Artillery, Royal Regiment of

Is the collective name for the whole of the artillery belonging to the British army. There was no regular regiment or corps of artillery soldiers in the British army till the time of Queen Anne, when the present royal regiment was formed. Since that period, from some anomaly which is not easily explained, all the additions have been made to the same regiment, instead of forming new regiments, to be combined into a division or corps. The regiment is now almost an entire army in itself, and to increase the anomaly, it comprises horse as well as foot. Formerly the foot was divided into battalions and companies, and the horse into troops, but these terms have been abolished, in favor of brigade and battery, which apply both to horse and foot artillery. The regiment now consists of 33,500 men, thus distributed: | 6 | brigades, | horse artillery, | 30 | batteries. | | 8 | „ | field artillery, | 62 | „ | | 14 | „ | garrison art., | 103 | „ | | 3 | „ | mixed artillery, | 19 | „ | | 214 | | | 1 | „ | coast artillery not in batteries. | | 1 | „ | depot artillery | „ | „ | Of the above, the field, garrison, and mixed are foot artillery. This force represents from 1200 to 1300 guns fully equipped for action. Of the foot artillery, the garrison batteries are readily converted to field batteries by the addition of a few drivers.