LIEUTENANCY

L

LIEUTENANCY

1624 - 1908

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

L/C Lieutenancy - County

L/C/D Deputy Lieutenancy

L/C/C County - commissions

L/C/C/1 Original commissions; 1853-1861

L/C/C/2 Letters of royal approval; 1835-1913

L/C/C/3 Correspondence and papers; 1778-1915

L/C/C/4 Draft commissions and precedents; 1804-1870

L/C/C/5 Lists of Deputy Lieutenants; 1807-1852

L/C/G General meetings

L/C/M Militia

L/C/M/1 Lists of men enrolled; 1803-1855

L/C/M/2 Subdivisional returns; 1806-1831

L/C/M/3 Regimental returns; 1804-1874

L/C/M/4 Correspondence and papers; 1807-1875

L/C/M/5 Forms, lists and memoranda; 1802-1875

L/C/T Training Act

L/C/L Local militia

L/C/L/1 Warrants to complete and assemble the militia; 1808-1813

L/C/L/2 Subdivisional returns; 1809-1815

L/C/L/3 Regimental returns generally made out and signed by the Adjutant; 1809-1816

L/C/L/4-5 Summary returns; 1810-1814

L/C/L/6 Bills for armouries; 1809-1810

L/C/V Volunteers

L/C/V/1 Minutes on privately raised companies; 1745-1902

L/C/V/2 Returns of volunteers enrolled; 1806-1892

L/C/V/3 Schedules of muster returns; 1806-1815

L/C/V/4 Returns of arms; 1812-1814

L/C/V/5 Correspondence; 1806-1903

L/C/V/6 Printed papers and forms; 1803-1900

L/C/X Civil matters

L/C/X/1 Minutes of County Meetings for Economical and Political Reform; 1780-1783

L/C/X/2 Appointments of special constables; 1880-1891

L/C/X/3 Queen Victoria Jubilee Fund consisting of accounts, correspondence, lists of members, circulars and papers; 1887

L/C/X/4 Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee bonfire celebrations consisting of correspondence and circulars; 1897

L/L Lewes subdivision

L/L/E Militia enrolments

L/L/E/1 Original militia enrolments; 1788-1822

L/L/E/2 Supplementary militia enrolments; 1797-1804

L/L/E/3 Army of Reserve enrolments; 1803-1804

L/L/E/4 Training Act enrolments; 1807

L/L/E/5 Local militia enrolments; 1809-1813

L/L/E/6 Volunteer enrolments; 1803-1805

L/L/M Minutes of meetings

L/L/A Abstract of enrolment; 1805-1826

L/L/O Oath books and certificates

L/L/O/1 Oaths of residence and ability; 1803-1825

L/L/O/2 Oaths of allegiance and service; 1826-1827

L/L/O/3 Certificates of enrolment; 1803

L/L/O/4 Certificates of substitutes; 1826-1831

L/L/D Defence Act papers

L/L/D/1 Returns of livestock; 1803-1804

L/L/D/2 Returns of waggons, light carts and draft animals, vouchers to account; 1803-1807

L/L/D/3 Returns of inspectors and superintendents; 1803-1804

L/L/D/4 Returns of pioneers; 1803-1804

L/L/D/5 Returns of boats and barges; 1804

L/L/D/6 Returns of volunteers enrolled; 1802-1804

L/L/D/7 Papers and correspondence concerning the provision of waggons, special constables, roads and bridges; 1803-1804

L/L/D/8 Blank forms and circulars; 1803-1804

L/L/R Army of Reserve papers; 1803-1806

L/L/L Local militia

L/L/L/1 Class book; 1809-1813

L/L/L/2 Account of enrolments, fines and casuals; 1813

L/L/W Lewes subdivision - warrants for militia ballot; 1821

L/P Pevensey subdivision

L/P/M Minutes of meetings; 1793-1816

L/P/O Oath books and certificates

L/P/O/1 Oaths of residence and ability; 1803-1827

L/P/O/2-3 Oaths of allegiance and service; 1826-1827

L/P/O/4 Certificates of fines paid; 1809-1811

L/P/L Pevensey subdivision - lists and returns

L/P/L/1 Lists of the male population; 1803

L/P/L/2 Names of persons liable to be balloted for the Army of Reserve; 1803-1804

