Corps History - Part 8
Corps amalgamation and Coastal Defence (1855-1905)

Abolition of the Board of Ordnance - 1855

The sudden death of the Master General of the Board of Ordnance, Fitroy Lord Raglan (1788-1855) in the Crimea gave the Government an opportunity to review the Ordnance's arrangements, particularly as its failures were being highlighted almost daily in the newspapers by the War correspondents observing and reporting on events in the Crimea. The review recommended that the Board be swept away.

On 25 May 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished after over 450 years of existence. This reform brought the Artillery and the Engineers under the command of the Commander in Chief and within the control of the War Office.

Amalgamation of the two Corps and Corps matters - 1856

A direct consequence of the abolition of the Board of Ordnance was that the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was amalgamated with the officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, on 17 October 1856, under the title of the 'Corps of Royal Engineers', thus ending the long-standing anomaly of the officers and men belonging to two separate Corps. The position of Inspector General of Fortifications (IGF), a post that was always filled by a senior officer of the Corps, remained but his role was extended to include that of the head of this newly expanded Corps of Royal Engineers. The private soldiers of the new Corps were given the title and rank of 'Sapper'.

The first Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps - 1861

HRH Prince George William Frederick Charles, Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904), the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army (1856-95), was appointed the first Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps in 1861 and held the post until his death in 1904.

Duke of Cambridge the Corps' first Colonel-in-Chief, a post he held from 1861-1904

The Duke was a grandson of George III. After a short stint in Hanoverian army, he received the rank of colonel in the British Army in late 1837. He spent time in Gibraltar (1838-39) where it is likely he first encountered the work of the Royal Engineers and Royal Sapper & Miners. He was present at the battles of the Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman, and at the siege of Sevastopol. On 5 July 1856, he was appointed 'general commanding-in-chief ' of the British Army; a post that was retitled 'commander-in-chief' of the forces in 1887. He was promoted to the rank of field marshal on 9 November 1862. In the same year he was made a governor of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, the establishment responsible for training Royal Engineer officers. He also served as colonel-in-chief of the 17th Lancers, Royal Artillery, the Middlesex Regiment and King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Colonels Commandant

In the early 19th Century the strength of the Corps of the Royal Sappers and Miners (and after 1856 the Corps of Royal Engineers) was reckoned in "battalions" and Colonels Commandant were appointed to command them. These posts were much sought after by generals and other senior officers for the high rate of pay. After 1874 the battalion system of reckoning strength was changed and in 1881 the special pay for Colonels Commandant was dispensed with. Since then, the appointment has been honorary but nevertheless a valued method of honouring a distinguished officer's service.

The Corps' Royal connections - 1868

From the 1850's the intellectual capability of the officers of 'the scientific corps' was very much appreciated and on the strength of this many of them were appointed to work in the Public Services (see Engineers in a Civic Role) , as well as, within the Royal Household.

Governors to the Royals and HRH Prince Arthur is commissioned into the Corps - 1868

In 1856 Lieutenant (later Sir) John Cowell, RE was appointed Governor to Queen Victoria's second son HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900) a position he held for 9 years. The Prince decided upon a career in the Royal Navy. In 1865 when the Prince formed his own household, Cowell remained in the Royal Household as Master of the Royal Household as position he retained until the after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.

Queen Victoria's third son, HRH Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (1850-1942) was commissioned into the Corps in 1868. It is most likely that his choice of Corps was influenced by the fact that Major (later Major General Sir) Howard Elphinstone (1829-1890) VC RE was appointed to be his Governor in January 1858, a position that Elphinstone held throughout the period of the Prince's minority. On the Prince's coming of age Elphinstone was appointed 'Comptroller to His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught' and accompanied the Duke when he was serving in Canada with the Rifle Brigade.

Other Victorian Royal appointments

Captain Fleetwood Edwards, RE was appointed Assistant Private Secretary and Assistant Keeper of the Privy Purse in 1878, and in 1880 he was appointed Groom in Waiting.

Lieutenant Arthur B Haigh, RE was appointed Equerry to HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900), in 1864, a post he held until 1880.

Major Stanier Waller, RE was appointed Equerry to HRH Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-1884), in 1879, a post he held until the Prince's death in 1884 after which he was appointed Extra Equerry to Queen Victoria.

On his retirement from the Corps Sergeant Major T Wilson was was appointed Superintendent of the Royal Laundry Establishment at Richmond in 1875. He enlisted in the Royal Sappers and Miners in April 1854 and served with the 20th and 26th Companies.

