"Why were British mobile artillery named for clergy?" Topic

Bishops, Sextons, Deacons, Priests…

Maybe as a nod to Napoleon?

"God fights on the side with the best artillery."

"For what we are about to receive, O Lord…"

And warships after Trojan War heroes? HIJACK!

Isn't it because of the pulpit?

"Isn't it because of the pulpit?"

That's the story I heard for the M7 Priest, but the Bishop pre-dated the Priest.

Wikipedia implies that the ecclesiastic title was a natural follow-on to the Bishop name and the pulpit reenforced the matter.

Wyatt

It started with the Priest, named as Bill says, because of the pulpit like shape to the machine gun position.

I wonder how big of a gun the Naughty Vicar would sport?

It is just a tradition (starting with the Bishop, which as mentioned above, pre-dated the Priest).

We had Abbot postwar, although I don't think AS90 has a snappy name.

Why have all postwar tanks got names beginning with C? You'd be hard pressed to describe Conqueror or Chieftan as cruisers….

Well Churchills were hardly cruisers either.

Although the Bishop entered service first, I believe that it only acquired the name 'Bishop' after the M7 was named 'Priest'.

According to David Fletcher, there was no overall rule for the naming of tanks – the 'C' simply stuck out of habit, more than anything.

A J Abercromby who was in charge of MOD procurement in the 1930's hated going to Church. He thought his local clergy were bombasts of the first order. When the naming convention came up for the artillery he named them after the clergy he despised and being ex-infantry he regarded the artillery as being all noise and thunder and, as he put it in his memoirs "no trousers".

A J Abercromby was killed in 1944 by a V1 blast that demolished a brothel that was noted for S&M services, but the incident was hushed up by the War Office.

Don't forget the Curate – a bloke on a bike with a 2" mortar

Along the same line, why the US Army named major posts after Confederate generals – Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, etc

To placate the Secesh. You'll notice such named posts are only in the South.

Of course, not all SPs were named after the clergy. Some -- especially anti-tank types -- were given names beginning with the letter "A", such as Archer, Alecto, Achilles, Avenger. A decade or so after the war, when people were wondering whether the next SP would be an "A" name or a clergyman, some clever soul managed to satisfy both traditions with "Abbott".

Martin Rapier wrote:

I don't think AS90 has a snappy name

There was for a time a tendency to call it "Braveheart", but this is a 15th Regt RA Jockanese habit, and not to be encouraged. I would have liked to continue both the "A" and ecclesiastical naming conventions, so I regard it as a tragic lost opportunity for "Archimandrite".

British AFV naming has gone all to cock, we don't even give our light armour names beginning with "S" any more -- Saladin, Saracen, Scorpion, Scimitar, Sultan, Samaritan, there was a splendidly middle-eastern flavour about many of them. The current crop of LAV names are unspeakably dull, and barely distinguishable from what foreigners call their vehicles. How much better it would have been to go with "Scythian", "Sarmatian", "Seleucid" and "Sassanid".

All the best,

John.

I never could understand why they named a fort after General Bragg, unless it was some Northerner who was grateful that Bragg was on the Confederate side.

Of course, not all SPs were named after the clergy. Some -- especially anti-tank types -- were given names beginning with the letter "A", such as Archer, Alecto, Achilles, Avenger.

Most people understand the single word "artillery" to be the indirect firing type – and from the context of the initial message that is clearly what hte poster is talking about.

Perhaps, given that artillery is widely believed to have caused 80% of casualties in WW II, so many of the enemy saw God right after seeing the artillery shells explode! The guns showed them they true way! And why did no one name a self propelled gun after my favorite Church figure (from the twisted mind of Rowan Atkinson) – The Bull-ing Bishop of Bath and Wells! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN QUITE A PIECE! 79th Armoured Division definitely!

Aloysius

All those SP's are run by the Royal Artillery – Not sure the gunners would agree with you.

KAM

SO that's why Ft. McClellan is in the South?

<<I never could understand why they named a fort after General Bragg, unless it was some Northerner who was grateful that Bragg was on the Confederate side.>>

Bragg performed well in the Mexican American War and some may have felt he was benefitial to the Unions cause in his service to the CSA. Also, like Hood, he had his suporters in the South. Why do you think Wheeler was again put into service during the Spanish/American War.

SO that's why Ft. McClellan is in the South?

Ah, but I didn't say Union Generals weren't represented in the South, rather that Secesh were only found there. More to the point, the namesakes of said installations are either native sons of the states (e.g. Bragg, Benning, Rucker, Hill) or men whose adult lives were closely connected with that state (Hood, Polk). Again, placation of the natives.

Given McClellan's Presidential campaign platform of appeasement, Alabama seems a good place to immortalize him.

Hows poor ole PGT Beauregard left out ,the horror!

He wasnt

link

I suspect a "fort" wasnt named for him due to the fact a confederate fort carried that name during the war, instead, he got a "camp".

John D Salt

I understand that the 'Braveheart' was an attempt at an up-rated AS90, rather than a Scottish nickname?

The 'S' light AFV names do seem to be petering out, but you do still get the Stormer / Striker etc.

Why do you think Wheeler was again put into service during the Spanish/American War.

Probably because it was thought that we had such an advantage that we could win anyway.

Captain Canada how many ppl reading this thread do you think are RA gunners? Vs how many are not.

And then consider the bit about "most people"…

I suggest to you that "most people" here and in general, are not RA gunners.

God we can be a pathetically picky bunch on here! ;)

"God we can be a pathetically picky bunch on here!"

This is TMP.

I'm not sure I'd characterise SPAT as 'artillery' either, however they do indeed come under the purview of the Royal Artillery.

Battalion AT guns didn't though, so were regarded as infantry weapons (hence the lingering shot of the 6pdr in 'The Way Ahead', an infantry weapon). IIRC the 6pdr manual was even in the Small Arms series, but I may have made that up;-)

Because calling them "Portsmouth bungalow busters" took too long to say.