The 1st Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers were formed in 1859 as a response to a French invasion threat. Its units fought at Gallipoli and in Palestine during World War I, and in Normandy and North West Europe during World War II. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1961.
Artillery Volunteers 1859-1908 The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw 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. A number of Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVCs) were raised in Glasgow and its suburbs in Lanarkshire. The 1st Administrative Brigade Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers was formed, with headquarters at Glasgow, on 6 March 1860, comprising the following AVCs of one battery each:Becket, Appendix VIII.Frederick, p. 662.Grierson, pp. 143–5.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 105.Army List, various dates. 1st Corps accepted for service on 30 December 1859 2nd Corps accepted for service on 30 December 1859 3rd Corps accepted for service on 30 December 1859 4th Corps (1st Northern) accepted for service on 6 December 1859 5th Corps (2nd Northern) accepted for service on 27 December 1859 6th Corps (3rd Northern) accepted for service on 27 December 1859 7th Corps (1st Eastern, Gallowgate) accepted for service on 10 January 1860 8th Corps (Ironmongers) accepted for service on 10 January 1860 9th Corps (2nd Eastern) accepted for service on 30 January 1860 10th Corps (Calton Artisans) accepted for service on 16 February 1860 11th Corps (Maryhill Artisans) accepted for service on 5 March 1860 12th Corps (Western) accepted for service on 12 May 1860 13th Corps (Hillhead and Dowanhill) accepted for service on 24 July 1860 14th Corps accepted for service on 26 July 1860 15th Corps (Partick), accepted for service on 2 November 1860
The 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, and 11th were artisan corps, the men of which paid 2s. 6d. entry money, and 30s. for their uniforms, the remaining expenses being met by outside subscriptions, and the first four being assisted from the Glasgow Central Fund. The 1st Corps was formed, it is said, at the suggestion of Prince Albert, made at the opening of the Loch Katrine waterworks on 14 October 1859, that Glasgow should form some artillery. Mr John Wilkie, a leading lawyer of the city, took the matter in hand, and so many members joined the corps that from the outset three batteries could be formed, which were numbered the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. These were entirely self-supporting, the honorary members paying £5 each, on enrolment, to the funds, and the effective members subscribing 10s. each annually and buying their own uniform and belts at a cost of £4 a-head. The remaining corps were raised on similar principles. In 1862, the brigade was consolidated as the 1st Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers of fifteen batteries, which retained their former numbers.
The 1st Lanarkshire had a number of different buildings in various Glasgow locations, including 260 St. Vincent Street in the 1870s, and 98 Sauchiehall Street in the 1890s. By the early 20th Century the unit possessed an orderly-room, officers' and serjeants' club, and headquarters (HQ) at 8 Newton Terrace, Sauchiehall Street. The corps had five separate drill halls in different parts of the city, each with harness rooms, gun-sheds etc. for two batteries. The Maryhill drill hall accommodated all the ammunition waggons when not in use in the batteries.Osborne, pp. 278-9. For over 30 years, the corps carried out its annual practice at Irvine, from Bogside Camp, and as a rifle-range it used that at Darnley belonging to the 1st and 3rd Lanark Volunteer Rifle Corps.
Royal Garrison Artillery In 1882 all the AVCs were affiliated to one of the territorial garrison divisions of the Royal Artillery (RA) and the 1st Lanarkshire AVC became part of the Scottish Division. In 1889 the structure was altered, and the corps joined the Southern Division. In 1899 the RA was divided into separate field and garrison branches, and the artillery volunteers were all assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). When the divisional structure was abolished their titles were changed, the unit becoming the 1st Lanarkshire Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) on 1 January 1902.
In 1900, the whole corps volunteered its services for South Africa. This was not accepted, as Artillery units weren't required. However, 62 members of the corps, including Lieut. J. C. Clark, served in various capacities in South Africa during the war.
Position artillery The AVCs were intended to serve as garrison artillery manning fixed defences, but a number of the early units manned semi-mobile 'position batteries' of smooth-bore field guns pulled by agricultural horses. Up to 1865, the only guns on which the Lanarkshire batteries were drilled were 32-pounder smoothbores, but on 13 December of that year, a sixteenth battery was raised and equipped as a field battery with four 6-pounder smoothbore field-guns. (The 17th Battery was formed as a garrison company in 1868.) At that time the position batteries were not officially supported by the War Office (WO).Beckett, pp. 178–9.Litchfield and Westlake, pp. 3–6. In 1876, the 1st Corps won the Queen's Prize at the annual National Artillery Association competition held at Shoeburyness.Litchfield & Westlake, p. 189.
