Introduction

By the Seven Year' s War, British artillery was well on the way to becoming an efficient and professional organization ready to stand alongside the other two arms as an equal. The stages on the way to this were its founding as a permanent body in 1716, its Royal status in 1722, the establishment of a regimental staff, the founding of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1741 and the setting up of a Cadet Company for trainee officers in 1744 where the young gentlemen were subject to uniformed military discipline after an unfortunate visit by Cumberland where they appeared as an unruly mob. This provided a trained officer corps some of who became celebrated for their exploits and who went on to command bodies of all arms later. However, the Regiment was not completely integrated into the Crown's armed forces.

The Board of Ordnance was still largely responsible for it and Commissions came from the Master General of the Ordnance and not the King. While ranks were being aligned with those in the rest of the Army, they were still distinct reflecting the craft and technical nature of the work. Ranks at Company level were - CaptainLieutenant, Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant Fire Worker, Cadet, Sergeant, Corporal, Bombardier, Gunner, Matross and Drummer. There was no purchase of Commissions so promotion was by seniority, which could be inefficient and slow. Much of the work expected of the men was highly skilled as they manufactured the ammunition used in the guns in the laboratories set up whenever the army stayed for a time. A great variety of ammunition was required especially for siege warfare. The standard field guns used round shot and canister attached to their cartridges for efficient firing but portfires, fuses, light shells, carcasses and many other items were made including, of course, fireworks for display. The material for these things was naturally highly dangerous.

The Artillery's performance in the War brought general praise and apart from its essential role in battles and sieges all over the world its intervention was often crucial as at Minden in 1759.

Organization

The basic units were the Battalion and the Company. Both were administrative units not tactical. Officers and men were detached from the Companies for specific tasks often in very small numbers.

In 1754, when hostilities began in practice, the Regiment had ten Companies (plus the Cadet Company) stationed around widespread British possessions, Five were at Woolwich or Greenwich, one at Gibraltar, one at Minorca, one at Halifax Nova Scotia, one at Perth and one at St. Johns', Newfoundland. Detachments from these served at various stations in the locality. Other small detachments served the mortars on the Navy's bomb vessels.

When forces were sent on expeditions, artillery officers and men were sent with them on detachment from available Companies. A detachment under Captain-Lieutenant Hislop of 6 officers, 12 cadets and 54 other ranks were sent with the 39th Foot to India in the Spring of 1754 and a similar detachment under Captain-Lieutenant Hind of 6 officers and cadets and 60 other ranks crossed the Atlantic early in 1755 to join Braddock's forces. From 1755 a steady increase in the number of companies began as hostilities started in earnest. In 1757, there were 24 Companies and they were divided into 2 Battalions and a third battalion was formed in 1759 reaching a maximum of 46 Companies in 1763. There was also a Company raised on the Irish Establishment as well but this doesn't seem to have served overseas.

The Regiment was responsible for two other types of technical troops as well - miners and pontonniers. In 1756, a Company of Miners was raised under Captain Phillips by sending recruiting parties to Cornwall for tin miners and Newcastle-on-Tyne for coal miners. 114 and 115 men respectively were brought back. The Company was intended for the defense of St. Philip's Castle at Minorca but only reached Gibraltar too late save it from the French. These men were distributed among the other Companies and appear all over the place where their skills were required, at Louisburg, Belle-Isle and Havana among others. Another miner company was raised in 1760 specifically to destroy Louisburg. The pontoons marched with the artillery train but their exact relationship is not clear to me. The men were like the miners recruited from already skilled workers such as Thames watermen.

The Ordnance

The Board of Ordnance can be characterized as the supplier of artillery services to the Army and Navy. It had many other duties which are not directly relevant to the artillery but were a fruitful source of bureaucratic dispute in true eighteenth century fashion. The complete list of stores for the forces sent to America under Braddock and printed in Pargellis' Military Affairs in America is an eye opener. The Board provided the guns, ammunition, transport etc. and through the Master Gunner the gunners to serve them. One measure of this independence is that the artillery wore blue not red coats. Its mark was the broad arrow used almost to the present day. The Board made gun barrels in the Royal Brass Foundry and ammunition etc. at the Laboratory both at Woolwich but it also bought in barrels and stores. Most barrels and equipment were stored in the Tower of London until issued.

By the 1750s. the nature of the ordnance had been rationalized but it is difficult to systematize what was available. There was no system like that of the Austrians. The British artilleryman had a considerable choice of pieces for any particular job, however. First, there were the guns in calibers ranging from 1'/2 pounds, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 32, up to 42 pound shot weight. Within these categories or `natures' there were light, medium and heavy. They could be cast in "brass" or iron. Furthermore, different designs existed within these categories and as pieces did not go out of date quickly, old patterns could be used.

Second, there were the shell firing weapons -- the howitzers and mortars in sizes starting with the Coehorn's of 4.6 in. caliber, "Royals" of 5.5 in., 8 in., 10 in, and 13 in. mortar only. These were cast in brass.

