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- From the creation of the British Regular Army in 1660, it has been supplemented by part-time volunteer units raised on a local basis. Northamptonshire has often been in the forefront of raising these units, both of horse and foot, whenever circumstances required. The principal reserve force for the army was the Militia composed of part-time soldiers who could be embodied for full-time national defence in time of war, sometimes augmented by full-time Fencible regiments. The Northampton Militia, later Northampton and Rutland Militia, dated from 1763, and a regiment of Northampton Fencibles was raised in 1794. The Volunteers remained part-time soldiers who might be called out for local defence in time of invasion or crisis. From 1859 they became a permanent part of the army's auxiliary forces, and after integration into the Territorial Force the county's volunteers served in both world wars of the 20th century. (en)
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