Military Memoir of Colonel John Birch Author:Roe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOTES. 1. " Volunteer!," p. 38.—The origin of the volunteer system was not at Bristol. It was in the pleasant environs of the town of Shrewsbury that voluntee... more »rs first came forward in favour of the King and Parliament, and they were immediately sanctioned by an ordinance of the two Houses. This seems to have been the earliest notice that was taken of them, althongh Messieurs Blakeway and Owen appear not to have met with it. The example was followed in several other places. In some they were suppressed by the Hoyalist authorities: in others they were established by Parliamentary influence: Bristol was one of these. At first there was ouly one company there ; and, considering the population of the city, it is an intimation that a great part of them were Eovalists. The captain of the first company was appointed by the celebrated Mr. Denzil Holies, who was Lieutenant of the county of Bristol ; but it is uncertain whether the lot fell upon Birch. A second was afterwards appointed, as will appear.i The preamble of the ordinance in question, the first and basis of many others, is conceived in a mild and soothing style. " Whereas divers well-affected Persons, of the Town of Shrcietbury, in the county of Salop, have of themselves, as Volunteers, under the Leading of Thomas Hunt, Esquire, one of the Aldermen of the said Town, exercised themselves in the Use of their Arms, by peaceable Training and Marching in the Fields, near the said Town, the better to enable and prepare themselves for the Service and Defence of his Majesty and the Kingdom, when they shall be lawfully called thereunto ;" then follows the approbation and the permissive authority of both Houses of Parliament. After this gentle exordium it might have been thonght that, in the spirit of Birch's letters and the phrase of the...« less