1st Argyll and Bute Artillery Volunteers
military unit
The 1st Argyll & Bute Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery formed in Scotland in 1860 in response to a French invasion threat. It 1908 it became the only Mountain Artillery unit in the Territorial Force, and saw action at Gallipoli and Salonika during the First World War. Before the Second World War, it became the first Territorial anti-tank unit. One of its successor units was captured at Saint-Valery-en-Caux, during the Battle of France, but others saw action in the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and in North West Europe from D Day to VE Day. The latter included the Battle of Arnhem and the crossing of the Rhine. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1955.
Artillery Volunteers
The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle and Artillery Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. The 1st Administrative Brigade, Argyll Artillery Volunteers, was formed with headquarters (HQ) at Oban, on 10 October 1861 to include the following corps of Argyllshire Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVCs):
1st Corps formed at Easdale on 7 March 1860 (two batteries)
2nd Corps formed at Tarbert, Loch Fyne, on 12 April 1860 (disbanded 1862)
3rd Corps formed at Oban on 8 March 1860
4th Corps formed at West Tarbert on 12 April 1860; moved to Dunmore 1864, and Ronachan 1866 (disbanded 1874)
5th Corps formed at Ardgour on 16 January 1861 (one subdivision, disbanded in 1865)
6th Corps formed at Campbeltown on 11 February 1861 (Increased to two batteries, 1870)
7th Corps formed at Port Ellen, Islay, on 3 July 1861
8th Corps formed at South Hall on 10 September 1861; moved to Castle Toward 1878.
9th Corps formed at Tobermory, Mull on 15 May 1862 (Reduced to a half -battery, 1874).
10th Corps formed at Lochgilphead on 15 May 1862
11th Corps formed at Tarbet on 13 February 1866
12th Corps formed at Inveraray on 2 April 1867 (Recruited from men of the Furnace Quarries)
The 1st Bute Artillery Volunteers at Rothesay (raised on 20 March 1862) joined the unit on 20 March 1863, and the 2nd Bute Artillery Volunteers from Millport, Cumbrae, joined on formation on 5 October 1867.
“1st Argyll and Bute Artillery Volunteers” enters the record as military unit. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Argyll, Bute and Artillery can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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