The office of Lord-Lieutenant for a county or area within the United Kingdom has existed for over four centuries. Today it provides a ceremonial presence for the Monarcy on a local basis, spreading a spirit of goodwill and the encouragement of benevolent activity. But in the past it constituted a powerful device by which the Monarch governed the country by means of indirect rule. In particular it was the Lieutenants who controilled the militias, the local defence forces which existed variously as military reserves, as police, and as forces of national unity. This militia was particularly significant in a country which was unusually late in acquiring a regular army. For much of their history the Lord-Lieutenants have also acted as Chief Magistrates, supervising the Justices of the Peace. These lay Justices, like the Lieutenants themselves, have never been salaried officials, serving without emoluments for the maintenance of law and order, albeit for long on a class-restricted basis. Through them the Lieutenants greatly influenced the political direction of their counties, steering their way between local pressures and the demands of national government. In this lively history, the first full-length work on its subject, Miles Jebb has traced the development of the Lieutenancies and their adapation towards the requirements of today, a story of progressive loss of real power but retention of social purpose. He has embellished it with numerous anecdotes about the aristocrats who held the office of Lieutenant together with their Deputies. A comprehensive list of all the Lieutenants in history, compiled by Sir John Sainty, is included as an appendix.

War in Ukraine, Volume 3: Armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic, 2014–2022 focuses on the armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), one of the two separatist entities in the east of Ukraine. This volume aims to provide an overview of their formation in 2014, status up to the end of February 2022 (with some observations on their activities since the launch of Russia’s ‘Special Military Operation’), and combat equipment, while also exploring issues around identity and symbology. Since their formation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine during 2014, the armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic have been slowly consolidated into a more integrated fighting force. However, key units still maintain individual identities and centres of power. One area of focus of the title will be the technological improvisation of the Luhansk People’s Republic, which includes the creation of hybrid armoured vehicles of types not seen elsewhere. The extensive visual propaganda culture around the armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic is also explored. War in Ukraine, Volume 3: Armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic, 2014–2022 also presents a wealth of unique visual material including unit patches, photographs, diagrams and maps, and will be of interest to anyone studying the conflict in Ukraine.

Despite its failure to unseat King James II, the Monmouth Rebellion had a profound influence upon English politics. In particular, it reignited the debate about whether the country should rely on a professional army under direct royal control or local country militias made up of part-time soldiers. King James favoured the former, and used criticism of the militia’s performance during the rebellion to support his argument. Contemporary commentators and historians alike all certainly seemed to agree that the king’s victory was won in spite of - not because of - the militia. But is this a fair judgement? Drawing upon a wealth of information gathered from personal accounts, private papers, letters, financial records, diaries and memoirs, this book revisits the events of 1685 to assess the militia’s performance in helping to defeat the so-called ’pitchfork rebellion’. Through an extensive investigation into the militia itself, its social composition, role, training, armament and leadership the study sets a benchmark for what could have been realistically expected of these part-time soldiers, and then sets this against the actual tasks that were asked of it in 1685. The results that emerge from this exercise paint a very different picture of the militia’s role in the rebellion than has hitherto been accepted by historians. Judged by these criteria, a convincing case is made that the militia was in fact an efficient military organisation according to contemporary expectations and demands made of it. Criticisms of it, it is argued, stem more from political expediency than impartial judgment. As well as being of interest to military and social historians, this book demonstrates the dangers to all historians of taking at face value contemporary comments. It shows how subtle and interlocking forces, that may at first glance appear unrelated, can work together to colour opinions of events and organisations.