Difference between revisions of "Corps of Royal Engineers"

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*[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.
 
*[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.
 +
*[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.
 
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7325117.stm Why Britons walked warily in Waziristan] by Alastair Lawson 21 April 2008 news.bbc.co.uk with [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7325243.stm photographs] In 1919, a young British army officer, Francis Stockdale, was deployed to Waziristan. He was a temporary R. E. officer and served late 1919 to Dec 1921<ref>[http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=96799&#entry907698 Great War Forum]</ref>
 
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7325117.stm Why Britons walked warily in Waziristan] by Alastair Lawson 21 April 2008 news.bbc.co.uk with [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7325243.stm photographs] In 1919, a young British army officer, Francis Stockdale, was deployed to Waziristan. He was a temporary R. E. officer and served late 1919 to Dec 1921<ref>[http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=96799&#entry907698 Great War Forum]</ref>

Revision as of 07:41, 3 April 2016

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

Regimental History

History of the Corps of Royal Engineers has been published in twelve volumes, the first two being available online, refer below. The other volumes are

  • Volume III: Covers the Sudan Campaigns and Boer War 1899-1902, by Colonel Sir Charles Watson, published 1915. Volume IV: 1885-1914. by Brigadier-General W. Baker Brown. published 1952.
  • Volume V: The Home Front, France Flanders and Italy in the First World War. Volume VI: Gallipoli, Macedonia, Egypt and Palestine 1914-18. Volume VII: Campaigns in Mesopotamia and East Africa, and the inter-war period, 1918-38. Volumes 5-7 edited by H.L. Pritchard, published 1952.
  • Volume VIII: Campaigns in France and Belgium, 1939-40; Norway, Middle East, East Africa, Western Desert, North West Africa, and activities in the U.K. by Major-General R. P. Pakenham-Walsh.
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. Note: War Against Japan includes c 200 pages regarding India, Burma, Hong Kong and Malaya. [1]
  • Volume X: 1945-1960. Volume XI: 1960 to 1980. Volume XII: 1980-2000.

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.[2]

It is difficult to identify Foreign Service (Wolseley Pattern) helmet flashes because the type of black & white film used at that time distorted coloration. [3]

External Links

Historical Books Online

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

References

  1. ↑ idler. Book content question: R E History WW2Talk Forum 13 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2105
  2. ↑ Stuart_Bates. helmet flashes Victorian Wars Forum 15 November 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2016
  3. ↑ FROGSMILE. Help needed ID-ing unit flash on pith helmet Great War Forum 30 May 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  4. ↑ Great War Forum


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