Misplaced Pages

#790209

142-514: The permanent establishment of an Ordnance Office long predated that of a standing army in Britain; it has therefore been claimed that 'in a wide sense, as heirs to the master- bowyers , master- fletchers , master- carpenters and master- smiths who, in mediaeval days, were responsible as Officers of Ordnance for the care and provision of warlike matériel, and to their successors the storekeepers, clerks , artificers , armourers and storemen of

284-525: A garrison to guard the Tower; by the early 17th century this had been formalised into a standing militia . During the reign of Charles II , the Tower was still consistently being guarded by two garrison companies of militia. Then in 1685, following Charles's death, the new King James II asked Lord Dartmouth (who was Constable of the Tower at the time, as well as Master-general of the Ordnance) to form

426-550: A COD in 1957), two CADs at Kineton and Longtown (Nesscliffe had closed in 1959, Corsham in 1963 and Bramley in 1974) and three Central Vehicle Depots: Ludgershall for 'A' (armoured) vehicles, and Ashchurch and Hilton for 'B' ('soft-skinned') vehicles (CVD Marchington having closed in 1965, CVDs Feltham and Irvine in the early 1970s). Across the UK the structure of smaller Regional Depots, Ordnance Support Units (OSUs), Training Materiel Parks, supply depots and Ammunition Sub-Depots

568-704: A Master of the Ordnance in Dublin oversaw a largely independent Irish Board of Ordnance until 1801 . The Arms of the Board of Ordnance first appeared in the seventeenth century, and were given royal approval in 1806, confirmed by a grant from the College of Arms in 1823. The blazon is as follows: The old Board's coat of arms is remembered today in the cap badge of the Royal Logistic Corps , which has

710-774: A central Grand Storehouse (primarily used for gun carriages). Exterior courtyards were laid out for the storage of cannonballs. The principal home Yards included: Smaller Yards were built in parts of Britain to serve particular strategic purposes at particular times (such as the Yard in Great Yarmouth , built to service the fleet stationed in Yarmouth Roads during the Napoleonic Wars ). Ordnance Yards were also constructed in colonial ports overseas; like their counterparts in Britain, these were usually built in

852-601: A division of the Order which is a semi-autonomous body. It is considered less viable than a full Province , but with potential to develop into such, or it serves a group within the Order who are best served separately than in a Province into which they would otherwise be forced, e.g., due to language divisions. As with military usage, the Religious Superior of the division is referred to as the Commissary. The term

994-493: A fire in 1841). The Board's administrative staff had expanded during the Napoleonic Wars to such an extent that in 1806 it purchased the lease of Cumberland House in Pall Mall and moved its main offices there, subsequently expanding into neighbouring properties. The Board itself also began to hold its meetings there, in preference to the Tower or Woolwich or other locations where it had previously been accustomed to meet. At

1136-562: A further ten companies of 100 men each (again drafted from the Tower Hamlets ); there was in addition a company of miners . The regiment was to be housed in the Grand Storehouse, then under construction in the Tower. As a precaution against the risk of igniting the Ordnance stores of gunpowder, it was equipped with modern flintlock fusils, rather than with the matchlock muskets borne by most other regular troops. As such,

1278-489: A great variety of titles of both corps and individuals. This complex, convoluted and largely unsatisfactory period insofar as Army logistics was concerned was summarised in 1889 as follows: 'The English Ordnance Department goes back into an older history than the Army. There were Master Generals of the Ordnance and Boards of Ordnance centuries before there were Secretaries of State for War or Commanders-in-Chief . Begun under

1420-590: A guard. 1793 saw the formation of the Royal Horse Artillery (who were likewise under the authority of the Board of Ordnance) to provide artillery support to the Cavalry. From the start, the Board (and its predecessor the Office) of Ordnance had had a department of military engineers and surveyors to build and improve harbours, forts and other fortifications. In 1716 a Corps of Engineers was founded by

1562-698: A gunsmith, produced long guns for the Tower's small arms office in the 1780s. From the mid-17th century the Board of Ordnance began to be involved in the design, building and upkeep of forts, fortifications and various garrison buildings. Around the year 1635, a Francis Coningsby was appointed 'Commissary-General of all His Majesty's Castles in England and Wales'. From 1660 the title was Engineer-in-Chief. The Chief Engineer had responsibility for drawing up designs, supervising site surveys and building works, and visiting established defence sites to evaluate their state of repair, readiness etc. An illustrious holder of this post

SECTION 10

#1732780397791

1704-638: A large number of Clerks to manage its substantial administrative functions. A number of other officials reported to the board, including furbishers, proofmasters, keepers and fireworkers. Two appointments stand out, as they (like the six Board members) were appointed by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm : namely the Master Gunner of England and the Chief Engineer . These were

1846-691: A less vulnerable site) and purpose-built depots for both tracked and wheeled vehicles were opened across the country. Woolwich then ceased operating as a COD (though by the end of 1942 it was again being used for bulk storage, albeit as a sub-depot of COD Greenford). In the 1930s virtually all the Army's stockpile of ammunition was held at Bramley, which was vulnerable to air attack, so three new Central Ammunition Depots (CAD) were built: Serving south, central and northern England respectively, these were CAD Monkton Farleigh , Wiltshire (also known as CAD Corsham , an underground depot); CAD Nesscliffe , Shropshire; and CAD Longtown , Cumbria. By 1942 more storage capacity

1988-442: A new Ordnance Regiment 'for the care and protection of the cannon': as well as guarding the stocks of guns, arms and ammunition in the Tower more effectively, it was envisaged that the new regiment would provide protection for the artillery trains , which were formed when necessary to deliver ordnance (e.g. to the battlefield at time of war). The old guard companies formed the core of this new regiment, but they were soon augmented by

2130-468: A new complex at Bull Point (where it was integrated with a nearby proofing and purifying facility) - this proved to be the last major construction project of the Board of Ordnance before its disestablishment. The Board of Ordnance was responsible, throughout its existence, for supplying the Army and Navy with weapons and ammunition. Other items were provided by various other boards and agencies (or, in earlier times, by private contractors). From 1822, however,

2272-600: A non-commissioned officer. The Storekeepers and their Deputies had oversight of the Ordnance Yards , both at home and abroad, however they were never deployed in the theatre of war . By the mid-eighteenth century, Woolwich Warren (the future Royal Arsenal ) had outgrown the Tower of London as the main ordnance storage depot in the realm. In times of war, the Board of Ordnance Storekeepers found themselves responsible for conveying guns, ammunition and certain other items to

