I'll post below. If you'd like more information or a picture of the button e-mail me at dsbart92@gmail.com. Kind regards, David Bartholomew.

Peeblesshire Local Militia

While detecting at Drumelzier on 6th December 2024 I found a small silvered button decorated with a crown and the letters PVYC (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 Peebles 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 answer many of our questions and I requested the relevant volume on inter-library loan. It was indeed very helpful and informative.
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 Castle offered to raise a troop of Yeomanry Cavalry for the county. This offer 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, 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 riotous disorder that had recently been so rampant in Scotland’, 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 2nd 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 other Borders Yeomanry and Volunteer Corps were the Roxburghshire Light Dragoons Yeomanry Cavalry, the Selkirkshire Light Dragoons and the Berwickshire Yeomanry Cavalry.
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). I think the Local Militia was different from the Volunteer Yeomanry. It was part of the Berwickshire, Haddington, Linlithgow and Peebles Militia, which was a regiment of full-time professional soldiers whose service was restricted to the British Isles.
There is an online reference to a Robert Affleck, aged 27, from Drumelzier who enrolled in the local militia on 2nd November 1808. So perhaps I have one of his buttons! Robert emigrated to Canada in 1820.