The 1st Midlothian Artillery Volunteer Corps was formed in 1859 as a response to a French invasion threat. Originally it served as garrison and heavy artillery but transferred to the Territorial Force (TF) in 1908 as field artillery, in which role it served through both World Wars. In the First World War, it fought on the Western Front with 51st (Highland) Division. In the Second World War, it briefly saw service in France after the Dunkirk evacuation and later served with the Eighth Army in North Africa and Italy. Its wartime duplicate regiment served with distinction in the Burma campaign. Postwar, the regiment continued in existence until amalgamation in 1967.
Artillery Volunteers 1859-1908 The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Grierson, pp. 1–12.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 1–4.Spiers, pp. 163–8. One such unit was the 1st Midlothian Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC) formed on 16 September 1859 at Leith in Midlothian, near Edinburgh. In December, the title was changed to Midlothian Coast AVC; however, by March 1860, it had changed again to 1st Midlothian (Midlothian Coast) AVC. The Major in command was Sir James Gardiner Baird, 7th Baronet of Saughton Hall, a former Regular Army officer in the 10th Hussars, from which he had been obliged to retire because of an injury sustained in a steeplechase. He had since served with the part-time East Lothian Yeomanry.Baird baronets at Landed Families BlogspotArmy List, various dates.
Within months, there were four AVCs in the county:Beckett, Appendix VIII.Frederick, pp. 659, 666.Grierson, pp. 130–2.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 128–30. 1st (Midlothian Coast Artillery) Midlothian AVC (four batteries) at Leith 2nd (Leith Artillery) Midlothian AVC (two batteries) formed at Leith 28 February 1860 3rd (Portobello) Midlothian AVC formed at Portobello, Edinburgh, 17 December 1859 4th (Musselburgh) Midlothian AVC formed at Musselburgh 28 February 1860
These were soon consolidated into a single unit (the 2nd being absorbed in 1863) of eight batteries, with Baird commanding in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel: The 1st Haddington AVC, formed at Dunbar, Haddingtonshire (or East Lothian) on 20 January 1860, which had been attached to the 1st Administrative Battalion, Haddington Rifle Volunteers, since 1864, was attached to the 1st Midlothian AVC from 1873. (A proposed 2nd Haddington AVC at North Berwick had never been formed.)Litchfield & Westlake, p. 89.
From 1 April 1882, the unit formed part of the Scottish Division of the Royal Artillery (RA); on 1 July 1889, the Volunteer artillery were regrouped into three large divisions, the 1st Midlothian being assigned to the Southern Division.Litchfield and Westlake, pp. 3–6. The unit dropped the 'Midlothian Coast' subtitle in 1888, and moved its headquarters (HQ) to a new drill hall at 30 Grindlay Street in Edinburgh the following year. There were modern guns available at Portobello and Musselburgh for drill. Gun practice was carried out at the annual camp, and for carbine practice it used the Queen's Edinburgh Rifles' range at Hunter's Bog in Holyrood Park.Osborne, p.274Midlothian at Great War Centenary Drill Halls.
The AVCs were intended to serve as garrison artillery manning fixed coast defences, but a number of the early units manned semi-mobile 'position batteries' of smooth-bore field guns pulled by agricultural horses. In 1886, the 1st Midlothian obtained two 40-pounder rifled breech-loading (RBL) guns on travelling carriages pulled by Brewer's dray horses from Younger's and McEwan's breweries. Previously, the War Office (WO) had refused to pay for the upkeep of field guns for the Volunteers, but the concept was regularised in 1888 when some Volunteer batteries were reorganised as 'position artillery' to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades. In 1889, the 1st Midlothian AVC was issued with two position batteries of 16-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns, which were manned by four of the garrison batteries (referred to as Companies from 1891).Beckett, pp. 178–9. The 1st Haddington AVC was consolidated into the corps in 1897, when it became No 9 Company, with it HQ remaining at Dunbar.
In 1899, the artillery Volunteers were transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), and the unit was redesignated 1st Midlothian RGA (V) (MRGAV) when the divisional organisation was abolished on 1 January 1902. In 1901, a further battery of 16-pounders was issued to the corps and manned by the two remaining garrison companies in Edinburgh. In 1903, the RGA (V) position batteries were modernised and became heavy batteries; the 1st MRGAV reorganised as follows: No 1 Heavy Battery – from Nos 1 and 2 Companies No 2 Heavy Battery – from Nos 3 and 4 Companies No 3 Heavy Battery – from Nos 5 and 6 Companies No 4 Garrison Company at Musselburgh – from Nos 7 and 8 Companies No 5 Garrison Company at Dunbar – from No 9 Company
Lieutenant A.H.M. Jamieson of the 1st Midlothian RGA (V) served during the Second Boer War as machine gun commander with the 6th (Scottish) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry.
