| Unit Name: | Southern Command |
| Type: | Command |
| Branch: | British Army |
| Dates: | 1793–1972 |
| Size: | 62,000 troops |
| Garrison: | Portsmouth (1793–1901) Tidworth Camp (1901–1949) Fugglestone St Peter (1949–1972) |
Southern Command was a Command of the British Army.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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 (NaNinch thick) below it. The various designs and changes for visibility or similarity are shown below.[18]
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