103rd (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment Royal Artillery


103rd Regiment Royal Artillery is part of the Army Reserve and primarily has sub-units throughout the Greater Manchester and Merseyside area of the North-West of England, in recent years it has extended its footprint to Wolverhampton, Isle of Man, Carlisle and Nottingham. Its purpose is to provide reinforcements for units that use the 105 mm L118 Light Gun.

Formation

The Lancashire Artillery Volunteers were first raised in 1859 as part of the Volunteer Force raised in response to threats of French Invasion. A total of 23 Artillery companies were raised initially. However, in Manchester, numerous units that would later form the Lancashire Artillery Gunners had existed from as early as 1804, when the Duke of Gloucester inspected the Heaton Artillery Volunteers before they were shipped off to the fronts of the Napoleonic Wars.

20th Century History

Officers and men of the Lancashire Artillery Volunteers continued to give service during the two world wars of the 20th Century.
In 1967, some of these units were amalgamated to form 103rd Light Air Defence Regiment Royal Artillery. Its units were Headquarters Battery at Liverpool, 208 Light Air Defence Battery at Liverpool and 209 Light Air Defence Battery at Manchester. In 1969 213 Light Air Defence Battery was formed at St Helens and joined the regiment.
In 1976, the regiment changed its designation to 103rd Air Defence Regiment Royal Artillery upon being equipped with the Blowpipe missile air-defense weapon. Then, in 1986, 216 Battery was formed at Bolton and joined the regiment.
In 1992, as a result of the Options for Change, the regiment lost one Air-Defence Battery and Regimental Headquarters were moved from Deysbrooke Barracks, Liverpool, to St. Helens to be co-located with HQ Battery.

Modern-Day

In 2001, the regiment transferred from Air Defence to the Field Artillery as a Light Gun Regiment.
Under Army 2020, 209 Battery Royal Artillery increased to a battery size. 210 Battery Royal Artillery, based in Wolverhampton, joined this regiment from 106th Regiment Royal Artillery, and re-roled to a light gun battery. 103 Regiment is paired with the regular 4th Regiment RA under the 1st Artillery Brigade. The regiment is currently organised as:
The 103rd Regiment is equipped with the 105mm Light Gun, a versatile, air-portable and air-mobile artillery piece.

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