The 1st Orkney Artillery Volunteers (OAV) was a part-time unit of Britain's

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

formed in the

Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

in 1860 as a response to a French invasion threat. The unit served as coast artillery until it was disbanded after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Precursor unit

Numerous Volunteer units had been organised across Britain at the time for home defenceof the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

, and some of these had taken on the role of manning coast artillery guns. One such unit, the Kirkwall Gunners, was in existence at Kirkwall on

Mainland, Orkney The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of ...

, as early as 1801, but little is known of its history. It was probably absorbed into the Orkney Volunteer Infantry and disbanded by the end of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Volunteer Force

Renewed enthusiasm for the

Volunteer movement 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 ...

following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular

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 ...

in time of need. A public meeting on 29 December 1859 resolved to raise a volunteer company in Orkney, and a further meeting in early January 1860 decided that it should be an artillery volunteer corps (AVC). The 1st Orkney Artillery Volunteer Corps (OAV) was accepted for service by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

on 12 March 1860, and over 50 volunteers gathered at Kirkwall that month, when John Heddle of Melsetter was chosen as

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. A battery with two

32-pounder gun The 32-pounder guns (and the French 30-pounders) were sets of heavy-caliber pieces of naval artillery in the Age of Sail, artillery mounted on warships in the last century of the Age of sail, during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It was usual ...

s was erected at Cromwell's Fort in the charge of the

Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

-instructor. Over the following years the gunners practised gun drill and target firing with the heavy guns from the fort and musketry with carbines at a range on Mount Road. The first headquarters (HQ) was an office in Broad Street, then a wooden building on the Kirk Green until that was replaced by a purpose-built drill hall on reclaimed land on the shore of the Peerie Sea.Rollo, pp. 7–11. Other AVCs followed across the islands, and from 1863 they were all administered by the

1st Administrative Brigade, Caithness Artillery Volunteers First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

:Beckett, Appendix VIII.Frederick, pp. 667–8.Grierson, pp. 163–5.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 144–5.''Army List'', various dates.Rollo, pp. 12–3. Orkney & Zetland Volunteer Artillery at Regiments.org.
/ref> Shapinsay_Harbour_-_geograph

* 1st (Kirkwall) OAV * 2nd (Sanday) OAV – formed at Scar House on the Isle of Sanday, 23 June 1863 under Capt James Scarth * 3rd (Shapinsay) OAV – formed at Balfour on

Shapinsay Shapinsay (, sco, Shapinsee) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on/roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle, ...

Island 10 July 1863 under Capt David Balfour, with a battery at Fort Eleanor * 4th (Stromness) OAV – formed at

Stromness Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital. E ...

, Mainland, 23 June 1863 under Capt John Stanger of Ness * 5th (Stronsay) OAV – formed at

Stronsay Stronsay () is an island in Orkney, Scotland. It is known as Orkney's 'Island of Bays', owing to an irregular shape with miles of coastline, with three large bays separated by two isthmuses: St Catherine's Bay to the west, the Bay of Holland to the ...

Island 17 August 1865 under Capt Peter A. Calder * 6th (Holm) OAV – formed at

Holm Holm may refer to: Places * Holm (island), the name of several islands * Holm, Nordfriesland, Germany * Holm, Pinneberg, Germany * Holm (Flensburg), Flensburg, Germany * Holm, Norway, in Nordland county * Holm, Troms, Norway * Holm, Podu Iloa ...

, Mainland, 28 November 1866 under Capt Alex. Sutherland Graeme * 7th (Firth) OAV – formed at

Firth Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to ''fj ...

, Mainland, 31 October 1868; disbanded 1877 * 8th (Evie) OAV – formed at

Evie Evie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Evie (given name) * Evie (singer), American contemporary Christian music singer Evelyn Tornquist (born 1957) * Evie (wrestler), ring name of New Zealand female professional wrestler Cheree Crowl ...

, Mainland, 25 June 1870 under Capt Joseph R. Holmes; renumbered 7th in 1877 * 9th (Rousay) OAV – formed at the Isle of Rousay 30 December 1874 under Capt John Macrae; renumbered 8th in 1877, moved to Kirkwall 1886 * 10th (Birsay) OAV – formed at Birsay, Mainland, 2 March 1877 under Capt William J. Isbister; renumbered 9th in 1877 Some 70 volunteers were raised for a corps at

South Ronaldsay South Ronaldsay (, also , sco, Sooth Ronalshee) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm. Name Along with North R ...

and drills commenced, but no officer candidates came forward and the unit was abandoned. Once a fifth OAV had been raised there were moves for Orkney to have its own brigade, and Capt David Balfour of the 3rd (Shapinsay) OAV was appointed

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

of a new 1st Administrative Brigade, Orkney Artillery Volunteers on 15 March 1867 with Capt Alex Bain of the 1st (Kirkwall) OAV as

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

.''Edinburgh Gazette'', 22 March 1867.
/ref> Symonds and Co Collection Q41452

Volunteer corps were consolidated into larger units in 1880, when the 1st Admin Brigade became simply the 1st Orkney Artillery Volunteers, with the individual corps as numbered companies. On 1 April 1882 all AVCs were affiliated to a territorial garrison division of the

(RA), the Scottish Division in the case of the 1st Orkney, moving to the Southern Division when the numbers were reduced on 1 July 1889. By 1894 No 6 Company was at Holm and Fort Alexander, No 9 at Birsay and Douby. The unit had its headquarters and drill hall at Kirkwall, and each battery had its own drill hall, armoury, sergeant-instructor's cottage, practice battery of two guns (four at Kirkwall) and a carbine range. The practice batteries were re-armed with old 64-pounder RML guns, so serious training on modern guns was carried out at the annual camp. From 1 June 1899 all artillery volunteers became part of the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

(RGA), and when the RA abolished its divisional structure on 1 January 1902 the unit was redesignated the 1st Orkney Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers).

