The 1st Lancashire Artillery Volunteers (1st LAV), popularly known as 'Brown's Corps', was an auxiliary unit of the British Army raised in Liverpool in 1859. As the Lancashire & Cheshire Royal Garrison Artillery in the Territorial Force it was responsible for defending the Mersey Estuary and the coastline of North West England. It was one of the few coast defence units to fire a shot during World War I but also provided personnel for a number of siege batteries that saw action on the Western Front. It continued in the coast defence role during World War II, at the end of which it sent troops to work in the rear areas in Europe. It was reformed postwar but was broken up when the coast artillery branch was abolished in 1956.
Volunteer Force An invasion scare in 1859 led to the emergence of the Volunteer Movement and huge enthusiasm for joining local Volunteer Corps.Beckett. The 1st Administrative Brigade, Lancashire Artillery Volunteers, was established in February 1860 to bring together a number of small artillery volunteer corps (AVCs) that had sprung up in the Liverpool area of Lancashire:Beckett, Appendix VIII.Frederick, p. 662.Lancashire RO, Handlist 72.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 107–13. 1st (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC – 16 November 1859, as two batteries 2nd (Crosby) Lancashire AVC – 12 December 1859; struck off 1864 6th (Windsor Iron Works) Lancashire AVC – 20 December 1859; struck off 1864 7th (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC (Liverpool) – 21 December 1859; struck off 1869 13th (Everton) Lancashire AVC – 28 February 1860; struck off 1863 14th (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC – 28 February 1860; absorbed by 1st as No 3 Battery in 1861 20th (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC – 8 August 1860; absorbed by 6th in 1861 (Dates given are those of first officers' commissions).
The Brown family took a prominent role in the early history of the unit and it was popularly known as 'Brown's Corps'. Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, of Richmond Hill (died 1864), was Honorary Colonel of the 1st Lancashire AVC, and his grandson and successor Sir William Richmond Brown, 2nd Baronet, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Admin Bde in 1861. The 2nd Baronet's younger brother, James Clifton Brown (simultaneously an officer in the Royal Lancashire Militia Artillery), became Major of the brigade in 1862 and from 1864 Lt-Col of the 1st Lancashire AVC.Army List, various dates. Merseyside Roll of HonourBurke, 'Brown'.
By 1869, due to disbandments and amalgamations, the admin brigade disappeared leaving the 1st Lancashire AVC as an independent unit of eight batteries. Sir William Richmond Brown, 2nd Bt, now became the honorary colonel, and the Lt-Col Commandant was his younger brother Alexander Hargreaves Brown, formerly a Cornet in the 5th Dragoon Guards (later 1st Baronet of a new creation).Burke, 'Pigott-Brown'.
Another family closely associated with 1st Lancashire AVC was the Behrends, a Liverpool shipbroking family. Deane Road CemeteryLondon Gazette 1 July 1870.London Gazette 3 January 1899.Bahr, Behrend & Co, at Grace's Guide. Henry David and Edward Augustus Behrend were commissioned into 'Brown's Corps' in 1887 and 1888, appointed captains in 1890 and 1893 and majors in 1900 and 1905 respectively. H.D. Behrend became Lt-Col in 1906 and retired in 1913.London Gazette 4 March 1887.London Gazette 10 April 1888.London Gazette 20 November 1891.London Gazette 10 July 1900.London Gazette 3 February 1905.London Gazette 4 May 1906.London Gazette 20 June 1913. Lieutenant Arthur Behrend served in the East Lancashire Regiment and with 90th Bde RGA during World War I, and returned to the Lancashire & Cheshire Artillery after the Armistice.London Gazette 4 September 1914.London Gazette 4 February 1919.London Gazette 27 February 1920
The 1st LAV's war stations were the gun batteries guarding the approaches to Liverpool on the Lancashire (north) shore of the Mersey Estuary, Seaforth Battery and North Fort. Seaforth Battery was completed in 1879 and mounted four 12.5-inch RML guns (later replaced by two 4.7-inch QF guns). The older North Fort was disarmed and dismantled between 1884 and 1887 and its site taken over by the expanding docks. A new battery was built further up the coast at Crosby Point in 1906–07, named Crosby Battery and armed with three 6-inch Mark VII BL guns by 1914. In peacetime the defences were maintained by a small detachment of Regular gunners from the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) who also trained the Volunteers.Stevenson, Mersey Defences.
By the 1870s the 1st LAV had established its headquarters (HQ) at 19 Low Hill, Liverpool. It was included in the Lancashire Division of the Royal Artillery (RA) from 1 April 1882, transferring to the Southern Division when the Lancashire Division was abolished on 1 July 1889. On 1 June 1899 all the Volunteer artillery units became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) and with the abolition of the RA's divisional organisation on 1 January 1902, the unit became the 1st Lancashire RGA (Volunteers).
Territorial Force Under the Haldane Reforms that created the Territorial Force, the 1st Lancashire RGA (V) merged with part of the 1st Cheshire RGA (V) to become the Lancashire and Cheshire RGA as a defended ports unit. The single command facilitated coordination between the defences on the Lancashire and Cheshire banks of the Mersey Estuary. The Cheshire side included Fort Perch Rock armed with three 6-inch Mark VII BL guns in 1914. There was also a detachment at Barrow-in-Furness defending the shipyards and airship works.London Gazette 20 March 1908.Litchfield, p. 130.
