The 2nd (Seaham) Durham Artillery Volunteer Corps was a part-time unit of Britain's Royal Artillery raised in County Durham by the Vane-Tempest family during an invasion crisis in 1860. It became a permanent part of the Volunteer Force and later the Territorial Force, and fought as field artillery on the Western Front in World War I. Before World War II it became an anti-aircraft unit that served in the Battle of Britain, the Blitz and in the Far East where it converted to medium artillery in the Burma Campaign. Postwar, it continued to serve in the air defence role in the Territorial Army until 1955.
Origin The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Spiers, pp. 163–8. One such unit was the Seaham Artillery Volunteers formed at Seaham in County Durham on 14 March 1860, which became the 2nd (Seaham) Durham Artillery Volunteer Corps' (AVC).Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 59–61.Beckett, Appendix VIII.Frederick, p. 656. From 1863 the 1st, 3rd (South Shields) and 4th (Hartlepool) Durham AVCs were attached to it; the 1st and 3rd were attached to other units in 1873 and the 4th became independent in 1886.Army List, various dates.
The town of Seaham had been largely built by Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, who owned Seaham Colliery and constructed Seaham Harbour. In 1860, his widow, Frances Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry, equipped a company raised for the 2nd Durham AVC from the colliery. Two further companies were raised by the Mann brothers, local timber merchants, and a fourth from the bottlemakers of John Candlish's Londonderry Bottle Works.Beckett, p. 62.Londonderry at Burke's.
The unit continued to rely on the colliery and the Vane-Tempest family. The 3rd Marquess's second son, Earl Vane (later 5th Marquess), a former Lieutenant in the 1st Life Guards, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant on 26 March 1864. There was controversy in 1867 when his younger brother, Lord Ernest McD. Vane-Tempest, was allowed to serve in the unit, despite having been cashiered from the Regular Army. On 24 June 1869, when the number of companies and officers was increased, Lord Ernest was appointed as second Lt-Col and Earl Vane's sons, Charles, Viscount Seaham and the Hon. Henry Vane Tempest – aged 17 and 15 respectively – as Major and 1st Lieutenant.London Gazette, 16 July 1869. (Another of Earl Vane's brothers, Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest, commanded the 3rd (Sunderland) Durham Rifle Volunteer Corps.)Beckett, p. 47.Westlake, p. 75. Viscount Seaham (later 6th Marquess), became Lt-Col Commandant in turn, and was still in command of the unit when it transferred to the Territorial Force, before becoming Honorary Colonel.
From 5 May 1866, the corps was officially allowed to include '(Seaham)' in its title. In 1868, four new batteries were added from around the West Rainton area. These were originally to have formed a separate 5th (Rainton) Durham AVC, but the personnel raised were placed in the 2nd, and the new officers were gazetted to the 2nd on 24 June 1869.
By 1870, the unit had reached a strength of 12 batteries, including batteries at Silksworth and Old Durham. From 1 April 1882, the Durham AVCs became part of the Northern Division of the Royal Artillery, changing to the Western Division in 1889, when the subtitle was added to the unit's official designation.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 4–5.
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 in the 1870s. In 1888, the 'position artillery' concept was revived and some Volunteer companies were reorganised as position batteries to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades. On 14 July 1892, the 2nd Durham Volunteer Artillery were reorganised as a position battery and ten companies:Beckett, p. 178.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 6. No 1 Battery at Seaham Harbour and South Colliery Nos 2–4 Companies at Seaham Harbour Nos 5–6 Companies at Seaham Colliery No 7 Company at Silksworth Nos 8-9 Companies at West Rainton Nos 10–11 Companies at Durham (the Old Durham Bty moved to Gilesgate)
The Seaham Colliery Disaster of 1880 killed 36 NCOs and men of the 2nd Durham AVC.Beckett, p. 69. In 1900, a new company was raised at Gilesgate and moved to Brandon in 1901. A cadet company was formed at Seaham in September 1898 but was disbanded in 1903. Between 1860 and 1908, some 2 per cent of the 2nd Durham AVC's men transferred to the Regular Royal Artillery.Beckett, p. 82.
The Artillery Volunteers were transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) in 1899 and, with the abolition of the RA's divisional structure in 1902, they were redesignated, the Seaham unit becoming the 2nd (Seaham) Durham RGA (Volunteers).
Territorial Force
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the 2nd Durham RGA (V) was to have formed the 2nd and 3rd Durham Btys and the Ammunition Column of the III (or 3rd) Northumbrian (County of Durham) Brigade, in the Royal Field Artillery. The 1st Durham Bty was to have come from the 1st Durham RGA (V), and the 4th Durham RGA (V) was to have become part of a new Durham and Yorkshire RGA, but these arrangements were changed in 1910. The two batteries from the 2nd Durham RGA (V) at Seaham and Durham were renumbered 1st and 2nd, and the 3rd battery and part of the ammunition column came from the 4th Durham RGA (V) (the rest of which became a new Durham RGA)Frederick, p. 681.London Gazette 20 March 1908.London Gazette 14 October 1910.Litchfield, pp. 55–6.
