The 1st Kent Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery from 1860 to 1956. Primarily serving as coastal artillery defending the Port of Dover and other harbours in South-East England, the unit's successors also served in the heavy artillery role on the Western Front during World War I and as anti-aircraft artillery during the Blitz and later in the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II.
Volunteer Force Many Volunteer units were raised in Great Britain as a result of an invasion scare in 1859.Beckett. These small independent units were quickly organised into larger groupings, and the 1st Administrative Brigade of Kent Artillery Volunteers was formed on 15 August 1860. It comprised the following Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVCs):Frederick, pp. 660–1.Litchfield and Westlake, pp. 98–102.Beckett, Appendix VIII.1st KAVC at Regiments.org. 1st Kent AVC formed at Gravesend on 20 October 1859; a second battery formed on 5 March 1860 2nd Kent AVC formed at Faversham on 15 November 1859; a second battery formed on 27 August 1861 3rd Kent AVC formed at Folkestone on 7 November 1859 (transferred to the 1st Cinque Ports Artillery Volunteers in April 1860) 4th Kent AVC formed at Sheerness Dockyard on 9 January 1860 (absorbed by the 13th Kent AVC on 23 January 1867) 5th Kent AVC formed at Blackheath on 28 February 1860, augmented by a half battery on 25 March 1862; to two full batteries after September 1863 6th Kent AVC appeared in the Army List in March 1860 but was never formed 7th Kent AVC formed at Greenwich in March 1860 but no officers were ever gazetted and it was removed from the Army List in 1862 8th Kent AVC was never formed 9th Kent AVC formed at Plumstead as a sub-division on 13 February, increased to a battery on 15 August 1860; attached to the 10th Kent AVC June 1870. Renumbered 2nd in 1880. 10th Kent AVC formed at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich on 28 February 1860. Renumbered in 1880 as 3rd Kent (Royal Arsenal) 11th Kent AVC formed at Sandgate as a sub-division on 25 February; increased to a battery on 2 March 1860 12th Kent AVC formed at Gillingham on 6 March 1860 13th Kent AVC formed at Sheerness Dockyard on 1 March 1860 as two batteries; took over 4th Kent AVC as its third battery on 23 January 1867 14th Kent AVC formed at Woolwich Dockyard on 29 March 1860; disbanded in 1870 when the dockyard closedBeckett, p. 75.
Reorganisation A reorganisation in May 1880 saw the Plumstead and Woolwich units become independent, and the remaining Corps were consolidated as the 1st Kent Artillery Volunteer Corps (1st KAVC) with HQ at Gravesend and eleven batteries provided as follows:Army List Nos 1 and 2 Batteries at Gravesend from 1st Kent AVC Nos 3 and 4 Batteries at Faversham from 2nd Kent AVC Nos 5 and 6 Batteries at Blackheath from 5th Kent AVC No 7 Battery at Sandgate from 11th Kent AVC No 8 Battery at Gillingham from 12th Kent AVC Nos 9–11 Batteries at Sheerness from 13th Kent AVC
All artillery volunteers were attached to one of the territorial divisions of the Royal Artillery (TA) in 1882 with the 1st KAVC joining the Cinque Ports Division. In 1887, the unit was redesignated the 3rd Volunteer (Kent) Brigade, Cinque Ports Division, RA, but this title only lasted until the Cinque Ports Division was disbanded in 1889, when the unit transferred to the Eastern Division and became the 1st Kent Artillery Volunteer Corps (Eastern Division, RA).
By 1892, the Kent Artillery Volunteer Corps were organised as follows: 1st Kent Artillery Volunteers – Headquarters at Gravesend 2nd Kent Artillery Volunteers – Headquarters at Plumstead 3rd Kent Artillery Volunteers (Royal Arsenal) – Headquarters at Woolwich
In 1889, the Artillery Volunteers became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), and when the territorial divisions were abolished the 1st KAVC was designated 1st Kent Brigade RGA (Volunteers) from 1 January 1902.
Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the 1st Kent Brigade provided the Home Counties (Kent) Heavy Battery, RGA, including its ammunition column, and three companies of the Kent and Sussex Royal Garrison Artillery. However, this unit was broken up in 1910, the Kent batteries becoming the Kent RGA and the Sussex batteries forming a separate Sussex RGA.London Gazette, 20 March 1908.Litchfield, pp.107–11.
The Home Counties (Kent) Heavy Battery was based at Beaton Street, Faversham, with its ammunition column at Chatham. Equipped with four 4.7-inch guns it formed part of the Home Counties Division of the TF.Frederick, pp. 699–701. Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 49–54.44 Division at Long, Long Trail.Artillery at British Army 1914.Kent RA at Kent Fallen.TF RGA at Regimental Warpath.
The Kent RGA was a 'defended ports' unit organised as follows:Frederick, pp. 646, 698.Frederick, pp. 205, 697.Coast Defences at Regimental Warpath. HQ at Sheerness No 1 Company at Fort Clarence, Rochester, Kent No 2 Company at Gravesend No 3 Company at Dover
Nos 1 and 2 Companies formed part of Eastern Coast Defences at Chatham, while No 3 Company was in South Eastern Coast Defences at Dover.
World War I Mobilisation On the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, the Kent RGA went to its war stations manning the coast artillery and the Heavy Battery mobilised at Faversham. After mobilisation, units of the TF were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service, and on 15 August the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way, duplicate companies, batteries and divisions were formed, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas. Thus were formed the 2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd Companies of the Kent RGA and the 1/1st and 2/1st Home Counties (Kent) Heavy Btys.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.
