City of London Imperial Volunteers

Last updated

City of London Imperial Volunteers
Medal, commemorative (AM 1962.18-1).jpg
Commemorative medal issued to a member of the City Imperial Volunteers
Active24 December 1899 – December 1900
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Branch Flag of the British Army.svg
TypeVolunteer Regiment
Role Infantry
Field Artillery
Engagements Second Boer War
Commanders
Colonel of
the Regiment
Colonel Henry Mackinnon

The City of London Imperial Volunteers (CIV) was a British corps of volunteers during the Second Boer War.

Contents

History

After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, volunteer corps were established in most counties of the United Kingdom to provide officers and men for service in South Africa. In December a proposal was put forward that the City of London should sponsor a volunteer troop of soldiers to take part in the conflict. The Lord Mayor, Alfred James Newton was approached by Colonel Boxall on the subject and within days he had reached agreement with various City livery companies, bankers, merchants and the Court of Common Council to support and fund the venture. A corps of Imperial volunteers to be raised and equipped by the City of London was authorized by Royal Warrant dated 24 December 1899 with the name City of London Imperial Volunteers - CIV for short. The corps included an infantry division, a mounted infantry division, and a field battery (artillery) division. The infantry and mounted infantry divisions were composed of about 1,400 men recruited mainly from existing volunteer regiments in London and Middlesex, while the artillery division was composed of about 150 men recruited from the Honourable Artillery Company and the City of London Artillery forming a battery of four 12½ pounder quick-firing guns, manufactured by Messrs Vickers' Sons & Maxim. [1]

There was also a cyclist section, which was mainly in charge of despatches. [2]

The first volunteers were registered at the Guildhall on 1 January 1900. All the officers and men received the Freedom of the City of London before departure. [3] [4] Most of the men proceeded to South Africa in January and February 1900, returned in October the same year, and the corps was disbanded on 1 December 1900. The January 1900 contingent sailed aboard the SS Garth Castle of Castle Line. The later contingent, comprising the HAC battery of four guns, sailed (with other territorial units from Oxford and Ireland) in the SS Montfort of Canadian Pacific Line on 3 February 1900. [1]

The corps was part of the huge force assembled to relieve Kimberley on 15 February 1900, and came under fire for the first time during actions at Jacobsdal the following day. [5]

Colonel Henry Mackinnon served as colonel commandant of the corps, with Major Gilbert McMicking in charge of the field battery, Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Cecil Cholmondeley in charge of mounted infantry, and Arnold Keppel, Earl of Albemarle in charge of infantry. [6]

Field Marshal Lord Roberts accepted the honorary colonelcy of the corps after they had served under him following the relief of Kimberley, [7] formalized on 10 March 1900. [8]

Related Research Articles

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

The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but subsequent contingents were more significantly working class in their composition. The existing yeomanry regiments contributed only a small proportion of the total Imperial Yeomanry establishment. In Ireland 120 men were recruited in February 1900. It was officially disbanded in 1908, with individual Yeomanry regiments incorporated into the new Territorial Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Artillery Regiment</span> Military unit

The State Artillery Regiment is a reserve artillery regiment of the South African Army.

<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">Gilbert McMicking (British politician)</span> British politician

Major Gilbert McMicking was a Scottish Liberal Party politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Wilson, 2nd Baron Nunburnholme</span> British peer (1875–1924)

Charles Henry Wellesley Wilson, 2nd Baron Nunburnholme, CB, DSO,, was a British peer, and one of the heirs to the Thomas Wilson Sons & Co., a Hull-based shipping company that built a near-monopoly over affordable travel packages from Scandinavia and the Baltic. He was an officer in the Volunteers and saw active service in the Second Boer War and World War I. During the later war he was distinguished for the number of new units that he recruited for the war effort, notably the "Hull Pals".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle</span> British soldier, courtier and politician (1858–1942)

Arnold Allan Cecil Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle,, styled Viscount Bury from 1891 to 1894, was a British soldier, courtier and Conservative politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Irish Horse</span> Military unit

The South Irish Horse was a Special Reserve cavalry regiment of the British Army. Formed as an Imperial Yeomanry regiment in 1902 as the South of Ireland Imperial Yeomanry, it perpetuated a unit formed during the Second Boer War. It transferred to the Special Reserve (Cavalry) in 1908 and was renamed as the South Irish Horse. Having taken part in the fighting of World War I, it was disbanded after Irish Independence in 1922.

