Corps of Royal Engineers

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

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 absorbed the British officers and men of the engineer corps of the East India Company

Also see

• Bengal Sappers and Miners
• Madras Sappers and Miners
• Bombay Sappers and Miners

The Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia

The Inland Water Transport and Docks Section of the Royal Engineers was originally formed in December of 1914 to deal with and to develop transport on canals and waterways of France and Belgium. The Section at first operated under the Director of Railways, but, owing to the rapid development of Inland Water Transport, a special directorate was formed in October of 1915. In the summer of 1916 all non-transport work in Mesopotamia became a part of the Inland Water Transport Directorate’s responsibilities, and during 1917 its scope was extended to cover Inland Water Transport and Dock Working in Egypt, in Salonika, and in other theatres of war. The European personnel in Mesopotamia were supplemented by over 42,000 native personnel from India, Egypt, West Africa and China.

The British Library has the book The Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia compiled by Lieut.-Col. L. J. Hall under the direction of Brigadier-General R. H. W. Hughes. [With plates.] published London 1921. Also available as a reprint through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop

Mesopotamian Transport Commission. Report of the Commission appointed by the Government of India... to enquire into questions connected with the organisation and administration of the Railway and River Transport in Mesopotamia 1918 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Table of Contents is computer page 6. Refer Online books-Digital Library of India for more details about this site.

External Links

• Royal Engineers Wikipedia
  
• Corps of Royal Engineers regiments.org
• Military Engineers in India in the 20th Century from Royal Engineers and Engineers of the British Empire and Commonwealth
• The Military Engineer in India by Lt. Col. E.W.C Sandes 1933 has been reprinted by Naval and Military Press. This detailed history of the Royal Engineers in India may be bought from the FIBIS Shop through Amazon.co.uk. Also available at the British Library
• From the 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 Memoirs (152 pages pdf), the article Waziristan 1937-1939 ( 9 page pdf) by Lieut Colonel H E M Newman The Royal Engineer Journal Volume 95, number 2, 1984 and this html extract which covers parts of the period 1918-1946. The two latter links are included in the Memoirs.

Historical Books Online

• History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol I by Maj-Gen Whitworth Porter 1889 Archive.org
  
• History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol II by Maj-Gen Whitworth Porter 1889 Archive.org
  • Vol II 2nd Afghan War and Egyptian Campaign 1882
• Recollections of a Life in the British Army during the latter half of the 19th Century by Gen. Sir Richard Harrison, Royal Engineers 1908 Archive.org
  • The Indian Campaigns 1857-1859, page 21
  • China War 1859-1860, page 61.
• Kandahar in 1879: The Diary of Major Le Messurier R.E., Brigade Major R. E. with the Quetta Column 1880 Archive.org
• Army Equipment: Part III-Section 1 Engineers : Equipment of a Company of Engineers by Lieut-Colonel A. C. Cooke RE 1866 Google Books
• Addiscombe, its heroes and men of note by Colonel H. M. Vibart 1894 Archive.org. Addiscombe was the East India Company Military Academy in England for the training of cadets for the Engineers, Artillery and Infantry.