page_title: Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery
section_title: Artillery Volunteers 1859-1908
hierarchical_section_title: Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery / Artillery Volunteers 1859-1908
caption_attribution_description: English: A 40 Pounder RBL Armstrong gun being fired as a time gun, Woolwich, c1905
context_page_description: The Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery claims to be the oldest volunteer artillery unit of the British Army. It served coastal and siege guns in World War I and World War II, and also served in the infantry role.
context_section_description: The first artillery unit formed amid the enthusiasm that created the British Volunteer Force in the mid-19th Century was the 1st Northumberland Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC), which was raised after a public meeting at Tynemouth on 7 May 1859. The meeting was held in response to statements by Commander Bedford Pim, Royal Navy, that a modern ironclad warship could do untold damage to the towns of Tyneside due to the poor state of their defences. The unit was raised by Edward Potter of Cramlington, a local coal mining engineer. By 25 May 1859, the first drill was held for Rifle and Artillery volunteers at Tynemouth, formal enrolment for the 1st Northumberland Artillery Volunteers opened on 2 August, and the corps was formally accepted on 16 August 1859. In November 1859, the new unit held its first gun practice, on two 70-year-old muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon at Tynemouth Castle.
  A 2nd Northumberland AVC was formed at Tynemouth on 12 January 1860 but in May 1860 it was absorbed into the 1st as its second battery; four other batteries were raised at Willington Quay, Newcastle upon Tyne and North Shields. Other AVCs were also being formed in the area: the Percy Artillery, raised from tenants of the Duke of Northumberland and named after a previous volunteer unit of 1805, was formed as the 3rd Northumberland AVC on 22 March 1860, then took the vacated position as 2nd. A new 3rd Northumberland AVC of two batteries was formed at Blyth on 23 November 1860, but was disbanded in January 1864. In September that year the Newcastle members of the Tynemouth Volunteers left to form a separate 2nd Newcastle AVC and in January 1865 the Willington Quay men became the 3rd Northumberland AVC.
  The 1st Administrative Brigade of Northumberland Artillery Volunteers was formed at Tynemouth on 4 April 1866 and included the 1st Northumberland (Tyneside Volunteers) and both its offshoots, the 2nd Newcastle and the 3rd Northumberland. (The 1st Newcastle and 2nd Northumberland (Percy Artillery) AVCs remained independent.) The 2nd Newcastle was absorbed into the 3rd Northumberland in 1868, in which year the brigade's HQ moved from Tynemouth to Newcastle. The 1st Durham AVC was added to the Admin Brigade in 1873.
  The Volunteers were consolidated into larger units in 1880, and the Administrative Brigade became the 1st Northumberland and Durham Artillery Volunteers on 23 July with its HQ at Newcastle:
  Nos 1–6 Companies from 1st Northumberland AVC (Tynemouth)
  Nos 7–12 Companies from 3rd Northumberland AVC (Newcastle)
  Nos 13–15 Companies from 1st Durham AVC (Sunderland)
  However, the Tynemouth Volunteers were withdrawn to become independent again in April 1884. They were supposed to become the new 3rd Northumberland, but objected to the title, asserting their primacy, and in August were renamed The Tynemouth Artillery Volunteers (with emphasis on the definite article 'The'). The unit became part of the RA's Northern Division on 1 April 1882, then the Western Division on 1 July 1889. By now the unit had eight batteries. 
  In the early years, the volunteer gunners practised on whatever guns were available, including those at Tynemouth Castle. But in addition to manning fixed coast defence artillery, some of the early Artillery Volunteers  manned semi-mobile 'position batteries' of smooth-bore field guns pulled by agricultural horses. The Tynemouth Artillery Volunteers were supplied with light 9-pounder field guns in 1869. But the War Office refused to pay for the upkeep of field guns for Volunteers and they had largely died in the 1870s. In 1888 the 'position artillery' concept was  revived and some Volunteer companies were reorganised as position batteries to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades. The Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery were re-equipped with 20-pounder field and 40-pounder fort guns in 1889 and on 14 July 1892 they were reorganised as a position battery and six companies:
  HQ at Tynemouth
  No 1 Battery at Tynemouth
  Nos 2–4 Companies at Tynemouth
  No 5 Company at Backworth
  No 6 Company at Blyth and Ashington
  No 7 Company at Blyth
  In 1893,
caption: 40-pounder gun being fired.
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