In the 1850s, the British Army was overstretched with soldiers garrisoned throughout the Empire. During the Crimean War the War Office was compelled to send militia and yeomanry instead of regular soldiers.

      Because of the threat of invasion by France, In 1859 the Secretary of State for War authorised the formation of volunteer rifle corps, and artillery corps in defended coastal towns. The purpose of the rifle corps was to harass the invading enemy’s flanks, while artillery corps were to man coastal guns and forts.

      From the 1860s through to the early 1900s, Lytham and St.Annes were visited by Volunteer Corps, militia & Yeomanry from various inland towns which came here for training and mock military exercises.

      A Volunteer group was also formed at Lytham about 1860. Some Lytham Volunteers fought in the Boer War.