| Description | This series consists of records relating to the appointments of militia officers and deputy lieutenants, including:
- volumes of declarations of qualification (information found within these enrolments can include names, style, rank, property, and place of residence) [1758-1882]
- original signed declarations (listing name, style, rank, residence and property with annual value) [1758-1799, 1852-1857, 1859-1880]
- qualifications for deputy lieutenants [1802-1850]
- qualifications for supplementary militia [1797-1799]
- original qualifications [c.1758-1866]
- registers of qualifications [c.1758-1872] |
| Administrative history | A necessary qualification for a commission in the militia or as a deputy lieutenant was the possession or being heir to landed property to an annual value proportionate to the officer's rank. Under the Militia Act of 1757 (30 George II cap. 25) and later Acts, officers were required to make a signed declaration of their property qualification which was to be filed with the Quarter Sessions records and the Clerk of the Peace was to be copy the declaration on a roll. |