| Description | Comprising: Q/RD/1-7, militia enrolment records
Q/RD/1/1-5 Deputy Lieutenants' qualifications, 1762-1880
Q/RD/2/1 Deputy Lieutenants' qualification roll, 1762-1835
Q/RD/3/1-175 Militia officers' qualifications, 1773-1846
Q/RD/4/1-2 Officers' qualification rolls, 1773-1846
Q/RD/5/1-5 Cavalry qualifications, 1798
Q/RD/6/1 Cavalry qualifications roll, 1798
Q/RD/7/1 Enrolment book, 1803-1825
Lieutenancy records relating to the lord lieutenants' military functions do not survive locally in Derbyshire. There are no surviving minute books of lieutenancy meetings nor muster rolls except for those at the National Archives in London. Records of the Derbyshire militia are properly part of the records of Quarter Sessions, where, under the Act of 1757 deputy lieutenants and militia officers qualifications were registered (see below) and amongst which are papers relating to the raising and paying of the militia etc. |
| Administrative History | The power of mustering the population of each county for the purposes of order and defence belonged to the sheriff or the justices until the 16th century when this power began to be entrusted to a new officer, the lord lieutenant of the county. At first the lords lieutenant were appointed only in time of danger, but the lieutenancy became a permanent institution in the 17th century, by the Act of 13-14 Ch II c3 (1662) which also gave the lieutenants control of the militia in each county. The Act of 31 Geo II c25 (1757) confirmed the right of the Sovereign to issue commissions of lieutenancy and stipulated the landed qualifications for deputy lieutenants and officers of the militia. |