Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles

Last updated
Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles
The Second Boer War, 1899-1902 Q72153.jpg
A British pom-pom artillery piece
Active1901–1902, 1920–21
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
BranchFlag of the British Army.svg  British Army
Type Artillery
Role Mounted infantry
SizeCirca 2,000 men
Nickname(s)"Infantillery Corps"
Engagements Second Boer War
Irish War of Independence

The Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles were detachments of the British Army's Royal Artillery when deployed as mounted infantry. The units were first developed towards the end of the Second Boer War which was characterised by guerrilla warfare. There was little call for traditional units of field or horse artillery but high demand for mounted infantrymen to counter the highly mobile Boer commandos. By the end of the war around 2,000 artillerymen were acting in the mounted infantry role. A similar force was deployed to Ireland in the early 1920s to counter guerrilla tactics used by Irish republicans.

Contents

Second Boer War

The final year of the Second Boer War (1899–1902) was characterised by guerrilla warfare fought between mounted Boer commandos and British mobile columns. [1] With little use for heavy calibre weaponry in such an environment both sides stood down much of their artillery units. [2] With a large number of artillerymen gathering at depots awaiting return to England or deployment on garrison duty in India, British commander Lord Kitchener decided to form them into units of mounted infantry. [2] The artillerymen were suited to this task as they were trained to a good standard of horsemanship and tended to be of above average intelligence and discipline. [1] [2] Additional rifle shooting practice was arranged for the men, as this was not usually a core aspect of their training. [2] [3]

The Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles were formed into independent columns of around 750 men commanded by a Royal Artillery lieutenant-colonel. [2] One such column was commanded by Thomas Baldock, who would later become a Major-General. [4] In addition to mounted infantry the columns contained a light pom-pom artillery unit and their own signals and scout sections. [2] The men were not issued with swords and so relied on rifles with fixed bayonets when required to carry out cavalry-style charges. [5] The units remained under the administration of the Royal Regiment of Artillery who retained responsibility for forming and equipping the units, supply, remounts, staffing and signals. [6]

The RAMR took the field for the first time during the 'New Model Drives' that rounded up hundreds of Boers in January–February 1902. For these operations three columns of RAMR were drawn from the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and Royal Field Artillery (RFA): [1] [7] [8] [9]

Dunlop's RAMR served with Col the Hon Julian Byng's column and Jervis's RAMR served with Col Michael Rimington's column; Keir's Column acted independently. [1] [7] [8] [9]

The RAMR units were so successful that Kitchener requested a further 1,000 gunners from the Indian government to deploy in the role; this was refused but a comparable number of artillerymen were instead supplied by the British Army. [2] By the end of the war around 2,000 artillery personnel were serving as mounted infantry. [2]

At the time they were formed, British General Ian Hamilton stated that the artillerymen were keen to carry out their new role. [3] However, Colonel H. Rowan-Robinson, writing in 1921, claimed that the decision was viewed with horror by a large number of the artillerymen due to the unconventional nature of the deployment. [10]

Kipling poem

The unit is commemorated in Rudyard Kipling's 1903 poem Ubique which commemorates the Royal Artillery's service in the war (Ubique is the regimental motto). The poem includes the lines: [11]

Ubique means "More mounted men. Return all guns to store."
Ubique means the R. A. M. R. Infantillery Corps!

This refers to the re-roling of the artillery as a mounted infantry force without their guns. Kipling refers to the unit as "infantillery", a portmanteau of infantry and artillery that he may well have coined, which reflects the role and origins of the unit. [12]

Irish War of Independence

The concept was revived in the early 1920s during and immediately after the Irish War of Independence, another largely-guerrilla war. The bulk of the XXX Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and XXXVI Brigade RFA, attached to the 5th Infantry Division, were deployed as mounted rifles or else as composite artillery/infantry units. For a brief period in early 1922 they reverted to the traditional artillery role. The I Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (RHA)also deployed to Ireland as mounted infantry while the XXXIII Brigade RFA operated as a mixed armoured car/infantry unit. [13]