The new unit had the following organisation:Kelly's Directory of Durham and Northumberland.Becke, Pt 2a, 93–100.
III Northumbrian (County of Durham) Brigade, RFA HQ, Drill Hall, Seaham Harbour 1st Durham Battery, Drill Hall, Seaham Harbour 2nd Durham Battery, City of Durham 3rd Durham Battery, Armoury, Ward Street, West Hartlepool 3rd Northumbrian (County of Durham) Ammunition Column, Drill Hall, Seaham Harbour
The three batteries were each equipped with four 15-pounder guns. The brigade was part of the Northumbrian Division of the TF.50 Division at Long, Long Trail.Conrad, British Army, 1914.Wyrall, pp. 1–2. The Commanding Officer (CO) was Major (RA) and Temporary Lt-Col (TF) J.F.I.H. Doyle, appointed 6 June 1914.Wyrall, p. 2.
World War I Mobilisation
In late July 1914, the units of the Northumbrian Division were at their annual training camp in North Wales. On 3 August, they were ordered to return to their respective headquarters, where at 17.00 next day they received orders to mobilise. This was particularly difficult for the divisional artillery, which had to gather requisitioned horses and mules and fit them with harness, and collect ammunition from Ordnance stores. The units went to their war stations along the coast, where there were numerous alerts. In October, the division became part of Central Force in Home Defence and manned the Tyne Defences.Wyrall, p.4.
On the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service and the large majority of the Northumbrian Division accepted. On 15 August, the War Office (WO) issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way, duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 49–54.63 Division at Long, Long Trail.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.Wyrall, pp. 4–5.
1/III Northumbrian Brigade Ypres The Northumbrian Division trained hard while manning the Tyne Defences, and orders to proceed to France to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) arrived on 16 April 1915. The division completed its concentration in the area of Steenvoorde on 23 April and went straight into action the next day in the Second Battle of Ypres. Casualties among the infantry were heavy during the fighting to stabilise the British line (Battle of St Julien 24–28 April), but the divisional artillery did not take part.Wyrall, pp. 5, 12–44.McWilliams & Steel, pp. 141, 161–2, 170–1, 177. Part of the divisional artillery first went into action at the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge (8–13 May), but again 1/III Northumbrian Brigade was not involved.Wyrall, pp. 49–57.
The Northumbrian Division officially became the 50th (Northumbrian) Division on 14 May. For the next 10 days, the situation was quiet apart from desultory artillery fire (the BEF was short of artillery ammunition) but on 24 May the Germans launched another serious attack accompanied with gas (the Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge). The 50th Division had been split up to reinforce other formations and the infantry were heavily engaged for two days, but with ammunition being scarce there was little the gunners could do to support them.Wyrall, pp. 57–70.
Over the following months the division was concentrated and took over its own section of the line south of Ypres, with its own artillery in support. However, when the division was relieved from its first spell in the line on 31 May, the 1/III Northumbrian Brigade was ordered to relieve a brigade of the 3rd Division on 6–7 June, and thus remained in action longer.Wyrall, pp. 72–4. The 50th Division supported an attack by the 3rd Division on Bellewaarde Ridge on 16 June. The bombardment of the enemy trenches began at 02.50, but 50th Division's 15-pounders (known to the gunners as 'pip-squeaks') only fired for 10 minutes due to shortage of ammunition.Wyrall, pp. 83–6.
By the end of July, the division had moved to the Armentières sector, where the 1/III Northumbrian Brigade was at first in reserve. The division stayed in this quiet sector until mid-November, when it moved to Merris.Wyrall, pp. 90–2. On 25 November 1915, the brigade was re-equipped with four modern 18-pounder guns to each battery, replacing the obsolete, short-ranged 15-pounders.Wyrall, pp. 92–3.
In December 1915, the division returned to the Ypres Salient, in the Hill 60 sector, with the divisional artillery distributed around Zillebeke Lake, in appalling conditions. 1/III Northumbrian Brigade occupied positions between Trois-Rois and Woodcote House, near Blauwepoort Farm and near French Farm. There was almost constant low-level fighting until the division was relieved at the beginning of April 1916 and moved to the Wytschaete sector. Here, the Observation posts (OPs) on Mont Kemmel gave the gunners some advantage.Wyrall, pp. 100–4, 114, 118.
During May 1916, the BEF's artillery was reorganised. The 1/III Northumbrian Brigade was numbered as CCLII Brigade RFA (252nd Brigade) and the batteries were lettered A, B and C. The brigade formed a fourth battery, D, which was exchanged with D Bty from the IV Northumbrian Brigade (CCLIII or 253rd Brigade), equipped with 4.5-inch howitzers. This battery, which originally came from LXI Brigade in Guards Division, became D (H) Bty. The brigade ammunition columns were merged into the divisional ammunition column.Wyrall, p. 124 & Appendix D.
Somme