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Southern Command (United Kingdom)

January 07, 2023

Southern Command was a Command of the British Army.

Southern Command
Active1793–1972
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeCommand
Size62,000 troops
Garrison/HQPortsmouth (1793-1901)
Tidworth Camp (1901-1949)
Fugglestone St Peter (1949-1972)

Nineteenth century

 
Government House, Grand Parade, Portsmouth, command headquarters from 1793 to 1826
 
Government House, High Street, Portsmouth, command headquarters from 1826 to 1882
 
Government House, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, command headquarters from 1882 to 1901
 
Tidworth Camp, command headquarters from 1901 to 1949
 
Erskine Barracks, Fugglestone St Peter, command headquarters from 1949 to 1972

Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793.[1] By the 1830s the command included the counties of Kent and Sussex (the original Southern District during the Napoleonic Wars) as well as Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire (the original South Inland District) and Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset (the original South-West District) and Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire (the original Severn District).[2]

The role of South-West District Commander, which was doubled hatted with that of Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth, was originally based at Government House in Grand Parade in Portsmouth.[3] This building became very dilapidated and a new Government House was established in the High Street in Portsmouth in 1826.[4][5] In January 1876 a ‘Mobilization Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland’ was published, with the ‘Active Army’ divided into eight army corps based on the District Commands. 5th Corps was to be formed within Southern Command, based at Salisbury. This scheme disappeared in 1881, when the districts were retitled ‘District Commands.[6] A third Government House, which was built in red brick on Cambridge Road in Portsmouth, was completed in 1882.[3]

Twentieth century

The 1901 Army Estimates introduced by St John Brodrick allowed for six army corps based on six regional commands. As outlined in a paper published in 1903, II Corps was to be formed in a reconstituted Southern Command, with HQ at Salisbury Plain.[7] Lieutenant General Sir Evelyn Wood was appointed acting General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOCinC) of Southern Command on 1 October 1901.[8] Southern Command was initially based at Tidworth Camp.[9]

First World War

At the end of 1914, Lieutenant General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, the GOCinC, left Southern Command to form II Corps in France, and Lieutenant General William Campbell was placed in command.[10] On 8 March 1916, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Sclater, took charge of Southern Command. Sclater served as GOC-in-C there until May 1919.[11]

Second World War

In 1939 regular troops reporting to Southern Command included 1st Armoured Division, based at Andover, and 3rd Infantry Division, based at Bulford.[12] Other Regular Troops reporting to Southern Command at war time included:[12]

Post War

The command moved to Erskine Barracks near Fugglestone St Peter in Wiltshire in 1949.[13][14] From 1955 to 1961 it included the TA 30th Anti-Aircraft Brigade with its headquarters at Edenbridge in Kent.[15]

In 1968, a new command (Army Strategic Command) was formed at Erskine Barracks, largely staffed by the Southern Command personnel already based there. At the same time a new HQ Southern Command was established at Hounslow Barracks, into which was merged HQ Eastern Command (which was thence disestablished as a separate command).[16] This new, expanded Southern Command, with geographical responsibility across the old Eastern and Southern command areas, was itself merged into HQ UK Land Forces (HQ UKLF) in 1972.[17]

Formation sign variants

During the Second World War and after, Southern Command, in common with other UK Commands, used its formation sign as a badge, (or flash) on uniforms. The HQ sign itself (see top of this article) with its horizontal red, black, red background colouring indicated an army level command, on which were five stars of the Southern Cross. Uniquely in Southern Command the background colour of the shield, and occasionally the stars, was changed to show the colours of the service corps of the personnel, other commands used their formation sign with an arm of service stripe (1⁄4 inch (0.64 cm) thick) below it. The various designs and changes for visibility or similarity are shown below.[18]

General Officers Commanding

GOCs have included:[19][20][21]
General Officer Commanding South-West District

General Officer Commanding Southern District

Commander Second Army Corps

In 1901 Second Army Corps was formed, with South East District at Dover, Southern District at Portsmouth and Western District at Devonport under command.

