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{{About|the force extant from 1794–1803|other volunteer forces|Volunteer force (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
[[File:Volunteer Corps in Action, 1797.jpg|thumb|A 1798 caricature of volunteer infantrymen]]
[[File:Southwark cavalry.jpg|thumb|A Southwark cavalry volunteer]]
[[File:Westminster cavalry.jpg|thumb|A Westminster cavalry volunteer]]
[[File:Hackney infantryman.jpg|thumb|A Hackney infantry volunteer]]
[[File:Temple association infantryman.jpg|thumb|An infantry volunteer from a [[Temple, London|Temple Association]] unit]]
The '''Volunteer Corps''' was a British voluntary part-time organization for the purpose of home defence in the event of invasion, during the [[French Revolutionary Wars|French Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]].

==History==
===Establishment===
At the start of the [[War of the First Coalition]], the [[Secretary of State for War]], [[Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville|Henry Dundas]], began to receive "a great number of Letters", from people living in coastal areas, requesting arms and equipment so that they could defend their localities against any French incursions. The government firmly rejected proposals from [[Kent]] and [[Chichester]] to form "military associations" but similar bodies were formed in [[Brighton]], [[Rye, East Sussex|Rye]], [[Lindfield, West Sussex|Lindfield]] and [[Penzance]] without any official sanction.<ref>Gee, Austin (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=1TMtozjZ7fYC&dq=Volunteer+Act+1794&pg=PA31 ''The British Volunteer Movement, 1794–1814''], Oxford University Press, pp. 26–27.</ref> Dundas had also received more practical proposals for volunteer forces from the [[George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham|Marquess of Buckingham]], [[Arthur Young (writer)|Arthur Young]] and General [[Sir William Erskine, 1st Baronet|Sir William Erskine]].<ref>Gee pp. 24–25</ref> All this led Dundas together with [[Lord Amherst]], to formulate plans for volunteer forces, which were sent to the [[George III of Great Britain|king]] for approval in February 1794. On 14 March, the "Plan of Augmentation for the Forces for Internal Defence" were circulated to the [[lord lieutenant|lords lieutenant]], who would have a central role in creating the new forces. [[William Pitt the Younger]]'s government ensured the passage of the [[Volunteer Act 1794]] through Parliament in the same month.<ref>Gee pp. 28</ref>

The lords lieutenant were tasked with organising committees and obtaining subscriptions from wealthy donors, to raise and support the Volunteers. Local companies or "corps" of Volunteers fulfilled three roles; to man [[coastal artillery]] batteries, to augment the regular [[Militia (United Kingdom)|Militia]] in the [[infantry]] role, and to form [[cavalry]] troops, which were called [[Yeomanry]].<ref name="Tamplin">{{Cite web |url=http://www.loyalvolunteers.org/history/britains_volunteer_movement.htm |title=Loyal Volunteers Living History Society – BRITAIN’S VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 1794 – 1815 by Steve Tamplin |access-date=23 April 2013 |archive-date=26 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426051415/http://www.loyalvolunteers.org/history/britains_volunteer_movement.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The government became concerned that there were too few Volunteer or Yeomanry Cavalry and passed the [[Provisional Cavalry Act 1796]]. This act established the [[Provisional Cavalry]], a force liable for service anywhere in the country. The members of these units were recruited by requiring one man to be provided for service by each man who owned ten or more horses (those who owned fewer horses were collected into groups which were each required to provide one man).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.genfair.co.uk/product_details.php?pid=4730 |title=Buckinghamshire – Provisional Cavalry 1797 |access-date=2 May 2013 |archive-date=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223002916/http://www.genfair.co.uk/product_details.php?pid=4730 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later in 1797 an amendment was passed by parliament which removed the requirement to raise a Provisional Cavalry unit in counties where the Yeomanry already amounted to 75% of the strength required by the Provisional Cavalry Act. This proved to be the case in the majority of counties owing to the strength of the Yeomanry which was a more popular option for the country gentry.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.brigstowe.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/revolution.htm# |title=THE CITY AND COUNTY OF BRISTOL – BRISTOL during the Revelutionary War of 1793–1802 |access-date=2013-05-02 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505023944/http://www.brigstowe.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/revolution.htm# |archive-date=2013-05-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Initially recruitment was slow but the invasion of Belgium and the [[1794 Treason Trials]] caused an increase in volunteers. Further recruits were brought in by Pitt's appeal for volunteers in 1798, which came as Britain was facing the loss of Europe, failed peace negotiations, manpower shortages in the army, financial problems and potential rebellion in Ireland.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cookson|first=J.E.|title=British Society and the French Wars, 1793–1815|journal=Australian Journal of Politics and History|year=1985|volume=31|issue=2|page=194|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8497.1985.tb00326.x}}</ref> At its height more than 300,000 men were members of the Corps and other volunteer units, a number matched by the regular army and militia only at the very end of the Napoleonic Wars. The success of the volunteer corps partly enabled Britain to avoid the costly and unpopular measure of mass conscription.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cookson|first=J.E.|title=British Society and the French Wars, 1793–1815|journal=Australian Journal of Politics and History|year=1985|volume=31|issue=2|page=196|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8497.1985.tb00326.x}}</ref>

