On 18 March 1908, Somerset Royal Horse Artillery (Territorial Force) was proposed as a new unit and it was recognized by the Army Council on 30 September 1908 (and the ammunition column on 2 December 1908).[3] The unit consisted of
In accordance with the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (7 Edw.7, c.9) which brought the Territorial Force into being, the TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, many members volunteered for Imperial Service. Therefore, TF units were split into 1st Line (liable for overseas service) and 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. 2nd Line units performed the home defence role, although in fact most of these were also posted abroad in due course.[6]
1/1st Somerset
The battery was embodied with the 2nd South Western Mounted Brigade on 4 August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. The brigade was assigned to the Third Army of Central Force[8] and moved to the Colchester area of Essex in August 1914 where it remained until September 1915.[9] In late September 1915, the 2nd South Western Mounted Brigade (without the battery) was dismounted and left Essex for Liverpool en route to Gallipoli.[10] The battery remained in the United Kingdom until February 1916 when it (and its ammunition column) was embarked at Southampton and transported to Alexandria in Egypt.[11]
The battery served with the ANZAC Mounted Division in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign throughout the rest of the war. With the division, it saw action at the Battle of Romani (4 – 14 August 1916) as part of No. 3 Section, Suez Canal Defences. This saw the repulse of the final Turkish attempt to cut the Suez Canal.[15]
In June 1917, the Desert Column was reorganised from two mounted divisions of four brigades each (ANZAC and Imperial Mounted Divisions) to three mounted divisions of three brigades each (ANZAC, Australian – Imperial Mounted Division renamed – and the new Yeomanry Mounted Division).[17] Consequently, the 22nd Mounted Brigade was transferred from the ANZAC to the Yeomanry Mounted Division on 6 July 1917. With a reduction to three brigades, there was a corresponding reduction in the artillery to three batteries. The Leicestershire Battery departed on 20 June to join XX Brigade, RHA (T.F.) in the Yeomanry Mounted Division.[13][b]
After the Armistice of Mudros, the division was withdrawn to Egypt. The Australian brigades departed for home in March and April 1919 and the New Zealanders by the end of July.[15] The brigade was broken up some time after April 1919.[12]
Somerset RHA formed a 2nd line in 1914, initially designated as the Somerset (Reserve) Battery RHA[22] and later given a fractional designation as 2/1st Somerset Battery, RHA.[6]2/2nd South Western Mounted Brigade was formed in January 1915.[10]
The pre-war Territorial Force infantry divisions were generally[d] supported by four field artillerybrigades.[e] These were numbered I, II, III and IV within each division and consisted of three gun brigades (each of three batteries, equipped with four 15-pounder guns) and a howitzer brigade (two batteries of four 5" howitzers).[4] Artillery for 2nd Line divisions were formed in a similar manner, with a fractional designation, for example the artillery for the 63rd (2nd Northumberland) Division consisted of 2/I Northumberland Brigade, RFA (with 2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd Northumberland Batteries, RFA), 2/II Northumberland Brigade, RFA (with 2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd East Riding Batteries, RFA), 2/III Northumberland Brigade, RFA (with 2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd Durham Batteries, RFA) and 2/IV Northumberland (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA (with 2/4th and 2/5th Durham (Howitzer) Batteries, RFA).[25]
Between 8 and 22 May 1916, the artillery of 63rd (2nd Northumberland) Division was reorganized. The brigades were numbered (CCCXV, CCCXVI, CCCXVII, and CCCXVIII) and the batteries lettered (so 2/1st Northumberland Battery became A Battery, CCCXV Brigade). The howitzer batteries of CCCXVIII Brigade were transferred to CCCXV and CCCXVI brigades and the brigade was reformed with three gun batteries.[25]2/1st Leicestershire RHA joined as A Battery[26] and 2/1st Somerset RHA as B Battery.[27] The batteries each consisted of four 18 pounders.[28]
On 2 July 1916, the 63rd (2nd Northumberland) Division's artillery left for France where it joined the Royal Naval Division.[25][f] On 18 July, A (Howitzer) Battery of XXCCIII Brigade (formerly 1/4th Kent (Howitzer) Battery of 1/IV Home Counties (Howitzer) Brigade[31]) joined the brigade as D (Howitzer) Battery. With the breakup of XXCCIII Brigade, CCCXVIII Brigade was redesignated XXCCIII Brigade on 31 July. On 31 August, the batteries of the brigade were made up to 6 guns apiece and the battery now consisted of six 18 pounders.[28]
At the Armistice, the battery (six 18 pounders) was still with CCXXIII Brigade, RFA serving with 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.[33] The division did was not selected to form part of the Army of Occupation and by April 1919 it had been disbanded.[32]
Post war
The Somerset Royal Horse Artillery was not reconstituted in the Territorial Force in 1920.[34]
^22nd Mounted Brigade was originally designated as the North Midland Mounted Brigade. Leicestershire RHA had been formed in 1908 for this brigade[18] and was mobilised with it in 1914.[4]
^Frederick makes clear that XVIII Brigade was distinct from III and IV Brigades and was not either one redesignated.[12]
^The basic organic unit of the Royal Artillery was, and is, the Battery.[23] When grouped together they formed brigades, in the same way that infantry battalions or cavalry regiments were grouped together in brigades. At the outbreak of the First World War, a field artillery brigade of headquarters (4 officers, 37 other ranks), three batteries (5 and 193 each), and a brigade ammunition column (4 and 154)[24] had a total strength just under 800 so was broadly comparable to an infantry battalion (just over 1,000) or a cavalry regiment (about 550). Like an infantry battalion, an artillery brigade was usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. Artillery brigades were redesignated as regiments in 1938. Note that the battery strength refers to a battery of six guns; a four-gun battery would be about two thirds of this.
^The 63rd (2nd Northumberland) Division was broken up on 21 July 1916[29] and the Royal Naval Division immediately adopted its number as 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.[30]
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Becke, Major A.F. (1937). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2B. The 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th–69th) with The Home-Service Divisions (71st–73rd) and 74th and 75th Divisions. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN1-871167-00-0.
Becke, Major A.F. (1945). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 3B. New Army Divisions (30–41) & 63rd (RN) Division. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN1-871167-08-6.
Clarke, Dale (2004). British Artillery 1914–19 Field Army Artillery. Vol. 94 of New Vanguard Series. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN1-84176-688-7.
Farndale, General Sir Martin (1988). The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base, 1914–18. History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Woolwich: The Royal Artillery Institution. ISBN1-870114-05-1.
Frederick, J.B.M. (1984). Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978. Wakefield, Yorkshire: Microform Academic Publishers. ISBN1-85117-009-X.
Perry, F.W. (1992). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5A. The Divisions of Australia, Canada and New Zealand and those in East Africa. Newport: Ray Westlake Military Books. ISBN1-871167-25-6.
Rinaldi, Richard A (2008). Order of Battle of the British Army 1914. Ravi Rikhye. ISBN978-0-97760728-0.
Westlake, Ray (1992). British Territorial Units 1914–18. Osprey Publishing. ISBN978-1-85532-168-7.
Order of Battle of the British Armies in France, November 11th, 1918. France: General Staff, GHQ. 1918.