The 'position artillery' concept was revived in 1888 when some Volunteer position batteries were reorganised to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades. The 1st Lanarkshire was nominated to operate two position batteries, each of four 16-Pounder Rifled Muzzle Loading guns and two wagons. The two batteries were manned by the personnel of four garrison batteries (including the former 16th). In 1900, the strength of the corps was increased to twenty batteries. As a result, eight more 16-pounder RML batteries were issued to it, and the whole corps was reorganised into ten position batteries, numbered 1st to 10th. These were divided into five brigades. As the corps was then entirely of position batteries, it was in 1901 styled a "position artillery corps", and in 1902 "heavy artillery". However, despite the new issue of equipment, harness was only provided for three batteries, making five in all. It wasn't until 1905 that harness for the remaining five was issued.
In November 1905 the Army Council agreed an experiment to convert some RGA Volunteers to a field artillery role. The 1st Lanarkshire RGA (V) was one of the units chosen to be re-equipped with Ehrhardt quick-firing (QF) guns, but a change in government early the following year put a stop to the experiment. Instead, the new Secretary of State for War, Richard Haldane, embarked on a thorough-going reorganisation of all the Army's auxiliary forces.Beckett, p. 246. In 1907-8, the 16-pounder guns were replaced by 15-pounder Breech Loading guns, which had been converted into quick-firers. The corps was the only one in Scotland composed entirely of heavy batteries.
Territorial Force
The Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908Beckett, pp. 247–53.Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. and the personnel of the 1st Lanarkshire RGA were distributed to two new units of the Royal Field Artillery (RFA):London Gazette 20 March 1908.Frederick, p. 679.Litchfield, pp. 287–9.
III (or 3rd) Lowland Brigade HQ at 8 Newton Terrace, Charing Cross, Glasgow 1st City of Glasgow Battery at Berkeley Street, Charing Cross, GlasgowLanarkshire at Great War Centenary Drill Halls. 2nd City of Glasgow Battery at Percy Street, Maryhill, Glasgow 3rd City of Glasgow Battery at Keppochhill, Springburn, Glasgow 3rd Lowland Ammunition Column at Percy Street, Maryhill, Glasgow
IV (or 4th) Lowland (Howitzer) Brigade HQ at 8 Newton Terrace, Charing Cross, Glasgow 4th City of Glasgow (Howitzer) Battery at Butterbiggins Road, Govanhill, Glasgow 5th City of Glasgow Battery at Elder Street, Govan, Glasgow 4th Lowland (Howitzer) Ammunition Column at Butterbiggins Road, Govanhill, Glasgow
These units were part of the TF's Lowland Division. The field batteries were each issued with four 15-pounder guns and the howitzer batteries with four 5-inch howitzers.Thompson, pp. 5–6.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 109–15.52 (L) Division at Long, Long Trail.52 (L) Division at Regimental Warpath.
World War I Mobilisation The Lowland Division had been attending annual camp on the Ayrshire coast when the order to mobilise was received at 17.25 on Tuesday August 1914. Mobilisation began the following day at unit drill halls, and units undertook some guard duties until mobilisation was completed on 10 August, when the division went to its war stations as the mobile reserve in Scotland went to war stations, which for 1/III Bde was at Dunfermline.Thompson, pp. 1–5.
On the outbreak of war, units of the TF were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. On 15 August the WO issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. Then 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 batteries, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.Frederick, p. 691.
During the winter of 1914–15 the 1st Lowland Division underwent war training and served in the Forth defences. It was warned for overseas service on 5 April and on 11 May 1915 it was officially numbered as the 52nd (Lowland) Division. The division was destined for the Dardanelles Campaign but it was decided that the difficulties of operating artillery on the Gallipoli Peninsula precluded taking all the divisional artillery. 1/III Lowland Brigade was therefore left behind when the division embarked, and remained in the Forth defences, while the howitzers of 1/IV Lowland Bde accompanied the division and served in the campaign (see below).Thompson, pp. 7–8.
1/III Lowland Brigade
Egypt The brigade finally went overseas in early 1916. It was re-armed with modern 18-pounder guns and embarked on 27 February, landing at Alexandria in Egypt on 10 March to rejoin 52nd (L) Division at Kantara on 17 March. The division was then moving into No 3 Section of the Suez Canal defences.Farndale, Forgotten Fronts, pp. 72–3.Thompson, pp. 249–52.MacMunn & Falls, Vol I, Appendix 2. In May 1916 the TF brigades of the RFA received numbers, the 1/III Lowland becoming CCLXI (or 261) Brigade and the batteries became A, B and C. The guns were equipped with 'ped-rails', block of wood attached to the wheels to prevent them sinking into soft sand.Thompson, p. 265.
In May and June 52nd (L) Division advanced its outposts east of the canal to Romani, which prompted an aggressive response from the Turks. However, unlike the howitzers of CCLXII Bde (see below), CCLXI Bde was not engaged in the Battle of Romani on 4–5 August.Thompson, pp. 253–4.MacMunn & Falls, Vol I, pp. 175–84. The brigades of 52nd (L) Divisional Artillery were renumbered on 15 September, the former 1/III Lowland now becoming CCLXII (262) Brigade.Thompson, p. 298.