Corps of Royal Engineers: Difference between revisions

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*[http://www.instre.org The Institution of Royal Engineers (InstRE)] publishes “The Royal Engineers Journal” and Corps Histories
*[http://www.instre.org The Institution of Royal Engineers (InstRE)] publishes “The Royal Engineers Journal” and Corps Histories
*[http://www.reubique.com/indiaeng.htm    Military Engineers in India in the 20th Century]  from [http://www.reubique.com/ Royal Engineers and Engineers of the British Empire and Commonwealth]
*[http://www.reubique.com/indiaeng.htm    Military Engineers in India in the 20th Century]  from [http://www.reubique.com/ Royal Engineers and Engineers of the British Empire and Commonwealth]
*[http://www.holdiches.com/sir-thomas-hungerford-holdich-1843-1929/  "Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich 1843 – 1929"] His Life Story,  Chapters 1-5  cover his time in India. (click on the drop down menu). He became a Royal Engineer and he was sent to India on attachment to the Survey Department. His first campaign was in [[Duar War|Bhutan in 1865]]. This led to his permanent appointment to the Survey Department. He subsequently served in the [[2nd Afghan War]]. he was appointed  as Surveyor to the Historical Boundary Commission which was to settle the boundary between Russia and Afghanistan, and then Chief Commissioner to settle the boundary between Persia and Baluchistan He was involved with the [[Tirah Campaign|1898  campaign against the Afridis]], but soon had to retire as he had reached the age of 55.  The Holdich Family History Society (retrieved 14 April 2014). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Holdich Thomas Holdich] Wikipedia. For online books, refer below.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161014021447/http://www.holdiches.com/sir-thomas-hungerford-holdich-1843-1929/  "Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich 1843 – 1929"] His Life Story,  Chapters 1-5  cover his time in India. (click on the drop down menu). He became a Royal Engineer and he was sent to India on attachment to the Survey Department. His first campaign was in [[Duar War|Bhutan in 1865]]. This led to his permanent appointment to the Survey Department. He subsequently served in the [[2nd Afghan War]]. he was appointed  as Surveyor to the Historical Boundary Commission which was to settle the boundary between Russia and Afghanistan, and then Chief Commissioner to settle the boundary between Persia and Baluchistan He was involved with the [[Tirah Campaign|1898  campaign against the Afridis]], but soon had to retire as he had reached the age of 55.  The Holdich Family History Society, now archived. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Holdich Thomas Holdich] Wikipedia. For online books, refer below.
*[https://ryderarchives.weebly.com/colonel-charles--ida-ryder.html Colonel Charles & Ida Ryder] 1868 – 1945. Royal Engineers and Survey of India, served in India, Burma, China, Tibet, Turco-Persian Boundary Commission, 1917-1918 Mesopotamia in World War 1, Royal & French Geographical Societies, FRGS Gold Medalist, Surveyor General of India 1919-1924. From the drop down menu at the top of the webpage under Colonel Charles Ryder there are links to other sections, including [https://ryderarchives.weebly.com/burma--china.html Burma and China 1894-1903]; [https://ryderarchives.weebly.com/tibet.html Tibet] [1904]; [https://ryderarchives.weebly.com/turco-persian-boundary.html Turco-Persian Boundary Commission 1913-1914] Ryder Archives.
*[http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/bdoceigbai.58347.626 Brigadier-General Sir William Danvers Waghorn (1867-1936)]. Commissioned as a Royal Engineer 1887, joined the Public Works Department, Railways in India. Served in the Boer War as Deputy Assistant Director of Railways, and the Western Front, WW1 as Chief Engineer of XVII Corps. Retired 1924 India. Sample page from ''Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 3: 1890–1920''.  ICE Publishing 2014. icevirtuallibrary.com
*[http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/bdoceigbai.58347.626 Brigadier-General Sir William Danvers Waghorn (1867-1936)]. Commissioned as a Royal Engineer 1887, joined the Public Works Department, Railways in India. Served in the Boer War as Deputy Assistant Director of Railways, and the Western Front, WW1 as Chief Engineer of XVII Corps. Retired 1924 India. Sample page from ''Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 3: 1890–1920''.  ICE Publishing 2014. icevirtuallibrary.com
*From the [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/  Main Index of  "A Newman Family Tree"], select H E M  Newman. He was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers on 19 December 1919 and posted to India  in 1924 as an officer of the Madras Sappers and Miners. He was in India until 1929 and again in India and Burma 1936-1943. The site includes his [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/H.E.M.Newman-memoirs%202c.pdf Memoirs] (152 pages pdf), the article [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/RE_Journal_1984.pdf  Waziristan 1937-1939] ( 9 page pdf) by Lieut Colonel H E M Newman ''The Royal Engineer Journal Volume 95, number 2, 1984'' and this [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/Missing-Years.html  html extract] which covers parts of the period 1918-1946. The two latter links are included in the Memoirs.
*From the [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/  Main Index of  "A Newman Family Tree"], select H E M  Newman. He was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers on 19 December 1919 and posted to India  in 1924 as an officer of the Madras Sappers and Miners. He was in India until 1929 and again in India and Burma 1936-1943. The site includes his [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/H.E.M.Newman-memoirs%202c.pdf Memoirs] (152 pages pdf), the article [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/RE_Journal_1984.pdf  Waziristan 1937-1939] ( 9 page pdf) by Lieut Colonel H E M Newman ''The Royal Engineer Journal Volume 95, number 2, 1984'' and this [http://www.newman-family-tree.net/Missing-Years.html  html extract] which covers parts of the period 1918-1946. The two latter links are included in the Memoirs.

