The South Irish 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 ...

and Artillery Militia in Ireland 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. For the first time the part-time Artillery Militia were associated with the regulars. The

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

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 esta ...

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.Frederick, pp. 567–73, 985.Litchfield, ''Militia Artillery'', pp. 4–6; Appendix 5.

Composition

South Irish Division, RA, listed as 11th in order of precedence, was organised with the following composition:Lawes, Vol II, Index.''Monthly Army Lists''. * HQ at

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

* 1st Brigade ** HQ at

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...

** 1st Bty at Mount Wise, Devonport – formerly 12th Bty, 10th Bde ** 2nd Bty at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

– formerly 17th Bty, 11th Bde ** 3rd Bty at Devonport – formerly 18th Bty, 11th Bde ** 4th Bty at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

– formerly 11th Bty, 8th Bde ** 5th Bty at

Jutogh Jutogh is a cantonment board in Shimla district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The Jutogh cantonment was established in 1843 Cantonment Board. Jutogh is a statutory body constituted under the Cantonments Act, 2006. The emergence of th ...

– formerly 11th Bty, 9th Bde ** 6th Bty at

Thayetmyo Thayet (; pronounced ) is a capital city in Thayet District of Magway Region in central Myanmar. It is a port on the right (western) bank of the Irrawaddy River, across and just south of Allanmyo, between Pyay (Prome) and Magway. Thayet is th ...

– formerly 11th Bty, 11th Bde ** 7th Bty at

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

– formerly 2nd Bty, 11th Bde ** 8th Bty at Malta – formerly 3rd Bty, 11th Bde ** 9th Bty at Malta – formerly 4th Bty, 11th Bde ** Depot Bty at Kinsale – formerly Depot Bty, 10th Bde * 2nd Brigade at

Macroom Macroom (; ga, Maigh Chromtha) is a market town in County Cork, Ireland, located in the valley of the River Sullane, halfway between Cork city and Killarney. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of ...

– formerly

West Cork Artillery Militia West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

(6 btys) * 3rd Brigade at Cork – formerly Royal Cork City Artillery Militia (4 btys) * 4th Brigade at

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

– formerly Limerick City Artillery Militia (6 btys) * 5th Brigade at

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

– formerly South Tipperary Artillery Militia (8 btys) * 6th Brigade at

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

– formerly Waterford Artillery Militia (8 btys) * 7th Brigade at

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

– formerly 3rd Battalion,

Royal Munster Fusiliers The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company, East India Company's Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment ...

(8 btys)

Disbandment

On 1 July 1889 the garrison artillery was reorganised again into three large territorial 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 assignment of units to them seemed geographically arbitrary, with all the Irish militia units being grouped in the Southern Division, for example, but this related to where the need for coastal artillery was greatest, rather than where the units recruited. The regular batteries were distributed across most of the 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. * 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 established in 1882 Military units and formations disestablished in 1889

Organisation

Composition

Disbandment

See also

Footnotes

Notes

References