General Officer Commanding Southern Command

References

  1. ^ Robert Burnham and Ron McGuigan, The British Army Against Napoleon: Facts, Lists and Trivia, 1805–1815 (2010) p. 7.
  2. ^ Adolphus, John (1818). "The political state of the British empire: Containing a General View of the Domestic and Foreign Possessions of the Crown; the Laws, Commerce, Revenues, Offices, and Other Establishments, Civil and Military". University of Michigan Library. p. 363.
  3. ^ a b Quail, Sarah (2014). Portsmouth in the Great War. Pen & Sword. ISBN 978-1783462766.
  4. ^ Smythies, p. 442
  5. ^ "Saxe Weimar Road" (PDF). Portsmouth Encyclopaedia. p. 316. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  6. ^ Army List 1876–1881.
  7. ^ Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
  8. ^ "A command for Sir Evelyn Wood". The Times. No. 36552. London. 5 September 1901. p. 4.
  9. ^ General Sir Ian Hamilton at the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  10. ^ "William Campbell". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.
  11. ^ . Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011.
  12. ^ a b Patriot Files
  13. ^ 'Fugglestone St Peter', in A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 37-50 online
  14. ^ Subterranea Britannica
  15. ^ "Anti-Aircraft Brigades 30-66". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  16. ^ Kneen, J. M.; Sutton, D. J. (1996). Craftsmen of the Army: The Story of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Volume 2: 1969-1992. London: Leo Cooper. p. 253.
  17. ^ "Army Command Structure (United Kingdom)". Hansard. 17 December 1970. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  18. ^ Cole p. 18
  19. ^ Whitaker's Almanacks 1905 - 1972
  20. ^
  21. ^ "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  22. ^ Henry Colburn, The United Service Magazine, vol. 29 (1839) p. 111.
  23. ^ "Wood, Sir (Henry) Evelyn (1838–1919), army officer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37000. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Sources

  • Cole, Howard (1973). Formation Badges of World War 2. Britain, Commonwealth and Empire. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-0853680789.
  • Smythies, Raymond Henry (1894). Historical Records of the 40th (2nd Somersetshire) Regiment. A. W. Swiss. p. 442.

External links

  • Southern Command (1930-38) at www.BritishMilitaryHistory.co.uk
  • Southern Command (1939) at www.BritishMilitaryHistory.co.uk

