Coastal defence units.

[grockledoc]

I am trying to research a local unit : No. 1 Heavy Battery, Lynmouth section. Presumably this was an RGA, TF unit. Can anyone tell me when it was formed, and what its relationship was to the North Devon Yeomanry?

[Stanley_C_Jenkins]

This sounds more like a Yeomanry unit that has been turned into an anti-aircraft battery or field battery , perhaps during the 1930s. (This was, for example, the fate of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry during World War II).

[jay dubaya]

Dorsets No1 Heavy Battery RGA TF was based at Ilfracombe I believe,

Jon

[Stanley_C_Jenkins]

Further to my last post, I understand that the North Devon Yeomanry became Nos.96 Field Regt and 142 Field Regt RA during World War II. So there would appear to be no obvious link with coastal defence or No.1 Heavy Battery.

[kevinrowlinson]

Apart from being a unit in the Devon RGA, I cannot tell you more. As with a lot of TF gunners, many were later transferred to the regular RGA during the war.

Are you just researching the unit or a particular gunner?

Kevin

Edit.

Having looked at a few gunners records, it would appear that no.1 Battery at Lynmouth was not formed until 1911, where as no.2 Battery at Devonport started with the TF re-organisation in 1908. Seems the wrong way round somehow.

[jay dubaya]

Dorsets No1 Heavy Battery RGA TF was based at Ilfracombe I believe,

Jon

never let me navigate.....t'is Devon of course

[Hoplophile]

While it may seem odd to form No. 2 Heavy Battery of the Devonshire RGA before No. 1 Heavy Battery of the same defended port, there is a certain logic to the numbering system used. The RGA companies (which manned fixed armament) and heavy batteries (which handled mobile ordnance) of a defended port were numbered in the same series. Thus, the component units of the Devonshire RGA were:

No. 1 Heavy Battery

No. 2 Heavy Battery

No. 3 Company

No. 4 Company

No. 5 Company

No. 6 Company

Thus, if No. 1 Heavy Battery was created in 1911, here are some possible reasons why it took that number.

1. Plans to raise the unit had been made when the numbering system was put in place, but the plans were not realized until 1911.

2. No. 1 Company had been raised in 1908, but disbanded before 1911.

3. No. 1 Company was converted into No. 1 Heavy Battery.

4. When No. 1 Heavy Battery was formed, the other units in the Devonshire RGA were renumbered.

It is interesting to note that the heavy batteries of all other defended ports invariably bear lower numbers than the companies of those commands. That is, if a defended port had but one heavy battery, it invariably bore the number "one". Thus, we have No. 1 Heavy Battery, Durham RGA and No. 1 Heavy Battery, Hampshire RGA. Similarly, if a defended port had two heavy batteries, they invariably bore the numbers "one" and "two". This was the case with both the Cornwall and the Devonshire defended ports, each of which had two heavy batteries.

[kevinrowlinson]

Quote, "Thus, if No. 1 Heavy Battery was created in 1911"

That's an important quote. I have not got any real evidence apart from a few gunners records. Perhaps the local papers of the time for Lynmouth, and surrounding towns, would shed more light on the actual time it started.

Kevin

[grockledoc]

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful information. I have been told this unit had 2 guns on limbers, and teams of horses. They went to France on the outbreak of war.

Just outside Lynmouth, on a hillside commanding the bay, are 2 gun emplacements. These each consist of a central steel pin, anchored in concrete, with a semicircular concrete arc on the landward side. I can find no-one locally who has any information on them. Are they likely to be from WW1?

[Hoplophile]

I would be very surprised to discover that any of the heavy batteries of any of the defended ports had been sent to France at the start of World War I.

The first heavy batteries to go to France were the divisional heavy batteries of the BEF - Nos. 24, 26, 31, 35, 48 and 108. These were followed, in the autumn of 1914, by the heavy batteries improvised from regular personnel - Nos. 109 through 116 and Nos. 118 and 119. Thus, at the end of 1914, there were but 16 British heavy batteries on the Continent, all of which were composed of members of the Regular Forces. (At this point in time, the transfer of a soldier from the Territorial Force to the Regular Forces required that he be discharged from the Territorial Force and enlisted in the Regular Forces. Thus, while it is possible that some members of No. 1 Heavy Battery of the Devonshire RGA went to France in 1914 with one of the improvised heavy batteries, it is unlikely that there were many of them.)

As far as equipment is concerned, however, it is possible that some of the vehicles, harness or weapons of the heavy batteries of defended ports made their way to France with the improvised heavy batteries. The 4.7-inch guns that armed these batteries, as well as a great deal of ancillary equipment, were taken from Territorial Force heavy batteries.* As there were fourteen divisional heavy batteries in the peacetime Territorial Force and fifteen improvised heavy batteries (five were not sent overseas in 1914 because of a lack of ammunition), a battery's worth of guns and equipment had to be found somewhere.

*Memorandum for the Adjutant General dated 26 September 1914 and signed by D.M Woodward, TNA, WO 162/6.

[grockledoc]

I would be very surprised to discover that any of the heavy batteries of any of the defended ports had been sent to France at the start of World War I.

The first heavy batteries to go to France were the divisional heavy batteries of the BEF - Nos. 24, 26, 31, 35, 48 and 108. These were followed, in the autumn of 1914, by the heavy batteries improvised from regular personnel - Nos. 109 through 116 and Nos. 118 and 119. Thus, at the end of 1914, there were but 16 British heavy batteries on the Continent, all of which were composed of members of the Regular Forces. (At this point in time, the transfer of a soldier from the Territorial Force to the Regular Forces required that he be discharged from the Territorial Force and enlisted in the Regular Forces. Thus, while it is possible that some members of No. 1 Heavy Battery of the Devonshire RGA went to France in 1914 with one of the improvised heavy batteries, it is unlikely that there were many of them.)

As far as equipment is concerned, however, it is possible that some of the vehicles, harness or weapons of the heavy batteries of defended ports made their way to France with the improvised heavy batteries. The 4.7-inch guns that armed these batteries, as well as a great deal of ancillary equipment, were taken from Territorial Force heavy batteries.* As there were fourteen divisional heavy batteries in the peacetime Territorial Force and fifteen improvised heavy batteries (five were not sent overseas in 1914 because of a lack of ammunition), a battery's worth of guns and equipment had to be found somewhere.

*Memorandum for the Adjutant General dated 26 September 1914 and signed by D.M Woodward, TNA, WO 162/6.

Thank you for that. I think my informant meant that the guns were sent to France rather than the personnel.

Any thoughts on the concrete gun emplacements?

[Hoplophile]

Emplacements, alas, are beyond my ken.