The East Riding Royal Garrison Artillery (ERRGA) was a part-time unit of Britain's Royal Artillery based at Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It provided coastal defence artillery for the Humber Estuary from 1908 to 1956, manned siege batteries on the Western Front during World War I at the Somme and Ypres and played a role in the pursuit of the German army during the Hundred Days Offensive. It served as infantry in Allied-occupied Germany after World War II. Its successor units in the Territorial Army included anti-aircraft artillery and field engineers.
Early history At times of national crisis, volunteers were regularly called upon to defend the vulnerable harbours on the coast of East Yorkshire. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, the Wardens and Brethren of Hull Trinity House formed four volunteer artillery companies, equipped with 20 nine-pounder cannon from a ship lying in Hull roads. These were the first volunteer artillery units formed in Yorkshire, though there may have been others manning the cannon in the fort covering Bridlington harbour. The companies were stood down after the Jacobite defeat at Culloden.
Hull Trinity House organised a new artillery company during the French Revolutionary Wars, and a mixed unit of infantry and artillery manned the fort at Bridlington harbour. These units existed from 1794 until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. When the peace broke down in 1803, the Bridlington Volunteer Artillery reformed, but the guns at Hull were manned by the Sea Fencibles and by Regulars.
Volunteer Force See main article: 2nd East Riding Artillery Volunteers A number of new artillery companies were formed in the East Riding during the first enthusiasm for the Volunteer Movement in 1859–60, including the 4th to 9th Companies at Hull. These were formed into a battalion in 1860, becoming the 4th (Yorkshire East Riding) Artillery Volunteer Corps under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Samuelson, a prominent local engineer and shipbuilder, whose brother Alexander Samuelson served as captain of the 6th Company.Beckett, Appendix VIII.Frederick, pp. 671–2.Norfolk, pp. 35–8 and Appendix V.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 176–9.
The 4th East Riding AVC competed with other Hull volunteer units for recruits, increasing its establishment in 1877 from eight to twelve batteries with a total of 965 men in 1878. One battery was formed by employees of Messrs Rose, Downs & Thompson (a manufacturer of oilseed crushing machinery), and another from members of the Hull Gymnastic Society. Other units having disappeared, the 4th was renumbered 2nd East Riding Artillery Volunteers in 1881.Army List, various dates.
The unit leased from Hull Corporation a hall that had been built adjacent to the Corporation Field in Park Street for a working men's exhibition. The government supplied 32-pounder muzzle-loading guns in June 1860. Eight were used for drill purposes at the Hull Citadel and four were placed in a battery built on the Humber Bank adjacent to Earle's shipyard. The unit took part in national gunnery competitions, and won the Queen's Prize on several occasions. From 1886, the coastal artillery batteries were supplemented by minefields, and the 2nd East Riding AV trained with the Humber Division Submarine Miners.
In 1882, the 2nd East Riding AV became part of the Northern Division of the Royal Artillery (later transferring to the Western Division). All Volunteer Artillery units became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) in 1899 and in 1902 the unit was redesignated 2nd East Riding Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers).Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 4–6.
Territorial Force
With the creation of the Territorial Force by the Haldane Reforms in 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the RGA Volunteers were extensively reorganised. In the original plans, the 2nd East Riding RGA would have become the 3rd Northumbrian Brigade in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA). However, these plans were revised in 1910, so that the Hull-based RGA formed two field batteries and an ammunition column in the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade, RFA, and a separate East Riding RGA (ERRGA) with four companies of coast defence artillery.Frederick, p. 680.Frederick, p. 697.Litchfield, pp. 250–2.Maurice-Jones, p. 166.
The East Riding RGA shared Londesborough Barracks in Park Street with the 1st and 2nd East Riding Batteries and the ammunition column of the 2nd Northumbrian RFA and other TF units.
World War I Mobilisation The East Riding RGA's wartime role, together with other TF and Regular RGA units, was to man guns defending major ports on the North East Coast of England. It was responsible for the four 6-inch and four 4.7-inch guns of the Humber defences.Maurice-Jones, p. 187. During the early part of World War I in the Humber Garrison under No 15 Coastal Fire Command (Spurn Point) and No 16 Coastal Fire Command (Hull).
Home Defence Although the existing battery at Fort Paull was disarmed as the war progressed, a number of new batteries were established to defend the Humber Estuary, so that by April 1918 the dispositions of the Humber Garrison in Nos 15 and 16 Fire Commands were as follows:Farndale, Home Base, Annex 4.Frederick, p. 646. Sunk Island Battery – 2 × 6-inch Mk VII Stallingborough Battery – 2 × 6-inch Mk VII Killingholme Battery – 2 × 12-pounder QF Green Battery – 2 × 9.2-inch Mk X Spurn Point Battery – 2 × 4-inch QF Haile Sand Battery – 2 × 4-inch QF Godwin's Battery – 2 × 6-inch Mk VII
The ERRGA companies were distributed as follows: No 1 Co at Stallingborough No 2 Co at Spurn No 3 Co at Kilnsea and Spurn No 4 Co at Spurn No 5 Co – a war-formed unit – at Sunk Island
As the war progressed, RGA coastal units supplied trained manpower to batteries raised for other purposes. The RGA opened a Siege Artillery School in the Humber Garrison and the ERRGA manned 77th and 164th Siege Batteries, RGA, and it appears that by the end of 1916 many of its remaining TF gunners had been mobilised to man anti-aircraft batteries.
