Royal Engineers - Pioneer or Sapper

[Stirrick]

I am researching a man who served with the Royal Engineers (RE) during 1916-19.

He had worked for the Post Office before the War and so had a background in 'Tel:Term:Line' - Telephone:Telemetry;Lines ?

However the RE do not seem to have been overly impressed with his level of knowledge and he was assessed as 'Indifferent' in this trade. As a result he joined the 51st Signals Coy as a 'Pioneer'. 

That's confused me a bit. My understanding was that the lowest rank in the RE was Sapper. And that 'Pioneer' was reserved for members of the specialised Pioneer Battalions attached to each Regiment.

In 1918 he underwent a period of training and qualified as a Switchboard Operator. At the same time his rank was changed to Sapper.

So, my question is - what exactly was a Pioneer in the RE ?

[clk]

Hi Stirrick,

My understanding is that in the RE both a Pioneer and a Sapper were the equivalent of a Private in the infantry. The difference between the two being that a Sapper held an army recognised trade qualification, whereas a Pioneer did not.

Regards
Chris

[Terry_Reeves]

The rank came about as the result of cuts to the army strength after the Boer War. The Corps suffered significant manpower cuts which caused concern within the Corps. There had been discussions about adding  a third field company to each division , but cuts would leave to Corps struggling to  meet that. Reductions were made but some had to be reversed by the Adjutant General later when it was found that they had been too severe.

Money still had to be saved however and the War Office considered taking away trade pay when the men were not actually engaged in that sort of work. This usually took place in the summer months when RE tradesmen would be engaged in work on the military estate such as repairs and maintenance.

A committee was set up under Lord Kitchener to try and resolve the problem. The committee were concerned that cutting trade pay would lead to a fall in recruitment arguing that it was this pay that attracted skilled men to the Corps. A number of suggestions were made, but the most innovative was a proposal that unskilled men should be recruited and then given artisan training once enlisted. They would be given a new rank, that of Pioneer. This was proposed in 1911 and instituted the following year.  
 

The rank was used until 1919 when  it was abolished.

TR

 

 

 

Edited 30 March , 2023 by Terry_Reeves

[Stirrick]

Well who knew ?!

Thanks very much guys, that clears that one up nicely.

Andy