Under General Order 72 of 4 April 1882 the Royal Artillery (RA) broke up its existing administrative brigades[a] of garrison artillery (7th–11th Brigades, RA) and assigned the individual batteries to 11 new territorial divisions. These divisions were purely administrative and recruiting organisations, not field formations. Most were formed within the existing military districts into which the United Kingdom was divided, and for the first time associated the part-time Artillery Militia with the regulars. Shortly afterwards the Artillery Volunteers were also added to the territorial divisions. The Regular Army batteries were grouped into one brigade, usually of nine sequentially-numbered batteries and a depot battery. For these units the divisions represented recruiting districts – batteries could be serving anywhere in the British Empire and their only connection to brigade headquarters (HQ) was for the supply of drafts and recruits. The artillery militia units (sometimes referred to as regiments) already comprised a number of batteries, and were redesignated as brigades, losing their county titles in the process. The artillery volunteers, which had previously consisted of numerous independent Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC) of various sizes, sometimes grouped into administrative brigades, had been consolidated into larger AVCs in 1881, which were now affiliated to the appropriate territorial division.[1][2][3][4]
Composition 1882–89
Western Division, RA, listed seventh in order of precedence, was organised within Western District with the following composition:[1][2][3][5][6][7][8]
In 1889 the garrison artillery was reorganised again into three large territorial divisions of garrison artillery and one of mountain artillery. The names of the divisions seemed arbitrary, with the Scottish units being grouped in the Southern Division, for example, but this related to where the need for coastal artillery was greatest, rather than where the units recruited. The artillery militia units regained their county designations. From 1 August 1891 garrison artillery batteries were termed companies, and some were grouped into double companies at this time before reverting to their previous numbers in March 1894.[4][6][2][3][7][8][9][10]
HQ at Devonport
Crownhill Fort, part of the Plymouth defences, and depot of the Western Division.
Regulars
1st Co at Halifax, Nova Scotia – formerly 2nd Cinque Ports Bty; became 46th Co, RGA
2nd Co at Quetta – formerly 5th Welsh Bty; became 100th Co, RGA
3rd Co at Bermuda – formerly 2nd North Irish Bty; became 32nd Co, RGA
4th Co at Plymouth – formerly 9th North Irish Bty; 4th (Siege Train) Co 1895; became 70th Co, RGA
5th Co at Guernsey and Alderney – formerly 5th South Irish Bty; became 65th Co, RGA
6th Co at Calcutta – formerly 8th Northern Bty; became 101st Co, RGA
7th Co at Plymouth – formerly 5th Northern Bty; 7th (Siege Train) Co 1892; became 71st Co, RGA
8th Co at Devonport – formerly 6th Northern Bty; 7A Co 1891–94; became 85th Co, RGA
9th Co at Pembroke Dock – formerly 6th Welsh Bty; 5A Co 1891; 9th (Heavy) Co 1894; became 72nd Co, RGA
10th Co at Halifax, Nova Scotia – formerly 3rd London Bty; became 99th Co, RGA
11th Co at Roorkee – formerly 1st Welsh Bty; became 45th Co, RGA
12th Co at Agra – formerly 5th Western Bty; 12th (Siege Train) Co 1894; became 2nd Co, RGA
13th Co at Mhow – formerly 4th Welsh Bty; 13th (Heavy) Co 1894; became 3rd Co, RGA
14th Co at Plymouth – formerly 7th Welsh Bty; became 68th Co, RGA
15th Co at Aden – formerly 7th Northern Bty; 15th (Siege Train) Co 1892; became 92nd Co, RGA
16th Co at Roorkee – formerly 2nd Welsh Bty; became 44th Co, RGA
17th Co at Barbados – formerly 6th London Bty; became 98th Co, RGA
18th Co at Devonport – formerly 8th Welsh Bty; $A Co 1891–94; became 73rd Co, RGA
19th Co at Pembroke Dock – formerly 6th Western Bty; became 64th Co, RGA
20th Co at Halifax, Nova Scotia – formerly 4th Cinque Ports Bty; 1A Co 1891–94; became 47th Co, RGA
21st Co at Jersey – formerly 8th South Irish Bty; 19th Co 1891–94; became 83rd Co, RGA
22nd Co at Bombay – formerly 1st Western Bty; 20th Co 1891–94; became 30th Co, RGA
23rd Co at Jamaica – formerly 3rd Welsh Bty; 3A Co 1891–94; became 31st Co, RGA
24th Co at Bermuda – formerly 3rd Southern Bty; 3B Co 1891; disbanded 1894
25th Co at Devonport – formerly 10th Western Bty; 17A Co 1891; disbanded 1894
25th Co – reformed 1894, formerly 23rd Southern Co; became 59th Co, RGA
26th Co – formed 1895; became 60th Co, RGA
27th Co – transferred 1894, formerly 3rd Southern Sub-Depot Co; became 6th Co, RGA
28th Co – converted from 8th Bty, 12th Bde, 1898; became 17th Co, RGA
29th Co – converted from 8th Bty, 13th Bde, 1898; became 18th Co, RGA
30th Co – converted from 2nd Bty, 25th Bde, 1900; became 25th Co, RGA
31st Co – formed 1900; became 27th Co, RGA
Depot Co at Crownhill Fort, Plymouth – formerly Western Depot Bty; 1st Depot Co 1895; became No 3 Depot Co, RGA
1st Sub-Depot Co at Sunderland – formerly Northern Depot Bty; 2nd Depot Co 1895; became No 5 Depot Co, RGA
2nd Sub-Depot Co – transferred 1892, formerly 1st Eastern Sub-Depot Co; 40th Southern Co 1895
In 1899 the Royal Artillery was divided into two distinct branches, field and garrison. The field branch included the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and the newly named Royal Field Artillery (RFA). The garrison branch was named the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) and included coast defence, position, heavy, siege and mountain artillery. The division became Southern Division, RGA. The division became Western Division, RGA. The RGA retained the divisions until they were scrapped on 1 January 1902, at which point the Regular RGA companies were numbered in a single sequence and the militia and volunteer units were designated '--- shire RGA (M)' or '(V)' as appropriate.[6][2][3][7][8][11]
^In RA terminology, a 'brigade' was a group of independent batteries grouped together for administrative rather than tactical purposes, the officer in command being usually a lieutenant-colonel rather than a brigadier-general or major-general, the ranks usually associated with command of an infantry or cavalry brigade.
Lt-Col M.E.S. Lawes, Battery Records of the Royal Artillery, 1859–1877, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1970.
Norman E.H. Litchfield, The Militia Artillery 1852–1909 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1987, ISBN 0-9508205-1-2.
Norman Litchfield & Ray Westlake, The Volunteer Artillery 1859–1908 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1982, ISBN 0-9508205-0-4.
Col K. W. Maurice-Jones, The History of Coast Artillery in the British Army, London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1959/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-845740-31-3.
War Office, Monthly Army List, London: HM Stationery Office, 1882–1902.
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