The Cinque Ports Division, Royal Artillery was an administrative grouping of garrison units of the

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 ...

, Artillery Militia and Artillery Volunteers within 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 ...

's South Eastern District from 1882 to 1889.

Organisation

Under General Order 72 of 4 April 1882 the

(RA) broke up its existing administrative brigades of garrison artillery (7th–11th Brigades, RA) and assigned the individual batteries to 11 new territorial divisions. These divisions were purely administrative and recruiting organisations, not field formations. Most were formed within the existing military districts into which the United Kingdom was divided, and for the first time associated the part-time Artillery Militia with the regulars. Shortly afterwards the Artillery Volunteers were also added to the territorial divisions. The

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

batteries were grouped into one brigade, usually of nine sequentially-numbered batteries and a depot battery. For these units the divisions represented recruiting districts – batteries could be serving anywhere in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

and their only connection to brigade headquarters (HQ) was for the supply of drafts and recruits. The artillery militia units (sometimes referred to as regiments) already comprised a number of batteries, and were redesignated as brigades, losing their county titles in the process. The artillery volunteers, which had previously consisted of numerous independent Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC) of various sizes, sometimes grouped into administrative brigades, had been consolidated into larger AVCs in 1881, which were now affiliated to the appropriate territorial division.Frederick, pp. 567–73, 985.Litchfield, ''Militia Artillery'', pp. 4–6; Appendix 5.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 4–6.

Composition

Cinque Ports Division, RA, listed as fourth in order of precedence, was organised within the Cinque Ports coastal area of South Eastern District with the following composition:Lawes, Vol II, Index.''Monthly Army Lists''. * Headquarters (HQ) at Dover *1st Brigade ** HQ at Dover ** 1st Bty at Guernsey – formerly 13th Bty, 11th Bde ** 2nd (Mountain) Bty at Alderney – formerly 12th Bty, 11th Bde ** 3rd Bty at Dover – formerly 10th Bty, 8th Bde ** 4th Bty at Dover – formerly 18th Bty, 7th Bde ** 5th Bty at

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

– formerly 17th Bty, 7th Bde ** 6th Bty at

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

– formerly 6th Bty, 9th Bde ** 7th Bty at

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...

– formerly 6th Bty, 10th Bde ** 8th Bty at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

– formerly 7th Bty, 10th Bde ** 9th (Mountain) Bty at

Khandala Khandala is a hill station in the Western Ghats in the state of Maharashtra, India, about from Lonavala, 12 kilometres from Khopoli and from Karjat. Khandala is located at the top end of the Bhor Ghat, a major ''ghat'' (meaning valley i ...

– formerly 5th Bty, 8th Bde ** Depot Bty – formerly Depot Bty, 9th Bde * 2nd Brigade at Dover – formerly Kent Militia Artillery (6 btys) * 3rd Brigade at Lewes – formerly

Royal Sussex Militia Artillery The Royal Sussex Militia Artillery was a part-time reserve unit of Britain's Royal Artillery from the County of Sussex, which served from 1853 to 1909. Background The long-standing national Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Milit ...

(5 btys) *

1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers The 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery from 1859 to 1961. Raised as coastal defence artillery, the unit later served as field artillery in Mesopotamia during World War I, and in North Africa ...

at Brighton * 2nd Sussex Artillery Volunteers at

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

– independent from 1st Sussex 1886 *

1st Kent Artillery Volunteers The 1st Kent Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of 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. ...

at Gravesend *

1st Cinque Ports Artillery Volunteers The 1st Cinque Ports Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery from 1860 to 1956. Raised as coastal defence artillery, the unit later served as field artillery in Mesopotamia during World War I, and as anti-ai ...

at Dover Under General Order 77 of June 1887 the AVCs were redesignated within the CP Division: * 1st Volunteer (Sussex) Brigade * 2nd Volunteer (Sussex) Brigade * 3rd Volunteer (Kent) Brigade * 4th Volunteer (Cinque Ports) Brigade

Disbandment

In 1889 the garrison artillery was reorganised again into three large divisions of garrison artillery (

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

, Southern and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

) and one of mountain artillery. The militia and volunteer units formerly in CP Division were reassigned to the Eastern Division while the regular batteries were distributed across all four divisions and completely renumbered.Maurice-Jones, p. 151.

Footnotes

Notes

{{reflist, 3

References

* J.B.M. Frederick, ''Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978'', Vol II, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, ISBN 1-85117-009-X. * Lt-Gen H.G. Hart
''The New Annual Army List, Militia List, Yeomanry Cavalry List and Indian Civil Service List for 1884'', London: John Murray, 1883.
* Lt-Gen H.G. Hart
''The New Annual Army List, Militia List, Yeomanry Cavalry List and Indian Civil Service List for 1890'', London: John Murray, 1889.
* Lt-Col M.E.S. Lawes, ''Battery Records of the Royal Artillery, 1859–1877'', Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1970. * Norman E.H. Litchfield, ''The Militia Artillery 1852–1909 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges)'', Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1987, ISBN 0-9508205-1-2. * Norman Litchfield & Ray Westlake, ''The Volunteer Artillery 1859–1908 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges)'', Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1982, ISBN 0-9508205-0-4. * Col K. W. Maurice-Jones, ''The History of Coast Artillery in the British Army'', London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1959/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-845740-31-3. * War Office, ''Monthly Army List'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1882–89. Royal Artillery divisions Military units and formations in Dover Military units and formations in the Cinque Ports Military units and formations established in 1882 Military units and formations disestablished in 1889

Organisation

Composition

Disbandment

See also

Footnotes

Notes

References