Ayrshire Royal Horse Artillery

The Ayrshire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force

Ayrshire Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.)
Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Ayrshire in
1908. It saw active service during the First World War in the 1/1st Ayrshire RHA (T.F.)
Sinai and Palestine Campaign with the ANZAC Mounted Active 26 May 1908 – April
Division from 1916 to 1918. It was disembodied after the end 1919
of the war and was not reconstituted in the post-war Territorial
Country United Kingdom
Force.
Branch British Army
Type Artillery
Contents Size Battery
Part of Lowland Mounted
History
Formation Brigade
IV Brigade, RHA (T.F.)
First World War
XVIII Brigade, RHA
2nd Line
(T.F.)
Post war
peacetime Ayr
See also
HQ
Notes
Equipment Ordnance QF 15-
References pounder
Bibliography Ordnance QF 18-
External links pounder
Ordnance QF 13-
pounder
History Engagements First World War

Sinai and
Formation Palestine 1916-
18
The Territorial Force (TF) was formed on 1 April 1908
following the enactment of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Battle of
Act 1907 (7 Edw.7, c.9) which combined and re-organised the Romani
old Volunteer Force, the Honourable Artillery Company and the Battle of
Yeomanry. On formation, the TF contained 14 infantry Magdhaba
divisions and 14 mounted yeomanry brigades.[1] Each Battle of
yeomanry brigade included a horse artillery battery and an Rafah
ammunition column.[2] First and
On 18 March 1908, Ayrshire Royal Horse Artillery Second
(Territorial Force) was proposed as a new unit and it was Battles of
recognized by the Army Council on 26 May 1908.[3] The unit Gaza
consisted of Battle of
Beersheba
Battery HQ at Ayr
 Ayrshire Battery at Ayr Battle of
Lowland Mounted Brigade Ammunition Column also Mughar
at Ayr[4] Ridge
Battle of
The battery was equipped with four[1] Ehrhardt 15-pounder[5]
Jerusalem
guns and allocated as artillery support to the Lowland Mounted
Brigade.[6] Capture of
Jericho
First and
First World War Second
Trans-
The battery was embodied with the Lowland Mounted Brigade Jordan
on 4 August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. The
Raids
brigade moved to Cupar, Fife on coast defence duties[7] where
Battle of
it remained until September 1915.[8] In late September 1915,
Abu Tellul
the Lowland Mounted Brigade (without the battery) was
dismounted and left Fife for Devonport en route to Gallipoli.[9] Capture of
The battery remained in the United Kingdom until February Amman
1916 when it (and its ammunition column) was embarked at
Southampton and transported to Alexandria in Egypt.[10]

Service with IV Brigade

IV Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.) was formed in April 1916

British artillerymen loading an 18
pounder gun at Romani in 1916
as part of No. 3 Section, Suez Canal Defences. This saw the repulse of the final Turkish attempt to cut the
Suez Canal.[14]
in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force with the Ayrshire and
Inverness-shire Batteries, RHA.[11][a] It was assigned to the ANZAC
Mounted Division to provide artillery support.[12] In practice, the
batteries were permanently attached to the mounted brigades of the
division and Ayrshire RHA joined the New Zealand Mounted Rifles
Brigade.[13]
The battery served with the ANZAC Mounted Division in the Sinai
and Palestine Campaign throughout the rest of the war. With the
division, it saw action at the Battle of Romani (4 – 14 August 1916)

The division then joined the Desert Column and with it took part in the advance across the Sinai. It fought at
the Battle of Magdhaba (23 December 1916) and the Battle of Rafah (9 January 1917).[14] The batteries
were then re-equipped with four 18 pounders each[15] before taking part in the First (26 – 27 March 1917)
and Second Battles of Gaza (17 – 19 April 1917).[14]

Service with XVIII Brigade

In June 1917, the Desert Column was reorganised from two mounted divisions of four brigades each
(ANZAC and Imperial Mounted Divisions) to three mounted divisions of three brigades each (ANZAC,
Australian – Imperial Mounted Division renamed – and the new Yeomanry Mounted Division).[16]
Consequently, the British 22nd Mounted Brigade was transferred from the ANZAC to the Yeomanry
Mounted Division on 6 July 1917. With a reduction to three brigades, there was a corresponding reduction
in the artillery to three batteries. The Leicestershire Battery, RHA (T.F.) departed on 20 June to join XX
Brigade, RHA (T.F.) in the Yeomanry Mounted Division.[12][b]
This led to a reorganization of ANZAC Mounted Division's artillery. A new headquarters, XVIII Brigade,
Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.), was formed for the division and took command of Inverness-shire and Ayrshire
RHA. They were joined by Somerset RHA of III Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.).[12][c] Ayrshire RHA
remained attached to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade.[13] The batteries were still equipped with 18
pounders when the new brigade was organised[17] but were re-equipped with 13 pounders (four per battery)
in time for the Third Battle of Gaza at the end of October 1917.[18]

