Western District (British Army)

Western District
Active	1793–1905 1967–1995
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	District Command
Garrison/HQ	Government House, Devonport (1793-1905) Copthorne Barracks (1967–1995)

Western District was a command of the British Army.

Government House, Devonport, command headquarters from 1793 to 1905

Copthorne Barracks, command headquarters from 1967 to 1995

History

Early formation

Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793.[1] The role of Western District Commander, which was doubled hatted with that of Lieutenant-Governor of Plymouth, was based at Government House, Mount Wise in Devonport.[2][3] In January 1876 a ‘Mobilization Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland’ was published, with the ‘Active Army’ divided into eight army corps based on the District Commands. This scheme disappeared in 1881, when the districts were retitled ‘District Commands.[4] By the 1890s the command included the counties of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset and all of South Wales.[5]

In 1901 Western District was grouped with South East District at Dover and Southern District at Portsmouth under Second Army Corps at Salisbury. 2nd Army Corps was renamed Southern Command in 1905.[6]

Reformation

The district was formed from 48th (South Midland) Division as part of the Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve in 1967.[7] It had its headquarters at Copthorne Barracks, and was placed under the command of HQ UK Land Forces in 1972.[8] In the early 1980s West Midlands District became "Western District".[9] In 1991, the first of the minor districts to be amalgamated were North West District, the former West Midlands District (by then Western District) and Wales, to form a new Wales and Western District.[10] It was disbanded again on the formation of HQ Land Command in 1995.[11]

General Officers Commanding

General officers Commanding included:[12]
Western District

• 1793 – 1803 Colonel John Campbell
• 1803 – 1812 Major-General Richard England
• 1812 – 1819 Major-General Gore Browne
• 1819 – 1823 Major-General Sir Denis Pack
• 1823 – 1833 Major-General Sir John Cameron
• 1835 – 1840 Major-General Sir Willoughby Cotton
• 1840 – 1842 Major-General Robert Ellice
• 1842 – 1852 Major-General Sir Henry Murray
• 1853 – 1854 Major-General Sir Harry Smith
• 1855 – 1859 Major-General George Eden
• 1859 – 1865 Major-General William Hutchinson
• 1865 – 1866 Lieutenant-General Viscount Templetown
• 1866 – 1869 Lieutenant-General Sir Augustus Spencer
• 1869 – 1874 Major-General Sir Charles Staveley
• 1874 – 1877 Lieutenant-General Henry Smyth
• 1877 – 1880 Lieutenant-General the Hon. Leicester Smyth
• 1880 – 1883 Lieutenant-General Thomas Pakenham
• 1883 – 1885 Major-General James Sayer
• 1885 – 1889 Major-General Thomas Lyons
• 1889 – 1990 Major-General Sir Howard Elphinstone
• 1890 – 1895 General Sir Richard Harrison
• 1895 – 1899 Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Forestier-Walker
• 1899 – 1905 Lieutenant-General Sir William Butler

West Midlands District

• 1967–1968 Major-General Peter Gillett
• 1968–1970 Major-General Graham Mills
• 1970–1973 Major-General James Majury
• 1973–1976 Major-General Robert Britten
• 1976–1979 Major-General Peter Downward

Western District

• 1979–1982 Major-General Anthony Ward-Booth
• 1982–1983 Major-General Richard Keightley
• 1983–1986 Major-General Brendan McGuinness
• 1986–1989 Major-General Robert Ward
• 1989–1991 Major-General Peter Bonnet

Wales and Western District

• 1991–1994 Major-General Michael Regan
• 1994–1995 Major-General Ian Freer

References

1. Robert Burnham and Ron McGuigan, The British Army Against Napoleon: Facts, Lists and Trivia, 1805–1815 (2010) p. 7.
2. "Devonport in 1878". Whites Directory of Devon. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
3. "Plymouth Maritime Headquarters (Mount Wise)". Retrieved 21 November 2015.
4. Army List 1876–1881.
5. Harrison, General Sir Richard (1908). "Recollections of a Life in the British Army During the Latter Half of the 19th century". Smith, Eldr & Co. p. 315.
6. Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
7. Steinberg, S. (1967). The Statesman's Year-Book 1967-68: The Encyclopaedia for the Businessman-of-The-World. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 106. ISBN 978-0230270961.
8. Paxton, J. (1972). The Statesman's Year-Book 1972-73: The Encyclopaedia for the Businessman-of-The-World. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-230-27101-2.
9. Army List 1981
10. Beevor, Antony (1991). Inside the British Army. Transworld Publishers. p. 232. ISBN 978-0552138185.
11. "Land Command Shapes Up", Jane's Defence Weekly, 15 July 1995.
12. "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 2 July 2016.