2414-638: A rarity in mainland Britain and (other than those attached to royal residences) they were generally only found within garrisoned fortifications. In the wake of the French Revolution , however, there was a spate of barrack building and the new post of Barrackmaster-General was established to oversee it; he was answerable not to the Board of Ordnance but to the Secretary at War . (The Board, though, retained responsibility for providing and provisioning barracks for its own corps). Apparent mismanagement in

2556-559: A regular Infantry regiment (the 7th Foot, later renamed the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) ); but they continued to retain a base at the Tower. In 1949, the regimental depot (which had been located in Hounslow Barracks since 1873) returned to the Tower, to Waterloo Barracks (which had been built on the site of the old Grand Storehouse following a fire); it remained there for the next eleven years. Today,

2698-469: A repository of ancient arms and armour and as a small Ordnance centre for troops in London. In addition to these central depots, ordnance yards in the naval and garrison towns of Chatham , Portsmouth and Plymouth held reserve stocks of camp equipment, entrenching tools, small-arms and ammunition, accoutrements, harness and saddlery (similar stores were also provided at Dublin, Gibraltar and Malta). During

2840-643: A safe repository for guns and ammunition; and in 1813 a new Grand Storehouse was opened in the Royal Arsenal, containing multiple warehouses for all kinds of military stores. When Woolwich Dockyard closed in 1869, the entire dockyard site was taken over by the War Office to become a vast ordnance stores complex, annexed (and linked by rail ) to the ordnance stores in the Royal Arsenal; large stocks of barrack stores, harnesses , accoutrements and other general stores were transferred to Woolwich Dockyard from

2982-428: A sample from each batch was proof tested . This took place in one of a pair of smaller buildings alongside and linked to the main magazine (which was a windowless quadrangle). Very soon, however, the Board was coming under pressure from local residents to remove the gunpowder store from Greenwich. Eventually, in 1763, a new set of magazines were built, along with a new proof-house, further downriver at Purfleet . Named

SECTION 20

#1732780397791

3124-506: A second and very different way; since that work was first performed in 1878, when the Army's Commissariat was at the height of change, as outlined in the paragraph above, the suggestion that the Major-General did not know precisely what the term meant may perhaps have been also a very pointed satirical allusion to that rapidly changing situation. In the penal colonies of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania ),

3266-595: A small cadre of officers was maintained (at the headquarters in Woolwich), but in time of war they were supplemented by recruits from the Ordnance Storekeeper's department to serve in the field; thus the strength of the Department varied dramatically, from 4 or 5 (during the peaceful years 1828-1853) to 346 at its peak in 1813. Each recruit received special training in the handling of munitions. During

3408-797: A subordinate corps of warrant officers and sergeants, the Military Store Clerks Corps (MSC), was also created to carry out clerical duties. These small corps (235 officers in the MSD and 44 MSC) were based largely at the Tower of London , Woolwich Arsenal and Weedon Bec , but were also deployable on active service. They were supplemented in 1865 by the establishment at Woolwich of a Military Store Staff Corps (MSSC) to provide soldiers: initially 200-strong, it had more than doubled in size by 1869, with units in Portsmouth, Devonport, Aldershot, Dublin and Chatham as well as at Woolwich and

3550-605: A waterway, it was connected to the Grand Union Canal to facilitate access and distribution. At the same time a similar (but short-lived) facility was also built alongside the Grand Junction Canal at North Hyde , west of London. The Board established storage and maintenance areas close to the Royal Dockyards to enable easy transfer of guns, ammunition, powder, etc. on board ships (for use by

3692-429: Is а local military administrative agency that prepares and executes plans for military mobilization, maintains records on military manpower and economic resources available to the armed forces, provides pre-military training, drafts men for military service, organizes reserves for training, and performs other military functions at the local level. Among Roman Catholic religious orders , the term Commissariat refers to

3834-579: The Anglo–Egyptian Agreement of 1954 , signed on 19 October, with Great Britain. The agreement stipulated a phased evacuation of British troops from the Suez base, agreed to withdrawal of all troops within 20 months (that is, June 1956); maintenance of the base was to be continued; and allowed Britain to hold the right to return for seven years. The compromise solution to retain British influence over

3976-578: The Army School of Ammunition became progressively more specialised during the 1950s and '60s. In May 1970 a section of 321 EOD Unit was sent to Northern Ireland to support the local ammunition inspectorate in dealing with improvised explosive devices ; what was initially a 6-month deployment marked the start of a much longer involvement through the Troubles . In the period 1945–93 the RAOC, as with

4118-728: The Citadel at Plymouth, Upnor Castle at Chatham; later, the Ordnance Board created purpose-built Gunpowder Magazines , often apart from the Yards, and at a safe distance from inhabited areas. There were also smaller magazines, supervised by Ordnance Board staff, at several fortified locations around the British Isles (from Star Castle on the Scilly Isles , to Fort George near Inverness ). The Tower of London remained

4260-900: The Options for Change review, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps united with the Royal Corps of Transport , the Royal Pioneer Corps , the Army Catering Corps , and the Postal and Courier Service of the Royal Engineers , to form the Royal Logistic Corps . Later that year the RLC withdrew from the Tower of London, where the RAOC had continued to maintain a centuries-old link; and the following year

4402-494: The Royal Army Ordnance Corps . 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 armies, commissaries are logistic officers. In those countries, a commissariat is a department charged with

Royal Army Ordnance Corps - Misplaced Pages Continue

4544-664: The Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers , however, the Board had parallel oversight of both a Military and a Civil Establishment. The Master-General was head of both Establishments; on a practical level, the Lieutenant-General had day-to-day oversight of the military personnel and the Surveyor-General oversaw the civil departments. From its earliest years, the Ordnance Office was staffed by

4686-623: The Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers . These Corps were under the authority of the Board of Ordnance, rather than the War Office (until the Board's demise in 1855). They were not part of the Army, and their officers' commissions were issued by the Master-General of the Ordnance rather than by the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces . The Ordnance Medical Department was established to provide surgeons for these corps. In 1716

4828-677: The Royal Gunpowder Magazine , it was likewise used as a central store, to receive and approve gunpowder from the manufacturers prior to distribution around the country. (Soon afterwards the Greenwich magazine closed, and it was later demolished.) At around the same time, significant improvements were made to the gunpowder depots at the Dockyards (where the Board was still often using old buildings in built-up areas). New purpose-built storage facilities were constructed close to

4970-514: The Second World War , RAOC recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall (5 feet 4 inches for Driver Mechanics) and could enlist up to 25 years of age. They initially enlisted for three years with the colours and a further nine years with the reserve. Fitters could also choose six years with the colours and six years in the reserve, or eight and four years. Clerks and Storemen enlisted for six years and six years. They trained at

