B Battery (2nd City of London Horse Artillery), Honourable Artillery Company was a

horse artillery Horse artillery was a type of light, fast-moving, and fast-firing artillery which provided highly mobile fire support, especially to cavalry units. Horse artillery units existed in armies in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, from the early 17th to t ...

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

that was formed from the ''Field Artillery, HAC'' in 1899. It transferred to the Territorial Force in 1908 as artillery support for the South Eastern Mounted Brigade. It saw active service during the First World War in the Middle East, notably at

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

and in particular in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, from 1915 to 1918. The second line battery2/B Battery, HACwas formed in 1914 and served on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 as part of an Army Field Artillery Brigade; the third lineB (Reserve) Battery, HACwas formed in 1915 to provide trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line batteries. Post war, the battery, along with A Battery, Honourable Artillery Company, was amalgamated with the

City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) The City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Territorial Army, formed in 1901 from veterans of the Second Boer War. In World War I it served dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign but reverted to the mounted r ...

to form the 11th (Honourable Artillery Company and City of London Yeomanry) Brigade, RHA.

History

Formation

The Battery traces it history back to 22 November 1781 when the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) formed the Matross Division, HAC with two companies of foot artillery. In 1802, it was increased to four companies and later in the century it was redesignated as the Artillery Division, HAC. In 1853, it was reorganized as a single

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

and redesignated as the Field Artillery, HAC in 1891. In 1899 it was once again converted, this time to

as B Battery (2nd City of London Horse Artillery), HAC. At the same time the ''Horse Battery, HAC'' was redesignated as '' A Battery (1st City of London Horse Artillery), HAC''. The ''Horse Battery'' originated in 1891 and was the first to form a horse artillery battery, hence the senior designation. The batteries sponsored the field battery of the City Imperial Volunteers for service in the Second Boer War in 1900–02.

Territorial Force

The Territorial Force (TF) was formed on 1 April 1908 following the enactment of the

Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 ('' 7 Edw. 7, c.9'') was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the auxiliary forces of the British Army by transferring existing Volunteer and Yeomanry units into a new Territori ...

(7 Edw.7, c.9) which combined and re-organised the old Volunteer Force, the Honourable Artillery Company and the Yeomanry. On formation, the TF contained 14 infantry divisions and 14 mounted yeomanry brigades. Each yeomanry brigade included a

and an ammunition column. 12 of these were provided by Royal Horse Artillery batteries of the Territorial Force, the other two by the Honourable Artillery Company. On 1 April 1908, the battery transferred to the Territorial Force without a change in title. The unit consisted of the battery and South Eastern Mounted Brigade Ammunition Column at Armoury House,

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man called Finn ...

. The battery was equipped with four Ehrhardt 15-pounder guns and allocated as artillery support to the South Eastern Mounted Brigade though attached to the

London Mounted Brigade London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

for training in peacetime.

First World War

In accordance with the

(7 Edw.7, c.9) which brought the Territorial Force into being, the TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, many members volunteered for Imperial Service. Therefore, TF units were split into 1st Line (liable for overseas service) and 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. 2nd Line units performed the home defence role, although in fact most of these were also posted abroad in due course. Later, a 3rd Line was formed to act as a reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line batteries.

1/B Battery, HAC

The 1st Line battery was embodied with the South Eastern Mounted Brigade on 4 August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War and concentrated in the Canterbury area of Kent under Second Army of Central Force. A decision was made to form a new mounted division from the mounted brigades in and around the Churn area of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. On 2 September 1914,

2nd Mounted Division The 2nd Mounted Division was a yeomanry ( Territorial Army cavalry) division that served in the First World War. At the outbreak of war it was assigned to defence of the Norfolk coast. In March 1915 it formed a 2nd Line duplicate of itself, the ...

, with

Headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

at Goring, came into being. The battery joined the division from Canterbury and attached to the 2nd South Midland Mounted Brigade. I Brigade and II Brigade, RHA (T.F.) were formed for the division and the battery was assigned to II Brigade, RHA at Churn, along with A Battery, HAC and

and Nottinghamshire Batteries RHA. On 1 November, Warwickshire RHA of I Brigade, RHA (T.F.) was posted to France: the first Territorial Force artillery battery to go on active service. B Battery, HAC was transferred to I Brigade to replace it, though in practice the battery served with

1st South Midland Mounted Brigade 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 ...

