Dover RNVR Anti-Aircraft Corps 1914-1916

[Peter hooker]

[Peter hooker]

I think this was taken by the side of the Town Hall Maison dIeu

[horatio2]

Thank you for posting. Unfortunately, the low resolution of the posted image does not allow my tired old eyes to read many of the names.

[Peter hooker]

Try zoom on your image I can see all the names and ranks very ckearly

[horatio2]

Zooming does not help.

[Guest]

[horatio2]

An interesting group. Twenty RNVR AA Corps ratings and a mix of other RNVR and RN officers and ratings. ASlthough there are eight ratings sitting in the front row, one of the two AAC men is not named. The AAC ratings are borne on the books of HMS PRESIDENT IV, the RN personnel on the books of HMS ARROGANT. The majority of the AAC ratings are shown as 'searchlight crew' in their records.

 

[Phil Eyden]

Oh my goodness, how absolutely amazing to see this image, and in such high quality. Thank you for posting it. I can tell you that it was taken in the grounds of Dover College, not at the Maison Dieu, as that building is still standing. That is the first decent photo I have seen of Ian Howden too; he was a pre-war medical doctor in the town. Most of the Naval ratings were survivors of the Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir who were brought to Dover to become mechanics on the searchlights as they had no ship posting. I will get back to you in more detail!

[KizmeRD]

On 06/07/2010 at 23:15, Phil Eyden said:

In a nutshell, the Corps was raised in October 1914 in order to man searchlight batteries defending Dover Harbour, i.e at Langdon Camp to the east, Dover Castle in the centre and the old Drop Redoubt on the west. They were mostly composed of civilia n volunteers but signed on as RNVR Able-Seamen but with twenty-five RN ASRs to supervise the equipment.

Hello Phil,

Please forgive me, but I struggle to comprehend how this unit functioned. You say that the men were civilian volunteers - but surely after ‘volunteering’ they then became officially mobilised RNVR ratings (no longer civilians). Are you suggesting that they kept their ordinary day jobs and simply turned out at night in order to voluntarily do stints at manning the searchlights?

I see from their service details that there were a high number of men over 40 years of age in this unit (i.e. still able to do their bit in a local home defence role, but deemed too old for active service) - so the disbandment of the unit probably had more to do with the army taking over general responsibility for anti-aircraft defence of the UK homeland than it did due to the introduction of conscription (in any case wouldn’t the navy have prior call on all of the younger men in this unit, and could have reassigned them?).
Seems likely that many of the larger ships in the harbour were also equipped with searchlights too? (but they would have obviously operated independently of the army AA guns).
Also noted that Lt. Cmdr. Howden (himself a qualified doctor) subsequently joined the RAMC (but not until 1918).

A most interesting intriguing unit, and one which I must do some more study into!
I look forward to whatever more you can dig up.

PS - Indeed a great photo (and I agree that it looks like it was taken in front of the wall in Dover College grounds).

MB

 

Edited 4 September , 2021 by KizmeRD

[KizmeRD]

I’ve now managed to discover a bit more info.

The men of the Dover RNVR AAC were organised into three Companies, each Company having two Sections. As we know, one company was based out at Langdon, one at the castle, and a third at Drop Redoubt - the two Sections ordinarily kept searchlight watch on alternate nights. 
Two of the AAC officers later received OBE’s (in 1919) for their service to the Unit (the CO Ian Howden and Sub. Lieut. JRP Clarke, a former army Capt.). Sub. Lieut. Charles Hardy, himself a retired army Colonel, later resigned to take command of the newly set up army Command Depot at Ripon (North). And another officer (Sub. Lieut. Hardy) left in the Spring of 1915 to join the 12th (Eastern) Divisional Supply Column, Army Service Corps., ending the war in the rank of Major. 

The ratings enlisted on a special RNVR engagement that meant that they remained locally employed part-timers (able to keep hold of their day jobs). Many were a bit long in the tooth, or otherwise unfit for active service, however around 40 of the younger chaps did in fact volunteer for foreign service, and at least 13 were selected and sent off to France in order to provide searchlight platoons for RNAS AA defence of airfields (Dunkirk?). And in addition to the main body of RNVR men in the unit, there was also a permanent staff comprising largely of recalled navy pensioners who were responsible for training, and for the maintenance of equipment.

I was able to discover a number of unit photos, mostly taken at Dover College on the occasion of the Easter Monday parade in 1915, but there’s also a nice one showing one of the searchlights positioned atop the castle (see below)…

MB

(PS in answer to a query originally raised a long time back - black caps were worn in winter, but with white covers during summer months).

 

[Ed ROBINSON]

Greetings from Perth, Western Australia. I was researching a 1914 -15 Trio to William Henry Joseph Good who served with the unit and was seconded to Gallipoli attached to the RNAS armored cars as a searchlight worker. He was wounded possibly July 1915 and returned to the unit. Looking at some of the other men on his service papers, he was not alone!