<>Militia Lists and Musters 1757-1876
by Jeremy Gibson and Mervyn Medlycott [FFHS 4th edn]

<>Subtitled a 'Directory of holdings in the British Isles' this is the fourth edition of a guide, arranged county-by-county, to finding Militia lists and musters. There is also a useful introduction describing how these records were created. Thus under the 1757 Militia Act, “parish constable were ordered to record the names of all men aged 18 to 50,” so in theory these lists should be virtual complete annual censuses for men. However the survival rates for these lists is patchy. The authors note that the records and where they were held were re-surveyed for the third edition, but not for this one, although it does contain some new information as well as up-to-date address details for Record Offices etc. (CMBH - Dec 2000)