Content deleted Content added
Srich32977 (talk | contribs) Adding/improving reference(s) |
|||
| (13 intermediate revisions by 9 users not shown) | |||
Line 8:
The '''Volunteer Force''' was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a [[Social movement|popular movement]] throughout the [[British Empire]] in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the [[British Army]] after the [[Childers Reforms]] in 1881, before forming part of the [[Territorial Force]] in 1908. Most of the regiments of the present [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Army Reserves ]] [[Infantry of the British Army|Infantry]], [[Royal Artillery|Artillery]], [[Royal Engineers|Engineers]] and [[Royal Corps of Signals|Signals]] units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units.
==The British Army following the
Prior to the [[Crimean War]], the British military (i.e., ''land forces'') was made up of multiple separate forces, with a basic division into the ''Regular Forces'' (including the [[British Army]], composed primarily of cavalry and infantry, and the ''Ordnance Military Corps'' of the [[Board of Ordnance]], made up of the [[Royal Artillery]], [[Royal Engineers]], and the [[Royal Sappers and Miners]] though not including the originally civilian [[Commissariat#19th century|Commissariat Department]], stores and supply departments, all of which, with barracks and other departments, were absorbed into the British Army when the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/units/3224/department-of-the-master-general-of-the-ordnance|title=Department of the Master-General of the Ordnance – Regiment History, War & Military Records & Archives|website=forces-war-records.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.navalhistoryarchive.org/index.php/Board_of_Ordnance|title=Board of Ordnance – Naval History Archive|website=navalhistoryarchive.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44220102|title=
A large number of [[British Volunteer Corps|Volunteer Corps]] were formed during the [[French Revolutionary War]] but were stood down afterwards. Following the [[Crimean War]], it was painfully clear to the [[War Office]] that, with half of the British Army dispositioned around the Empire on garrison duty, it had insufficient forces available to quickly compose and despatch an effective expeditionary force to a new area of conflict, unless it was to reduce the British Isles' own defences. During the [[Crimean War]], the War Office had been forced to send [[Militia (United Kingdom)|militia]] and [[yeomanry]] to make up the shortfall of soldiers in the [[Standing army|Regular Army]]. The situation had been complicated by the fact that both auxiliary forces were under the control of the [[Home Office]] until 1855.<ref name=brownlow>{{cite web|title=The British Volunteer System|url=http://www.researchpress.co.uk/volunteers/volsystem190005nar.htm|work=North American Review|access-date=6 December 2012|author=Rt. Hon Earl Brownlow|author-link=Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow|date=May 1900}}</ref>
Line 29:
* The number of officers and private men in each county and corps was to be settled by the War Office, based on the lord-lieutenant's recommendation.
Originally corps were to consist of approximately 100 all ranks under the command of a captain, with some localities having subdivisions of thirty men under a lieutenant. The purpose of the rifle corps was to harass the invading enemy's flanks, while artillery corps were to man coastal guns and forts.<ref name=Grierson /> Although not mentioned in the circular letter, engineer corps were also formed, principally to place [[Naval mine|underwater mines]] for port defence.<ref>
Two volunteer units whose services had been accepted by [[Queen Victoria]] during the early 1850s became the two senior rifle corps of the new force. These were the [[Exeter and South Devon Volunteers]], formed in 1852, who became the 1st Devonshire Rifle Volunteers (and were often referred to as the 1st Rifle Volunteer Corps), and the [[Queen Victoria's Rifles|Victoria Rifles]] (descended from the [[Duke of Cumberland's Sharpshooters]], formed in 1803) who became the 1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteers. An order of precedence was established for ninety-two other counties, depending upon the date of establishment of the first corps in the county.