Four formal regiments were organised for service in Ireland, with squadrons made up of personnel drawn from various brigades: [14]

All four regiments were disbanded in 1922, the 4th Regiment on 31 January. [14]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Stirling, p. 464.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Anglesey, Vol 4, p. 221.
  3. 1 2 Winrow, p. 140.
  4. ↑ Davis & Maddocks, p. 111.
  5. ↑ Rimington, Chapter 2.
  6. ↑ Deputy Director General of Ordnance. "Appendix 1: Record of work carried out by the Artillery Branch of the Headquarter Staff, South African War". Proceedings of the Royal Artillery Institute (30): 7–9. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  7. 1 2 Amery, Vol V, pp. 472–91.
  8. 1 2 Frederick, pp. 498–501.
  9. 1 2 Hart's Army List 1901.
  10. ↑ Rowan-Robinson, Colonel H. (1921). "The Danger of Catch-Words and Phrases". Royal United Services Institution Journal. 66 (463): 436. doi:10.1080/03071842109434620.
  11. ↑ "Ubique (Royal Artillery)". The Kipling Society. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  12. ↑ Hamer, Mary; Ayers, Roger. "Ubique". The Kipling Society. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  13. ↑ Linderman, p. 29.
  14. 1 2 Frederick, p. 977.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Horse Artillery</span> Military unit of the British Army

The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. Although the cavalry link remained part of its defining character, as early as the Battle of Waterloo the RHA was sometimes deployed more along the lines of conventional field artillery, fighting from comparatively fixed positions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkshire Yeomanry</span> Military unit

The Berkshire Yeomanry was a part time regiment of the British Army formed in 1794 to counter the threat of invasion during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was the Royal County of Berkshire's senior volunteer unit with over 200 years of voluntary military service. After taking part in the Second Boer War, it saw action as mounted troops in the First World War and as artillery in the Second World War. Its lineage is maintained by 94 Signal Squadron, part of 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment. The Headquarters of the Squadron is based in Windsor, Berkshire. The Berkshire Yeomanry had a number of battle honours won from Europe to the Far East and Private Frederick Potts was awarded a Victoria Cross for service during the Gallipoli Campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Expeditionary Force order of battle (1914)</span>

The British Expeditionary Force order of battle 1914, as originally despatched to France in August and September 1914, at the beginning of World War I. The British Army prior to World War I traced its origins to the increasing demands of imperial expansion together with inefficiencies highlighted during the Crimean War, which led to the Cardwell and Childers Reforms of the late 19th century. These gave the British Army its modern shape, and defined its regimental system. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created an Expeditionary force and the Territorial Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th (Meerut) Division</span> Military unit

The 7th (Meerut) Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army and before 1895, the Bengal Army, that saw active service during World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Nottinghamshire Hussars</span> Military unit

The South Nottinghamshire Hussars is a unit of the British Army formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794. Converted to artillery in 1922, it presently forms part of 103 Regiment, Royal Artillery.

The West Somerset Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. First raised in 1794, it participated in the Second Boer War and World War I before being converted to an artillery regiment. It served in World War II. Post-war it was gradually reduced in strength until the yeomanry lineage of the successor unit was discontinued on 9 November 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">12th (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery</span> Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery in WWI

XII (Howitzer) Brigade was a unit of Britain's Royal Field Artillery from 1900 until 1920, seeing service during the Second Boer War as mounted infantry. In World War I it served with 6th Divisional Artillery on the Aisne and during the Race to the Sea, later in the Ypres Salient. In 1916 it was broken up and reformed as a field gun brigade in home defence. Demobilised after the Armistice, it was quickly reformed, but was absorbed into another brigade in 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">58th (2/1st London) Division</span> Military unit

The 58th Division was an infantry division created in 1915 as part of the massive expansion of the British Army during the First World War. It was a 2nd Line Territorial Force formation raised as a duplicate of the 56th Division. After training in Britain, the division joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front in 1917. It saw action at the battles of Arras and Passchedaele in 1917 and the German spring offensive in 1918. It then took part in the Battle of Amiens and the final Allied Hundred Days Offensive of the war. The division was recreated during the Second World War, as an imaginary deception formation.

