, there were 92,000 professionals in the regular army ( including 2,700 Gurkhas ) and 20,480 Volunteer Reserves . Britain has generally maintained only a small regular army during peacetime , expanding this as required in time of war , due to Britain 's traditional role as a sea power . Since the suppression of Jacobitism in 1745 , the British Army has played little role in British domestic politics ( except for the Curragh incident ) , and , apart from Ireland , has seldom been deployed against internal threats to authority ( one notorious exception being the Peterloo Massacre )
Peterloo Massacre
Peterloo Massacre
History of the British Army