Sapper JW Livingstone, after 12 years service on Ordnance Survey was employed as Photographer and Draughtsman at Windsor Castle from 1874 to 1884, when he was promoted to Inventory Clerk.

Sapper Henry Faulkner, after 21 years service in the Corps was appointed smith and engine driver at the Royal Gardens at Frogmore in 1877.

The first Sapper Field Marshal - 1868

General Sir John Fox Burgoyne (1782-1871) was appointed Field Marshal in 1868, the first engineer officer to be so appointed.

He was commissioned into the Corps in 1798. He saw active service during the Napoleonic Wars (1809-15) and acted as special advisor to Lord Raglan (1788-1855) during the Crimean War (1854-56).

The other engineer officers who have been appointed Field Marshal are:

1886 - Lord Robert Cornelius Napier (1810-1890).

1890 - Sir John Lintorn Arabin Simmons (1821-1903).

1909 - Lord Herbert Horatio Kitchener (1850-1916).

1911 - Lord William Gustavus Nicholson (1845-1918).

The rank of Field Marshal was first instituted in the British Army on 12 January 1736, but it was not until 1813 that the carrying of Field Marshal batons of an approved pattern was officially considered.

Corps and Equipment Developments - 1838-1902

Diving - 1838

Colonel (later General Sir) Charles Pasley (1780-1861), Director of the Royal Engineer Establishment, Chatham (now the Royal Military School of Engineering) and inventor of the electric detonator, was responsible for the introduction of diving into the Royal Engineers in 1838.

He recognised the military potential of a diving apparatus developed by Messrs Siebe and Gorman and became the first service diver in the world when he experimented with the equipment at Woolwich. In 1839 Pasley's divers, drawn from both the officers of the Royal Engineers and the soldiers of the Royal Sappers and Miners, carried out underwater explosive clearance of the wrecks of the William and the Royal George from Portsmouth Harbour and the Edgar from the entrance to Chatham dockyard.

Ballooning - 1863

Balloons were first used by the French Revolutionary armies in 1794, where they used the height gained in the balloon to successfully observe the activities of their enemies.

Between 1862-71 efforts by Captains GE Grover and F Beaumont, Royal Engineers, were made to get ballooning to be taken up by the British Army. In July 1863 experimental balloon ascents for reconnaissance purposes were conducted by the Royal Engineers on behalf of the British Army, but although the experiments were successful it was considered not worth pursuing further because it was too expensive. Additionally there were two major problems to overcome before balloons could be seriously considered practical in a military context, they were:

1. Finding a mode of producing hydrogen in the field by some portable apparatus.
2. Finding a suitable material for the envelope of a war balloon.

However, the enthusiasts did not give in and continued to argue the case for the use of balloons in a military context, which eventually led to:

• 1878 - Establishment of a Balloon Equipment Store at Woolwich by Captain HP Lee, Royal Engineers, and Captain JLB Templer (King's Royal Rifle Corps Militia), who also solved the hydrogen problem. The envelope problem was solved by using a material called 'goldbeater's-skin'.
• 1885 - Deployment of balloons with expeditions to Bechuanaland and Suakin.

In 1888 a School of Ballooning was established at Chatham. It moved to Stanhope Lines, Aldershot in 1890 when a balloon section and depot were formed as permanent units of the Royal Engineers establishment.

Railway - 1882

During the Crimean War (1854-56) a railway was constructed by civilian contractors, but under Royal Engineers supervision, to carry stores at Balaklava in January 1855. It was not until the 1880s that provision for railway construction and operation was added to the Royal Engineers establishment.

• 1882 - 8th Railway Company was formed for service with the Egyptian Expedition.
• 1885 - 10th Railway Company was formed in connection with the proposed construction of a railway from Suakin to Berber.

In 1865 the Engineer and Railway Corps was formed from senior members of the railway and engineer professions to act as an advisory body.

Mechanical transport (Steam Sappers) - 1868-1902

In 1868 the Royal Engineers purchased the first of a series of steam traction engines. The first one was obtained from Aveling & Porter of Rochester, Kent and described as 'Steam Sapper No. 1'. Steam Sapper No. 2 was purchased in 1871 and used to such good effect on manœvres that a further 5 were ordered, two of them, driven by sappers, for pulling heavy guns at Shoeburyness.

Steam Sapper No 8 was the first to be employed on active service during the Ashanti War (1873), but its debut was not a success as the West African coastal terrain was hardly the best for British mechanical transport.

