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History Section - Corps History

Introduction

Military engineering in the British army has a long history. This page aims to provide:

A more detailed description of the history of Engineering work, including civil works and field engineering can be found on the Engineering page. More details on the various Specialist units such as bomb disposal, diving, postal, survey, telegraph and transportation etc. developed in and by the Corps can be found on Specialist page. A general timeline can be found on the Timeline page.

If you are researching a soldier's service history more information can be found on the Researching Service Records page.
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Evolution of the Corps

Officers Soldiers
King's Engineers of Norman and Medieval times.

1716 Corps of Engineers (controlled by Board of Ordnance) in 1757 military rank was granted to Corps of Engineers.
1787 Corps of Royal Engineers (controlled by Board of Ordnance).

Skilled levies



1772 Company of Soldier Artificers raised in Gibraltar (controlled by Board of Ordnance, commanded by Corps of Engineers).
1787 Corps of Royal Military Artificers (controlled by Board of Ordnance, commanded by Corps of Royal Engineers).
1812 Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners (controlled by Board of Ordnance, commanded by Corps of Royal Engineers).
1856 The soldier Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners amalgamates with the officer Corps of Royal Engineers to form the Corps of Royal Engineers (controlled by the War Office).
   
1862 Bengal Engineers, Bombay Engineers and Madras Engineers of the late Honourable East India Company Army (HEICA) transferred into the Corps of Royal Engineers.
   
1957 Gurkha Engineers (raised in 1948 and granted Royal title Queen's Gurkha Engineers in 1977) affiliated to the Corps of Royal Engineers.
   
1992 Women of the Women's Royal Army Corps serving with Royal Engineer units were transferred into the Corps of Royal Engineers.

Links to Corps History Timeline and Unit Histories pages.
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Corps History - Narrative Outlines