Amongst that lot we can identify the most commonly used pieces. Guns attached to the infantry battalions were the most common. By the 1750s this was the short 6 pdr. with a barrel of 4 1/2 feet in length weighing 4 3/4 cwt. It could be drawn by 2 horses. There were 34 of these in Germany in 1762. 3 pdrs were used as a substitute or in difficult terrain. These could possibly be "gallopers" with the trail replaced by shafts for the horse. The standard field gun was the light 12 pdr of 5 ft. in length and 9 cwt, in weight drawn by 5 horses. These guns were quite mobile and could change position during a battle. Other guns encountered were heavy 6 pdrs. heavy 12 pdrs and medium 24 pdrs. The latter two as part of the siege train. These seem to be the guns of choice and were in Germany in 1762. Coehorn mortars and howitzers and Royal howitzers were used in the field as well and the heavier ones were used in sieges.

Sieges required heavier pieces. The classic piece was the 24 pdr. but the iron 12 pdr. was common and the heavier mortars and howitzers were essential parts of the siege train. Many of the sieges carried out by the British were of coastal fortifications e.g. Louisburg, Belle-Isle, Havana, and the Royal Navy was called upon to provide heavy guns and crews from the Fleet as well as its practical expertise in all sorts of matters, especially in moving heavy equipment. Naval gun carriages were usually painted a dull red.

The carriages of the pieces were of different kinds according to size and function. Garrison carriages were very similar to naval carriages with short sides and four small wheels called trucks which on garrison carriages were of cast iron. They were used as the static defenses of forts. In the field, a traveling carriage was used for all types of pieces. Basically consisting of two spoked wheels, an axle tree and a trail of two shaped planks joined by crosspieces all of wood with metal fittings. The exact size depended on the nature of the piece. Battering pieces had large and long carriages, howitzers, short and thick and the common field pieces something in between. The smaller field pieces were elevated by a screw mechanism and had ammunition boxes attached to the axle tree on each side of the trail. Mortars had a distinct carriage which consisted of a solid block of wood into which the barrel was set. They were carried in wagons.

Another type of carriage was the galloper, which had shafts for a horse instead of a trail but this could only be used for 1 1/2 or 3 pdr. barrels as the shafts could not absorb the recoil or transmit it to the ground like a proper trail. I don't think they were used in this war. 

The crews for these guns varied in number. A 6 pdr. would have a crew of 12 or 14 men. The large number was needed to move the gun around as it advanced with its infantry battalion. The drag rope men could be supplied from the infantry battalion and infantry men were used to man the guns during sieges. Heavier guns could not be moved except by horse teams and fewer men were needed to actually serve the gun -- around 8 although the gun could be fired with fewer.

One vital piece of equipment was the limber. This turned the gun into a four-wheeled vehicle which was easier to transport. It consisted of a pair of small wheels, an axle tree and shafts. No ammunition box was carried on it in British service. The biggest and strongest of the draught horses was harnessed into the shafts and the rest of the team were in tandem in front of it. With a large team these horses were usually harnessed in pairs but no pole draught was used. This is why the number of horses in a team is often an odd one.

The drivers and teams were not provided by the artillery but by private contractors. Although not under military discipline, their behavior was regulated. They seem to have been provided with clothing by their employers which served to identify them e.g. in 1756 a white smock with the letters OR in red on the back.

To accompany the guns was a range of vehicles provided by the board of Ordnance. A two-wheeled powder cart drawn by three horses was the most common. There was a four-wheeled ammunition wagon with basket work sides which could carry various items, a mobile forge and a cart or wagon to carry pontoons as well as more specialist equipment. These vehicles and carriages are described and illustrated in Mullers' Treatise of Artillery which shows a considerable amount of standardization of parts such as wheels. However, these only represented a small part of the vehicles needed by the army and the rest were made up by hiring and impressing any vehicle or driver that could be got.

All the guns and probably the Ordnance supplied vehicles, were painted a bluish gray lead color with black painted ironwork. It is possible that iron barrels were painted a red/black color and brass barrels were kept polished. The carriages were probably marked with their nature e.g. 12 Pd , the Royal cipher and crown and a number e.g. No 2. In Morier's very interesting painting of the camp at Roermond in 1749, he shows the markings in yellow paint on the gun trails. In the same painting he shows another interesting vehicle - the Kettledrum carriage. This elaborate vehicle of red, blue and gold drawn by six grays carried the kettledrums and accompanied the artillery into the field until 1759. It does not appear to have gone on campaign in the Seven Years War. However, one other tradition did survive and this was the flag gun.

Usually the most powerful piece in the train, it had fittings for a union flag to be mounted on it on the march and in camp. In 1759, a detachment of grenadiers with a 12 pdr. flag gun took over guard duties when Quebec surrendered, so the practice was still in use. In the same way, one of the wagons carried the flag of the Board of Ordnance which was also flown on its hired ships.

Conclusion

Wherever the British army fought during this War, the Royal Artillery went too to provide a vital support function which it was now capable of supplying with great efficiency.

References

Caruana, Adrian. British Artillery Ammunition 1780.
Duncan, Maj.Francis. A History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery Vol I.
Hughes, B,P. Firepower.
McConnell, David. British Smoothbore Artillery: A Technological Study.
Peterson, Harold L. Roundshot and Rammers.
Whitworth, Rex (Ed). Gunner at Large

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