Territorial Force

When the

Volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

were subsumed into the new

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 i ...

(TF) under the

Haldane Reforms The Haldane Reforms were a series of far-ranging reforms of the British Army made from 1906 to 1912, and named after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane. They were the first major reforms since the " Childers Reforms" of the ...

of 1908, the Orkney RGA transferred as a 'defended ports unit' with minor changes to organisation and uniforms.Litchfield, p. 301.Rollo, pp. 25–6. Headquarters remained at Kirkwall with the companies located as follows: * No 1 Company at Kirkwall * No 2 Company at Isle of Sanday * No 3 Company at Balfour, Shapinsay * No 4 Company at Stromness * No 5 Company at Evie * No 6 Company at Holm * No 7 Company at Kirkwall

World War I

On the outbreak of war TF units mobilised and went to their war stations: the coast defences around Orkney and Fair Isle in the case of the Orkney RGA. Shortly afterwards, members of the TF were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service, and the majority did so. Soon the TF RGA companies that had volunteered for overseas service were supplying trained gunners to RGA units serving overseas. Although most defended ports units provided cadres to form complete siege artillery batteries for front line service from New Army ('

Kitchener's Army The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, as Kitchener's Mob, was an (initially) all-volunteer portion of the British Army formed in the United Kingdom from 1914 onwards following the outbreak of hostilities in the Fi ...

') volunteers, the Orkney RGA does not appear to have been used in this way. In 1915 it was announced that the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, which was already responsible for the defence of the Grand Fleet's anchorage at

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

, would take over the defences of the whole of Orkney. The Orkney RGA was replaced by the Royal Marine Artillery, and because the unit no longer had a mobilisation role it was disbanded, despite the protests of the Orkney TF Association. The individual Orkney gunners were posted to other RGA units in the UK and overseas.

Postwar

When the TF was reconstituted on 1 January 1920, there were attempts to revive the Orkney RGA. Major J.D. Shearer raised two companies, which were designated the Orkney Coast Brigade, RGA when the TF was reorganised as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921. However, recruitment was poor and the brigade was officially disbanded in May 1922.Frederick, p. 615. The historian of the Orkney and Shetland Volunteers places the blame for this failure on the disheartening effect of the 1915 decision to disband the former Orkney RGA.

Successor units

In 1926 it was decided that the coastal defences of Great Britain should be solely manned by part-time soldiers of the TA. However, there were by now no TA units existing in Orkney or Shetland, and new ones had to be hastily raised after the

Munich Crisis The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

in 1938. On the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the fixed coast defences on Orkney, including those protecting Scapa Flow, were manned by a new Orkney Heavy Regiment (TA) formed on 1 November 1938 Frederick, p. 601.

Uniforms and insignia

The original uniform of the 1st Orkney AVC was a blue Frock coat with blue cuffs and collar, with five rows of black lace across the chest. Other ranks had scarlet piping round the collar and

Austrian knot An Austrian knot (or Hungarian knot), alternatively warrior's knot or , is an elaborate design of twisted cord or lace worn as part of a dress uniform, usually on the lower sleeve. It is usually a distinction worn by officers; the major exceptio ...

s above the cuffs, officers had them in silver. The headgear was a blue peaked cap with a black band and scarlet piping, with the Royal Arms badge. White waist belts were worn, later replaced by cheaper black leather . However, in 1863 the 1st Orkney AVC adopted the standard uniform of the Royal Artillery. The

Home Service helmet The pith helmet, also known as the safari helmet, salacot, sola topee, sun helmet, topee, and topi) is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of sholapith. The pith helmet originates from the Spanish military adaptation of the native ''salakot'' ...

was worn from 1880.

Commanding officers

The following served as commanding officer of the 1st Orkney Artillery Volunteers and Orkney RGA: * Lt-Col David Balfour, appointed 15 March 1867 * Brevet Colonel Fred W. Burroughs, formerly of the

93rd Highlanders The 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Line Infantry Regiment of the British Army, raised in 1799. Under the Childers Reforms, it amalgamated with the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to form the Argyll and Suthe ...

, appointed 1 November 1873 * Lt-Col J.W. Balfour, VD, formerly Captain, 7th Dragoon Guards, appointed 9 October 1880 * Lt-Col Richard Bailey, formerly Captain, RA, and adjutant of the 1st OAV, appointed 19 January 1898 * Lt-Col Thomas S. Peace, VD, appointed 28 March 1906 * Lt-Col J. Slater, VD, appointed 29 July 1911

Footnotes

Notes

References

* Ian F.W. Beckett, ''Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908'', Aldershot, The Ogilby Trusts, 1982, . * J.B.M. Frederick, ''Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978'', Vol I, Wakefield, Microform Academic, 1984, . * Maj-Gen

James Grierson James Grierson may refer to: * James Grierson (British Army officer) Lieutenant-General Sir James Moncrieff Grierson, ADC (Gen.) (27 January 1859 – 17 August 1914) was a British soldier. Life He was born in 1859 the son of George Moncrie ...

''Records of the Scottish Volunteer Force 1859–1908'', Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1909.
* Norman E.H. Litchfield, ''The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges)'', Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992, . * Norman Litchfield & Ray Westlake, ''The Volunteer Artillery 1859–1908 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges)'', Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1982, . * Col K. W. Maurice-Jones, ''The History of Coast Artillery in the British Army'', London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1959/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2005, . * * D. Rollo ''The History of the Orkney and Shetland Volunteers and Territorials 1793–1958'', Lerwick: Shetland Times, 1958. * Edward M. Spiers, ''The Army and Society 1815–1914'', London: Longmans, 1980, .