The 1st Newcastle upon Tyne Artillery Volunteer Corps was a unit of the

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

raised to supplement the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

at a time of a perceived French threat in 1860.

History

The unit was formed on the 2 June 1860 during the great surge of enthusiasm after an invasion scare that saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular

in time of need.Beckett, Appendix VIII. Attached to the 1st Newcastle AVC were the 1st Berwick-on-Tweed Artillery Volunteers from 1863 until 1866.''Army List'', January 1866. In addition the 2nd Northumberland Artillery Volunteers were attached during 1863 and 1864 and the 3rd Durham Artillery Volunteers from 1873 until 1890. In 1899 the Headquarters for the Corps was built. Named as the Angus Hall Drill Hall, it was constructed at Liddell Terrace, Gateshead. On transfer to the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

in 1908 the Corps provided the 5th (Durham) Howitzer Battery of the 4th Northumbrian (County of Durham)(H) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.

Honorary Colonel

The Honorary Colonel from January 1866 until his death in 1877 was Lord Henry H M Percy VC. From 1885 it was Colonel J R Young.''Army List'', May 1892.

Notes

References

* Ian F.W. Beckett, ''Riflemen Form: A study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908'', Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, . * Litchfield, Norman E H, and Westlake, R, 1982. The Volunteer Artillery 1859-1908, The Sherwood Press, Nottingham. {{ISBN, 0-9508205-0-4

Online sources

British History Online

Military units and formations in Northumberland

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Military units and formations established in 1860 Military units and formations disestablished in 1908