Revision as of 03:34, 17 April 2020

Known as the Royal Engineers (RE) or commonly as the Sappers.

The Signals Service was part of the Royal Engineers up until the time of the creation of the separate Royal Corps of Signals in June 1920.

Chronology

  • 1716 Corps of Engineers consisting of officers only formed by the Board of Ordnance
  • 1772 Soldier Artificer Company comprising other ranks raised in Gibraltar
  • 1787 officer corps became the Royal Corps of Engineers. Corps of Royal Military Artificers comprising NCOs and private raised
  • 1797 Gibraltar company absorbed by the Corps of Royal Military Artificers
  • 1812 Corps of Royal Military Artificers became Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners
  • 1856 Royal Engineers and Royal Sappers and Miners became a unified corps as the Corps of Royal Engineers
  • 1862 1 April, the three engineer corps of the East India Company:- Bengal Engineers, Bombay Engineers and the Madras Engineers were amalgamated into the Corps of Royal Engineers absorbing the British officers and men [1].

Also see

Regimental History

History of the Corps of Royal Engineers has been published in twelve volumes, many being available online, refer below. In addition there are

Volume X: 1945-1960. Volume XI: 1960 to 1980. Volume XII: 1980-2000.

Available at the British Library. Also available from the Institution of Royal Engineers (InstRE), as books or a CD-ROM.[2]

The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War 1914-1919. For online editions, refer below. Available at the British Library:

  • Water supply. [Containing 9 maps showing the] Water supply in France] (1921) UIN: BLL01004844114 ;
  • Work under the Director of Works (France) (1924) UIN: BLL01006788368 ;
  • Miscellaneous: The organization and expansion of the Corps, 1914-18. Organization of engineer intelligence and information. Camouflage service. Concrete defence works and factories. Forward communications. Machinery, workshops, and electricity. Anti-Aircraft searchlights. Inundations. Schools. (372 pages) Compiled by Colonel G. H. Addison. 1926. BLL01007769877 . All the Miscellaneous sections have been reprinted as separate volumes by Naval&Military Press. Also available online HathiTrust Digital Library for those with University access.

