It is a remarkable circumstance that never until now has there been a volume containing an authoritative account of the British army, in relation to its strength, formation, organisation, pay, food, dress, barracks, garrisons, encampments, education, hygiène, and general government. True, there have been histories in great number of the achievements of the army; treatises on war, fortification, and gunnery; manuals of discipline, drilling, and tactics; and pamphlets and articles on some or other of these topics – but no regular and systematic look which would shew the internal working of this great and singular system.
Category: British Military
British military history, the Volunteer Force (1859-1908), and Ordnance.
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The British Army, 1855
Originally published in 1855, during the Crimean War, ‘The British Army’ gives an overview of the organisation, officer education, training and equipment at the time.
Territorial Regiments
In 1881 the British Army was reorganised into territorial regiments with regular, militia and volunteer battalions.
County Precedence
Following the sanctioning by the Government of the formation of Volunteer Corps, on 12 May 1859, there was an immediate rush of volunteering. The date on which the first company in a county was formed determined County precedence.
War Office, Pall Mall, May 12, 1859
On 12 May 1859 the Government issued a circular sanctioning the formation of Volunteer Corps. The date on which the first company of Volunteers was formed within a county determined the county precedence. In 1881 the British Army was reorganised into territorial regiments with regular, militia and volunteer battalians.
Enfield Rifle Team Shooting: Bristol vs Staffordshire
By the mid-1860s the Volunteer Movement in Great Britain was well established and rifle shooting, thanks also to the establishment in 1859 of the National Rifle Association, had become a popular pastime. On 8 April 1865 there was a hugely supported ‘simultaneous Enfield rifle match’ fired. Volunteer Battalions and/or Companies throughout the country had opportunity to compete, shooting on their own ranges and submitting scores.
The British Volunteer System
In its infancy the Volunteer Force was hardly worthy to be called “organisation.” A large number of enthusiastic civilians of all classes enrolled themselves under officers who, for the most part, had little or no military training, and drilled and equipped themselves in isolated companies. Drill went on in every town in England and Scotland. With time, the days passed when the volunteers were alternately inflated by exaggerated praise or depressed by scorn and ridicule. They took their place as auxiliary to the regular army, anxious only to prepare themselves for the duties which would be assigned to them in case of emergency, and desiring to act up to their motto of “Defense, not defiance.”
Volunteer Force, 1859-1908
INDEX. During the late 1850’s there was growing apprehension as to the prospects of French invasion of Great Britain. Newspapers continued to fuel the debate as to the formation of a Volunteer Force for home defence. On 12 May 1859 the Government issued a circular sanctioning the formation of Volunteer Corps.
British Military
INDEX. British military history, the Volunteer Force (1859-1908), and Ordnance.