21st Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Army first organised in the Second Boer War, when it took part in Ian Hamilton's March from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. Reformed in World War I it served under the command of first 7th Division and then 30th Division, fighting in most of the major battles on the Western Front from the First Battle of Ypres to the Armistice. It was briefly re-raised in the Sudan early in World War II before being transferred to the Indian Army.

Chaytor's Force named after its commander, Major General Edward Chaytor, was a composite division-sized force which served in the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. The force of 11,000 men, consisted of a division headquarters, three mounted and one infantry brigades, four independent infantry battalions and four artillery batteries and was detached from the Desert Mounted Corps for deception operations.

The Essex Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Essex in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in Egypt and Palestine from 1916 to 1918, initially as field artillery with 52nd (Lowland) Division before being converted back to horse artillery and serving with the 2nd Mounted / 5th Cavalry Division. A second line battery, 2/1st Essex RHA, served on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 as part of an Army Field Artillery Brigade.

The Glamorganshire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Glamorganshire in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 as part of an Army Field Artillery Brigade. A second line battery, 2/1st Glamorganshire RHA, served in England and Ireland before being broken up in January 1917. Glamorganshire RHA was not reconstituted in the post-war Territorial Force.

A Battery, Honourable Artillery Company is a L118 light gun battery that provides a reserve to 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. Its predecessor was a horse artillery battery that was formed from Light Cavalry Squadron, HAC, in 1891. It transferred to the Territorial Force in 1908 as artillery support for the London Mounted Brigade.

B Battery, Honourable Artillery Company was a horse artillery battery that was formed from the Field Artillery, HAC in 1899. It transferred to the Territorial Force in 1908 as artillery support for the South Eastern Mounted Brigade.

The Somerset Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Somerset in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign with the ANZAC Mounted Division from 1916 to 1918. A second line battery, 2/1st Somerset RHA, served on the Western Front with the 63rd Division from 1916 to 1918. It was disembodied after the end of the war and was not reconstituted in the Territorial Force in 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicestershire Royal Horse Artillery</span> Former British Army horse artillery battery

The Leicestershire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Leicestershire in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in Egypt and Palestine from 1916 to 1918, initially with ANZAC Mounted Division before joining the Yeomanry Mounted Division and 1st Mounted / 4th Cavalry Division. A second line battery, 2/1st Leicestershire RHA, served on the Western Front with the 63rd Division from 1916 to 1918. Post-war, it was reconstituted as a Royal Field Artillery battery.

The Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Shropshire in 1908 from the Shropshire Battery of the 1st Shropshire and Staffordshire Artillery Volunteers, Royal Garrison Artillery of the Volunteer Force. It saw active service during the First World War on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 as part of an Army Field Artillery Brigade. A second line battery, 2/1st Shropshire RHA, also served on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 as part of another Army Field Artillery Brigade. It was reconstituted post-war as a medium artillery battery and served as such in the Second World War.

The Berkshire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Berkshire in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in the Middle East, notably at Aden and in particular in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, from 1915 to 1918. A second line battery, 2/1st Berkshire RHA, served on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 as part of an Army Field Artillery Brigade. After the Armistice, it was reconstituted as a Royal Field Artillery battery of the Territorial Army (TA), later being expanded into a full heavy anti-aircraft (HAA) regiment that served during the Second World War in the Battle of Britain and Blitz, in the assault landings in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Postwar, it continued in the TA until 1968.

The Structure of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force over the course of the First World War is shown below.

The 9th (Welsh) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry was a unit of the British Imperial Yeomanry (IY) raised for service in the Second Boer War. Equipped as Mounted infantry, the battalion served in South Africa from April 1900 until the end of the war. Its companies took part in numerous anti-guerrilla 'drives' with mobile columns that eventually brought the war to an end.

References

External source

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.