Line 35:
The most senior artillery corps was the 1st Northumberland formed at Tynemouth on 2 August 1859.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.tvaa.org.uk/history.htm |title=Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery History (Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery Association) |publisher=tvaa.org.uk}}</ref>
Initially, there were attempts at class distinction with the middle class seeing the formation of rifle units as a contrast with the strict class divide between the officers of the [[gentry]] and the other ranks of the working class and farm labourers of the [[Militia (United Kingdom)|militia]] and the standing army. Some also compared the initiative, small unit tactics and [[marksmanship]] principles of [[rifleman#United Kingdom|rifle regiments]] of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] compared with the linear tactics of the standing army. Many units initially favoured green and grey (colours until then used by British and German rifle units in the army) rifleman uniforms as opposed to the [[Red coat (British army)|red coats]] of the infantry and engineers of the army and militia. In turn, the army was glad not to have amateur volunteers wear the scarlet of the [[Standing army|regulars]].<ref>Wyatt (1974) pp. 39–46</ref> The provisions of the volunteers having to purchase their own rifles and uniforms was felt by some to exclude the lower classes.<ref name=cunningham>{{cite book|last=Cunningham|first=Hugh|title=The Volunteer Force: A Social and Political History, 1859–1908|year=1975|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780856642579|pages=22–25}}</ref>
Unlike regular rifle regiments, the volunteer units had [[Colours, standards and guidons|colours]] often made and presented by the women of the community.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sumner|first=Ian|title=British Colours & Standards 1747–1881 (2) Infantry|year=2001|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=[[Oxford]]|isbn=1841762016|page=63}}</ref> These were unauthorised, however, with the ''Volunteer Regulations'' stating "Neither Standards nor Colours are to be carried by Corps on parade, as the Volunteer Force is composed of Arms to which their use is not appropriate".<ref>{{cite book|last=Edwards|first=T J|title=Standards, colours and Guidons of the Commonwealth Forces|year=1953|publisher=[[Gale & Polden]]|pages=133–134}}</ref>
Line 79:
| amends =
| replaces =
| amendments = {{ubli|[[Explosives Act 1875]]|[[Friendly Societies Act 1875]]|[[Statute Law Revision Act 1875]]|[[Summary Jurisdiction Act 1884]]}}
| amendments = ▼
| repealing_legislation =
| related_legislation =
Line 91:
| UK-LEG_title =
| collapsed =
}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title = {{visible anchor|Volunteer Act 1897}}
| type = Act
| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title = An Act to declare the Effect of the Provisions of the Volunteer Act, 1863,[k] with respect to Rules for Volunteer Corps.
| year = 1897
| citation = [[60 & 61 Vict.]] c. 47
| introduced_commons =
| introduced_lords =
| territorial_extent =
| royal_assent = 6 August 1897
| commencement =
| expiry_date =
| repeal_date =
| amends =
| replaces =
▲| amendments =
| repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1966]]
| related_legislation =
| status = repealed
| legislation_history =
| theyworkforyou =
| millbankhansard =
| original_text =
| revised_text =
| use_new_UK-LEG =
| UK-LEG_title =
| collapsed = yes
}}
Line 106 ⟶ 135:
==Integration==
In 1872, under the provisions of the
The artillery volunteers were similarly remodelled as reserve formations of the [[Royal Artillery]], eventually being redesignated as Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) in 1902, while the Engineer Volunteers became Royal Engineers (Volunteers).
Line 205 ⟶ 234:
==See also==
{{Portal|United Kingdom
* [[:Category:Units and formations of the Volunteer Force (Great Britain)]]
* [[:Category:Rifle Volunteer Corps of the British Army]]
Line 238 ⟶ 267:
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060616071958/http://researchpress.co.uk/volunteers/index.htm Research Press: The Volunteer Force
* [http://www.coghlan.co.uk/territorials.htm History, esp Inspector-General of Auxiliary Forces]
* [http://mattersphotographical.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/shots-of-shots-photographs-of-the-oxford-volunteer-rifle-corps/ Giles Hudson, "Shots of Shots: Photographs of the Oxford Volunteer Rifle Corps", ''Matters Photographical'']
| |||