The brigade, and its batteries, remained with the ANZAC Mounted Division for the rest of the Sinai and
Palestine Campaign. As part of the Desert Mounted Corps, the division took part in the Third Battle of
Gaza, in particular the Capture of Beersheba (31 October) and the Battle of Mughar Ridge (13 and 14
November), and the defence of Jerusalem against the Turkish counter-attacks (27 November – 3
December).[14]

At the beginning of 1918, the division was attached to XX Corps and helped to capture Jericho (19 – 21
February) and then formed part of Shea's Force for the First Trans-Jordan Raid (21 March – 2 April). It
returned to the Desert Mounted Corps for the Second Trans-Jordan Raid (30 April – 4 May), the Battle of
Abu Tellul (14 July) and the capture of Amman (25 September).[14]

After the Armistice of Mudros, the division was withdrawn to Egypt. The Australian brigades departed for
home in March and April 1919 and the New Zealanders by the end of July.[14] The brigade was broken up
some time after April 1919.[11]

2nd Line

In accordance with the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (7 Edw.7, c.9) which brought the Territorial
Force into being, the TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members
could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914,
many members volunteered for Imperial Service. Therefore, TF units were split into 1st Line (liable for
overseas service) and 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. 2nd
Line units performed the home defence role, although in fact most of these were also posted abroad in due
course.[6]

Unlike almost all of the other Territorial Force RHA Batteries, the Ayrshire RHA did not form a 2nd line in
the First World War.[6][d]

Post war

The Ayrshire Royal Horse Artillery was not reconstituted in the Territorial Force in 1920.[19]

See also
List of Territorial Force horse artillery batteries 1908

Notes
a. III Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.) was formed at the same time with Leicestershire
Battery, RHA (T.F.) and Somerset Battery, RHA (T.F.).[11]
b. 22nd Mounted Brigade was originally designated as the North Midland Mounted Brigade.
Leicestershire RHA had been formed in 1908 for this brigade[3] and was mobilised with it in
1914.[4]
 c. Frederick[11] makes clear that XVIII Brigade was distinct from IV Brigade and was not IV
Brigade redesignated.
d. The West Riding Royal Horse Artillery was the only other Territorial Force RHA battery that did
not form a 2nd line in the First World War.[19]

References
1. Westlake 1992, p. 3
2. Westlake 1992, p. 5
3. Frederick 1984, p. 673
4. Conrad, Mark (1996). "The British Army, 1914" (http://marksrussianmilitaryhistory.info/BRIT14.
html). Retrieved 27 November 2013.
5. Clarke 2004, p. 23
6. Baker, Chris. "The Royal Horse Artillery" (http://www.1914-1918.net/rha.htm). The Long, Long
Trail. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
7. Rinaldi 2008, p. 59
8. James 1978, p. 35
9. Becke 1936, p. 111
10. "Essex RHA (TF)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20131211063111/http://1914-1918.invisionzon
e.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=164721). The Great War Forum. 15 June 2011. Archived
from the original (http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=164721) on
11 December 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
11. Frederick 1984, p. 449
12. Perry 1992, p. 51
13. "New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade" (http://alh-research.tripod.com/Light_Horse/index.blog?
topic_id=1112524). Australian Light Horse Studies Centre. 10 February 2010. Retrieved
18 December 2013.
14. Perry 1992, p. 52
15. Farndale 1988, p. 83
16. Becke 1936, p. 34
17. Farndale 1988, p. 90
18. Farndale 1988, p. 95
19. Frederick 1984, p. 686

Bibliography
Becke, Major A.F. (1936). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2A. The Territorial Force Mounted
Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56). London: His Majesty's Stationery
Office. ISBN 1-871167-12-4.
Clarke, Dale (2004). British Artillery 1914–19 Field Army Artillery. Volume 94 of New Vanguard
Series. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-688-7.
Farndale, General Sir Martin (1988). The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base, 1914–18.
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Woolwich: The Royal Artillery Institution. ISBN 1-
870114-05-1.
Frederick, J.B.M. (1984). Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978. Wakefield,
Yorkshire: Microform Academic Publishers. ISBN 1-85117-009-X.
James, Brigadier E.A. (1978). British Regiments 1914–18. London: Samson Books Limited.
ISBN 0-906304-03-2.
 Perry, F.W. (1992). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5A. The Divisions of Australia, Canada and
New Zealand and those in East Africa. Newport: Ray Westlake Military Books. ISBN 1-871167-
25-6.
Rinaldi, Richard A (2008). Order of Battle of the British Army 1914. Ravi Rikhye. ISBN 978-0-
97760728-0.
Westlake, Ray (1992). British Territorial Units 1914–18. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-
168-7.

External links
The Royal Horse Artillery on The Long, Long Trail (http://www.1914-1918.net/rha.htm)
The Great War Royal Horse Artillery (https://web.archive.org/web/20070816152327/http://ww
w.regiments.org/regiments/uk/volmil-england/varty/bk-rha.htm)

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