77th Siege Battery
In March 1916, 77th Siege Battery was stationed at Fort Borstal in Kent together with 654 Company, Army Service Corps, formed that month to operate the Ammunition Column (Motor Transport) for 77th Siege Bty. The two units entrained for Folkestone, where they embarked on the SS Princess Victoria on 27 March and landed at Boulogne the same day.Frederick, pp. 702–8.'Allocation of Siege Batteries RGA', The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/5494/4.77th Siege Battery War Diary, TNA file WO 95/396/2.Young, Annex Q.'Allocation of Mechanical Transport Companies ASC', TNA file WO 95/5494.
On 9 April, the battery and MT company went to Beauval to collect its 8-inch howitzers and the Holt 75 caterpillar tractors to tow them. The battery was posted to 17th Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) in VIII Corps of Fourth Army and began moving to Sailly-au-Bois to dig gun positions, collect ammunition and stores, and move in the guns. On 2 May 1916 it began firing registering shots against targets in its area and later constructed its Observation post (OP). The battery fired 16 rounds against Beaucourt Redoubt on 30 May, only two of which burst properly, reflecting the notoriously unreliable fuzes of the 8-inch shells at that time.Farndale, Western Front, p. 135.
Somme 77th Siege Battery had been positioned at Sailly to take part in the artillery preparation for the Battle of the Somme. During June the battery was engaged in shoots against targets such as Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt and Beaumont-Hamel, the preliminary bombardment of the German trenches beginning on 6 June. On the First day on the Somme, VIII Corps had one heavy gun for every 44 yards of its attack frontage. 77th Siege Battery joined in the 'general bombardment' that began at 06.00, and then after the infantry 'went over' at 07.30 the guns extended their range in six 'lifts'. 77th 'took part in lifts through Beaumont Hamel, Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre, Beaucourt Redoubt and finished up at Baillescourt Farm'. Unfortunately, these lifts were premature, the Germans being able to man their trenches once the guns lifted, and the infantry of VIII Corps failed to penetrate much beyond the enemy front line trench.Edmonds, pp. 427–44. Gunner T. Tharratt, ERRGA, was later awarded the Military Medal (MM) for conspicuous good work as a telephonist and line repairman under heavy shellfire on 1 July.
As the battle continued, 77th Siege Bty concentrated on counter-battery (CB) fire, sometimes directed by aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps. On 14 July the battery commander, Major W.N. Leggett, and his driver were killed when the battery car was hit by a shell. After a short period under a temporary commander, Captain C.D. Allderidge, a pre-war officer of the ERRGA, was promoted to take command on 2 August.
During August, the battery remained at Sailly, but it dug new gun pits closer to Hébuterne, which gave it an arc of fire from the sunken lane north of Serre to Thiepval, covering the whole northern sector of the Somme battlefield. After registering new targets, the battery carried out a 'steady bombardment of trenches' on 26 August, and then on 3 September fired a large number of rounds in support of an unsuccessful attack by V Corps along the Ancre. In November, six months after the bombardment began, 77th Siege Bty was still firing at Beaucourt Redoubt.
During the Somme fighting, the battery had been transferred to 4th HAG on 4 July, back to 17th HAG on 12 July, to 16th HAG on 29 July, to 56th HAG (V Corps in Reserve Army) on 14 August, which moved to XIII Corps and then returned to V Corps on 16 October – all without the battery shifting its position from Sailly.'Headquarters Heavy Artillery Groups', TNA file WO 95/5494/1.
During the winter, 77th Siege Bty moved to 72nd HAG (still in Reserve Army, now designated Fifth Army) on 15 December and then was rested from 15 February 1917 until early March, when it joined 43rd HAG. In February, Lieutenant G.W. Sainsbury was awarded the Military Cross (MC) 'for conspicuous gallantry in action. He displayed great courage and determination while observing under very heavy fire. Later, although wounded, he continued to remain at his post. He has previously done fine work'.
In March 1917, the Germans began a phased retreat to the Hindenburg Line; when they reached the intermediate Bucquoy Line they passed out of range of 77th Siege Bty's howitzers, so on 9 and 10 March they were moved up from Sailly to Hebuterne and opened fire again on 12 March. Soon, however, the Germans had moved many miles out of range.
Acting-Major Allderidge was Mentioned in dispatches in January 1917 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in June 1917.
Ypres The British now also reorganised their front, Fifth Army HQ and its Army Troops, including 40th HAG (which 77th Siege Bty joined on 9 July), moving north to the Ypres Salient in preparation for the Third Ypres Offensive. Fifth Army opened the offensive on 31 July with the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, which was preceded by a preliminary bombardment lasting 18 days, during which British batteries suffered badly from CB fire. The attack was generally successful, but the guns had to be moved forward to prepare for the next phase.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 195–204.Liddle, pp. 33, 36–7, 111–2.Wolff, pp. 142–4, 148–9, 153–60.
77th Siege Bty was transferred to 68th HAG in Third Army on 2 August 1917, then back to 40th HAG with Third Army on 4 September. On 19 September, 40th HAG joined Second Army, which had taken over responsibility for part of the Third Ypres offensive. This included the successful Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (20–25 September), Battle of Polygon Wood (26 September – 3 October), Battle of Broodseinde (4 October) and Battle of Poelcappelle (9 October), all of which were characterised by extremely heavy artillery support.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 205–11.Liddle, pp. 219–21.Wolff, pp. 191–235.