England Army History (National Institute)

Army History
Before the Civil War (1642-49) there was no regular standing army in England. Regiments were raised by members of the nobility upon authority from the monarch to meet a particular requirement and were known by the name of the colonel who formed them. Due to the lack of a central military organization in early times no systematic records exist but there are many records which refer to individuals, especially officers.

The formal organization of the army started at the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. The records from 1660 to the 1750s are relatively sparse and do not really contain much biographical information of use to the researcher. Some of the best sources for this period are regimental histories, see Hook’s Armies of the Crown: The Bibliography of Their Regimental Histories, Great Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth (2001-1) and Arthur White’s A Bibliography of the Regimental Histories of the British Army, these can be borrowed on Interlibrary Loan, and many are on film or fiche. Major references for the history and records of the Civil War and Restoration periods are Asquith’s The New Model Army, Dalton’s English Army Lists and Commission Registers 1661-1714 (1960), Fowler and Spencer’s Army Records for Family Historians, Gibson and Dell’s Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls, Kitzmiller’s ''In Search of the Forlorn Hope. A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and Their Records 1840-WWI, Newman’s Royalist Officers in England and Wales: A Biographical Dictionary, Peacock’s The Army Lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers, Rogers’ Battles and Generals of the Civil War 1642-1651, and Young’s The English Civil War Armies''. The chart below Chart 4 presents a brief synopsis of important events in British military history that may affect the family historian.

CHART: Brief Historical Synopsis of Important Military and Maritime Dates since 1640 Information from Kitzmiller, Swinnerton, Abranson and Fowler and Spencer

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