 The Cullompton Company of Volunteers ( a voluntary body of soldiers ) was first raised in 1794 and continued until 1810 . The volunteer companies were formed following Britain 's entry into the French Revolutionary Wars and continued to exist during the Napoleonic Wars . Cullompton was the first inland town to offer to raise a volunteer company ( on 16 May 1794 ) and on 24 June the volunteers were accepted . The first commander , Captain Jarmin , was a former Marine officer . The company was formed into a battalion with 11 other volunteer companies called the Hayridge ( later Highbridge ) regiment . It had 1 @,@ 200 men and three companies were based in Cullompton with a barracks in New Cut . Jarmin died in 1794 and was succeeded by Henry Skinner Esq . In 1801 the company became a cavalry troop and was then disbanded only to be reformed in 1805 when hostilities with France resumed . Many Cullompton men fought in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo . 