Regimental flash

The flash, also known as a pagri (puggaree) badge, was generally affixed to the pagri on the sun helmet. The Royal Engineers had three styles of flashes. The first was a rectangular one with blue and red in equal halves - blue to the front. This was introduced in 1884 during the Sudan Campaign. During the 2nd Boer War they adopted a plain yellow flash to better distinguish them from the RA and then in 1902 changed to a red rectangular flash with two narrow royal blue lines near the outer edges i.e. red/blue/red/blue/red.[3]

It is difficult to identify Foreign Service (Wolseley Pattern) helmet flashes because the type of black & white film used at that time distorted coloration. [4]

External Links

Historical books online

History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Volume VI: Gallipoli, Macedonia, Egypt and Palestine 1914-18. nzsappers.org.nz
History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Volume VII: Campaigns in Mesopotamia and East Africa, and the inter-war period, 1918-38. nzsappers.org.nz
Volumes 5-7 edited by H.L. Pritchard, published 1952. Note: Volume VI does not include information about Signals as "The history of their work is being produced by the Royal Corps of Signals themselves"[6], so it is likely the other volumes for the WW1 period similarly do not include information about Signals.
Volume IX: Campaigns in Sicily and Italy; the War Against Japan; North-west Europe, 1944-45; minor and non-operational areas; post-war, 1945-48 by Major-General R. P. Pakenham-Walsh. Both published 1958. nzsappers.org.nz. Note: War Against Japan includes c 200 pages regarding India, Burma, Hong Kong and Malaya. [7]
  • History of the Royal Sappers and Miners: from the formation of the Corps in March 1772, to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal Engineers, in October 1856 by T W J Connolly, QuarterMaster of the Royal Engineers. 2nd edtion, with considerable additions 1857 (first edition 1855) With coloured plates
Volume I, Volume II Google Books
Same digital files HathiTrust Digital Library, where images may be rotated. Volume I, Volume II
The Indian Borderland, 1880-1900 by Colonel Sir T Hungerford Holdich 1901 edition, Second and cheaper edition 1909 Archive.org
India by Colonel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich 1904 Archive.org
The Gates of India, being an Historical Narrative by Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich 1910
Political Frontiers and Boundary Making by Col. Sir Thomas H Holdich 1916
Some Rambles of a Sapper by Brigr-Genl. Herbert Henry Austin. 1928 HathiTrust Digital Library. He was posted as an Assistant Engineer to the Military Works Department in Peshawur c 1889 and was obliged to retire in 1920, as there was no longer a role for him. He spent most of his careen in India, with some years in Africa, (for the Indian Government), but appears to have remained as part of the British, not Indian, Army.
Volume 1 1837 Volume 2 1838 Volume 3 1839 Volume 4 1840 Volume 5 1842 Volume 7 1845 Volume 8 1845 Volume 10 1849
Note that the volumes which are digitised specifically for Archive.org may have better plans and maps compared with those that are, or are copied from, Google Books. An example is the books from the University of Toronto
For some papers from these volumes, see 1st Afghan War, Battle of Meeanee, 1st Sikh War, 2nd China War and Abyssinian Campaign. Other papers include
Indian Engineers
  • The Indian Engineers, 1939-47 by Lieut.-Colonel E. W. C. Sandes 1956. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
An earlier book is The Indian Sappers and Miners by E. W. C Sandes [Edward Warren Caulfeild] 1948. (726p). Covers the period from the pioneers in 1759 to the prelude to the Second World War. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01011278725

References

  1. The Royal Engineers Museum and Library “Corps History Part 10 – Engineers of the Honourable East India Company Army 1750-1862”; Retrieved 17 Aug 2016
  2. Corps History and Corps History CD-ROM The Institution of Royal Engineers (InstRE)
  3. Stuart_Bates. helmet flashes Victorian Wars Forum 15 November 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2016
  4. FROGSMILE. Help needed ID-ing unit flash on pith helmet Great War Forum 30 May 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  5. Matthew B. Walk Warily in Waziristan Great War Forum 23 April 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  6. michaeldr. Royal Engineers soldier abandoned in Gallipoli Great War Forum 29 June 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  7. idler. Book content question: R E History WW2Talk Forum 13 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2018.