Aldershot Command Explained

Unit Name:Aldershot Command
Type:Command
Branch: British Army
Dates:1881–1941
Garrison:Aldershot

Aldershot Command was a Home Command of the British Army.

History

After the success of the Chobham Manoeuvres of 1853, reformers of the British Army decided to create a permanent training camp at Aldershot. To begin the preliminary work a small party of NCOs and men of the Royal Engineers arrived in November 1853 on the site of the present Princes Gardens in the town making them the first soldiers to arrive in Aldershot. These engineers were responsible for surveying and making the preliminary arrangements for The Camp at Aldershot.[1] The Camp was established at Aldershot in 1854 on the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief, Viscount Hardinge.[2] [3] [4] During the Crimean War, regiments of Militia embodied for home defence were housed at the camp, and the Brigade of Guards used it for summer training, and were reviewed by Queen Victoria.[5]

After the Crimean War, a division of Regular troops was permanently based at Aldershot, and ‘the Division at Aldershot’ (including artillery at Christchurch, Hampshire, and cavalry at Hounslow, Middlesex), became one of the most important home commands of the British Army.[6] [7]

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 major Commands and Districts. 2nd Corps was to be formed within Aldershot Command, based at Aldershot. This scheme disappeared in 1881, when the districts were retitled ‘District Commands’.[8] In 1898 (when Queen Victoria's son, the Duke of Connaught, was General Officer Commanding (GOC)) Aldershot Command was ranked I on the list. A purpose-built command headquarters was completed in 1895.[9]

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, I Corps was to be formed in a reconstituted Aldershot Command, with HQ at Aldershot.[10] General Sir Redvers Buller was appointed acting General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOCinC) of I Corps in April 1903.[11]

Under Army Order No 28 of 1907 the Home Commands were reorganised to provide a basis for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).[12]

Composition of Aldershot Command 1907

The composition was as follows:[12]
1st Cavalry Brigade (Brig-Gen Hon Julian Byng)

1st Division (Maj-Gen James Grierson)

2nd Division (Maj-Gen Bruce Hamilton)

Army Troops

First World War

When the BEF was sent to France on the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Aldershot Command provided the basis for I Corps under Lieutenant-General Sir Douglas Haig.[13] The Territorial Force and Special Reserve then took over home defence, with the assembly of Central Force beginning on 18 August 1914. First Army of Central Force was headquartered at Aldershot, with the Highland Division (later 51st (Highland) Division) and Highland Mounted Brigade of the TF under command.[14] For the first two years of the war, command at Aldershot was divided between the Major-General, Administration (Major-General Alexander Hamilton-Gordon) and the commander of Aldershot Training Centre (General Sir Archibald Hunter). Aldershot Command was reinstated in 1916 under Hunter.

Second World War

See also: Structure of Aldershot Command in 1939.

In August 1939 its geographical area encompassed parts of the following four counties: Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex.[15] The exact boundaries were as follows: "From the River Loddon where crossed by the Southern Railway at Loddon Bridge (south-east of Reading) along the railway through Wokingham, Bracknell and Ascot to Sunningdale–thence the eastern boundaries of the parishes of Chobham and Horsell to the railway at Woking–thence southward along the railway (omitting the portions of the parishes of Guildford and Artington to the west of the railway and the three small portions of Sussex lying to the north of the railway) to Liss–thence northward along the road leading to Reading, through Selborne, Alton and Odiham (but inclusive of the portions of the parishes of Alton and Chawton lying west of that road)–to Swallowfield–thence along the River Loddon to Loddon Bridge."[15]

On the outbreak of the war in September 1939, the General Officer Commanding Aldershot Command was Lieutenant-General Sir John Dill.[15] Regular troops in the command included the 1st Infantry Division and 2nd Infantry Division.[16] A similar process to August 1914 was repeated when Dill became GOC I Corps in the new British Expeditionary Force which was despatched to France.[17] In the event of an invasion of the UK, it was intended that each command could form the basis for a field army. However, on the outbreak of the war, Aldershot Command was used to form I Corps and then became responsible for providing drafts for British Expeditionary Force.

