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Although a number of Northumberland ports
had some form of artillery defence for many years, threat of a French invasion
in the late 18th and 19th centuries
necessitated the formation on a national scale of a larger defence force.
This force, consisting of cavalry, infantry, engineer and artillery volunteers
was raised from
the civilian population. Two
particular periods of heightened risk correspond with the
formation and expansion of these forces. The first was in the
aftermath of the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic Wars,
(1792-1815). The second during a period of tension between France
and the United Kingdom following the 1858 attempt on the life of
Napoleon III (the Orsini affair), which was carried out by Italian
nationals but supported by English radicals. The 1858 event was
the final trigger to get the second great volunteer force movement
started, since many notable individuals, including the Duke of Wellington had
been pressing for a home defence force since 1847, due to the
frequent periods that virtually the entire Regular British Army
found itself on campaign, with the home territories left undefended.
Regarding our own local artillery units, these actually fall into three, rather than two distinct periods of existence: |
1. The Percy Tenantry Artillery Company 1805-1814 |
The Percy Tenantry Volunteer Infantry were raised by Hugh Percy, the 2nd Duke of Northumberland in 1798 (Southern Division) and 1799 (the Northern Division.) The Cavalry component enrolled 1798. The 1803 return show the infantry and cavalry strength at 1,195 and 304 respectively. A small artillery unit, "The Percy Volunteer Artillery Company" was added in January 1805. This was attached as Horse Artillery to the Cavalry and was commanded by Captain John Toppin. Full establishment of the Artillery was 26 and they were armed with two brass three pounder cannons. In 1814 as the French threat receded the Percy Tenantry Volunteers were disbanded, but in the case of the Artillery component they continued, funded by the Duke as a private artillery club. |
2. The Private Artillery unit of the Duke of Northumberland 1814-1860 |
The Duke's now private artillery continued on with the men from the officially disbanded Percy Tenantry Artillery Company. Also known as the Duke of Northumberland's Household Artillery, they now practiced with the Duke's 6 pounder guns. |
3. 2nd Northumberland (Percy) Artillery Volunteer Corps 1860-1902 |
The war office preferring
artillery units to be formed in the maritime districts as opposed
to rifle units, accepted the 3rd Northumberland AVC
(consisting of one battery and an HQ at Alnwick) as the local
volunteer corps in February 1860;
the first volunteers coming from the Duke's private artillery. In
April the designation changed from the '3rd' to the '2nd' Northumberland
AVC.( For the rest of the story see Lieut-Col Hicks history of the
Corps from formation to 1899
on this page. ) In 1902 after difficulties in complying with requests from the War Office to convert to both position and garrison units, a second proposal to combine with the Berwick Artillery, then a final a proposal to convert to infantry which resulted in the resignation of the Commanding Officer, it was decided that the Corps be disbanded with effect from the 31st October 1902. |
(Above) Four views of the silver cup awarded to Gunner Robert Common of
the Warkworth Detachment
of the 2nd Northumberland (Percy) Artillery Volunteer Corps; one of ten in
total for the detachment as 1st prize
in the 40 pounder rifled breech loading Armstrong gun competition,
Shoeburyness,1875.
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