In 1902, the unit's 1st Battery won the King's Prize for heavy artillery at the National Artillery Association meeting, and in 1905 the 2nd Bty won the prize, with the other two batteries coming second and third.
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 MRGAV was transferred to the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and provided the bulk of the I (or 1st) Lowland Brigade, RFA, with one battery coming from the 1st Edinburgh (City) RGA (V), giving the following organisation:Frederick, p. 678.London Gazette 20 March 1908.Litchfield, pp. 295–6. Headquarters (HQ) at 30 Grindlay Street, Edinburgh 1st City of Edinburgh Battery – from 1st Edinburgh RGA 2nd City of Edinburgh Battery Midlothian Battery 1st Lowland Ammunition Column
The unit was the senior field artillery brigade in the TF's Lowland Division. The batteries were each issued with four 15-pounder guns.Conrad, British Army, 1914.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 109–14.52 (L) Division at Long, Long Trail.Thompson, pp. 3–5.
First World War Mobilisation The order to mobilise was received at 17.25 on Tuesday 4 August 1914, when the Lowland Division was at its annual training camp on the Ayrshire coast. It immediately began guarding vulnerable points around Glasgow and the Clyde estuary. Mobilisation was complete by 10 August and the units proceeded to their designated war stations. For the I Lowland Brigade, this was at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh.
On the outbreak of war, units of the Territorial Force were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service: the majority of men in every unit of the Lowland Division did so. On 15 August, the WO issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. Then, 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 batteries, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.
1/I Lowland Brigade
During the winter of 1914–15, the division underwent war training and served in the Forth defences. It was warned for overseas service on 5 April and on 11 May 1915 it was officially numbered as the 52nd (Lowland) Division. However, the division was destined for the Dardanelles Campaign and it was decided that the difficulties of operating artillery on the Gallipoli Peninsula precluded taking all the divisional artillery. 1/1st Lowland Brigade was therefore left behind when the division embarked, and remained in the Forth defences.Thompson, pp. 7–8.
The brigade finally went overseas in October 1915, when it landed at Le Havre to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front. On arrival in France, the batteries were rearmed with modern 18-pounder guns, and on 10 November the brigade joined the 51st (Highland) Division, with which it would serve for the rest of its career in the First World War.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 101–7.51 (H) Division at Long, Long Trail.51 Divisional RA at Long, Long Trail.
In May 1916, the TF brigades of the RFA received numbers, the 1/I Lowland becoming CCLVII (257) Brigade – though this was changed to CCLX (260) Brigade within a few days – and the batteries became A, B, C and D.Frederick, p. 691. D Battery was then exchanged for 2nd Renfrewshire Howitzer Bty from the 1/III Highland (CCLVIII) Howitzer Bde, which became D (H) Bty, equipped with 4.5-inch howitzers. The brigade ammunition columns were abolished at the same time, and absorbed within the divisional ammunition column.
Somme In July, 51st (Highland) Division joined in the Somme Offensive. An attack on 14 July had failed to capture the dominating ground of High Wood, and 51st (H) Division was tasked with renewing the attack on High Wood a week later. A night attack was to be tried: the bombardment began at 19.00 on 22 July, under the direction of low-flying artillery observation aircraft. German sources reported that the shelling was of 'painful accuracy' and prevented the troops in High Wood from being relieved, despite the number of casualties.Miles, p. 136. At 01.30 the following morning, the division attacked, but by 03.00 they were back on their start line having suffered heavy casualties. British gunners had difficulty supporting attacks on High Wood, because they had to fire over Bazentin Ridge. The low elevation of the guns meant that shells skimmed the British trenches, the margin for error was small and numerous complaints were made that British infantry casualties were caused by friendly fire. Worn guns, defective ammunition and inaccurate information about the location of British infantry positions were blamed for short-shooting.Miles, p. 195. The setback seemed to confirm the division's nickname of 'Harper's Duds' (from their commander, Major-General George Harper, and their 'HD' formation badge). The division was withdrawn from the front on 7 August for rest and reorganisation. On 23 August CCLX Bde was reorganised again, with C (Midlothian) Bty being split up between A and B to bring them up to six guns each.