World War I
Mobilisation On the outbreak of World War I the Lancashire & Cheshire RGA's organisation was as follows:Frederick, p. 698. Nos 1–4 Companies at Drill Hall, 19 Low Hill, Liverpool Nos 5 & 6 Companies at Drill Hall, River View Road, Seacombe, Wallasey Nos 7 & 8 Companies at Barrow-in-Furness
The companies were manning the following guns:Maurice-Jones, p. 187. Mersey Garrison: 6 x 6-inch, 2 x 4.7-inch Barrow Garrison: 2 x 6-inch
On 31 August 1914, the formation of Reserve or 2nd Line units for each existing TF unit was authorised; each was prefixed '2/' to distinguish it from the 1st Line ('1/'). Initially these were formed from men who had not volunteered for overseas service, and the recruits who were flooding in.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6. In 1915 Henry Behrend was re-commissioned from the TF Reserve as Lt-Col to command the 2nd Line unit of the L&C RGA.London Gazette 29 June 1915.London Gazette 22 October 1915.London Gazette 10 July 1917.
Home Defence On 29 January 1915, No 7 Company, manning the Walney Island Battery guarding the shipyards and airship sheds at Barrow, exchanged fire with the German U-boat U-21.L&C RGA at Great War Forum.
By October 1914, the campaign on the Western Front was bogging down into Trench warfare and there was an urgent need for batteries of siege artillery to be sent to France. The WO decided that the TF coastal gunners were well enough trained to take over many of the duties in the coastal defences, releasing Regular RGA gunners for service in the field.WO Instruction No 248 of October 1914. Soon the TF RGA companies that had volunteered for overseas service were also supplying trained gunners to RGA units serving overseas. Although complete defended ports units never went overseas, they did provide cadres to form units from New Army ('Kitchener's Army') volunteers for front line service. The L&C RGA is known to have supplied cadres for 39th and 95th Siege Btys in 1915 and 256th in 1916 (see below). Other new siege batteries are recorded to have been raised in 1916 at 'Mersey' (161, 170, 197, 235, 297) and 'Liverpool' (204, 279, 314), and further batteries in early 1917 at the L&C RGA's Crosby Battery (358, 393, 401) and at Mersey (437). These were formed from later conscripts, but were presumably organised by the L&C RGA since there were no Regular RGA units present at these sites.Frederick, pp. 702–8.Maurice-Jones, pp. 200–1.
This process meant a continual drain on the manpower of the defended ports units and in April 1917, the coastal defence companies of the RGA (TF) were reorganised. By this stage of the war, the L&C RGA serving in the Mersey and Barrow Defences of Western Command consisted of 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/5, 2/1, 2/2, 2/3, 2/4, 2/5 and 2/7 Companies. These were reduced to just three companies, given a slightly higher establishment (five officers and 100 other ranks) and renumbered, abolishing the 1st and 2nd Line distinction:Army Council Instruction 686 of April 1917, with Appendix 131. 1/1 Company became No 1 Company 1/3 Company became No 2 Company 1/5 Company became No 4 Company
In addition, three L&C companies (1/4, 2/6 and 2/8) had been transferred to the Thames & Medway Defences in Eastern Command – much closer to possible German naval attacks – and these were combined with 1/2 and 2/2 Companies of the Essex & Suffolk RGA to form Nos 1 and 2 Companies of the Kent RGA.
By April 1918 the guns in the Mersey Garrison consisted of one 6-inch at each of Perch Rock and Crosby Point batteries, and two 4.7s at Seaforth, while the Barrow Garrison had two 6-inch Mk VIIs at Walney Island Battery and two 4.7s at Hilpsford Battery, under Coastal Fire Command No 24 at Liverpool.Farndale, Forgotten Fronts, Annexes 4 and 7.
The TF was demobilised in 1919 after the Armistice with Germany.
39th Siege Battery
This battery was formed at Sheerness on 10 June 1915 with a cadre (including Capt G.G. Mallinson) provided by the L&C RGA. The battery went out to the Western Front on 2 November, equipped with four 8-inch howitzers.'Allocation of Siege Batteries RGA', The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/5494/4.
39th Siege Bty was positioned north of Ypres under Second Army and spent the following months in the routine of registering likely targets with the aid of spotting aircraft and carrying out short bombardments of requested targets, while suffering a steady trickle of casualties from retaliatory fire. In June 1916 it was sent south to join Fourth Army's preparations for the 'Big Push', the Battle of the Somme.'Headquarters Heavy Artillery Groups', TNA file WO 95/5494/1.39 SB War Diary 1915–17, TNA file WO 95/220/3.
After participating in the seven-day bombardment, the battery fired a sequence of barrages lifting from one predetermined line to the next in support of III Corps' assault on La Boisselle during the First day on the Somme. Many of the heavy howitzer shells failed to explode. The attack was a failure.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 299–307, 371–84.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 144–8. The battery continued to support the attacks on Bazentin le Petit and Pozières, then on Le Sars, Martinpuich, High Wood and Courcelette as the offensive continued through the summer and into the autumn.
In January 1917 the battery rejoined Second Army at Ypres where activity increased as preparations began for that year's Flanders campaign. On 1 June 1917 39th Siege Bty was joined by a section (2 officers and 70 other ranks (ORs) with two 8-inch howitzers) from the newly arrived 311th Siege Bty, bringing the battery up to an establishment of six guns. It supported the successful Battle Messines (7 June), then moved to forward positions under Fifth Army for the bombardment preceding the opening of the Third Ypres Offensive on 31 July. It supported II Corps, which had the hardest task of the day, and the attack fell short of its objectives.39 SB War Diary 1917–19, TNA file WO 95/220/4.Edmonds, 1917, Vol II, pp. 44–6, 135–9, 152–6.Farndale, Western Front, pp. 186–91, 199–203.