The West Riding Artillery was formed as a group of volunteer units of the British Army in 1860. Its units later formed the divisional artillery of the West Riding Division of the Territorial Force in World War I and World War II. The West Riding Artillery's lineage is continued in a battery of today's Army Reserve
Volunteer Force In 1859, as the United Kingdom feared invasion from the continent, the government reluctantly accepted the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Spiers, pp. 163–8. The Secretary of State for War allowed the Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVCs) free access to guns and ammunition for practice.Beckett, p. 23. Most of the AVCs were formed in the coastal counties to man fixed coast defence guns but the following corps were raised in the inland West Riding of Yorkshire:Beckett, Appendix VIII.Frederick, p. 672.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 183–6. 1st (Leeds) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC raised at Leeds on 2 August 1860; additional batteries were formed on 6 August and 1 November, and on 4 January 10 and 17 February 1862; there were eight batteries by the beginning of 1866 2nd (Bradford) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC formed at Bradford on 10 October 1860; included batteries at Valley Parade and Heckmondwike 3rd (York) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC formed at York on 9 February 1861 4th (Sheffield) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC formed with two batteries at Sheffield on 6 February 1861; additional batteries formed on 2 May 1861 (one) and 17 October 1862 (two); there were eight batteries by the beginning of 1866; its subtitle 'The Sheffield Artillery' was authorised in 1864 5th (Bowling) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC formed from two batteries of the 2nd Corps (including one at Batley) on 1 March 1864; absorbed back into 2nd Corps in November 1874 6th (Heckmondwike) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC formed from part of the 2nd Corps on 24 May1867 absorbed back into 2nd Corps by April 1875 7th (Batley) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC formed from part of the 5th Corps on 24 May 1867; disbanded in August 1877 8th (Halifax) Yorkshire (West Riding) AVC formed on 19 May 1871
The 1st Administrative Brigade of Yorkshire (West Riding) Artillery Volunteers was formed at Bradford on 21 March 1864 and eventually included the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th AVCs. The 3rd West Riding AVC at York joined the 1st Administrative Brigade of Yorkshire (East Riding) Artillery Volunteers.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 176. The larger 1st and 4th West Riding AVCs remained independent.Army List, various dates.
The West Riding AVCs began as coastal artillery armed with 32-pounder smoothbore muzzleloading guns. In 1868, the 5th West Riding AVC won the Queen's Prize at the annual National Artillery Association competition held at Shoeburyness. The following year, the 7th West Riding AVC won the competition, with the 4th West Riding AVC winning it in 1872.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 189.
When the Volunteers were consolidated into larger units in 1880, the 1st Admin Brigade became the 2nd Yorkshire (West Riding) Artillery Volunteers on 16 March with the batteries distributed as follows: Numbers 1 to 4 at Bradford Numbers 5 and 6 at Heckmondwike Numbers 7 and 8 at Halifax The 3rd West Riding AVC was absorbed into the 1st Yorkshire (East Riding) AV.
On 1 April 1882, the West Riding AVs became part of the Northern Division, Royal Artillery, changing to the Western Division on 1 July 1889, and were titled 1st, 2nd and 4th West Riding of Yorkshire Artillery Volunteers, with headquarters at Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield respectively.
As well as manning fixed coast defence artillery, some of the early Artillery Volunteers manned semi-mobile 'position batteries' of smooth-bore field guns pulled by agricultural horses. But the War Office refused to pay for the upkeep of field guns for Volunteers and they had largely died out in the 1870s. In 1888, the 'position artillery' concept was revived and some Volunteer companies (particularly in inland counties) were reorganised as position batteries to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades. By 1894, all three West Riding units had been classified as position artillery, each organised in four batteries and equipped with 40 pounder rifled breechloading guns.Beckett, pp. 135, 178.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 5–6.
On 1 June 1899, all the Volunteer artillery units became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) and with the abolition of the RA's divisional organisation on 1 January 1902, the West Riding units became the 1st, 2nd and 4th West Riding of Yorkshire RGA (Volunteers). 'Position artillery' was reclassified as 'heavy artillery' in May 1902, and the batteries were re-equipped with 4.7-inch quick-firing guns drawn by steam tractors.Beckett, p. 219.
Territorial Force Haldane Reforms After the end of the Boer War in 1902, a review of the Army took place and a Royal Commission reported on the Militia and Volunteers. The War Office was concerned over the different standards of efficiency, but had to concede that this was in the hands of individual commanding officers. Lieutenant-Colonel Allen of the 4th West Riding RGA (V) was one of five Volunteer officers invited to sit on a committee under Lord Raglan to consider the difficulties of the new efficiency regulations.Beckett, p. 224. Eventually, the Secretary for War in the Liberal Government of 1905, Richard Haldane, was given the task of preparing legislation for reform. His Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 brought together the Volunteer and Yeomanry units to form the Territorial Force (TF), with the same home defence role as before, but, in addition, giving them the capability of acting as backup to the Regular Army if the need arose, with a full organisation of infantry divisions and mounted brigades, with supporting arms. In addition, the Act set up County Associations to help co-ordinate the work of the War Office and the new TF, and to recruit, house and administer the units.Beckett, pp. 247–53.Magnus, pp. 3–14.Spiers, Chapter 10.
West Yorkshire Divisional Artillery The West Riding Territorial Association was responsible for the whole of the TF's West Riding Division, including its Divisional Artillery. The majority of TF artillery units transferred to the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), with a smaller number remaining as heavy artillery under the RGA. The heavy RGA battery at York was brought back from the East Riding Association, but the West Riding Association still needed to form some new units and subunits to complete the force, which was organised as follows:Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 85–91.Litchfield, pp. 255–65.Magnus, p. 28.
