Glamorgan Fortress Royal Engineers
military unit
The Glamorgan Fortress Royal Engineers was a Welsh Territorial Army (TA) unit of Britain's Royal Engineers, first raised in 1885 as a Volunteer unit of Submarine Miners to defend the Severn Estuary. During World War I, it carried out defence work in England and Gibraltar, and detachments served on the Western Front. In World War II, it served in the North African campaign, including the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the Allied invasion of Sicily. Postwar, the unit continued in the TA until 1961.
Origin
When Lt-Gen Sir Andrew Clarke, Inspector-General of Fortifications 1882–6, did not have enough Regular Royal Engineers (RE) to man the fixed mines being installed to defend British seaports, he utilised the Volunteer Engineers for this task. After successful trials, the system was rolled out to ports around the country. In 1885 the 1st Gloucestershire (The Western Counties) Engineer Volunteers, Royal Engineers formed a company at Cardiff to cover the Severn Estuary. Under the new Volunteer Regulations of 1887, several officers of the unit gained certificates in signalling.
In 1888, the submarine miners were constituted into a separate branch of the RE Volunteers, and the company became the Severn Division Submarine Miners, ranking second in the list of volunteer submarine mining divisions. By 1895, the unit consisted of three companies, based at 10 Charles Street, Cardiff.
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