When it comes to researching the military stories of men who served with the Royal Regiment of Artillery, there is good and bad news. The good news is that the method of research and the availability of records is very similar to all other branches of the army; slightly better, in fact, as registers of attestations covering certain enlistments in the period 1883 to 1929 also exist and can be found at Findmypast. The bad news is not only that, like all other regiments and corps, the centrally important collection of Great War service records was badly affected by fire in 1940, but the campaign medal rolls rarely give more detail that his rank and number. Even when you find more detail then artillery units and a man’s role and movements can be very hard to decipher.
Let us run through some basics.
There were three legs of the artillery: the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA), the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). The RFA was the largest component in terms of the sheer number of units and men employed with them. All units of the RHA and RFA were horse-drawn, while the heavier guns of the RGA might be hauled by lorry or even mounted on railways. They were organised into batteries (usually a grouping of four or six guns and the men that operated them), which were often grouped to come under command of a brigade. Brigades of the RHA and RFA would normally be under command of the headquarters of a Division, while those of the RGA would normally be under headquarters of a Corps. Brigades of the RGA were earlier known as Heavy Artillery Groups.
The soldier’s original rank would be Gunner or Driver, the latter being associated with horse teams and usually of men who were shorter than 5 feet 5 inches in height. So you may find in a service record, for example, that RFA Gunner Jones was posted to B/95. That translates as being with “B” Battery of 95 Brigade. You can find which brigades belonged to each division, and more about the individual history of brigades, on this site. Most brigades, and some batteries of the RGA, have war diaries in the WO95 series at the National Archives. You may also come across the terms BAC or DAC, which were the Ammunition Columns that supplied the guns not only with shells, but a wider range of materials, tools and equipment, rations and more. So for example 18 DAC would mean the 18th Divisional Ammunition Column.
A common rookie research mistake
The campaign medal index cards include references to the issuing rolls in which the man was named. They were a finding aid for these rolls.