L/P/L/3 Local militia enrolments; 1813

L/P/L/4 Lists of men liable to militia service; 1816-1825

L/P/E Pevensey subdivision - original enrolments

L/P/E/1 Militia enrolments; 1807-1822

L/P/E/2 Local militia enrolments; 1810-1813

L/B Brighton subdivision

L/B/A Correspondence; 1826-1827

L/B/L Lists; 1829

L/M Clerk to the Lieutenancy

L/M/S Clerk to the Lieutenancy - subdivision accounts

L/M/S/1 Lewes subdivision accounts; 1803-1804

L/M/S/2 Accounts of fines and bounties under the Militia and Army of Reserve Acts (Lewes); 1803-1814

L/M/S/3 Local militia account of fines and bounties for Lewes and Pevensey subdivisions; 1809-1816

L/M/A Clerk to the Lieutenancy - general and subdivisional meetings

L/M/A/1-2 General and subdivisional accounts; 1809-1828

L/M/A/3 Vouchers to account; 1815-1829

L/M/A/4 Duplicates of claims for payment sent to the War Office; 1860-1908

L/M/C Clerk to the Lieutenancy - appointments

L/M/C/1 Appointments of the Clerk of the general meetings; 1882-1905

L/M/D Clerk to the Lieutenancy - letter books

L/M/M Clerk to the Lieutenancy - other records

English

About 90 series

The close connexion between the Lieutenancy and Quarter Sessions is most marked during the period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, to which most of the extant records relate. The Lord Lieutenant was by custom given the senior position of Custos Rotulorum in the Commission of the Peace, the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace were to a large extent the same persons, and in certain cases Justices had power to act as Deputy Lieutenants. The levying of money on the county was done through Quarter Sessions, and in Sussex at this time the Clerk of the General Meetings, later described as Clerk to the Lieutenancy, was the Clerk of the Peace. Consequently there is some confusion in the records, and such series as Officers' Declarations of Qualification and Treasurer's Accounts for Relief of Militia-men's families, though found with and intimately related to the Lieutenancy records, are quite clearly Quarter Sessions records, and have been listed as such

The Clerk of the General Meetings, 1806-31, was also Clerk to the Subdivisions of Lewes, Pevensey and Brighton, which fact explains the preservation of these subdivisional records with the Lieutenancy records and the absence of any for the other Subdivisions

Apart from the early 'Booke concerning the Deputy Leiuetenantshipp' (1624-31) and the two books recording the raising of companies by private subscription in 1745 and 1794, the records reflect the military organization under the Lords Lieutenant based on the reorganization of the Militia by Pitt in 1757 (30 Geo. II, c. 25). This and succeeding Acts, of which the most important is 42 Geo. III, c. 90 (1802), laid down the system of general and sub-divisional meetings by which the Sussex quota to be raised (800 in 1757, 803 in 1802) was apportioned on the rapes, hundreds and parishes, and by which the balloting and enrolment of men were to be carried out. The great demands on man-power made by the Napoleonic wars and the need for a larger force for home defence to act as a trained reserve from which to recruit men into the regular army led to the creation of new forces. The Supplementary Militia, twice the size of the Militia, was introduced in 1796 (37 Geo. III, cc. 3 and 22). In 1803 with the reopening of hostilities the Army of Reserve and the Permanent Additional Force (1804) were successively created and found unsatisfactory. The experiments to provide a form of national training began with the Levy en Masse Act (43 Geo. III, c. 96, 1803), continued under the Training Act, 1806 (46 Geo. III, c. 90) and achieved its final form in the Local Militia Acts (48 Geo. III, c. 111, 1808 and 52 Geo. III, c. 38, 1812). The parish was liable to produce men and the choice was to be determined by ballot. For the Militia and similar forces, the age limits were 18-45 years and period of service 5 years. No man balloted, described often as the 'principal', was bound to serve in person provided he or the parish secured a substitute who would serve for the duration of the war; and the system was enforced by fines on the defaulting man and parish. The Local Militia allowed no substitution, but provided exemption on payment of a fine adjusted to income, and was confined to the ages 18-30 years. Side by side with these compulsory militia forces were the volunteer and yeomanry corps, whose exemptions from the militia ballot and fines made that service so attractive

