2nd Devonshire Artillery Volunteers

The 2nd Devonshire Artillery Volunteers was a unit of the British Volunteer Force and Territorial Army. The unit and its successors defended Plymouth Dockyard and the Devon coast (and, briefly, Iceland) from 1861 to 1961.

2nd Devonshire Artillery Volunteers
Devonshire Royal Garrison Artillery
566th (Devon) Coast Regiment, RA
407th (Devon) Coast Regiment, RA
Royal Artillery cap badge
Active3 January 1861–31 October 1961
Country United Kingdom
Branch Territorial Army
RoleCoastal Artillery
Garrison/HQDevonport, Plymouth
EngagementsWorld War I
World War II
Occupation of Iceland

Origin

The 2nd Administrative Brigade, Devonshire Artillery Volunteers was formed at Devonport, Plymouth on 3 January 1861 as a headquarters for a number of Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVCs) that had been raised in Devonshire in response to the invasion scare of 1859. A 1st Administrative Brigade had been formed the previous year, but the number of units in the county had continued to grow and they were split between the two headquarters. The 2nd Admin Brigade took the units in the western part of the county and was based at Devonport, Plymouth, with the following composition:[1][2][3]

  • 6th (Dartmouth) Devonshire AVC, raised 25 January 1860; transferred from 1st to 2nd Administrative Brigade in January 1861
  • 10th (Salcombe) Devonshire AVC, raised 7 July 1860; transferred from 1st to 2nd Administrative Brigade in January 1861
  • 12th (Devonport Dockyard) Devonshire AVC, raised 20 December 1860; transferred from 1st to 2nd Administrative Brigade in February 1862
  • 13th (Keyham, Devon) Devonshire AVC, raised 7 December 1860; the nucleus came from the Keyham Steam Factory[4][5]

The unit's HQ moved from Devonport to Dartmouth in 1874 before returning three years later. The commanding officer from 1864 was Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hayne, who was also a Captain in the South Devon Militia. He was succeeded by Lt-Col Alex Ridgway, a former captain in the 1st Devon Militia (appointed 1873). By 1866 the 12th AVC had four companies and the 13th had two. A cadet corps was attached to the unit from 1871 to 1879.[2][3][6]

In February 1880, the AVCs were consolidated, and the 2nd Devonshire Administrative Brigade became the 6th (soon changed to 2nd) Devonshire AVC with the following composition:[2][3]

  • No 1 Battery at Dartmouth, former 6th Corps
  • No 2 Battery at Salcombe, former 10th Corps
  • Nos 3, 4, 5 & 6 Batteries at Devonport, former 12th Corps
  • Nos 7 & 8 Batteries at Keyham, former 13th Corps

In 1893 the HQ and Nos 1 and 3–9 Companies were based at 14 Paradise Place at Stoke in Devonport,[7] and No 2 Company was at Ridge Park Road, Plympton,[8] and Fore Street, Salcombe at Fore Street, Salcombe.[9] In the same year the War Office Mobilisation Scheme had allocated the 2nd Devonshire Artillery Volunteers to the Plymouth fixed defences.[10]

The corps was attached to the Western Division of the Royal Artillery (RA) in April 1882 and changed its name to 2nd Devonshire Volunteer Artillery in November 1891. In January 1902 it was attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) and became the 2nd Devonshire RGA (Volunteers). A new cadet corps was formed at Plymouth and Mannamead College in 1900, but was transferred to the 2nd (Prince of Wales's) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in 1907.[2][3]

Territorial Force

When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the 2nd Devonshire RGA became simply the Devonshire RGA as a Defended Ports unit with the following composition:[2][3][11][12]

  • HQ at Lambhay Hill, Plymouth[13]
  • No 1 Heavy Battery at Drill Hall, Avenue Road, Ilfracombe,[14] with Left Section detached at Lynmouth[15]
  • No 2 Heavy Battery at Devonport, with detachments at Plympton[8] and Salcombe[9]
  • Nos 3 & 4 Companies at Plymouth
  • Nos 5 & 6 Companies at Devonport

Until 1908, the battery at Ilfracombe (two new 6-inch breechloading guns were installed at Beacon Point in 1905) had been the responsibility of No 10 Battery of the 1st Devonshire RGA (V), which was converted into a field artillery unit under the Haldane Reforms.[16]

World War I and after

The unit was mobilised in the South Western Coast Defences on the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, and raised two additional companies, Nos 1 & 2. Although the unit did not serve overseas, it is probable that volunteers did serve with other RGA units, and there is a memorial to men of the unit who died during the war.[2][17][18][19][20]

The Devon RGA was reconstituted in 1920, and became the Devonshire Coast Brigade, RGA in the new Territorial Army (TA) in 1921, with the following composition:[2][11]