5112-551: The Somerville Logistic Reorganisation Committee Report of 1977 the head of the corps was re-titled Director General Ordnance Services (DGOS). Following the huge expansion of the RAOC in the Second World War the senior RAOC major general was designated Controller Ordnance Services (COS) from 1942 to 1948 After 1980/1 most of these titles disappeared with the notable exception of CATO/SATO and DOWO/BOWO. All RAOC appointments gave

5254-762: The Tudors the Board of Ordnance lived through the changes of the Great Rebellion , the Commonwealth, the Restoration and the Revolution until it fell, at last, in the panic that followed in the disasters of the Crimean War . ...the many alterations in administration that followed the abolition of the Board of Ordnance, through the last 30 years, can only be read as a negative evidence in favour of

5396-491: The " Major General's Song " in The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan , the Major-General boasts that when, among many other bits and pieces of seemingly elementary or irrelevant information, he "know(s) precisely what is meant by commissariat", he will be the best officer the army has ever seen (satirizing 19th century British officers' lack of concrete military knowledge). That line can perhaps also be read in

5538-656: The 1320s a member of the Royal Household , the 'Keeper of the Privy Wardrobe in the Tower of London', became increasingly responsible for the procurement, storage and distribution of weapons. His office and main arsenal were located in the White Tower . This 'Privy Wardrobe in the Tower' grew, both in size and significance, after the start of the Hundred Years' War . During the following century,

5680-582: The 16th century the Ordnance Office had established 'annexes' in Chatham, Deptford and Woolwich; others were to follow in the vicinity of the other major Dockyards. These facilities, generally known as Gun Wharves, developed into purpose-built Ordnance Yards in the course of the 18th century. Built alongside deep-water quays, they usually comprised an assortment of buildings for storage, administration blocks, workshops (for woodwork, paintwork and metalwork) together with accommodation for officers, usually built around

5822-491: The 17th century through till 1828 the Master-General routinely had a seat in Cabinet , and thus served as de facto principal military adviser to the government. Some of the most illustrious soldiers of their generation served as Master-General: Marlborough , Cadogan , Cornwallis , Hastings , Wellington , Hardinge . While the offices of Master-General and Lieutenant-General were almost always filled by prominent soldiers,

Royal Army Ordnance Corps - Misplaced Pages Continue

5964-483: The 1820s-30s, but Waltham Abbey remained in Government hands until 1991. Small arms manufacture was begun by the Board on Tower Wharf in 1804, before being moved to Lewisham (Royal Manufactory of Small Arms, 1807) and then transferring ten years later to Enfield ( Royal Small Arms Factory , opened 1816). RSAF Enfield continued manufacturing until its closure in 1988. There is some indication that William Galloway,

6106-670: The 18th century the Board had generally relied on private contracts for the provision of armaments: small arms often came from the Birmingham Gun Quarter , gunpowder from Faversham (also, later, from Waltham Abbey ). Cannons and shot were procured from iron foundries (initially those in the Kent and Sussex Weald , later from further afield, e.g. from the Carron Works in Falkirk). More expensive 'brass' (bronze) ordnance

6248-454: The 18th century. By the 19th century, the Board of Ordnance was second in size only to HM Treasury among government departments. The Board lasted until 1855, at which point (tarnished by poor performance in supplying the Army in Crimea ) it was disbanded. The introduction of gunpowder to Europe led to innovations in offensive weapons, such as cannon, and defences, such as fortifications. From

6390-416: The 1920s the RAOC's principal depots were Bramley (ammunition), Chilwell (general and surplus stores), Hereford (ammunition), Pimlico (clothing), Woolwich (gun stores and ammunition) and Weedon (small arms). In 1922 the RAOC headquarters, regimental depot and School of Instruction moved from Woolwich to Hilsea Barracks on the edge of Portsmouth. (The School provided education and training in all aspects of

6532-597: The Army (the Royal Waggon Train , first established in 1794) had been disbanded as a cost-cutting measure in 1833, however, and its responsibilities devolved again to the Commissariat (which was by now more attuned to peacetime operations than warfare); after a well-publicised series of logistical failings the Commissariat and the Board of Ordnance, as well as the command-structure of the army itself, were all strongly criticised, leading (among other things) to

6674-429: The Army throughout the world (with the notable exception of India where the Indian Army managed its own parallel organisation in Ordnance Depot Quetta, Rawalpindi and Karachi (then British India and now Pakistan), the Indian Army Ordnance Corps (IAOC). In 1881 there were detachments in Dublin, Jersey , Gibraltar , Malta , Bermuda , Canada , St Helena , Cape of Good Hope , Mauritius and Straits Settlements . There

6816-418: The Barrack Office led to a series of inquiries, however, and following the Napoleonic Wars responsibility for barracks was returned to the Board of Ordnance. A number of different Corps were established by the Board of Ordnance to carry out its work both in its home establishments and on the field of battle; they had (and to some extent retain) a very distinctive identity and ethos. Principal among these were

6958-402: The Board of Ordnance Storekeeping system'; staffed by uniformed civilians, the Department had oversight of the supply and provision of small arms, ammunition and other armaments to all front-line troops. After the Board's demise, the Ordnance Field Train was consolidated, together with the Ordnance Storekeepers and others, into a new Military Store Department, which eventually formed a key part of

7100-606: The Board of Ordnance had first established a facility in 1704, was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1964; and the depot in Malta, dating from the 1830s, closed in March 1972. The Ordnance Depot in Cyprus became part of the Joint Logistic Unit in 1988. In Germany, 15 BOD and 3 Base Ammunition and Petrol Depot (BAPD) closed in 1992. Two post-war campaigns (Falklands 1982 and Gulf 1990/1) were unique in being fought in areas completely outside existing theatres. Temporary lines of communication were rapidly established that successfully managed huge surges in matériel. On 5 April 1993, following

7242-483: The Board of Ordnance, again at their Woolwich base. Initially an officer-only corps, the Engineers (called Royal Engineers from 1787) were engaged in the design, construction and ongoing maintenance of defences, fortifications and other military installations. They were also engaged for large-scale civilian projects from time to time. A civilian corps of 'artificers' provided the non-commissioned workforce of carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers and other labourers; this corps

SECTION 50

#1732780397791

7384-466: The Board of Ordnance, the R.A.O.C. can claim a far longer continuous history and more ancient lineage than any other unit of the British Army'. Supply and repair of technical equipment, principally artillery and small arms, was the responsibility of the Master General of the Ordnance and the Board of Ordnance from the Middle Ages until they lost their independence in 1855. Thereafter followed thirty years of fluctuating allocation of responsibilities and