January 07, 2023
southern, command, united, kingdom, southern, command, command, british, army, southern, commandactive1793, 1972country, united, kingdombranchbritish, armytypecommandsize62, troopsgarrison, hqportsmouth, 1793, 1901, tidworth, camp, 1901, 1949, fugglestone, pet. Southern Command was a Command of the British Army Southern CommandActive1793 1972Country United KingdomBranchBritish ArmyTypeCommandSize62 000 troopsGarrison HQPortsmouth 1793 1901 Tidworth Camp 1901 1949 Fugglestone St Peter 1949 1972 Contents 1 Nineteenth century 2 Twentieth century 2 1 First World War 2 2 Second World War 2 3 Post War 2 4 Formation sign variants 3 General Officers Commanding 4 References 5 Sources 6 External linksNineteenth century Edit Government House Grand Parade Portsmouth command headquarters from 1793 to 1826 Government House High Street Portsmouth command headquarters from 1826 to 1882 Government House Cambridge Road Portsmouth command headquarters from 1882 to 1901 Tidworth Camp command headquarters from 1901 to 1949 Erskine Barracks Fugglestone St Peter command headquarters from 1949 to 1972 Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793 1 By the 1830s the command included the counties of Kent and Sussex the original Southern District during the Napoleonic Wars as well as Bedfordshire Northamptonshire Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire the original South Inland District and Hampshire Wiltshire and Dorset the original South West District and Gloucestershire Worcestershire and Herefordshire the original Severn District 2 The role of South West District Commander which was doubled hatted with that of Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth was originally based at Government House in Grand Parade in Portsmouth 3 This building became very dilapidated and a new Government House was established in the High Street in Portsmouth in 1826 4 5 In January 1876 a Mobilization Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland was published with the Active Army divided into eight army corps based on the District Commands 5th Corps was to be formed within Southern Command based at Salisbury This scheme disappeared in 1881 when the districts were retitled District Commands 6 A third Government House which was built in red brick on Cambridge Road in Portsmouth was completed in 1882 3 Twentieth century EditThe 1901 Army Estimates introduced by St John Brodrick allowed for six army corps based on six regional commands As outlined in a paper published in 1903 II Corps was to be formed in a reconstituted Southern Command with HQ at Salisbury Plain 7 Lieutenant General Sir Evelyn Wood was appointed acting General Officer Commanding in Chief GOCinC of Southern Command on 1 October 1901 8 Southern Command was initially based at Tidworth Camp 9 First World War Edit At the end of 1914 Lieutenant General Sir Horace Smith Dorrien the GOCinC left Southern Command to form II Corps in France and Lieutenant General William Campbell was placed in command 10 On 8 March 1916 Lieutenant General Sir Henry Sclater took charge of Southern Command Sclater served as GOC in C there until May 1919 11 Second World War Edit In 1939 regular troops reporting to Southern Command included 1st Armoured Division based at Andover and 3rd Infantry Division based at Bulford 12 Other Regular Troops reporting to Southern Command at war time included 12 8th Royal Tank Regiment 9th Field Regiment Royal Artillery 6 23 Field Battery 12th Field Regiment Royal Artillery 3rd Medium Regiment Royal Artillery 4th Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery 1st Survey Regiment Royal Artillery 2nd Survey Regiment Royal Artillery 2nd Searchlight Regiment Royal ArtilleryPost War Edit The command moved to Erskine Barracks near Fugglestone St Peter in Wiltshire in 1949 13 14 From 1955 to 1961 it included the TA 30th Anti Aircraft Brigade with its headquarters at Edenbridge in Kent 15 In 1968 a new command Army Strategic Command was formed at Erskine Barracks largely staffed by the Southern Command personnel already based there At the same time a new HQ Southern Command was established at Hounslow Barracks into which was merged HQ Eastern Command which was thence disestablished as a separate command 16 This new expanded Southern Command with geographical responsibility across the old Eastern and Southern command areas was itself merged into HQ UK Land Forces HQ UKLF in 1972 17 Formation sign variants Edit During the Second World War and after Southern Command in common with other UK Commands used its formation sign as a badge or flash on uniforms The HQ sign itself see top of this article with its horizontal red black red background colouring indicated an army level command on which were five stars of the Southern Cross Uniquely in Southern Command the background colour of the shield and occasionally the stars was changed to show the colours of the service corps of the personnel other commands used their formation sign with an arm of service stripe 1 4 inch 0 64 cm thick below it The various designs and changes for visibility or similarity are shown below 18 Southern Command Royal Armoured Corps Vertical Red Yellow halves with white stars Southern Command Royal Regiment of Artillery Vertical Blue Red halves with white stars Southern Command Royal Engineers Red with a blue diagonal line and white stars Southern Command Royal Corps of Signals Vertical Blue white halves with white stars Southern Command Infantry Red with white stars Southern Command Royal Army Medical Corps Maroon with white stars Southern Command Royal Army Service Corps first pattern Yellow with white stars Southern Command Royal Army Service Corps second pattern Vertical Blue yellow halves with white stars Southern Command Royal Army Ordnance Corps first pattern Blue with white stars Southern Command Royal Army Ordnance Corps second pattern Red with a vertical blue stripe and white stars Southern Command Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Three vertical red yellow blue stripes with blue vertical stars and two white outer stars Southern Command Corps of Military Police Vertical red black halves with white stars Southern Command Royal Army Dental Corps Vertical green white halves with white stars Southern Command Royal Army Pay Corps Yellow with blue stars Southern Command Army Education Corps first pattern Light blue with white stars Southern Command Army Education Corps second pattern Dark blue with light blue stars Southern Command Royal Pioneer Corps Vertical green red halves with