"Thoughts on the dress of the RA Gunner Drivers" Topic

"This spin-off from my ongoing study of the King's German Legion is an attempt to look again at the dress of that short lived and "strangely organized corps" (as one of its own officers termed it), the Royal Artillery Drivers, a topic not mentioned at all in Major Campbell's "comprehensive account" of 1971, The Dress of the Royal Artillery. What follows is based only on the evidence known to me; more may well be hidden in the proceedings of the Board of Ordnance in WO records. The discussion here is a bit complex, so a brief summary of my conclusions is given at the end. The page has been revised once and will be revised again if and when new information arrives. Click to enlarge images.

The quaintly titled Corps of Captain Commissaries was formed in 1794 to provide drivers and teams for field guns. In 1801 it became the Corps of Gunner Drivers, and in 1806 the Royal Artillery Drivers. The functioning of the corps and its relation to other branches of the artillery were problematic. Its rank system was complex and arcane, including captains and lieutenants commissary, NCOs, rough riders, drivers and various artificers – farriers, shoeing smiths, collar makers and wheelers.

As the men of the Corps were not artillerymen and their officers drawn from outside the artillery, its divided loyalties were always a difficulty. In the Peninsula, commanders of artillery "brigades" (batteries) increasingly withdrew operational responsibility for the drivers from driver officers, giving it to their own. In May 1815 Augustus Frazer noted that at last "this necessary auxiliary … is about to be remodelled." However, being realistic about the pace of change within the bureaucracy of the Board of Ordnance, he added: "We are always about to do something good …" Finally, in 1817 the Corps was reduced, and its officers integrated with the RA. It was disbanded in 1822 or 1824 – accounts vary…"
Main page

link

Amicalement
Armand

Interestingly, the French did not have similar problems with their Train d'Artillerie which was created by decree in 1800 before the Marengo campaign.

By all accounts it was an efficient organization and not only hauled the field pieces and ancillary vehicles of the artillery companies, both horse and foot, but also all of the vehicles of the artillery parcs and the siege trains when they were formed.

leave it to the brits to muddy things up'

Reminds me of the scene in ZULU DAWN
hey you get back in line no ammo without proper paperwork

The History of the dress of the royal regiment of artillery 1645-1897… by R. J. Macdonald,…
Author : Macdonald, R. J.. Auteur du texte
Éditor : H. Sotheran (London)
Date d'édition : 1899
Gallica: link

link
link
link
link
link

A most useful counter to the article above on artillery drivers.

Thanks Prince.

Thanks!

Amicalement
Armand

There is useful information on the Royal Artillery drivers in the Dickson Manuscripts.