Royal Sherwood Foresters Militia

The Royal Sherwood Foresters, originally the Nottinghamshire Militia, was an auxiliary regiment of the British Army from the English Midland county of Nottinghamshire. From its formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until its final service in the Special Reserve, the Militia regiment of the county carried out internal security and home defence duties in all of Britain's major wars. It became a battalion of the Sherwood Foresters regiment in 1881 and fought in the Second Boer War, where the whole battalion was captured at the Rhenoster River bridge. It then trained thousands of reservists and recruits during World War I. It maintained a shadowy existence until final disbandment in 1953.

Early history

The English militia was descended from the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd, the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriffs. It continued under the Norman kings, and was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252, and again by King Edward I's Statute of Winchester of 1285.

Nottinghamshire levies are first mentioned when they served under William de Peverel at the Battle of the Standard against the Scots in the 1138. By the end of the 13th Century the Nottinghamshire men of Sherwood Forest were renowned for their skill in archery and Nottingham and Derby were the only counties not on the Welsh Border that sent foot soldiers to all of King Edward I's Welsh Wars. They were often called out in the later Anglo-Scottish Wars, such as the Siege of Caerlaverock in 1300, the Weardale campaign of 1327, the Battle of Halidon Hill and Siege of Berwick in 1333, and the campaign of 1335. Nottingham levies were present at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, and paid soldiers from the county were at the Battle of Agincourt (1415).