white stars Southern Command Intelligence Corps Green with white stars Southern Command Army Physical Training Corps Black with red stars Southern Command Auxiliary Territorial Service Brown with a green border and light brown stars Southern Command Army Catering Corps Grey with yellow stars Southern Command miscellaneous units post WW2 Black over red horiztontal split General Officers Commanding EditGOCs have included 19 20 21 General Officer Commanding South West District 1793 1796 Colonel Thomas Trigge 1796 1799 Lieutenant General Cornelius Cuyler February June 1799 Major General Thomas Murray 1799 1804 Major General John Whitelocke 1804 1805 Colonel Hildebrand Oakes June December 1805 Major General Hon John Hope 1805 1808 Major General Sir George Prevost 1808 1813 Major General Arthur Whetham May July 1813 Lieutenant General Hon Thomas Maitland January September 1814 Major General William Houston 1814 1819 Major General Kenneth Howard August October 1819 Major General Sir James Kempt 1819 1821 Major General Sir George Cooke 1821 1828 Major General Sir James Lyon 1828 1834 Major General Sir Colin Campbell 1834 1839 Major General Sir Thomas McMahon 1839 1846 Major General Sir Hercules Robert Pakenham 22 1847 1851 Lieutenant General Lord Frederick FitzClarence 1851 1852 Major General Sir George D Aguilar 1852 1855 Major General Sir James Simpson 1855 1857 Major General Henry William Breton 1857 1860 Lieutenant General the Hon Sir James Scarlett 1860 1865 Major General Lord William PauletGeneral Officer Commanding Southern District 1865 1870 Lieutenant General Sir George Buller 1870 1874 General Viscount Templetown 1874 1877 General Sir Charles Hastings Doyle 1877 1878 General Sir John Garvock 1878 1884 General Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar Eisenach 1884 1889 General Sir George Willis 1889 1890 General the Hon Sir Leicester Smyth 1890 1893 Lieutenant General the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn 1893 1898 Major General Sir John Davis 1898 1903 Lieutenant General Sir Baker Creed Russell 1903 1904 Major General Robert MontgomeryCommander Second Army CorpsIn 1901 Second Army Corps was formed with South East District at Dover Southern District at Portsmouth and Western District at Devonport under command 1901 1904 Lieutenant General Sir Evelyn Wood 23 General Officer Commanding Southern Command 1905 1909 Lieutenant General Sir Ian Hamilton 1909 1912 Lieutenant General Sir Charles Douglas 1912 1914 Lieutenant General Sir Horace Smith Dorrien 1914 1916 Lieutenant General Sir William Campbell 1916 1919 Lieutenant General Sir Henry Sclater 1919 1922 Lieutenant General Sir George Harper 1923 1924 Lieutenant General Sir Walter Congreve 1924 1928 Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Godley 1928 1931 Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Montgomery Massingberd 1931 1933 Lieutenant General Sir Cecil Romer 1933 1934 Lieutenant General Sir Percy Radcliffe 1934 1938 Lieutenant General Sir John Burnett Stuart 1938 1939 Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Wavell July August 1939 Lieutenant General Sir Alan Brooke September 1939 June 1940 Lieutenant General Sir Bertie Fisher June July 1940 Lieutenant General Sir Alan Brooke July November 1940 Lieutenant General Sir Claude Auchinleck December 1940 February 1942 Lieutenant General Sir Harold Alexander March 1942 February 1944 Lieutenant General Sir Charles Loyd February 1944 February 1945 Lieutenant General Sir William Morgan March June 1945 Lieutenant General Sir Sidney Kirkman 1945 1947 Lieutenant General Sir John Crocker 1947 1948 Lieutenant General Sir John Harding 1949 1952 Lieutenant General Sir Ouvry Roberts 1952 1955 Lieutenant General Sir Ernest Down 1955 1958 Lieutenant General Sir George Erskine 1958 1961 Lieutenant General Sir Nigel Poett 1961 1963 Lieutenant General Sir Robert Bray 1964 1966 Lieutenant General Sir Kenneth Darling 1966 1968 Lieutenant General Sir Geoffrey Baker 1968 Lieutenant General Sir John Mogg 1968 1969 Lieutenant General Sir David Peel Yates 1969 1971 Lieutenant General Sir Michael Carver 1971 1972 Lieutenant General Sir Basil EugsterReferences Edit Robert Burnham and Ron McGuigan The British Army Against Napoleon Facts Lists and Trivia 1805 1815 2010 p 7 Adolphus John 1818 The political state of the British empire Containing a General View of the Domestic and Foreign Possessions of the Crown the Laws Commerce Revenues Offices and Other Establishments Civil and Military University of Michigan Library p 363 a b Quail Sarah 2014 Portsmouth in the Great War Pen amp Sword ISBN 978 1783462766 Smythies p 442 Saxe Weimar Road PDF Portsmouth Encyclopaedia p 316 Retrieved 22 November 2015 Army List 1876 1881 Col John K Dunlop The Development of the British Army 1899 1914 London Methuen 1938 A command for Sir Evelyn Wood The Times No 36552 London 5 September 1901 p 4 General Sir Ian Hamilton at the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives William Campbell Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives Sclater Sir Henry Crichton Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives Archived from the original on 5 February 2011 a b Patriot Files Fugglestone St Peter in A History of the County of Wiltshire Volume 6 1962 pp 37 50 online Subterranea Britannica Anti Aircraft Brigades 30 66 British Army units 1945 on Retrieved 28 January 2022 Kneen J M Sutton D J 1996 Craftsmen of the Army The Story of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Volume 2 1969 1992 London Leo Cooper p 253 Army Command Structure United Kingdom Hansard 17 December 1970 Retrieved 15 December 2015 Cole p 18 Whitaker s Almanacks 1905 1972 Southern Command at Regiments org Army Commands PDF Retrieved 21 November 2015 Henry Colburn The United Service Magazine vol 29 1839 p 111 Wood Sir Henry Evelyn 1838 1919 army officer Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 37000 Subscription or UK public library membership required Sources EditCole Howard 1973 Formation Badges of World War 2 Britain Commonwealth and Empire London Arms and Armour Press ISBN 978 0853680789 Smythies Raymond Henry 1894 Historical Records of the 40th 2nd Somersetshire Regiment A W Swiss p 442 External links EditSouthern Command 1930 38 at www BritishMilitaryHistory co uk Southern Command 1939 at www BritishMilitaryHistory co uk Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Southern Command United Kingdom amp oldid 1118320477, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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