Who were the Durham Volunteers?
During the Napoleonic Wars units of armed, part-time soldiers – Volunteers – were raised in Durham to defend the County if the French invaded. None of these units saw any active service and all were disbanded by 1815. In 1859 fear of France saw a revival of Volunteers across the country and in County Durham 19 towns and villages raised units of Rifle Volunteers (for example Stockton, Beamish, Castle Eden, Bishop Auckland and Sunderland). These part-time soldiers became Volunteer Battalions of the DLI in 1887 and then in 1908 were renamed as Territorial Battalions of the DLI.