7526-481: The Board of Ordnance, which also took on responsibility for provision of food, forage and fuel to troops in England ten years later. Thereafter the Commissariat Department became principally a financial office: its fund (the Commissariat Chest) was used to provide a form of banking service for public services in the Colonies; in the words of a Treasury memorandum laid before Parliament in 1841: The Commissariat raises keeps and disburses, according to fixed regulations,

7668-440: The Board of Ordnance; just over a hundred years later, in 1806, the Board directed its Storekeepers and others to mark "all descriptions of Ordnance Stores ... with the broad arrow as soon as they shall have been received as fit for His Majesty's Service". In the 16th century, the Constable of the Tower of London routinely exercised his right (as ex-officio Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets ) to summon local citizens to form

7810-515: The Board sought to place this ad hoc arrangement on a permanent footing by establishing a Field Train Department . A Lieutenant-General of the Royal Artillery served as its Commandant and a Major-General as his Deputy, but otherwise its personnel were uniformed civilians: under a Senior Commissary based at Woolwich were Commissaries, Assistant Commissaries, Clerks of Stores and Conductors of Stores (equivalent to Majors , Captains , subalterns and NCOs respectively). In peace time nothing more than

7952-513: The Board was given responsibility for sourcing, storing and supplying a variety of other items for the Army, including tents and camp equipment (formerly the remit of the Army's Storekeeper-General) and 'barrack stores' (for which the Commissariat had been responsible since 1807). Later, in 1834, the Board inherited (also from the Commissariat) the task of providing food and 'fuel' (namely coal and candles for use in barracks) for all homeland troops, as well as forage for cavalry regiments. Prior to

8094-433: The Board's activity) troops were involved in various aspects of its operation when not deployed elsewhere. In any case, modern distinctions between civilian and military personnel were not so clear cut for those serving under the Board: its officers, engineers and artillerymen received their commissions or patents from the Master-General of the Ordnance , as did the Storekeepers, artificers and storemen. Though civilians,

8236-406: The Board's main ordnance storage depot; manufacture as well as storage of guns and ammunition took place on the site, which was later named the Royal Arsenal . In 1760 the Royal Gunpowder Magazine was established at Purfleet , replacing the Tower as Britain's central repository of gunpowder. In 1808 a modern purpose-built depot was constructed at Weedon , alongside the Grand Union Canal, to serve as

8378-452: The Board, which thus consisted of: Two overseers: And four heads of department: The offices of Master of the Ordnance and Clerk of the Ordnance may be said to date from 1414, when Letters Patent were issued on behalf of Henry V of England to 'Nicholas Merbury, Master of our Works, Engines, Cannons and other kinds of Ordnance for War, and to John Louth, Clerk of the same Works' (though it appears that these were appointments for service in

8520-445: The Commissariat Department also had responsibility for the needs of convicts and, in the early days, provisions sold by storekeepers, as well as for military garrisons and naval victualing. This practice dated from the inception of the colony in 1788, before the colony was self-sufficient in food production. The Governors of the colonies were military men, and the administration of stores was performed by commissary officers. After 1855,

8662-425: The Commissariat Department only had responsibility for the provisions of military forces, the few remaining convicts, and lunatics. It was abolished, in New South Wales, in 1870 when the last British military forces departed. Similar arrangements applied in the Moreton Bay penal colony (originally part of New South Wales) and Western Australia . Military commissariats of the Soviet Army and modern Russian Army

SECTION 60

#1732780397791

8804-427: The Commissariat were transferred to the War Office . The Commissariat remained a uniformed civilian service until 1869, when its officers transferred to the new Control Department as commissioned Army officers. The supply organization of the British Army then went through a number of incarnations, including the Commissariat and Transport Department, Staff and Corps, before becoming the Army Service Corps in 1888. In

8946-419: The Corps' work, with the exception of ammunition which was taught at Bramley, where the Army School of Ammunition was opened that same year.) The Royal Army Clothing Depot , Pimlico, closed in 1932 and its stock was mostly transferred to Didcot. In the 1930s re-armament and the mechanisation of the Army led to a redesign of the UK base. A Central Ordnance Depot (COD) and workshop to support vehicles, built on

9088-449: The Crimean War a number of Sergeants were seconded from the Royal Artillery to serve as Military Conductors in addition to the civilian staff. With regard to the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers, the Field Train Department had additional responsibilities: it provided them with pay, clothing, medical supplies and camp equipment when deployed (while the Commissariat provided their food and forage ). The Field Train Department provided

9230-407: The Crimean War, however, these arrangements proved unequal to the task of equipping an army with speed at a time of mobilization . After the war an Ordnance station was established as part of the new training camp at Aldershot : a hutted encampment was provided for troops to practise combined training, alongside a depot to furnish them with field stores. In the 1880s an effort was made to decentralise

9372-435: The Duke of Marlborough, in his capacity as Master General of the Ordnance, oversaw the formation (by Royal Warrant) of two permanent companies of field artillery, based (together with their guns) at the Warren ( Royal Arsenal ), Woolwich. Prior to this, artillery pieces had been conveyed to the front line in any conflict by ad hoc artillery trains (their personnel convened for a limited duration by Royal Warrant). The men of

9514-448: The Field Train served in thirty expeditions and campaigns. In peacetime, the civilians and sergeants returned to their former duties, but the cadre of officers was retained; they were based initially in the Royal Arsenal, and then in the Grand Depot (just off Woolwich Common ) where the guns were stored ready for deployment. At the start of the Crimean War, the Ordnance Field Train was mobilized once again. An parallel supply corps within

9656-443: The King referred to it as 'Our Royal Regiment of Fusiliers'. In its formative years, the regiment accompanied the royal artillery train to Hounslow Heath each summer (where the Army remained encamped for several weeks); there they guarded the guns, and the gunners and matrosses who had been drafted in to operate them. In due course, after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Fusiliers ceased to be an Ordnance Regiment and became

9798-399: The Lieutenant-General); the post was consolidated with several others in 1836 to form that of Paymaster General . The Master of Naval Ordnance was a specific office established in 1546 who was assigned to the Council of the Marine and acted as a liaison between both boards. The Board also had a network of officers in place in key forts, ordnance yards and other installations throughout

9940-412: The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury in the foreign possessions of the Crown". Provision of food, forage and fuel for the army abroad remained a (albeit secondary) responsibility of the Commissariat at this time. In its much reduced form, the Commissariat infamously struggled to deal with the complexities of supplying the Army during Crimean War ; in December 1854 control of the military functions of

