During the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1666 the Militia were called out, with the cavalry of the inland counties, including the Staffordshire Militia Horse, moving up towards the East Coast. They were stood down on 6 August after the naval victory of the St. James's Day Battle when the threat of invasion receded.Western, p. 41. Training for the militia was usually perfunctory, so when the Duke of Monmouth became Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire in 1677, he ordered that there should not only be an annual muster of the whole county force in May, but that each captain of a company or troop should hold local musters as often as he conveniently could.Western, p. 26.