Divisional Artillery HQ: Red House, Marygate, York I West Riding Brigade, RFA – from 1st West Riding RGA (V) Brigade HQ: Fenton Street, Leeds 1st West Riding Battery, Fenton Street 2nd West Riding Battery, Bramley 3rd West Riding Battery, Fenton Street 1st West Riding Brigade Ammunition Column, Fenton Street II West Riding Brigade, RFA– from 2nd West Riding RGA (V) Brigade HQ:Valley Parade, Bradford 4th West Riding Battery, Valley Parade 5th West Riding Battery, Skircoat Road, Halifax 6th West Riding Battery, Artillery Street, Heckmondwike 2nd West Riding Brigade Ammunition Column, Valley Parade III West Riding Brigade, RFA – from 4th West Riding RGA (V) Brigade HQ: Norfolk Barracks, Sheffield 7th–9th West Riding Batteries, Norfolk Barracks 3rd West Riding Brigade Ammunition Column, Norfolk Barracks IV West Riding (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA – new unit formed from part of 2nd Yorkshire (West Riding) Royal Engineers (V) and C Company, 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment Brigade HQ: Nelson Street, Otley 10th West Riding Battery, Otley 11th West Riding Battery, East Parade, Ilkley 4th West Riding Brigade Ammunition Column, Peel Place, Burley West Riding Heavy Battery, RGA – from part of 1st East Riding RGA (V), originally 3rd West Riding AVC Battery HQ: Lumley Barracks, Burton Stone Lane, York Battery Ammunition Column, York
Each RFA battery was equipped with four 15 pounder guns or four 5-inch howitzers as appropriate; the RGA heavy battery retained its 4.7-inch guns. With the change to the smaller guns, steam tractors were no longer required and the drill halls had to be adapted to accommodate horses.
In addition, the 4th West Riding RGA (V) provided the personnel for a new West Riding Royal Horse Artillery at Wentworth Woodhouse, Rotherham, for the Yorkshire Mounted Brigade.Frederick, p. 674.
World War I
Mobilisation During the Great War (1914–18), the West Riding brigades formed the divisional artillery for the 49th (West Riding) Division, going to France in 1915. Each formed a second line brigade (designated with a '2/' prefix) in the autumn of 1914, which then supported 62nd Division. In May 1916, all the TF RFA brigades were renumbered.
49th (West Riding) Divisional Artillery 49th (West Riding) Divisional Artillery was organised as follows: 1/I West Riding Bde – became CCXLV (245) Bde 1/II West Riding Bde – became CCXLVI (246) Bde 1/III West Riding Bde – became CCXLVII (247) Bde; broken up February 1917 1/IV West Riding (H) Bde became CCXLVIII (248) Bde; broken up among 49th Divisional Artillery October 1916 49th (West Riding) Divisional Ammunition Column – formed after mobilisation; absorbed the brigade ammunition columns (BACs) May 1916 49th (West Riding) Trench Mortar Brigade X/49, Y/49, Z/49 Medium TMBs – formed by 4 April 1916 V/49 Heavy TMB – formed 18 April 1916 W/49 Heavy TMB – formed 17 May 1916, absorbed by W/49 by 7 June 1917
Heavy artillery batteries did not serve with their original divisions. As the war progressed, sections and batteries were exchanged between field brigades to bring them up to a final establishment of three 6-gun 18-pounder field gun batteries and one 4.5-inch howitzer battery; this resulted in some brigades being broken up. Divisional artillery then consisted of two of these larger brigades, and the remaining brigades became Army Field Artillery (AFA) brigades.
The onset of Trench warfare revealed an urgent need for high angle mortars. During 1915, the BEF began forming ad hoc trench mortar batteries (TMBs) manned by a mixture of infantry and RFA gunners. At the end of the year, TMBs were defined as light, medium or heavy, with the light batteries (LTMBs) formed in infantry brigades and the medium and heavy forming part of the divisional artillery. 49th (WR) Divisional Artillery was assigned 34, 37 and 48 TMBs from December 1915 until it formed its own batteries. In February 1918, the mortars were reorganised into larger batteries: Z MTMB in each division was split between X and Y and the HTMBs became corps-level units, with W/49 joining X Corps. From July 1918, the divisional TMBs became wholly RFA units, the heavies becoming RGA units.Farndale, Western Front, Annex G.
49th (WR) Division served on the Western Front from April 1915. It took part in the battles of Aubers Ridge (1915), the Somme (1916), the operations on the Flanders coast and the Battle of Poelcappelle (1917). In 1918 it fought through the Battle of the Lys and the final Hundred Days Offensive. It was demobilised in 1919.
62nd (2nd West Riding) Divisional Artillery 62nd (2nd West Riding) Divisional Artillery was organised as follows:Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 41–8. 2/I West Riding Bde – became CCCX (310) Bde 2/II West Riding Bde – became CCCXI (311) Bde; left division to become an AFA brigade January 1917 2/III West Riding Bde – became CCCXII (312) Bde 2/IV West Riding (H) Bde – broken up among 62nd Divisional Artillery May 1916 62nd (2nd West Riding) Divisional Ammunition Column – absorbed the BACs before embarking for France 62nd (2nd West Riding) Trench Mortar Brigade X/62, Y/62 Medium TMBs Z/62 Medium TMB – broken up between X and Y 13–18 February 1918 V/62 Heavy TMB – broken up 11 February 1918