10082-421: The Navy at sea or for delivery to the Army in areas of conflict). They also provided ordnance supplies for the defensive fortifications of the Dockyard itself, and secure storage space for ships in port (Royal Naval ships returning from duties at sea were obliged to unload their stores of powder and ammunition; if a ship was to spend time ' in ordinary ' (i.e. out of commission) it had its guns removed as well). In

10224-773: The OSC was retitled the Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) and at the same time absorbed the Corps of Armourers and the RA's Armament Artificers. In 1918 the AOD and AOC amalgamated to form the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and for the first time officers and soldiers served in the same organisation; the Corps received the "Royal" prefix in 1922 in recognition of its service during the First World War . The earliest depot for military stores

10366-597: The Office of Ordnance took over the work of the Office of Armoury at the Tower; the Armoury had been a parallel body which was originally responsible for armour and edged weapons , but its activities had gradually widened over time, causing a degree of duplication. At this time, the Ordnance Office also began to conduct oversight of the nation's forts and fortifications. In 1683, the board of management (first assembled in 1597)

10508-554: The Old Artillery Ground was sold and the staff and equipment involved in proof testing moved to Woolwich. From 1688 all new ordnance items were ordered to be delivered to Woolwich rather than the Tower (thereafter the Tower continued to be used as the Board's main repository for general stores). The Woolwich Warren (later renamed the Royal Arsenal ) continued to serve as Britain's principal ordnance depot until

10650-407: The Ordnance Office was a largely civilian organisation up until the formation of its Artillery and Engineer corps in the early 18th century. Prior to 1716, civilians were generally employed as gunners and engineers by the Board; Storekeepers and their subordinates were also civilians (and remained so through till the Board's demise in the 1850s) as were those engaged in manufacturing. Having established

10792-531: The Ordnance department; From March that year until July 1856 he was sent to Balaklava to take charge of all stores for all branches of the army: the first time an Ordnance Storekeeper had been appointed in the field of battle. The following year, a memorandum was issued making it clear that, in future, a staff of Military Store officers, clerks, artificers and labourers should accompany troops at time of war to ensure abundant provision of equipment for immediate use together with effective maintenance of reserve stocks in

10934-469: The Ordnance, displacing the incumbent Sir Christopher Morris , who continued his previous work but with a new title: Lieutenant of the Ordnance. Thereafter the Lieutenant (or Lieutenant-General) had day-to-day oversight of the Board's activities, while Master (or Master-General) had more the role of a statesman and supervisor (albeit still with specific responsibilities to the Board and its work). From

11076-713: The RAOC Depot, Hilsea Barracks , Portsmouth , before proceeding to specialist trade training. Armourers were only recruited from boy entrants and enlisted for twelve years. Armament Artificers trained at the Military College of Science , Woolwich for fifteen months. Half of them were serving soldiers who were already qualified fitters. Armament Artificers had to be at least 22 years of age and could enlist up to 30; they enlisted for twelve years and were promoted to Staff Sergeant as soon as they had completed training. Ordnance Office The Board of Ordnance

11218-625: The Realm (including overseas). The senior Ordnance officer in these locations was usually termed the Storekeeper, and he was responsible directly to the Board. Prior to the Union of the Crowns there was a Master of the Ordnance in the North (with oversight of Berwick, Newcastle and the nearby coastal forts) who had greater autonomy, though he was reliant on the London office for most supplies. Moreover,

11360-497: The Rhine (BAOR), the standard NATO system was adopted with all appointments elsewhere changing the following year. The senior RAOC appointment was Director Equipment and Ordnance Stores (DEOS) − always a Major-General − which during the 1920s became Director Ordnance Services (DOS). DOS was also a title given to senior RAOC officers at major commands such as Middle East Command , 21st Army Group and in more recent times BAOR. After

11502-599: The Royal Engineers with their pontoon bridges and other specialist equipment, and (until the formation of a separate Corps of Artillery Drivers) provided for the movement of artillery pieces in the field (other than those pertaining to the Royal Horse Artillery ). For the duration of conflict the Department's personnel accompanied the Artillery and Engineer units in the field providing them with logistic support (including repair facilities). Between 1795 and 1815,

11644-739: The Storekeepers were provided with uniform, akin to that of the Royal Artillery, described in 1833 as a blue coat with red stand-collar and cuffs, gold epaulettes indicating rank and blue trousers with a gold stripe, worn with a gold- hilted sword and a cocked hat ; Clerks on the establishment wore the same uniform but without epaulettes. After Waterloo they were given relative rank (for the purpose of allotting appropriate quarters): Storekeepers to rank as lieutenant colonel, Deputy Storekeepers as major (if in independent charge) or else captain, Assistant Storekeepers as lieutenant and Clerks as

11786-652: The Stores Branch) was something of a poor relation; this in part led to the Commander-in-chief establishing a separate Royal Waggon Train . After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the office of Commissary-in-chief was abolished and the Treasury moved to consolidate the department's remit. In 1822 the Stores Branch (along with its warehouses and staff both at home and abroad) was transferred to

11928-755: The Suez Canal base area, seen as vital in the event of any future Middle East war with the Soviet Union, was to arrange the Canal Zone depot area to be taken over by specially arranged British civilian contractors. As the risk of British-Egyptian ruptures over the Suez Canal rose, between September 20, 1955, and December 30, 1955, almost all the Middle East Land Forces Canal Zone depots and workshops were handed over to

12070-539: The Tower at this time. At the same time the Military Store Department moved its headquarters from the Tower to the Red Barracks at Woolwich . The barracks went on to serve as the regimental depot , headquarters and home of the ordnance corps for the next fifty years. Finally, by about 1887, large stocks of small arms were moved from the Tower of London to Weedon, leaving the Tower to serve as

12212-607: The Tower remains the Regimental Headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers . In the medieval period, storage and supply of weapons and armaments was the responsibility of the King's Wardrobe . Royal palaces (including the Tower of London) were therefore used for storage of armour, weapons and (in time) gunpowder. When the Office of Ordnance came into being, the Tower of London was already established as

12354-655: The Tower. In 1870 a further reorganisation, ostensibly to simplify management, resulted in the MSD, MSC and MSSC being grouped with the Army Service Corps (ASC) under the Control Department . The officers remained a separate branch (Ordnance or Military Stores) in the Control Department but the soldiers were absorbed into the ASC. This arrangement lasted until 1876. The Control Department

12496-663: The US Army during the war, continued to be used (alongside Deepcut) as a training facility for RAOC-enlisted National Service recruits; with National Service coming to an end the Barracks closed in 1962 (but not before serving again, temporarily, as the regimental depot from 1960-1962 while Deepcut was being rebuilt). A major task that fell to the RAOC in the wake of the war was disposal of ammunition. As well as disposing of large amounts of surplus stock from depots at home, and returning in good order sites that had been requisitioned for

