Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery


The Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery claims to be the oldest volunteer artillery unit of the British Army. It served coastal and siege guns in World War I and World War II, and also served in the infantry role.

Artillery Volunteers 1859-1908

The first artillery unit formed amid the enthusiasm that created the British Volunteer Force in the mid-19th Century was the 1st Northumberland Artillery Volunteer Corps, which was raised after a public meeting at Tynemouth on 7 May 1859. The meeting was held in response to statements by Commander Bedford Pim, Royal Navy, that a modern ironclad warship could do untold damage to the towns of Tyneside due to the poor state of their defences. The unit was raised by Edward Potter of Cramlington, a local coal mining engineer. By 25 May 1859, the first drill was held for Rifle and Artillery volunteers at Tynemouth, formal enrolment for the 1st Northumberland Artillery Volunteers opened on 2 August, and the corps was formally accepted on 16 August 1859. In November 1859, the new unit held its first gun practice, on two 70-year-old muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon at Tynemouth Castle.
A 2nd Northumberland AVC was formed at Tynemouth on 12 January 1860 but in May 1860 it was absorbed into the 1st as its second battery; four other batteries were raised at Willington Quay, Newcastle upon Tyne and North Shields. Other AVCs were also being formed in the area: the Percy Artillery, raised from tenants of the Duke of Northumberland and named after a previous volunteer unit of 1805, was formed as the 3rd Northumberland AVC on 22 March 1860, then took the vacated position as 2nd. A new 3rd Northumberland AVC of two batteries was formed at Blyth on 23 November 1860, but was disbanded in January 1864. In September that year the Newcastle members of the Tynemouth Volunteers left to form a separate 2nd Newcastle AVC and in January 1865 the Willington Quay men became the 3rd Northumberland AVC.
The 1st Administrative Brigade of Northumberland Artillery Volunteers was formed at Tynemouth on 4 April 1866 and included the 1st Northumberland and both its offshoots, the 2nd Newcastle and the 3rd Northumberland. The 2nd Newcastle was absorbed into the 3rd Northumberland in 1868, in which year the brigade's HQ moved from Tynemouth to Newcastle. The 1st Durham AVC was added to the Admin Brigade in 1873.
The Volunteers were consolidated into larger units in 1880, and the Administrative Brigade became the 1st Northumberland and Durham Artillery Volunteers on 23 July with its HQ at Newcastle:
However, the Tynemouth Volunteers were withdrawn to become independent again in April 1884. They were supposed to become the new 3rd Northumberland, but objected to the title, asserting their primacy, and in August were renamed The Tynemouth Artillery Volunteers. The unit became part of the RA's Northern Division on 1 April 1882, then the Western Division on 1 July 1889. By now the unit had eight batteries.
In the early years, the volunteer gunners practised on whatever guns were available, including those at Tynemouth Castle. But in addition to 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. The Tynemouth Artillery Volunteers were supplied with light 9-pounder field guns in 1869. 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. The Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery were re-equipped with 20-pounder field and 40-pounder fort guns in 1889 and on 14 July 1892 they were reorganised as a position battery and six companies:
In 1893, the batteries at Tynemouth Castle were equipped with modern 6-inch breechloading guns on hydro-pneumatic disappearing carriages, and the Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery immediately began training to operate them. This was reflected in the War Office Mobilisation Scheme for that year, which allocated the unit to the Tynemouth fixed defences.
On 1 June 1899 the RA was split into Royal Field Artillery and Royal Garrison Artillery, which was responsible for all coastal and fortress artillery; the Volunteers were affiliated to the RGA. On 1 January 1902 the RA abandoned its divisional organisation and the unit changed its designation to Tynemouth Royal Garrison Artillery .

Territorial Force

When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Tynemouth RGA was intended to combine with the 1st Durham RGA to form a Northumberland and Durham RGA. These plans were radically changed, so that by 1910 the Tynemouth and 1st Durham elements had formed their own units. The Tynemouth RGA was designated as a Defended Ports unit with the following organisation:
The unit formed part of North Eastern Coast Defences, which also included the Regulars of Nos 12 and 47 Companies RGA at Tynemouth.