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

The Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. Originally formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1793, it fought in the Second Boer war as part of the Imperial Yeomanry. In the World War I the regiment fought at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front. The unit was subsequently converted into a Royal Artillery unit, serving in the anti-tank role North Africa, Italy and France during World War II. The lineage is maintained by No. 677 Squadron AAC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons</span> Yeomanry regiment of the British Army (1794–1956)

The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1794 to 1956. It was formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its volunteer companies played an active role with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War, but opportunities for mounted action were much more restricted during the First World War and it was temporarily converted into a cycle unit. It remained a cavalry regiment throughout the interwar years, and was the last horsed unit of the British Army to see action, in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign of 1941, finally mechanising the following year. It served as motorised infantry in the North African and Italian campaigns of the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with the Yorkshire Hussars and the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by A Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.

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

The Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry is an Operational Hygiene Squadron of the Royal Logistic Corps, originally formed as cavalry in 1794, and has also served in artillery and signals roles. The lineage is continued by 710 Operational Hygiene Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry</span> Military unit

The Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry was a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment of the British Army with its origins in 1798. The regiment provided troops for the Imperial Yeomanry during the Second Boer War and served on the Western Front in the First World War, latterly as infantry. The regiment converted to artillery in 1920 and served as such in the early years of the Second World War, before becoming part of the Chindits in Burma. Postwar it served as a gunner regiment until 1971 when the title disappeared.

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

{{Infobox military unit |unit_name=Glamorgan Yeomanry |abbreviation= |image= |caption=Glamorgan Yeomanry cap badge |dates= 1797–1831
1861–1873
1901–present |country = Kingdom of Great Britain (1794–1800)
 United Kingdom (1801–Present) |allegiance= |branch= Territorial Army |type=Yeomanry |role= |size= Regiment |command_structure= |equipment= |Past Commanders= |ceremonial_chief= |colonel_of_the_regiment= |notable_commanders=Col Windham Wyndham-Quin |identification_symbol= |identification_symbol_2= |nickname= |patron= |motto= |colors= |march= |mascot= |battles=* Merthyr Rising

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">Military history of Australia during the Second Boer War</span>

The military history of Australia during the Boer War is complex, and includes a period of history in which the six formerly autonomous British Australian colonies federated to become the Commonwealth of Australia. At the outbreak of the Second Boer War, each of these separate colonies maintained their own, independent military forces, but by the cessation of hostilities, these six armies had come under a centralised command to form the Australian Army.

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.

The Natal Field Force (NFF) was a multi-battalion field force originally formed by Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley in Natal for the First Boer War. It was later re-established for the Second Boer War (1899–1902) and commanded by Major-General Sir Redvers Buller VC GCB GCMG.

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 Durham Artillery Militia was a part-time reserve unit of Britain's Royal Artillery based in County Durham from 1853 to 1909. Volunteers from the unit served in the Second Boer War where they distinguished themselves fighting as infantry in the defence of Fort Prospect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Australian Mounted Rifles</span> Military unit

The South Australian Mounted Rifles (SAMR) was a mounted infantry unit of the Colony of South Australia that served in the Second Boer War. The first contingent of South Australian Mounted Rifles was raised in 1899, followed by a second contingent in 1900.

References

  1. 1 2 "City Imperial Volunteers". Anglo-Boer War. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  2. "Latest intelligence - The War - Western Frontier". The Times . No. 36091. London (published 16 March 1900). 16 March 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 16 November 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "The City Imperial volunteers - The Granting of the Freedom". The Times. No. 36038. London. 13 January 1901. p. 10.
  4. "The War - The City Imperial Volunteers". The Times . No. 36056. London. 3 February 1900. p. 12. Retrieved 16 November 2023 via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. "Latest intelligence - Relief of Kimberley". The Times . No. 36068. London. 17 February 1900. p. 7. Retrieved 16 November 2023 via The Times Digital Archive.
  6. "No. 27157". The London Gazette . 26 January 1900. p. 516.
  7. "The War: Lord Roberts and the City Imperial Volunteers". The Times . No. 36083. London. 7 March 1900. p. 10. Retrieved 16 November 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "No. 27172". The London Gazette . 9 March 1900. p. 1632.

Bibliography