12638-615: The Western Front a highly successful logistic infrastructure, largely rail based, was created to support the front. Parallel systems, but of less complexity, supported operations in Italy. Other expeditions such as Gallipoli, Salonika, Palestine and Mesopotamia brought supply challenges and a large logistic bases were established on the Egyptian Canal Zone and Basra . After the war there was considerable retrenchment. In

12780-468: The abolition of the Board (in 1855) and its Field Train Department (in 1859, its officers having transferred to the new Military Store Department). In the years following the Crimean War three corps can be identified as the direct predecessors of the RAOC. The Military Store Department (MSD) created in 1861 granted military commissions and provided officers to manage stores inventories. In parallel

12922-431: The appointment lapsed, though it was reinstated subsequently from time to time on a more geographically-specific basis, for a particular expedition, theatre of war or colonial garrison. Otherwise, in the eighteenth century, arrangements for supply and transport tended to be devolved to individual regiments, who would work with a combination of civilian contractors and other agencies. The only centralized control at this time

13064-528: The army was provided for independently as before. In 1809 things began to change with the appointment of a Commissary-in-chief to superintend both the home and foreign Commissariat services. The Commissariat was still a department of HM Treasury and its personnel were uniformed civilians (though they were subject to military discipline). It now supplied food, fuel and forage for all troops, as well as certain other equipment including barrack stores. The main items outside its remit were arms and ammunition, which were

13206-470: The contractors. Among them were 2 Base Workshop, 5 Base Ordnance Depot, and the Base Vehicle Depot all at Tel el Kebir ; 9 Base Ammunition Depot at Abu Sultan near Deversoir Air Base ; and the engineering base group (probably including Nos 8 and 9 Engineer Stores Base Depots at Suez and Fanara respectively). Other establishments included 33 Supply Reserve Depot and 10 Base Ordnance Depot. In

13348-403: The corps' amalgamation. The RAOC Band had first been formed in 1922; the regimental march (chosen by its first Bandmaster, WOI R. T. Stevens, as appropriate to the Corps' role and to its artisans) was The Village Blacksmith . In common with the Royal Artillery, the RAOC had St Barbara as its patron saint . The garrison church, first at Hilsea and then at Deepcut, was dedicated in her name;

13490-410: The duration of the war, RAOC units were heavily involved in clearing ammunition from Germany's former depots and dealing with live devices still in the field. The RAOC's skills in bomb disposal were later put to increasing use in dealing with terrorist devices at home as well as in conflict zones overseas. The training of Ammunition Examiners, Ammunition Technicians and Ammunition Technical Officers at

13632-513: The early 19th century. The Board was a decision-making body, answerable to the Master-General who had power of veto. (He was also empowered to act independently of the Board). They were required to meet at least twice a week (8am every Tuesday and Thursday) at the Tower in order to transact business. By the mid-16th century the Master was assisted by five 'Principal Officers' who later went on to form

13774-506: The field of war rather than to a permanent position). Merbury was present at the Siege of Harfleur and (albeit without his guns) at the Battle of Agincourt . By 1450 Master of Ordnance was a permanent appointment, firmly based at the Tower of London. The office of Yeoman of the Ordnance (established in 1430 to oversee both the storage of weapons and accoutrements and their delivery for use in

13916-479: The field) was abolished in 1543 and its duties were split between two new officers: the Storekeeper of the Ordnance and Clerk of the Deliveries. At the same time the office of Surveyor of the Ordnance was also established. Until 1544 the Master had generally managed the day-to-day activities of the Ordnance Office. In that year, however, King Henry VIII appointed his brother-in-law Thomas Seymour as Master of

14058-794: The field. These arrangements were put into practice both in China and in New Zealand in 1860. The labourers and artificers were civilians, until the establishment of the Military Store Staff Corps in 1865. There was substantial support by the RAOC's predecessors for every late Victorian expedition with the major efforts being the campaigns in Egypt and the Sudan (1882-5 and 1898) and the Boer War (1899-1902). All campaigns required

14200-532: The influence of the Privy Wardrobe and its staff receded, and no new Keepers were appointed after 1476. In its place, a distinct Office of Ordnance began to establish itself at the Tower; this body was responsible for firearms and artillery, and was staffed in the 1460s by a Master, a Clerk and a Yeoman. In the 1540s, during the reign of Henry VIII , the Ordnance Office was expanded, with new officers appointed and their principal duties clarified. In 1671,

14342-617: The last vestige of the once-vast ordnance depot left Woolwich, with the closure of Royal Arsenal (West) and departure of the Ordnance QAD (Quality Assurance Directorate). Prior to 1981/82 the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, in common with the rest of the British Army , used the idiosyncratic system of staff titles that was unique to British and most Commonwealth armies. After 1981 in NATO assigned units, principally those in British Army of

14484-525: The main repository, and it remained the administrative centre of the new Board. Gunpowder was stored in the White Tower (and continued to be kept there until the mid-19th century). Small arms, ammunition, armour and other equipment were stored elsewhere within the Tower precinct, a succession of Storehouses and Armouries having been built for such purposes since the fourteenth century. From the mid-16th century bulkier items began to be stored in warehouses in

14626-515: The main, central repository until 1694, when a new gunpowder depot was established on the banks of the Thames at Greenwich Peninsula . The location was chosen both for reasons of safety (it was largely uninhabited marshland) and for convenience (because gunpowder barrels were invariably delivered by boat). The powder arrived at Greenwich from the manufacturers. Once there it was not only stored, prior to being despatched to wherever it might be needed, but

14768-584: The mid-17th century. It later expanded into a large-scale production facility, specializing in: Gunpowder manufacture was mostly kept separate of other operations (though some took place at Woolwich in the early years, inherited from the Wardrobe 's earlier activities at Greenwich Palace). Beginning in the 18th century, the Board began to purchase mills that had been established under private ownership: Ordnance Board activity at Ballincollig ceased in 1815; both it and Faversham were returned to private ownership in

14910-456: The mid-1960s new recruits were informed that 'The RAOC occupies nearly 90 different locations in the UK alone and world wide uses 86,000,000 square feet of storage space. Over 1,000,000 different items are held in stock and over 11,000,000 issues are made in a year'. By 1980 the RAOC was reduced to two CODs at Bicester and Donnington (COD Chilwell was closing, CODs Branston and Didcot had closed in 1963 and Weedon in 1965 after being downgraded from

