Levy en Masse Act 1803

Levy en Masse Act 1803
Act of Parliament
Long title An Act to amend and render more effectual, an Act passed in the present Session of Parliament, intituled, An Act to enable His Majesty to provide for the Defence and Security of the Realm during the present War, and for indemnifying Persons who may suffer in their Property by such Measures as may be necessary for That Purpose; and to enable his Majesty most effectually and speedily to exercise his ancient and undoubted Prerogative in requiring the Military Service of his liege Subjects in case of Invasion of the Realm
Citation 43 Geo. 3 c. 96
Introduced by Charles Philip Yorke
Territorial extent Great Britain
Dates
Royal assent 27 July 1803
Repealed 16 July 1806
Other legislation
Amends 43 Geo. 3 c. 55, Defence of the Realm Act 1803
Amended by 43 Geo. 3 c. 120
Repealed by 46 Geo. 3 c. 90, Training Act 1806
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Levy en Masse Act 1803 (43 Geo. 3 c. 96) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill, an amendment of the Defence of the Realm Act 1803, was introduced by the Charles Philip Yorke (then Secretary at War) as a 'Military Service Bill' on 18 July 1803 and was passed on the 27 July.[1][2]

The Act stated that Lords Lieutenant and their deputies should list all men between seventeen and fifty-five except clergymen, Quakers, school masters, and the infirm. The list would be classified into four classes: unmarried men under thirty with no living children under ten years of age; unmarried men aged between thirty and fifty, with no living children under ten; married men between seventeen and thirty with no more than two living children under ten; and those not included in the previous classifications. They would then be trained, armed and eligible in case of invasion to be called out anywhere in the British Isles. The Act was never raised for training due to the massive number of volunteers.[3]

The Act was amended by the Levy en Masse Amendment Act 1803 (43 Geo. 3 c. 120), which stated, among other things, that if the number of volunteers in any county was satisfactory to the King he could suspend the operation of the Levy en Masse Act even if they did not amount to the three-fourths of the first classification. This was passed on 11 August.[4]

Full text of 43 Geo. 3 c. 96 Levy en Masse Act

Full text of 43 Geo. 3 c. 120 Levy en Masse Amendment Act

Notes

  1. ↑ J. W. Fortescue, The County Lieutenancies and the Army, 1803-1814 (Macmillan, 1909), p. 30.
  2. ↑ Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England (London, Published by R. Bagshaw, 1806-20), vol. 36, cc.1624.
  3. ↑ Clive Emsley, British Society and the French Wars, 1793-1815 (Macmillan, 1979), p. 101.
  4. ↑ Fortescue, p. 34.
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