, Warwickshire RHA's original brigade. In November 1914, the 2nd Mounted Division moved to Norfolk on coastal defence duties. Artillery headquarters was established at Cromer, before joining the divisional headquarters at Hanworth in December, and the battery was at Gayton (1st South Midland Mounted Brigade was at

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

). ;Overseas service In March 1915, the division was put on warning for overseas service. In early April, the division starting leaving Avonmouth and the last elements landed at Alexandria before the end of the month. By the middle of May, the horse artillery batteries were near Ismaïlia on

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

Defences. On 14 July 1915, B Battery, HAC (along with Berkshire RHA and

28th Indian Brigade The 28th Indian Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Indian Army that saw active service with the Indian Army during the First World War. Formed in October 1914, it defended the Suez Canal in early 1915, ended the Ottoman threat to A ...

) left for

. They fought a sharp action at Sheikh Othman on 20 July that removed the Turkish threat to Aden for the rest of the war, before returning to Egypt. The 2nd Mounted Division was dismounted in August 1915 and served at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

. The artillery batteries and ammunition columns, signal troops, mobile veterinary sections, Mounted Brigade Transport and Supply Columns and two of the Field Ambulances were left behind in Egypt. The division returned from Gallipoli in December 1915 and was reformed and remounted. On 13 December 1915, the battery briefly rejoined the division from Ismailia, Suez Canal Defences; it left again on 21 January 1916 as the division was broken up. In February 1916, the battery was rearmed with four

13 pounder The Ordnance QF 13-pounder ( quick-firing) field gun was the standard equipment of the British and Canadian Royal Horse Artillery at the outbreak of World War I. History The QF 13-pounder was developed as a response to combat experience gained ...

s and rejoined the Suez Canal Defences at Balla. It remained there until 16 October 1917 when it joined the

5th Mounted Brigade The 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade (later numbered as the 5th Mounted Brigade) was a yeomanry brigade of the British Army, formed as part of the Territorial Force in 1908. It served dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign before being remounte ...

(the renumbered 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade). ;Imperial Mounted Division The

Imperial Mounted Division The Australian Mounted Division originally formed as the Imperial Mounted Division in January 1917, was a mounted infantry, Australian Light Horse, light horse and yeomanry division (military), division. The division was formed in Egypt, and alon ...

was formed in Egypt in January 1917; 5th Mounted Brigade was one of the four

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

brigades selected to form the division. B Battery, HAC joined the division on formation and was assigned to XIX Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.). In practice, the battery remained attached to its mounted brigade. The battery, and its brigade, served with the Imperial Mounted Division in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign as part of the Desert Column. With the division, it took part in the advance across the

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

. The battery was re-equipped with four

18 pounder The Ordnance QF 18-pounder,British military traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately or simply 18-pounder gun, was the standard British Empire field gun of the First World War ...

s in time for the First Battle of Gaza (2627 March 1917). It also took part in the Second Battle of Gaza (1719 April 1917). ;Australian Mounted Division In June 1917, the Desert Column was reorganised from two mounted divisions of four brigades each ( ANZAC and Imperial Mounted Divisions) to three mounted divisions of three brigades each (ANZAC, Australian and the new

Yeomanry Mounted Division The Yeomanry Mounted Division was a Territorial Force cavalry division formed at Khan Yunis in Palestine in June 1917 from three yeomanry mounted brigades. It served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War, mostly as part of ...

). The battery (and 5th Mounted Brigade) remained with the Imperial Mounted Division when it was renamed Australian Mounted Division on 30 June 1917 and served with it for the rest of the war. With the division, it took part in the Third Battle of Gaza including the Capture of Beersheba and the Battle of Mughar Ridge. It also resisted the Turkish counter-attacks in the Turkish Defence of Jerusalem. In March 1918, the 5th Mounted Brigade left the division for the new

and was replaced by the newly formed

5th Light Horse Brigade The 5th Light Horse Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) that served during World War I. The brigade was initially formed as a part-time militia formation in the early 1900s in Queensland. During Wor ...