15052-492: The mid-twentieth century. It also developed into a major manufacturing site (see below). During the Napoleonic Wars , concerns were expressed about the vulnerability of the nation's ordnance stores to attack from the sea. One response was the establishment of a Royal Ordnance Depot at Weedon Bec , well away from the coast in Northamptonshire: a sizeable complex of storehouses and gunpowder magazines constructed along

15194-559: The nearby Minories and cannons were proof-tested on the ' Old Artillery Ground ' to the north. Within the Tower, the New Armouries of 1664 served the Board as a small arms store (it can still be seen today in the Inner Ward). The vast Grand Storehouse of 1692 served not just as a store, but also as a museum of ordnance, precursor to today's Royal Armouries . (It was destroyed (along with its contents, some 60,000 objects) in

15336-647: The new artillery companies (which became the Royal Regiment of Artillery from 1722) now provided troops for this purpose; before long, they were also providing guns and heavy artillery for forts and garrisons around the country and indeed across the Empire. In addition, the Artillerymen did on-site work at the Arsenal and at other Ordnance Board facilities, from preparing fuses and proving weapons to providing

15478-553: The one who is Thundering", but commonly translated as "To the Warrior his Arms"). The full-dress uniform of the RAOC had evolved from that worn by the Field Train Department in the eighteenth century, itself derived from the uniform of the Royal Artillery. Consisting of a blue tunic with red collar and cuffs and blue trousers with a double red stripe, it continued to be worn by the band (and in mess-dress form) until

15620-483: The organisation, and as positive proof that the machinery of effective Army Store administration has yet to be evolved from its ruins.' The Board of Ordnance had its own military establishment consisting of the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers (who were not at that time part of the British Army). The Storekeeper's department, on the other hand, was part of the civil establishment, though (as with much of

15762-576: The outbreak of the Second World War there were five CODs: Branston, Chilwell, Didcot, Weedon and Woolwich. Woolwich was prone to aerial bombardment , so from September 1939 the War Department leased part of an industrial estate in Greenford , which provided 632,000 square feet of covered accommodation. A further COD to hold non-vehicle technical stores opened at Donnington , Shropshire in 1940 (in order to remove critical items from Woolwich to

15904-465: The principal Dockyards at Portsmouth ( Priddy's Hard ) and Devonport (Keyham Point), and at Chatham the Upnor facility was (eventually) expanded. These centres continued to grow, as the processes for refining and preserving gunpowder became more complicated and as new explosives began to be used, requiring their own storage and maintenance areas. In 1850, Devonport's magazine depot was moved from Keyham to

16046-530: The provision of supplies, both food and forage, for the troops. The supply of military stores such as ammunition is not included in the duties of a commissariat. In almost every army the duties of transport and supply are performed by the same corps of departmental troops. When James II mustered an army on Hounslow Heath in 1685, he appointed a certain John Shales as Commissary General of provisions, responsible for sourcing, storing and issuing food for

16188-589: The pulpit, organ, stained glass windows and several memorials were transferred from the former to the latter when Hilsea Barracks closed in 1962. There was also a St Barbara's Church at CAD Bramley, which had originally come from the depot in Pimlico; having done service in Bramley for 52 years it was again disassembled in 1978 and moved to Didcot. The official journal of the corps was the RAOC Gazette. Before

16330-407: The reserves of equipment; as many as sixty-two small regional centres were set up, in an effort to bring stores closer to the units that would use them. Later, with the establishment of larger camps and garrisons in the early 20th century, these were consolidated into eighteen larger Ordnance stations. At the same time, during the period from the 1860s to 1914, various depots were established to support

16472-465: The responsibility of the Board of Ordnance . The Commissariat's officers held ranks ranging from Commissary-General (equivalent to a Brigadier-General in the Army ) to Deputy Assistant Commissary-General (equivalent to a Lieutenant ) with Commissary Clerks akin to NCOs . Under the Treasury the Commissariat was organised into two branches: Stores and Accounts. Transport (albeit nominally a responsibility of

16614-426: The rest of the Army, reduced greatly in size and closed its worldwide bases as garrisons withdrew. At the same time, there was considerable development of warehousing techniques and information technology (the first move towards computerisation came with the opening of an Automated Data Processing Installation at Chilwell in 1963 and one at Bicester the following year.) The Free Officers Movement (Egypt) concluded

16756-460: The same time the Tower, though still technically the Board's headquarters, was mostly given over to storage. In the mid-17th century the Board began to use land at Woolwich for storing and proving its guns. The land (known as The Warren ) was purchased in 1671 and in 1682 a thousand cannons and ten thousand cannonballs were transferred to Woolwich from the Tower and the Minories. At the same time,

16898-502: The senior technicians on the staff. The appointment of Master Gunner was first made as early as 1485, though it ceased after the establishment of the Regiment of Artillery in the 18th century; that of Chief Engineer was instituted in 1660. The Treasurer of the Ordnance was another important officer of the department, although he did not sit on the board. This office was instituted in 1670 (its duties having previously been discharged by

17040-489: The shield at its centre (it was previously used, along with the Board's motto, by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps ). The crest appears on the ensign of the Corps of Royal Engineers . The broad arrow was the Board's mark, used as such from the 17th century. Stamped on guns, papers, buildings and all kinds of equipment, it originally signified royal ownership. A proclamation of 1699 clarified its use on stores of war belonging to

17182-517: The site of the First World War National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell , opened in 1937. The operation of this depot was notable in that it mirrored and tried to improve on best civilian practice at the time; this became a hallmark of RAOC development in the following decades. COD Branston was established in 1938, initially to serve as the Army's main clothing store, freeing up space at COD Didcot. At

17324-646: The staff grade (e.g. Staff Officer Grade 2: SO2 suffixed with the word Sup), the head of corps in a headquarters irrespective of rank was titled Comd Sup. In MOD the titles of DGOS and DDOS were retained. This is a list of heads of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps This is a list of directors of Supply Management of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps The RAOC's motto was that of the Board of Ordnance: Sua tela tonanti (literally "His [i.e. Jupiter's ] Missiles to

17466-635: The support of very large numbers of troops, animals and equipment in hostile environments. They produced a well-developed system of stores dumps and repair facilities along extended lines of communication. As with the rest of the British Army the AOD/AOC was transformed by the First World War . Both the sheer scale of the war and the increasing technical complexity created an organisational structure that, in its outlines, survives until today. The depots at Woolwich, Weedon and Pimlico were supplemented by

17608-548: The troops in the field (whereas provision of food, supplies and other equipment was largely dependent on the Commissariat , a department of HM Treasury ). Until 1792, the transport and issue of weapons and ammunition to troops in the theatre of war was achieved by the formation of artillery trains , as and where required. In that year, with Britain about to engage in the French Revolutionary Wars ,

