Antrim, RGA and Cork, RGA

[Hoplophile]

Does anyone know the number of coast defence companies in the Antrim and Cork Regiments of the RGA Special Reserve? A number of sources - include several posts on this forum - tell the tale of how these old Militia regiments survived incorporation into the Territorial Force in 1908 and their links to the North Irish and South Irish coast defences. What these sources do not provide, however, is a sense of the internal structure of these units.

[KONDOA]

North Irish Coast Defences

Headquarters at Londonderry.

Artillery

No 15 Coy. RGA.

South Irish Coast Defence

Headquarters at Queenstown.

Artillery

No 10 Coy. RGA.

No 43 Coy. RGA.

No 49 Coy. RGA.

Infromation courtesy of :

http://www.warpath.orbat.com/misc_units/coast_def.htm

However this information is not dated so does not fully answer your query.

Roop

[KONDOA]

Correction, dated 1914.

Roop

[Wienand Drenth]

The RGA companies mentioned by Roop are regular formations, and as such are not part of the Antrim or Cork RGA.

Assuming that a major commands a company/battery, we can deduct from the August 1914 Army List the following:

Antrim RGA had two companies and Cork RGA one company.

The number of captains on establishment per regiments: four for Antrim and six for Cork.

I hope this helps a little.

Wienand

[Hoplophile]

Gentlemen,

Many thanks for your posts. In addition to giving me information, you have suggested a way of answering this question.

I am soon off to the New York Public Library, which has quite a collection of old War Office publications, to see if I can shed a little more light. Somewhere in the pile of army lists and annual returns and such I should be able to find what I am looking for. When I do, I shall post it on this foruml

Thank you again!

[kildaremark]

Does anyone know if the men in these units went to form any particular RGA batteries during the war or would they have been dispersed throughout different batteries?

My grandfather was probably serving with one of these comnpanies.

[Hoplophile]

Well, I'm back from the New York Public Library. (Thanks to the efforts of people interested in the Great War in the 1920s and 1930s, it has an incredible collection of regimental histories, as well as quite a few old War Office publications.)

Here is what I found -

According to the Peace Establishments for 1914-1915, published in May of 1914 ...

The Antrim RGA (Special Reserve) consisted of four companies. The Cork RGA (Special Reserve) had six companies.

The RGA had a number of way of forming new batteries for service overseas. New Army heavy batteries seem to have been formed in much the same way as other New Army units, i.e. by direct enlistment from civil life. The TF heavy batteries were likewise mobilised and "doubled" in the same way as most other TF units.

The Regular Army RGA units that were formed after mobilisation - siege batteries with numbers of 7 or more and heavy batteries with numbers of 109 or more - were formed by "skimming" men from coast defence companies. Here is how it worked ...

Soon after the start of the war, the peacetime coast defence companies began to transfer some of their responsibilities to the TF coast defence companies that had been mobilised. They also continued the prewar practice of training recruits within the coast defence companies. When combined, these practices created a surplus of trained RGA men. In rought terms, as much as one third of each company would become available for drafting to new units every three months or so. This meant that, in order to fill the ranks of a new siege battery or heavy battery, the spare men from three coast defence companies would be needed.

What was true of TF units for England, Scotland and Wales was probably also true for the Cork and Antrim RGA in Ireland. That is, the easiest path for a Cork or Antrim SR man to take to a siege or heavy battery at the front would be via one of the regular coast defence companies co-located with his SR coast defence company. Thus, the first place to look would be in the records of the coast defence companies that were stationed in the South Irish and North Irish coast defences and then try to link those companies to specific siege and heavy batteries.