; B Battery, HAC was now attached to this brigade. Still part of the Desert Mounted Corps, the division took part in the

Second Trans-Jordan Raid The Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt, officially known by the British as the Second action of Es Salt Battles Nomenclature Committee 1922 p. 33 and by others as the Second Battle of the Jordan,Erickson 2001 p. 195 was fought ...

(30 April4 May 1918). XIX Brigade, RHA supported the 4th Light Horse Brigade in the advance on the

Jisr ed Damiye Jisr ed-Damiye ( ar, جسر الدامية , Jisr ed-Damieh, Bridge of ed-Damieh), known in English as Damiyah Bridge, as Prince Muhammad Bridge in Jordan, and as Gesher Adam ( he, גשר אדם, , Adam Bridge) in Israel, stretches over the Jordan ...

– Es Salt track on 30 April. The next day, a strong Turkish force attacked from the direction of Jisr ed Damiye and soon the artillery was in danger. B Battery, HAC was in the rear and managed to get away with all but one of their guns (stuck in a wadi) but the Nottinghamshire RHA and A Battery, HAC were less fortunate. Machine gun fire cut down the horse teams before the guns could be gotten away. XIX Brigade lost 9 guns in total, the only guns to be lost in action in the entire campaign. Its final action was the capture of Damascus (1 October). After the Armistice of Mudros, the division was withdrawn to Egypt and started to demobilise. The last of the Australians returned home in April and May 1919. B Battery, HAC were reduced to cadre in Egypt on 25 October 1919.

2/B Battery, HAC

B Battery formed a 2nd line in September 1914, initially designated as the B (Reserve) Battery HAC. It was redesignated as 2/B Battery, HAC on 26 September. In July 1915, the battery became an overseas unitthat is, liable for service overseas. In December 1915, the battery received four Ordnance BLC 15-pounders. In May 1916, the battery moved to Cupar,

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

where it joined 14th Cyclist Brigade (former

2/1st Western Mounted Brigade The W21 was an hydrogen bomb design for the US military. It would have used the physics package of the TX-21 bomb. The TX-21 was a weaponized version of the "Shrimp" device tested in the Bravo shot of Operation Castle. A TX-21C was tested as the ...

). It left Cupar on 10 May 1917 and proceeded to Heytesbury, Wiltshire where it joined CXXVI Brigade, RFA. It was rearmed with

s at this time. ;Army Field Brigade CXXVI Brigade, RFA was reformed at Heytesbury, Wiltshire in May 1917 with 2/A Battery and 2/B Battery HAC, both with six

s. The brigade (with the battery) landed at

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

on 22 June 1917 and it became an Army Field Brigade. 2/1st Warwickshire RHA, by now also rearmed with 18 pounders, proceeded to France on 21 June 1917 and joined the brigade there. The battery served on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

for the rest of the war. At the Armistice, the battery (six 18 pounders) was still with CXXVI Brigade, RFA serving as Army Troops with the First Army. The battery entered Germany on 16 January 1919, and was disbanded later the same year.

B (Reserve) Battery, HAC

B (Reserve) Battery, HAC was formed in 1915 to replace the original reserve battery which had been redesignated as 2/B Battery on 26 September 1914. It never left the United Kingdom and was disbanded later.

Post war

On 7 February 1920, the Honourable Artillery Company was authorized to reconstitute four batteries of horse artillery in the Territorial Force. Only two were actually formed (A and B Batteries), and authorization for the other two was rescinded in 1921. The batteries were amalgamated with the

on 16 February to form the 11th (Honourable Artillery Company and City of London Yeomanry) Brigade, RHA with *

at Finsbury Barracks *A Battery at Armoury House, Finsbury *B Battery at Armoury House, Finsbury *C Battery at

Bunhill Row Bunhill Row is a street located in St Luke's, London Borough of Islington, London. The street runs north–south from Old Street to Chiswell Street. On the east side are the cemetery of Bunhill Fields and the open space of the Honourable Art ...

, formed by reduction of the City of London Yeomanry

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

*
''The Royal Horse Artillery'' on The Long, Long Trail
{{DEFAULTSORT:B Battery, Honourable Artillery Company Honourable Artillery Company Royal Horse Artillery batteries Artillery units and formations of World War I Military units and formations established in 1781 Military units and formations disestablished in 1920 Military units and formations in London