17750-660: The troops and forage for the horses. In addition he was to license and regulate sutlers , to procure wagons, carriages, horses and drivers when required for transport and to account for all payments to the Lord High Treasurer and the Paymaster-General of His Majesty's Forces . Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Shales was reappointed Commissary-General (though he was subsequently accused of mismanagement and replaced). After 1694

17892-460: The vicinity of naval dockyards. Bermuda's , begun in the 1830s, remains largely intact behind the dockyard fortifications; its magazines and storehouses are arranged around a small pool, where boats would arrive by way of a tunnel through the ramparts to be loaded with ammunition. For storage of gunpowder, a nearby fortified building was often used initially: the Square Tower at Portsmouth,

18034-668: The whole of the funds required to carry the foreign expenditure of this country. […] An account is constantly kept open by means of the Commissariat chests between Great Britain and all its Foreign dependencies so that if a sum has to be received or paid in Canada, Australia or China for any branch of the Public Service it may be done by a transfer in the Commissariat Chest Account, without any remittance. The Commissariat officers act in effect as Sub Treasurers to

18176-426: The wholesale takeover of warehouses throughout the country and in early 1915 a depot was established at Didcot to be the major focus for the receipt and distribution of RAOC stores. Ammunition storage was also expanded dramatically and the former peacetime magazines at places such as Purfleet, Portsmouth and Plymouth were supplemented by purpose built depots at Bramley , Altrincham , Credenhill and Didcot. On

18318-441: The world wherever a major line of communication was established. Major changes took place after 1942 when the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) absorbed most of the RAOC repair functions and the RAOC in turn took over the RASC's vehicle organisation. The more mobile nature of the Second World War also led to the creation of units at divisional and corps level with higher levels of mobility. The most notable of these

18460-417: Was Sir Bernard de Gomme . In 1802 the post of Inspector General of Fortifications was established, and this official took over supervision of these works. The Board also had responsibility for the building, upkeep and management of barracks and associated structures (except during a 30-year period, 1792-1822, when responsibility was transferred to a separate Barrack Office). Before this time, barracks were

18602-444: 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 of the realm and its overseas possessions, and as the supplier of munitions and equipment to both the Army and the Navy'. The Board also maintained and directed the Artillery and Engineer corps, which it founded in

18744-509: Was a major logistic facility but is now much reduced. Overseas, 3 BOD in Singapore closed in 1972 leaving a Composite Ordnance Depot in Hong Kong (that finally closed shortly before handover in 1997). The Middle East logistic base withdrew from Egypt in 1956 – 5 BOD and 9 BAD closing in 1955 – and was partially re-established in Aden ; in turn this closed in 1967 with facilities being established in Sharjah and Bahrain (these, in turn, closed in 1971). The Ordnance depot in Gibraltar, where

18886-403: Was also a substantial detachment supporting the Anglo-Zulu War in Natal . In 1895 the Royal Army Clothing Department , with its factory and depot at Pimlico , was taken over by the AOD which then became responsible for the provision of uniforms and other items of clothing for much of the army. In 1855 Captain Henry Gordon (brother of the famous Gordon of Khartoum ) left the Army and joined

19028-406: Was disbanded in 1876. The Ordnance/Military Store officers joined a newly created Ordnance Stores Department (OSD). Five years later, in 1881, the soldiers also left the ASC and became the Ordnance Store Corps (OSC). In 1894 there were further changes. The OSD was retitled the Army Ordnance Department (AOD) and absorbed the Inspectors of Machinery from the Royal Artillery (RA). In parallel

19170-423: Was formally constituted as the Board of Ordnance by Warrant of King Charles II; it consisted of five Principal Officers meeting under the chairmanship of the Master-General. At the same time it was given a new constitution ('Instructions') by Lord Dartmouth , the Master-General. These detailed Instructions continued, with relatively little change, to provide the working framework for the Board and its officers until

19312-442: Was militarized in 1787, and named the Royal Military Artificers (they were then renamed the Royal Sappers and Miners 25 years later). The year after the demise of the Ordnance Board, the Sappers and Miners were fully amalgamated into the Royal Engineers, and at the same time the Corps moved from Woolwich to its present headquarters in Chatham . A Field Train Department was established in 1792 to serve as 'the field force element of

19454-423: Was produced on a smaller scale, by specialist foundries mostly in the London area (in Houndsditch , Vauxhall , Southwark , at The Foundery in Moorfields and elsewhere). In time, the Board made moves to set up or purchase its own facilities. The Board's primary manufacturing site, and a key location for several of its activities, was the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich . Guns had been stored and proved there from

19596-449: Was required and another CAD was opened: Kineton . That same year a very large COD, widely spread out across the Oxfordshire countryside to mitigate the risk of bomb damage, opened at Bicester to hold stores principally to support the invasion of France. Forward of the UK base, a huge array of temporary depots were built to meet the rapidly changing pace of war. Base Ordnance Depots (BOD) and Base Ammunition Depots (BAD) sprung up all over

19738-447: Was steadily run down. A reconfiguration in the late 1960s provided four Regional Depots ( Thatcham , Hereford, Catterick and Stirling ) and nine OSUs: Aldershot, Ashford , Burscough , Colchester , Feltham , Old Dalby , Thetford, Tidworth and Woolwich (which had been downgraded following the closure of the Royal Ordnance Factory and the sale of the old Dockyard). At the height of the Northern Ireland troubles Ordnance Depot Kinnegar

19880-490: Was that exercised by HM Treasury , which ultimately authorised expenditure. In 1793, however, with Britain at war with France , a Commissary-General for Britain was once again appointed and in 1797 a number of District Commissaries were engaged and made accountable to him: the beginnings of a more permanent Commissariat; his remit, however, was limited to the British mainland (and even there some areas, including barracks, were separately administered). Away from Britain's shores,

20022-409: Was the Tower of London , headquarters of the Ordnance Office , which for many centuries sufficed to hold the country's central stocks of artillery, gunpowder, small arms and ammunition albeit in unsatisfactory circumstances. The Tower continued to be used for storage into the 19th century, but in 1671 the Board of Ordnance acquired a parcel of land at Woolwich which soon supplanted the Tower to become

20164-453: Was the ordnance field park, principally carrying vehicle and technical stores spares. During the war the RAOC HQ (together with the RAOC School) had moved from Hilsea to Middleton Stoney (Bicester); in 1946 it moved again to Matthew Barracks, Tidworth and shortly afterwards to Deepcut . The regimental depot was also moved from Hilsea, in 1946, to Feltham Barracks , Middlesex; in 1955 it too moved to Deepcut. Hilsea, which had been used by

#790209