Part 1 King's Engineers and Skilled Levies (1066-1346)
The origins of the British military engineering.
Part 2 The Corps, Ordnance and its Train (1370-1713)
The development of the Board of Ordnance and its engineers.
Part 3 Corps of Engineers (1716-1832)
The early development of the Corps of Engineers (1716), Ordnance Survey (1747) and training.
Part 4 Engineer Soldiers (1772-1856)
Formation of the Soldier Artificers (1772) , Royal Military Artificers (1787) and the Royal Sappers and Miners (1812).
Part 5 Global Wars and a third Corps (1756-1815)
Seven Years War (1756-63), American War of Independence (1777-83), French and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) and Royal Staff Corps (1799).
Part 6 Royal Engineer Establishment (1812-1962)
Formation of the Royal Engineer Establishment (1812) and its development into the Royal School of Military Engineering.
Part 7 Engineers and the early Victorian Wars (1853-1880)
Crimean War (1853-56), Indian Mutiny (1857), The Chinese Wars (1857-60), Abyssinian Expedition (1867-68) Ashanti War (1873-74), Zulu War (1879)
Part 8 Corps amalgamation and Coastal Defence (1855-1905)
Amalgamation of Royal Engineers and Royal Sappers and Miners (1856), appointment of the first Sapper Field Marshal (1868), development of Diving (1838) and Ballooning (1863), Royal connections (1868), the building of the 'Palmerston Forts' (1860's) and the Submarine Mining Service (1871), the Brennan Torpedo (1880's), Telegraph Service (1870), Transportation Service (1882), Steam Sappers (1868), RE Establishment and Duties (1886) and the RE Committee (1862).
Part 9 The Corps and the late Victorian Wars (1882-1902)
Egyptian Expedition (1882), Suakin and Nile Expeditions (1884-84), Bechuanaland Expedition (1885), Kitchener and Sudan (1896-98) and the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)
Part 10 Indian Sappers (1740-1947) - under development
Development of military engineering in the Indian Army. Engineers of the Honourable East India Company Army (1740-1862), Indian Engineer Soldiers (1777-1947), Military Works Branch (1871-1923), Corps of Indian Engineers (1932-46), Indian campaigns (1865-1930)
Part 11 Militia, Volunteers and Territorials (1757-1979)
Development of the Engineer and Railway Volunteer Corps (1865), Royal Monmouthshire and Royal Anglesey (1877), Submarine Miners Militia and Volunteers (1880's), Telegraph and Postal Volunteers (1870), Corps of Electrical Engineers (1897), and developments from 1907 onwards.
Part 12 Engineers in a Civic role (1820-1910)
Engineers contribution to society; Irrigation works in India (1820's), Developing Canada (1830-60), Boundary Commissions (1832-1911), Prison Reformers (1837-80), Railway Safety (1840-87), Great Exhibition (1851), South Kensington Museum and the Royal Albert Hall (1854-71), Police Commissioners (1869-88), Telegraph Services (1870), FA Cup winners (1875) and a list of Sapper Colonial Governors.
Part 13 The Corps and Army Reforms (1902-1913)
Corps development before the First World War - Aeronautics, Army Signal Services, Mechanical Transport, and Postal Services.
Part 14 The Corps and the First World War (1914-1920) - under development
RE Strength (1914-18), Western Front (1914-19), Italian Front (1917-18), Gallipoli Expedition (1915-16), Senussi Campaign (1915-17) .
Part 15 The Corps between the wars (1919-1939)
The Corps' developments and activities in the post-First World War period: RE Board and Equipment (1920-39), Fortification and Works (1919-39), British Army of the Rhine (1919-29) and Inter-war operations (1919-39).
Part 16 The Corps and the Second World War (1939-1945) - under development
RE Strength (1939-46), Home Front (1939-45), British Expeditionary Force (1939-40), Norway (1940), Special Forces (1940), European Raids (1940-44), Middles East Force (1940-43), Mediterranean Bases (1939-45), British North Africa Force (1942-43), Sicily and Italy (1943-45), Assault Engineers (1943), Far East (1939-42).
Part 17 The Corps at Home (1945-1980) - under development
National Service (1949-62) Corps Organisation Equipment Developments (1950-1980) Bomb Disposal (1945-1980) Postal and Courier (1945-80) Survey (1945-80) Transportation (1945-65) Diving (1838-65)
Part 18 The Corps and the British Army of the Rhine (1945-1980) - under development
Division of Germany (1945-48), Creation of BAOR (1945), The Corps and German rehabilitation,
Organisation of Field Engineers, Works Services, Survey
Part 19 The Corps and the Cold War (1948-1991) - under development
Cold War - Overview, Berlin (1945-80), Korean War (1950-53), Nuclear Tests Programme (1952-57), Operation Crown - Thailand (1963-66), Cold War Ends (1991)
Part 20 The Corps and the Imperial rundown (1945-1994) - under development
India (1945-47) Kenya and Mau Mau Emergency (1947-63) Egypt and the Suez Crisis (1956)

Links to Corps History Timeline and Unit Histories pages.

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New corps formed from the Royal Engineers

  • 1912 - Royal Flying Corps (RFC), later Royal Air Force (RAF - 1918) from the Balloon Service.
  • 1920 - Royal Corps of Signals from the Telegraph and Signals Service.
  • 1942 - Royal Electrical and Mechanical Corps (REME) from electrical and mechanical interest shown at the School of Military Engineering.
  • 1965 - Royal Corps of Transport (RCT), later Royal Logistics Corps (RLC 1993), elements from the Transportation Service were amalgamated with elements of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) to form the new Corps.
  • 1993 - Royal Logistics Corps (RLC), from the Postal & Courier Services, which was amalgamated with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), Royal Corps of Transport (RCT), Royal Pioneer Corps (RPC) and Army Catering Corps (ACC).

All these new corps were developed from the Royal Engineers specialist units - more infomation about those units can be found on the Specialist page.

Author: SC Fenwick, FoREM

Sources:

The History of Corps of of the Royal Engineers - Volumes I-XI (Institute of Royal Engineers, Chatham)
Follow the Sapper. Napier G (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 2005)
Designated as a museum with an 'outstanding collection' the Royal Engineers Museum is a charity supported by private funds. Reg No: 295173
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Page revised:
Mon 14-Apr-2008
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