In 1897 the army's first steam lorry was purchased and was subjected to numerous trials that also included being pitted against a horse drawn wagon.

During the Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902) Colonel JLB Templer was appointed Director of Steam Road Transport and 45th Fortress Company (Captain GP Scholfield) was converted for steam traction purposes. Mobile searchlights drawn by mechanical transport were also used by the London Electrical Engineers during the war.

Link to further reading: Royal Engineers Transportation Service

Telegraph and Signals

In the 1820's Major (later General Sir) Charles Pasley RE, Director of the Royal Engineer Establishment (later the School of Military Engineering) devised a semaphore code for military purposes, but it was not until the 1860's that the Royal Engineers really developed these schemes using flags and later lamps and heliograph for field signalling. These methods of signalling were first put to the test during the Abyssinian Campaign (1867-68) and proved successful.

The first use of military telegraph systems was made during the Crimean War (1854-56) but it was until 1870 that C Troop (or Telegraph Troop), Royal Engineers was formed. Its formation was followed by further developments:

• 1870 - 22nd Company was converted to telegraph and sent to the General Post Office to assist in Telegraph duties of that Department.
• 1871 - 34nd Company was converted to telegraph and sent to the General Post Office to assist in Telegraph duties of that Department.
• 1884 (April) - C Troop, 22nd and 34th Companies were amalgamated to form the 'Telegraph Battalion'.
  • 1st Division (C Troop) - mounted.
  • 2nd Division (22nd and 34th) - dismounted.

Coastal Defences - 1860-1905

In 1846 the newly appointed, Inspector General of Fortifications, engineer General (later Field Marshal) Sir John Burgoyne (1782-1871) submitted a report to the Master General of the Ordnance on the defences of Britain, highlighting the defencelessness of Britain in the event of war with one of its Continental neighbours.

The report found its way into the hands of Lord Palmerston (1784-1865), the Foreign Secretary and hence to the Cabinet. This eventually led to the calling of Royal Commission (1859) to investigate the matter. The Commission was headed by the engineer Major General Sir Harry T Jones and it recommended an expenditure of about £7 million on a programme which included defences at Portsmouth, Plymouth, Pembroke, Portland, Dover, the Thames, Medway and Cork. Major (later Lieutenant General Sir) William Jervois, Royal Engineers, acted as secretary to the Commission. The forts built under this programme are referred to as the 'Palmerston Forts'.

Fort construction and Fortress Companies - 1860

The Commission's report was published in 1860 and for the next fifty years the Corps became responsible for the construction and maintenance of these defences in Britain and later in the colonies of the British Empire. The officers were engaged in designing and supervising the construction of the defences, whilst special Fortress companies were formed to maintain and operate them. By 1886 there were fourteen Fortress companies on the Corps' establishment:

• 2nd, 3rd, 25th, and 29th Companies - stationed in the United Kingdom
• 1st, 5th, 6th, 9th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 31st, and 32nd Companies - stationed in fortresses and coaling stations abroad.

In 1881 Captain JF Lewis RE, was seconded to the Indian Government to prepare schemes for the defence of Indian ports including Aden. A committee reported, in August 1886, on the defences of all the major ports belonging to the British colonies throughout the Empire, after which a programme of construction was put in hand.

Submarine Mining Service - 1871

In addition to designing and building the defences to protect harbours, the Royal Engineers also devised methods to prevent hostile vessels from entering them. This eventually led to the idea of laying mines in the harbour entrances to ward-off unwanted intruders. Such a defence mechanism required a new body of skilled men, and as the Royal Engineers had been experimenting with underwater charges since the 1830s it naturally followed that they should form submarine mining companies to carry out the defence of the harbours.

The first Submarine Mining Company (21st Company) was formed in April 1871, it was joined by the 4th Company which was converted for the purpose. Thus began the Royal Engineers Submarine Mining Service, responsible for laying submarine mines in harbour areas.

A depot for the Submarine Miners was formed in 1877 at Chatham, and thereafter the Service continued to expand.

• 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th, 30th, 33rd and 35th Company - stationed at home with sections detached for service in Bermuda and Hong Kong.
• 4th Company - stationed at Halifax, Canada with a section at Bermuda.
• 34th Company - stationed at Malta.

The Home units were organised into a Coastal Battalion, which was charged with the maintenance of the submarine mining defence, as well as the instruction of the Volunteer Submarine Miners at the major commercial ports throughout Britain. In 1888 a Royal Engineer Submarine Mining Militia was embodied to assist the Volunteers in commercial port protection duties.