  • 157 Battery at Lambhay Hill
  • 158 Battery at Plympton

When the RGA was merged back into the RA in 1924, the unit was redesignated as the Devonshire Heavy Brigade, RA. In 1932 it was amalgamated with the Cornwall Heavy Brigade to form the Devonshire and Cornwall Heavy Brigade, with the following composition:[2][6][11][21][22]

  • 157 (Devon) Battery at Artillery Drill Hall, Lambhay Hill
  • 158 Battery at Drill Hall, Plympton
  • 164 (Cornwall) Battery moved from Redruth to new Drill Hall, Ker Street, Devonport, opened in 1938.[7]

In 1936 'Cornwall' was dropped from the title, and when the RA replaced its unit designation of 'brigade' by the more normal 'regiment' in November 1938, the unit became the Devonshire Heavy Regiment, RA.[2][11]

World War II

As the TA expanded in the months leading up to the outbreak of World War II, a new 193 Heavy Battery at Falmouth, Cornwall was added to the regiment in August 1939.[2] With the threat of invasion after the Dunkirk evacuation, the coastal artillery defending the United Kingdom was greatly increased.[23] In 1940 the Cornish element of the regiment regained its independence as the Cornwall Heavy Regiment, later 523rd (Cornwall) Coast Regiment.[22][24] Then in April 1941, the Devonshire Heavy Regiment was reorganised to form three Coast Regiments:[2][24]

All three regiments served in the defences in the Plymouth area, but 566th Coast Regiment was sent for a spell in 1941 to garrison Iceland as part of Alabaster Force.[27] 567th and 568th Coast Regiments were placed in 'suspended animation' in 1944 and 1943 respectively, and their batteries posted to the 566th, after which it was renamed 566th (Devon and Cornwall) Coast Regiment.[2][11]

The regiment was placed in suspended animation in 1946.[11]

Postwar

When the TA was reconstituted in 1947, the 566th and 567th Regiments were reformed as 407th/408th (Devon) Coast Regiment, separating into two regiments the following year; 568th was not reformed. Both 407th and 408th were part of the 102nd Coast Artillery Brigade. In 1948 the 408th was redesignated 408th (Devon) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, but was placed in suspended animation in 1949 and subsequently disbanded.[2][11][24][28][29][30][31] 407th (Devon) Coast Regiment continued at Plymouth until 31 October 1956, when it was absorbed by 256th (Wessex) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA (which had originally been the 1st Admin Brigade of Devonshire Artillery Volunteers, see above).[2][11][30][32]

Honorary Colonels

The following officers served as Honorary Colonel of the regiment:[6][33]

(Lords St Levan and Astor served as joint Honorary Colonels after their regiments were merged.)

Memorial

There is a memorial tablet on a wall in Newton Ferrers to the men of the Devonshire RGA who died during World War I.[20]

Notes
  1. Beckett, Appendix VIII.
  2. 2nd Devonshire Volunteer Artillery at Regiments.org
  3. Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 52–3.
  4. Beckett, p. 58.
  5. Keyham Dockyard at Grace's Guides.
  6. Army Lists.
  7. Devonport at Drill Hall Project.
  8. Plympton at Drill Hall Project.
  9. Salcombe at Drill Hall Project.
  10. Mobilization Tables for Home Defence, List of Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteer Units, HMSO, London, 1893
  11. Litchfield, pp. 42–8.
  12. London Gazette 20 March 1908.
  13. Plymouth at Drill Hall Project.
  14. Ilfracombe at Drill Hall Project.
  15. Lynmouth at Drill Hall Project.
  16. Artillery Volunteer Battery at John Moore's History of Hele.
  17. RGA (TF) at Regimental Warpath.
  18. Coast Defences at British Army 1914.
  19. "Devonshire RGA at Great War Forum". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  20. IWM WMR ref 25636.
  21. Titles and Designations 1927.
  22. Litchfield, p. 34.
  23. Farndale, Annex B.
  24. Farndale, Annex M.
  25. Drake's Island at Victorian Forts
  26. Western Kings Redoubt at Victorian Forts.
  27. Farndale, Annex H.
  28. Litchfield, Appendix 5.
  29. Watson, TA 1947.
  30. 372–413 Rgts RA at British Army 1945 on.
  31. Coast Artillery Brigades at British Army 1945 on.
  32. 235–265 Rgts RA at British Army 1945 on.
  33. Burke's.
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References
  • Ian F.W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, ISBN 0 85936 271 X.
  • Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953.
  • Gen Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Years of Defeat: Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988/London: Brasseys, 1996, ISBN 1-85753-080-2.
  • Norman E.H. Litchfield, The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992, ISBN 0-9508205-2-0.
  • Norman Litchfield & Ray Westlake, The Volunteer Artillery 1859–1908 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1982, ISBN 9780950820507.
  • Titles and Designations of Formations and Units of the Territorial Army, London: War Office, 7 November 1927.
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