===Composition===
The Volunteer Corps typically drew its members from the [[Landed property|propertied classes]]. Officers were usually members of the [[gentry]] (though some [[junior officer]]s were members of the [[professional class|professional]] or [[middle class]]es) and the [[enlisted rank]]s tended to be from the lower middle classes (for example shopkeepers and publicans).<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Chris|title=Revolution Debate: Britain in the 1790s|year=2006|publisher=I. B. Tauris|location=London|page=61|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQtaeCTc5FcC|isbn=9781860649363}}</ref> The failed [[Expédition d'Irlande]] of 1796 and [[Battle of Fishguard|invasion at Fishguard]] caused the expansion of the corps, including the formation of workplace units such as the 863-strong [[Cyfarthfa Ironworks]] unit in South Wales, in which the enlisted ranks were filled by the workmen and the officers were drawn from the clerks and foremen. Such units, made up of working-class men, became more common in the late 1790s and early 1800s due to the increased fear of invasion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Chris|title=Revolution Debate: Britain in the 1790s|year=2006|publisher=I. B. Tauris|location=London|page=62|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQtaeCTc5FcC|isbn=9781860649363}}</ref> Indeed, there was at least one case of de facto conscription, in which a factory-owner decreed that all his workers must join the corps or else be sacked.<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Chris|title=Revolution Debate: Britain in the 1790s|year=2006|publisher=I. B. Tauris|location=London|page=72|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQtaeCTc5FcC|isbn=9781860649363}}</ref>

The Volunteer Corps were occasionally used to keep the peace in Britain but proved unreliable. One unit in Wolverhampton refused to act against food rioters and several volunteers in Devon actually led riots directed at farmers and millers in the winter of 1800–01.<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Chris|title=Revolution Debate: Britain in the 1790s|year=2006|publisher=I. B. Tauris|location=London|page=64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQtaeCTc5FcC|isbn=9781860649363}}</ref>

===Termination===
The infantry volunteers (but not the Yeomanry or artillery) were disbanded at the [[Peace of Amiens]] in 1802, but reformed the following year when [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|Napoleon's planned invasion]] became a serious threat.<ref>Gee, Austin (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=1TMtozjZ7fYC&dq=Volunteer+Act+1794&pg=PA31 ''The British Volunteer Movement, 1794–1814''], Oxford University Press, pp. 28–32.</ref> By the end of 1803, more than 340,000 had enrolled, far more than [[Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth|Henry Addington]]'s government had planned for, and there were initially insufficient weapons and equipment for them. William Pitt, then in [[Loyal opposition|opposition]], became the [[colonel]] of the Volunteer Corps at [[Walmer]] despite his frail health.<ref>Haig, William (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=qyYof5aEfv8C&dq=William+Pitt+the+Younger+volunteers&pg=PA519 ''William Pitt the Younger: A Biography''] Harper Perennial, {{ISBN|0007147201}} (pp. 519–520)</ref> The Volunteer Act and Provisional Cavalry Act were allowed to lapse by the government in 1806.<ref>{{cite book|last=Aylward|first=J. D.|title=The English Master of Arms: From the Twelfth to the Twentieth Century|year=1956|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mV4VAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> They were disbanded again during 1813, except for the Yeomanry who were retained in case of civil insurrection.<ref name="Tamplin" />

==Notable Volunteers==
* [[Robert Burns]], private, Royal [[Dumfries]] Volunteers<ref>[http://scottishmilitary.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/robert-burns-and-royal-dumfries.html The Scottish Military Research Group – Robert Burns and the Royal Dumfries Volunteers]</ref>
* [[David Erskine, 2nd Baron Erskine|David Erskine]], [[lieutenant colonel]], [[Bloomsbury]] and [[Inns of Court]] Volunteers
* [[Sir William Grant|William Grant]], [[Captain (armed forces)|captain]], Bloomsbury and Inns of Court Volunteers<ref>Bellot, Hugh Hale Leigh (1902) [https://archive.org/stream/innerandmiddlet01bellgoog#page/n350/mode/2up ''The Inner and Middle Temple: Legal, Literary and Historic Associations''] Methuen & Co., London. p. 261</ref>
* [[Edward Austen Knight]] (brother of [[Jane Austen]]), captain, East [[Kent]] Volunteers<ref>Le Faye, Deirdre (1989), [https://books.google.com/books?id=iIjEPWg29PMC&dq=volunteers+jane+austen&pg=PA140 ''Jane Austen: A Family Record''], Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-82691-8}} p. 140</ref>
* [[William Pitt the Younger]], colonel of the Royal [[Trinity House]] Volunteer Artillery<ref>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/pitt-hon-william-1759-1806 The History of Parliament – Members 1790–1820 – PITT, Hon. William (1759–1806), of Holwood and Walmer Castle, Kent]</ref> and the [[Cinque Ports]] Volunteer Corps<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15609|page=1005|date=9–13 August 1803}}</ref>
* [[Walter Scott]], Quartermaster and Secretary of the Royal [[Edinburgh]] Volunteer Light Dragoons<ref>[https://www.scribd.com/doc/68100606/The-Defence-of-Scotland-Militias-Fencibles-and-Volunteer-Corps1793-1820 Professor Arnold Morrison, ''Some Scottish Sources on Militias, Fencibles and Volunteer Corps: 1793 – 1830'']</ref>
* [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]], [[lieutenant colonel]], [[St James's]] Volunteer Corps<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Sheridan, Richard Brinsley|volume=52|author=William Fraser Rae|author-link=William Fraser Rae}}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Units of the British Volunteer Corps| ]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1794]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the British Army]]
[[Category:Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1794 establishments in Great Britain]]
[[Category:Volunteer military formations of the United Kingdom]]

British Volunteer Corps - Bewerkingsoverzicht

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