From 1877 experiments were conducted to find the best defence against attack by torpedo boat. This led to the development of guided torpedo's, notably the Brennan Torpedo.

The Brennan Torpedo, a guided missile invented by Louis Brennan, was brought into service in 1887. The Royal Engineers were responsible not only for its working but also for its manufacture. It was developed for harbour defence to complement the submarine minefields. The only surviving example of the Brennan Torpedo can be seen at the Royal Engineers Museum.

Electric lights and the internal combustion oil engine were introduced into service in 1894. This was followed by the design of a standard type of generator and an automatic lamp which could be used as a searchlight and thereby enabled 24 hour protection of harbours. The search lights were soon put to other uses. During the Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902) search lights were used to illuminate the battle field and in the First World War (1914-18) its uses were extended to air defence.

On the recommendation of a joint Admiralty-War Office committee the Submarine Mining Service was transferred, with the exception of the searchlights element, to the Royal Navy in 1905.

Royal Engineers Committee - 1862

The first Royal Engineers Committee was set up in 1862 to investigate the standardisation of pontoon bridging equipment, thereafter the Committee was reconvened and developed to investigate equipment and other requirements for the Corps.

• 1865 - Enquiry into the organisation of the RE Establishment (later the School of Military Engineering).
• 1866 - Functions of the committee were clarified to include the need:
  • To consider questions of Military Engineering such as inventions and improvements in articles of Engineer Equipment and to comment their efficiency in the field.
  • To report such considerations and findings to the Secretary of State for War.
• 1870 - Committee was made responsible for the supervision of patterns and inspection of all War Department scientific instruments.
• 1870 - Sub committees were formed to investigate individual areas of interests e.g. Torpedo Committee to investigate torpedo defence issues. The idea was abandoned in 1876
• 1892 - The Committee was consisted of President (Commandant School of Military Engineering), Members, Associate Members and a Secretary.

The RE Committee was superceded by the RE Board in 1920

Duties and Establishment of the Corps - 1886

In 1885 a War Office Committee was formed under the Presidency of Hon Guy C Dawnay and then William Mansfield, Lord Sandhurst (1855-1921). Their terms of reference were to determine the duties, organisation and establishment of the Corps of Royal Engineers.

• To take the field with the Army for:
  1. Bridging rivers
  2. Demolishing and restoring bridges, roads etc.
  3. Rendering positions defensible
  4. Siege operations
  5. Water supply, piers, etc.
• Work in Fortresses - Construction and maintenance of fortifications.
• Administration of expenditure on War Department works, buildings and land.
• Telegraphic communication of an army in the field.
• Defence of ports by submarine mines (remained a Corps responsibility until 1905).
• Construction and working of railways in war.
• Use of Military balloons - for observation and reconnoitre purposes.
• Survey

• Mounted units

  'A' Bridging Troop.

  1st Division, Telegraph Battalion.

  6 x (7th, 12th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 26th) Field Companies.

  Field Park and Depot (N Company), Aldershot.

• Dismounted units

  2nd Division, Telegraph Battalion.

  14 x (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 25th, 29th, 31st, 32nd) Fortress companies.

  8 x (4th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th, 30th, 33rd, 34th) Submarine Mining companies.

  4 x (13th, 14th, 16th, 19th) Survey companies.

  2 x (8th, 10th) Railway companies.

  9 x (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) Depot Companies, Chatham.

  1 x (M) Depot Submarine Mining Company, Chatham.

  3 x (H, L, K) Depot Companies, India.

Royal Engineers c.1880 (Chromolithograph: G D Giles 1880)

Royal Engineers c.1888 (Chromolithograph: R Simkin 1888)

History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vols I-IV (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham)

A Short History. The Royal Engineers. Compiled by Maj DP Aston RE (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1993)

Follow the Sapper. Napier G (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 2005)

Links to further reading:

Biography - General Sir Charles Pasley (1780-1861)

Biography - Field Marshal Sir John Burgoyne (1782-1871)

Biography - Field Marshal Sir John Simmons (1821-1903)

Biography - Field Marshal Lord Napier (1810-1890)

Biography - Field Marshal Lord Nicholson (1845-1918)

Biography - Field Marshal Lord Kitchener (1850-1916)

Specialist Engineering - Royal Engineers and Aeronautics

Specialist Engineering - Royal Engineers Transportation Service

Specialist Engineering - Searchlights

Specialist Engineering - Submarine Mining