The Home Counties Division accepted the liability for service in India to release the regular units of the garrison there for active service on the Western Front. However, heavy artillery was not required for India, so when the division departed on 30 October, the 1/1st Bty stayed behind with the 2nd Home Counties Division that was being formed.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 75–82.67 Division at Long, Long Trail.
1/1st Kent Heavy Battery
The Home Counties Division accepted the liability for service in India to release the regular units of the garrison there for active service on the Western Front. However, heavy artillery was not required for India, so when the division departed on 30 October, the 1/1st Home Counties (Kent) Bty – usually referred to as the 1/1st Kent Bty – stayed behind with the 2nd Home Counties Division that was being formed.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 75–82. It went out to the Western Front on 29 December 1915 and joined Third Army.'Allocation of Heavy Batteries RGA', The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/5494/2.
The battery supported 56th (1/1st London) Division in the Attack on the Gommecourt Salient on 1 July, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The Gommecourt attack was a disaster but it had only been a diversion from Fourth Army's main Somme offensive, and Third Army closed it down at the end of the first day. In August, the battery transferred to support Fourth Army in the continuing Somme offensive. Lack of ammunition and the worn state of the old 4.7-inch guns reduced its effectiveness.MacDonald, pp. 170–2, 178–80, 192–4, 258–67, 345, 364-8, 373–6, 385, 392–405.18th Heavy Artillery Group War Diary May 1915–October 1918, TNA file WO 95/540/1.
Over the next two years, the 1/1st Kent Bty was moved from one Heavy Artillery Group (HAG) to another as circumstances demanded. On 12 February 1917, the battery was joined by a section of 118th Heavy Bty RGA to make it up to a strength of six guns. This was a regular unit formed at Woolwich shortly after the outbreak of war and had been in France with 4.7-inch guns since 6 November 1914.Farndale, Western Front, p. 82.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 89–95. By now, the heavy batteries on the Western Front were adopting the modern 60-pounder in place of the obsolete 4.7-inch.Farndale, Western Front, Annex E.
Fourth Army followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917, then 1/1st Kent Bty transferred to Fifth Army for the Third Ypres Offensive, which culminated in the mud of the Battle of Passchendaele in October–November 1917. In late 1917, the HAGs became permanent brigades. 1/1st Kent Bty joined 92nd (Mobile) Brigade on 13 January 1918 and remained with it until the end of the war.92nd Bde War Diary March 1917–March 1919, TNA file WO 95/397/3. On 1 February 1918, the HAGs became Brigades once more, and 92nd became 92nd (Mobile) Brigade, RGA, composed of four six-gun batteries of 60-pounders.'Allocation of HA Groups', TNA file WO 95/5494/1.Farndale, Western Front, p. 265 and Annex M.
During the German Spring Offensive of March 1918, 92nd (M) Bde was sent from GHQ Reserve to reinforce the hard-pressed Third Army. 1/1st Kent Bty was caught up in the 'Great Retreat', saving its guns but losing the rest of its equipment. After refitting, the brigade remained with Third Army until the Armistice with Germany on 11 November 1918, having supported it in the Allies' victorious Hundred Days Offensive, including the battles of Albert, Bapaume, Cambrai and the Selle.1/1st Kent War Diary 21 March 1918–1919, TNA file WO 95/397/4.
After the Armistice, the battery went to the Rhine with the Army of Occupation until it was demobilised in May 1919.
2/1st Kent Heavy Battery The battery formally separated from 1/1st Bty on 26 December 1914, but it was January 1916 before it received its guns. Even then, vital equipment such as sights were still lacking. 67th (2nd Home Counties) Division had a dual role of training drafts for units serving overseas and at the same time being part of the mobile force responsible for home defence. From November 1915 it formed part of Second Army, Central Force, quartered in Kent with 2/1st Bty at Ightham.
In September 1916, the battery moved to Mundesley in Norfolk, where it joined 4th Provisional Brigade. Provisional brigades were TF home defence formations composed of men who had not signed up for overseas service, but after the Military Service Act 1916 swept away the Home/Foreign service distinction all TF soldiers became liable for overseas service, if medically fit. The Provisional Brigades' role thus expanded to include physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting overseas. The 4th Provisional Brigade became the 224th Mixed Brigade in December 1916 ('mixed' in this context indicating a formation of infantry and artillery with supporting units).David Porter's work on Provisional Brigades at Great War Forum .
At the time of the Armistice, 2/1st Battery was still at Mundesley as part of 224th Mixed Bde.
Kent Royal Garrison Artillery
The Imperial German Navy only carried out 12 bombardments of British coastal targets during World War I, so most of the extensive coastal defences were never tested. Kent was, however, an exception to the inactivity, and the ports of Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate and Dover were bombarded in April 1917 (the Second Battle of the Dover Strait), and Dover was shelled again (the last such bombardment of the war) on 16 February 1918. The batteries at Ramsgate and Dover were engaged on these occasions.Farndale, Forgotten Fronts, p. 369.Dover Destroyer Action 21 April 1917 at Naval History Net.Civilian Casualties at Dover War Memorial Project.Destroyer Bombardment of Ramsgate, Manston and Margate 27 April 1917 at Kent History Forum.