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]
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 Portsmouth
Regulars
1st Co at Portsmouth – formerly 5th North Irish Bty; became 86th Co, RGA
2nd Co at Weymouth – formerly 8th North Irish Bty; became 62nd Co, RGA
3rd Co at Bombay – formerly 4th North Irish Bty; became 7th Co, RGA
4th Co at Mauritius – formerly 8th Western Bty; became 95th Co, RGA
5th Co at Aden – formerly 4th South Irish Bty; became 41st Co, RGA
6th Co at Malta – formerly 3rd North Irish Bty; became 51st Co, RGA
7th Co at Allahabad – formerly 1st Scottish Bty; became 14th Co, RGA
8th Co at Cape Town – formerly 2nd Southern Bty; transferred as 24th Western Co 1894
8th Co – reformed 1894, formerly 38th Southern Co; became 58th Co, RGA
9th Co at Delhi – formerly 8th Scottish Bty; became 42nd Co, RGA
10th Co at Hong Kong – formerly 7th Western Bty; became 93rd Co, RGA
11th Co at Bombay – formerly 2nd Northern Bty; became 35th Co, RGA
12th Co at Malta – formerly 4th Southern Bty; became 48th Co, RGA
13th Co at Singapore – formerly 9th Western Bty; became 94th Co, RGA
14th Co at Hong Kong – formerly 5th Eastern Bty; became 97th Co, RGA
15th Co at Portsmouth – formerly 5th Southern Bty; 15th (Siege Train) Co 1892; became 91st Co, RGA
16th Co at Portsmouth – formerly 6th Scottish Bty; 16A Co 1891–94; became 57th Co, RGA
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 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.
