32nd Divisional Artillery
military unit
The 32nd Divisional Artillery (32nd DA) was a Royal Artillery force raised as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in early 1915. Recruited in Yorkshire, originally for the 31st Division, the units served with the 'Pals battalions' of the 32nd Division on the Western Front for three years. They saw action at the Somme, the pursuit to the Hindenburg Line, the German spring offensive, and the Allied Hundred Days Offensive.
Background
On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army, and the newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'. The flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the army to absorb and organise them, and by the time the Fifth New Army (K5) was authorised on 10 December 1914, many of the units were being organised as 'local units' or 'Pals battalions' under the auspices of mayors and recruiting committees at towns up and down the country.
Recruitment
The six K5 divisions were to be numbered 37th to 42nd, and the 38th Division was formed from Pals battalions raised in the North of England such as the Accrington Pals, the Sheffield City Battalion, and a whole brigade of Hull Pals. The first artillery unit assigned to the division was the CLV (West Yorkshire) Brigade (155th Bde) of the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), raised by the Leeds-based West Yorkshire Coal Owners' Association for which authority was given by the War Office (WO) on 1 February 1915. Shortly afterwards the other RFA brigades for this division were raised from Yorkshire towns by Major Ernest Meysey-Thompson, MP:
CLXI (or 161st) (Yorkshire) Brigade, RFA, authorised 10 March 1915, recruited from York, Scarborough and Wakefield
CLXIV (or 164th) (Rotherham) Howitzer Brigade, RFA, authorised 9 April 1915
CLXVIII (or 168th) (Huddersfield) Brigade, RFA, authorised 20 April 1915
The Divisional Ammunition Column (DAC) was recruited from the Hull City Police and Hull Corporation Tramways Depot by Lord Nunburnholme, Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire and Chairman of the East Riding Territorial Association, who had already raised the Hull Pals battalions and the 11th (Hull) Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) in September 1914. The same WO authorisation (3 February) also included the 124th (Hull) Heavy Battery, RGA, for the division.
The public source identifies “32nd Divisional Artillery” as military unit. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around 32nd, Divisional and Artillery.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “32nd Divisional Artillery”, the useful work is to connect “military unit” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q104873405. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1915 and 1914.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “32nd Divisional Artillery”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 32nd Divisional Artillery primary sources, 32nd Divisional Artillery archive and 32nd research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “32nd Divisional Artillery”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “32nd Divisional Artillery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.