The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch,

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and domestic materials such as clothing, furniture and stationery and the supply of technical and military equipment. In 1965 its functions were divided between other Corps ( RCT and RAOC) and the RASC ceased to exist; subsequently, in 1993, they in their turn (with some functions of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

) became the "Forming Corps" of the

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

History

For centuries, army transport was operated by contracted civilians. The first uniformed transport corps in the British Army was the Royal Waggoners formed in 1794. It was not a success and was disbanded the following year. In 1799, the Royal Waggon Corps was formed; by August 1802, it had been renamed the Royal Waggon Train. This was reduced to only two troops in 1818 and finally disbanded in 1833.

Commissariat and Military Train

A transport corps was not formed again until the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. In 1855, the Land Transport Corps was formed. This was renamed the Military Train the following year. The corps was initially based at Horfield Barracks in Bristol, but in 1859 the 'Brigade Office' and Depot moved to Woolwich. At this time, supply duties were the responsibility of the

Commissariat A commissariat is a department or organization commanded by a commissary or by a corps of commissaries. In many countries, commissary is a police rank. In those countries, a commissariat is a police station commanded by a commissary. In some a ...

(a uniformed civilian body, principally responsible for food,

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

and fuel); while provision of arms, ammunition and other critical stores was the responsibility of the Military Store Department (formed following the abolition of the

Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...

in 1855).

Control Department

In 1869, there was a major reorganisation of army supply and transport capabilities: the commissaries of the

and the officers of the Military Train were amalgamated together with the officers of the Military Store Department to form what was called the Control Department under a Controller-in-Chief. The following year, other ranks of the Military Train were combined with those of the Commissariat Staff Corps and the Military Store Staff Corps to form a body of soldiers, officered by the Control Department, which was named the Army Service Corps (ASC). By 1871, the new corps numbered twelve transport

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

, seven supply companies and three ordnance store companies, each of around 105

non-commissioned officers A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

and men. From 1870, the Control Department was placed within the new Department of the Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, who took over as Controller-in-Chief. The Department of the Surveyor General of the Ordnance retained the Control Department and further restructured it into four new divisions superintended by a director: the first was the Supply and Transport Division (formed from the merging of the former commissariat, purveyors and barrack departments), the second was an Artillery and Stores Division (that absorbed the former contracts, clothing, ordnance and stores departments) and the third was a Contracts Division. The fourth division created was called the Control Establishments Subdivision that became responsible for the administration of the Control Department's staff.

Commissariat and Transport Department

In November 1875, the Control Department was abolished and its work in regard to field service was allocated to two new departments: the Commissariat and Transport Department and the Ordnance Store Department. Following failures in the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Battle of Isandlwana, Isandlwana and th ...

, the Commissariat and Transport Department was disbanded in January 1880, and replaced with the Commissariat and Transport Staff. Although the officers of the former Control Department had been split between the two new departments in 1875, no parallel action was taken with regard to other ranks at that time; the Army Service Corps continued to serve both departments until 1881, whereupon it too was split along similar lines to form two distinct units: and the Ordnance Store Corps (which, together with the Ordnance Store Department, would go on to form the Royal Army Ordnance Corps) and the Commissariat and Transport Corps. The latter retained the Supply Companies (which had their depot at

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

) and the Transport Companies (whose depot was at Woolwich). Initially, the Commissariat and Transport Department remained part of the Department of Surveyor General of the Ordnance (in 1878 the Control Establishments Subdivision’s name was altered to the Commissariat and Transport Establishments Division under the supervision of a Commissary General). In 1887, however, the Department of the Surveyor General of the Ordnance and its head was abolished; its former functions were then distributed among the several divisions of the Military and Civil Departments: the work of the Supply and Transport Division was allocated to the Quartermaster General's Division.

Army Service Corps, 1888–1918

Army Service Corps recruiting poster 1915

In December 1888, the Commissariat and Transport Staff and the Commissariat and Transport Corps amalgamated to form a new Army Service Corps, and for the first time officers and other ranks served in a single unified organisation. The War Department Fleet was transferred to the Corps in 1891, and the ASC also absorbed some transport elements of the

. Furthermore, the Corps of Military Staff Clerks was amalgamated into the Supply branch of the ASC in 1893. After it was opened in 1895, Buller Barracks in Aldershot came to be regarded as the corps headquarters.

Royal Army Service Corps, 1918–1965

In 1918, the corps received the "Royal" prefix for its service in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and became the Royal Army Service Corps. It was divided into Transport and Supply Branches. Before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, RASC recruits were required to be at least tall and could enlist up to 30 years of age (or 35 for tradesmen in the Transport Branch). They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a further six years with the reserve (seven years and five years for tradesmen and clerks, three years and nine years for butchers, bakers and supply issuers). They trained at

. Alone among the "Services" (i.e. rear echelon support corps), RASC personnel were considered to be combatant personnel. In 1965, the RASC was merged with the Transportation and Movement Control Service of the

(which was responsible for railway transport, inland water transport, port operations, and movements) to form the Royal Corps of Transport. All its supply functions (including the supply of vehicles, their care and preservation in storage and delivery), along with the staff clerks, were transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, leaving the new RCT solely responsible for transport and movements. In 1993, the RCT and RAOC were merged to form the

, the modern descendant of the ASC.

Ranks

Officers of the Control Department, Commissariat and Transport Department, and Commissariat and Transport Staff held different ranks from the rest of the Army. From February 1885 they were given honorary military ranks, which they held in conjunction with their commissary ranks. Officers of the ASC and RASC held full military rank.

Notable personnel

* :Royal Army Service Corps soldiers * :Royal Army Service Corps officers

Footnotes

External links

{{Commons category, Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Service Corps and Royal Corps of Transport Association
British administrative corps Ordnance (stores) units and formations Military units and formations established in 1888 Military units and formations disestablished in 1965 Corps of the British Army in World War I Corps of the British Army in World War II