The Defence Acts (38 Geo. III, c. 27, 1798 and 43 Geo. III, cc. 55, 96 and 120, 1803) deserve special note for originating records under threat of invasion which are perhaps the most interesting of the extant Lieutenancy records. After 1816 the Militia was only occasionally called out for training, and from 1829 to 1852 the ballot was suspended. In the latter year recruitment for the Militia was put on a volunteer basis by the Act 15/16 Vict., c. 50 (1852), and the ballot by which deficiencies could be filled was reserved as a threat to the parish. In 1860 Volunteer Rifle Corps were formed in Sussex on a territorial basis. Under the Regulation of the Forces Act, 1871 (34/35 Vict., c. 86) the control of all these forces was largely brought under the central government, and the Lords Lieutenant were left with the privilege of appointing Deputy Lieutenants, of recommending to the crown appointments to commissions in the militia and volunteer forces, and of retaining certain powers relating to the militia ballot

In 1757 the Rape was accepted as the natural unit for subdivision meetings. Later, some of the Rapes were divided into Upper and Lower Divisions for administrative convenience until in 1862 the Subdivisions were made to coincide with Petty Sessions Divisions

For a list of corps associated with Sussex 1794-1810, see Sussex Notes and Queries, 4, pp.165-167

For correspondence of the Lord Lieutenant with the Secretary of State see Public Record Office, HO 50,51

Lord Lieutenants of Sussex

1550-1553 Sir Richard Sackville

1553-1580 Henry Fitz Alan, 12th Earl of Arundel

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1585-1586 Charles Howard, 2nd Lord Howard of Effingham

1586-1608 Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham (styled Lord Howard of Effingham to 1597) and Thomas Sackville, 1st Lord Buckhurst

1608-1612 Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham and Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel

1612-1624 Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel and Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset

1624-1635 Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel and Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset, 1624-1642

1635 Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset and Algernon Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland

1636-1642 Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset, Algernon Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland and Henry Frederick Howard, Lord Mowbray (styled Lord Mautravers to 1640)

1642-1660 Commonwealth

1660-1668 Algernon Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland

***

1670-1677 Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset and his son Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst (styled Earl of Middlesex 1675-1677)

1677-1706 Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset

1706-1750 Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset (styled Earl of Hertford to 1748)

1754-1757 John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham

1757-1761 George Nevill, 1st Earl of Abergavenny

1762-1763 Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont

1763-1806 Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond

1807-1815 Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk

1816-1819 Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond

1819-1835 Sir George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont

1835-1860 Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond

1860-1886 Henry Thomas Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester

1886-1892 Henry Bouverie William Brand, 1st Viscount Hampden

1892-1905 William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny

1905-1917 Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk

1917-1949 Charles Henry Wyndham, 3rd Lord Leaconfield

1949-1973 Bernard Marmaduke Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk

Lord Lieutenants of East Sussex

1974-1989 John Henry Guy Nevill, Marquess of Abergavenny

1989-2000 Admiral Sir Lindsay Bryson

2000- Mrs Phyllida Stewart-Roberts

Sources: G E C The Complete Peerage (1910-1959), Burke's Peerage & Baronetage (1999), T W Horsfield The History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex, 1 (1835), A Fletcher A County Community in Peace and War: Sussex 1600-1660 (1975)