Unlike the other Home Commands, Aldershot had no Coast divisions or other defence forces under its command, and was solely responsible for providing drafts and reserve formations.[18]

Following defeat during the Battle of France, the Army reorganised its forces based in the UK. For Aldershot Command, this resulted in being downgraded into Aldershot Area within the new South Eastern Command on 15 February 1941. The new formation was formed by the splitting of Eastern Command and absorbing Aldershot's geographical area.[19] South Eastern Command ceased to exist at the end of 1944,[20] and Aldershot was transferred to Southern Command, without its own GOC.[21]

Post-War

GOCs were appointed to Aldershot District from 1944 to 1967, when it disappeared in the reorganisation that led to Southern Command being redesignated GHQ UK Land Forces. From 1968, the HQ of South East District was at Aldershot; it was renamed Southern District in 1992, and HQ 4th Division in 1995.[22]

General Officers Commanding-in-Chief

Appointments as General Officers Commanding (GOC) and General Officers Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) have included:[23] [24] [25]

The Division at Aldershot

Aldershot District Command

Lieutenant-General Commanding Troops at Aldershot, and 1st Army Corps

In 1905 title changed to GOC-in-C.
In 1907 title changed to Aldershot Corps.
In 1908 became Aldershot Command again.

Aldershot Command

GOC and Major General Administration, Aldershot Command

GOC Aldershot Training Centre

Aldershot Command

South Eastern Command
Commanders included:[43]

Aldershot District

References

Works cited

Notes and References

  1. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000749 Aldershot Military Cemetery
  2. Hardinge, memorandum dated 23 Sept 1853: The National Archives, WO 33/1.
  3. Illustrated London News, 15 April 1854.
  4. Web site: Aldershot Military Museum . 2009-12-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091107020442/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/aldershott.htm . 2009-11-07 . dead .
  5. Illustrated London News, 1855 Volume I, pp 462, 469; 1855 Volume II, pp 22, 54, 452–3.
  6. Hart's Army List from 1857
  7. Monthly Army Lists.
  8. Army List 1876–1881.
  9. Web site: Neighbourhood Centre. Rushmoor Council. 6. 6 December 2015.
  10. Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
  11. Web site: Redvers Buller . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006204809/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-rt-hon-sir-redvers-buller.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  12. Col John J. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
  13. Brigadier-General Sir James Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium 1914, Volume I, (London: Macmillan, 3rd edn 1934; Woking: Shearer Publications, 1984 reprint) p 31.
  14. Brigadier-General Sir James Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium 1914, Volume II (London: Macmillan, 1925; Imperial War Museum/Battery Press reprint (nd)) p 5.
  15. Web site: War Office, Monthly Army List, August, 1939: Security Edition. 41. National Library of Scotland. 11 July 2023.
  16. http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=6688&page=1 Patriot Files
  17. Army List.
  18. Basil Collier, The Defence of the United Kingdom, London: HMSO 1957, p 77.
  19. Army Lists.
  20. http://www.petergh.f2s.com/flashes.html Flashes
  21. Quarterly Army List.
  22. Army Lists.
  23. Whitaker's Almanacks 1869 - 1972
  24. https://web.archive.org/web/20071122061637/http://www.regiments.org/formations/uk-cmdarmy/uk-aldst.htm Aldershot Command at Regiments.org
  25. http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf Army commands
  26. Web site: William Knollys . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006114913/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/lieutenant-general-sir-william-t-knollys.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  27. Web site: John Pennefather . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006114947/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/lieutenant-general-sir-john-l-pennefather.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  28. Web site: James Yorke Scarlett . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115014/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/lieutenant-general-sir-james-yorke-scarlett.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  29. Web site: James Grant . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115030/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-sir-james-hope-grant.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  30. Web site: Thomas Steele . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115205/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-sir-thomas-m-steele.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  31. Web site: Daniel Lysons . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115226/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-sir-daniel-lysons.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  32. Web site: Archibald Alison . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115258/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/lieutenant-general-sir-archibald-alison.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  33. http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/field-marshal-sir-evelyn-wood.htm Evelyn Wood
  34. Web site: Duke of Connaught . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115415/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-hrh-the-duke-of-connaught.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  35. Sir Redvers Buller relieved of his command. 23 October 1901 . 3 . 36593.
  36. Web site: John French . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006204836/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/field-marshal-sir-john-french.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  37. Web site: Horace Smith-Dorrien . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115518/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/lieutenant-general-sir-horace-smith-dorrien.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  38. Web site: Douglas Haig . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115626/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/field-marshal-earl-douglas-haig.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  39. Web site: Earl of Cavan . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115728/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-the-earl-of-cavan.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  40. Web site: Thomas Morland . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006115752/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/lieutenant-general-sir-t-l-n-morland.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  41. Web site: Philip Chetwode . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006120043/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-sir-phillip-chetwode.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  42. Web site: David Campbell . 2010-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006204621/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/military-biographies/general-sir-david-campbell.htm . 2012-10-06 . dead .
  43. http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/aqadmin/media/uploads/4b0979a5d683f_Aldershot%20Command%20History%20&%20Personnel.pdf British Military History: Aldershot Command

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