East Suffolk Militia Depot
Here's the text of an email from Mike O'Donovan
(19.10.08):
'Attached are two photos relating to the Militia Depot. They are on
one of the walls of Ipswich Preparatory School in Ivry Street and
it took me ages to discover them. Hope they transmit OK.
(Photograph courtesy
Mike O'Donovan)
The first one reads:
"1859
The Boundary of the ground belonging to the East Suffolk Militia Depot
extends twenty three inches westward beyond the face of this stone"
(Photograph
courtesy Mike O'Donovan)
The second one reads:
"1859
The Boundary of the ground belonging to the East Suffolk Militia Depot
extends thirty inches westward beyond the face of this stone.
They are all that remains of the historic building.'
Our thanks to Mike for finding these specimens and, indeed deciphering
the weathered lettering.
Fortunately, Ed Broom's excellent Ipswich In Old Postcards website (see
Links) has a photograph (postamrked 1907) of
the Militia Depot:
The Suffolk Regiment was originally raised by the Duke of Norfolk in
1685, as the 12th Regiment of Foot, to suppress the threatened Monmouth
Rebellion. Their first stations were at Great Yarmouth and Landguard
Fort in Ipswich. King James II was a Catholic King and many of its
original officers were Catholics but when he fled to France, the whole
army, including this Regiment, would not support him further.
Their first actions were to be in Ireland actually fighting against
James. They stormed Carrickfergus Castle and were in the Battle of the
Boyne on 6 July 1690. Gradually the links to Suffolk strengthened as
more and more recruiting was done in this County. In 1782 it became the
East Suffolk Regiment but the Depot of the Regiment was finally
established at Bury St Edmunds in the Gibraltar Barracks in 1878.
The official title became the Suffolk Regiment in 1881. The West
Suffolk Militia became the 3rd Battalion and the Cambridgeshire Militia
became the 4th Battalion. By 1900, 90 percent of the men came from
Suffolk.
The 4th Battalion of the Territorial Force (later the TA) was
established in 1908 in East Suffolk and the 5th Battalion in West
Suffolk.
Home
Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon, 2008.