World War I

Coast defence

On the outbreak of war, the Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery deployed to its war stations in the Tyne Garrison.
Shortly after the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service, and they began forming Second Line units. By October 1914, the campaign on the Western Front was bogging down into Trench warfare and there was an urgent need for batteries of siege artillery to be sent to France. The War Office decided that the TF units were well enough trained to take over many of the duties in the coastal defences, releasing Regular RGA gunners for service in the field. Soon the TF RGA companies that had volunteered for overseas service were also supplying trained gunners to RGA units serving overseas and providing cadres to form new units, although complete defended port units never went overseas. Thus the siege batteries formed in late 1915–early 1916 were a mixture of Regular and TF gunners from the RGA coast establishments together with new recruits. 44th Siege Battery formed at Sheerness in 1915 had its cadre provided by the Tynemouth RGA, while a number of others formed at Tynemouth may have included men from the Tynemouth RGA among the Regulars and recruits, although the War Office or Army Council Instructions did not specifically order this.
Under Army Council Instruction 686 of April 1917, the coastal defence companies of the RGA were reorganised. The four serving companies of the Tynemouth RGA were reduced to three albeit with a slightly larger establishment of five officers and 100 men, and were to be kept up to strength with Regular recruits.
By early 1918 the companies were serving in No 18 Coastal Fire Command based at Tynemouth. In April 1918 the following guns were in place around the Tyne:
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Tyne Garrison
Following the Armistice with Germany the Tynemouth RGA was placed in suspended animation in 1919.

44th Siege Battery, RGA

The battery was formed on 12 July 1915 at Sheerness from a cadre provided by the Tynemouth RGA and Regular RGA gunners brought back from the defences of Gibraltar and Malta. It went out to the Western Front on 24 January 1916, manning two 12-inch railway howitzers and was involved in the preparatory bombardment for the Battle of the Somme later that year.
The battery remained in action throughout the Somme fighting of 1916. Thereafter the heavy howitzers were in great demand it was frequently shifted around the railway network behind the Western Front from one army to another. It ended the war attached to Fifth Army supporting the great Allied Hundred Days Offensive.
44th Siege Battery continued in the Regular Army after the Armistice, becoming 16th Medium Battery in 4th Medium Brigade, RGA, in 1920.

Interwar years

Tynemouth Heavy Brigade

The Tynemouth RGA reformed on 7 February 1920 and when the TF was reconstituted as the Territorial Army the following year, it was redesignated as the Tynemouth Coast Brigade, becoming the Tynemouth Heavy Brigade in 1924 when the RGA was subsumed into the RA. It had the following organisation:
On 1 October 1932, 152 Heavy Battery at Seaton Delaval left to be converted into 152 Medium Battery in 55th Medium Brigade. Then on 1 April 1934 150 Heavy Battery at North Shields also left to be converted into 150 Medium Battery in 51st Medium Brigade. However, on 10 December 1936 these two batteries left their new brigades and were converted again into 179 and 180 Anti-Aircraft batteries forming a new 64th Anti-Aircraft Brigade based at North Shields. This unit could therefore be considered an indirect offshoot of the Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery. It saw service in World War II during the Battle of Britain and the Newcastle Blitz, North Africa, Italy, Yugoslavia and the occupation of Germany.

World War II

Mobilisation

The TA was expanded in the years of tension leading up to World War II, and a new 152 Heavy Battery was formed in October 1937. In 1938 the TA replaced wits traditional unit designation of 'brigade' with 'regiment', and the unit was redesignated the Tynemouth Heavy Regiment on 1 October. Once war was declared, the regiment was split into three coast regiments.
The invasion threat after the Dunkirk evacuation and Fall of France led to a massive increase in Britain's coast defences. In addition to the existing fixed defences, a number of Coast Defence Emergency Batteries were established in May and June 1940, including:
Park, Gloucester and Frenchman's batteries were initially established by the Royal Navy and transferred to the RA when sufficient coastal gunners had been trained.

Coast Regiments

The expansion of the RA's coast defence branch led to the Tynemouth Heavy Regiment being split into three coast regiments on 14 July 1940:

508 (Tynemouth) Coast Regiment

Formed with A, B and C Batteries. On 31 December it was joined by 348 Coast Bty from 554th Coast Rgt at Poole, Dorset. On 1 April 1941 A Bty was split up and the regiment was reorganised as:
Formed with A and B Batteries. On 31 December it was joined by 312 and 314 Coast Btys, and on 1 April 1941 A and B Btys were numbered:
Formed with A Bty, joined by 311 and 313 Coast Btys on 31 December 1940:
At their height in September 1941, the Tyne defences contained the following guns:
All three regiments came under the command of IX Corps HQ by May 1942. By then the threat from German attack had diminished and there was demand for trained gunners for the fighting fronts. A process of reducing the manpower in the coast defences began. 265/509 Coast Bty was placed in suspended animation on 20 June, just before 397 Bty arrived, and 261/508 Coast Bty was disbanded 10–17 October. 322/510 Coast Bty went to War Office Control on 7 May 1943, but was replaced by 444 Coast Bty, newly formed at Gloucester Battery. 420/508 Coast Bty was disbanded on 20 September 1943. IX Corps HQ left for North Africa and was replaced by Corps Coast Artillery HQ, Northumbrian District, by the end of 1942.
The manpower requirements for the forthcoming Allied invasion of Normandy led to further reductions in coast defences in April 1944. 509th Coast Rgt was placed in suspended animation on 1 April 1944 and its remaining batteries were regimented with 508th Coast Rgt. 70 Coast Observer Detachment was also disbanded in April 1944.

Late war

As the campaign in North West Europe progressed after D Day, the manpower demands of 21st Army Group led to further reductions in coastal artillery. By this stage of the war many of the coast battery positions were manned by Home Guard detachments or in the hands of care and maintenance parties. On 18 October 1944, 510th Coast Rgt was placed in suspended animation and its units were transferred to 508th Coast Rgt, and the positions manned by 259, 260, 262, 263 and 444 Coast Btys were placed under care and maintenance.

616 (Tynemouth) Regiment

Then, in January 1945, the War Office began to reorganise surplus anti-aircraft and coastal artillery regiments in the UK into infantry battalions, primarily for line of communication and occupation duties in North West Europe, thereby releasing trained infantry for frontline service. On 15 January 1945, all the remaining Tyne batteries were transferred to the command of 526th Coast Rgt, while RHQ 508th Coast Rgt and Tynemouth Fire Control HQ were converted into 616 Regiment, RA.
After infantry training in Scotland with 301st Infantry Brigade, the brigade transferred to 21st Army Group on 9 May 1945, and landed on the Continent on 15 May, where it came under the command of First Canadian Army.
The regiment was placed in suspended animation on 31 October 1945, completing the process on 24 November.

Postwar

When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, 508 and 509 Coast Rgts were reformed as 404/405 Coast Regiment in 103 Coast Brigade, while 510 was formally disbanded. 404 and 405 Regiments, based at North Shields and Blyth respectively, had recruited sufficiently to become separate units by September 1948, with 405 Coast Rgt being converted into 405 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment that year. On 1 January 1954, 405 HAA Rgt absorbed 464 HAA Rgt providing RHQ, P and Q Btys.
When Anti-Aircraft Command was abolished and the number of AA units reduced on 10 March 1955, 405 HAA Rgt was amalgamated into 324 HAA Regiment. The RA's Coast Artillery branch was also abolished the following year, and 404 Coast Rgt amalgamated into 439 Light AA Regiment at Tynemouth on 30 October 1956, forming P Battery. The regiment became 439 Light Air Defence Regiment in 1964.
When the TA was reduced into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve in 1967, 439 LAD Rgt became the HQ Battery of the amalgamated 101 Regiment RA, the battery regaining its subtitle 'Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery' in 1993. In July 2006, the battery was disbanded, but the name was perpetuated in the Radar Troop, of 204 Battery, RA.

Uniforms and insignia

The original uniform of the Tynemouth Artillery Volunteers was the same as the Rifle Volunteers of the area: a silver-grey tunic with black braid and scarlet facings, grey trousers with black stripes, and black belts with bronze ornaments for other ranks, silver for officers wore. The headdress was a grey Shako with scarlet plume. The artillery wore a gun badge on the shako and pouch in place of the riflemen's bugle. This uniform only lasted a short while before Royal Artillery blue was adopted.
When the Home Service helmet was adopted, the upper scroll on the helmet plate read 'THE TYNEMOUTH' and the lower read 'TYNEMOUTH ARTILLERY VOLUNTEERS' with the RA motto 'QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT' with the royal crown. The unit wore brass shoulder titles with the lettering in three tiers: 'THE/RA/TYNEMOUTH'.
From 1952, 404 Coast Regiment wore the word 'TYNEMOUTH' inserted beneath the 'ROYAL ARTILLERY' on their red-on-blue shoulder badge.

Honorary Colonels

The following served as Honorary Colonel of the unit.