Background to the RFA of the Great War
The Royal Field Artillery as it related to the period of the Great War came into existence in 1899, a few months before tension in South Africa became the Second Boer War. In a redefinition of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, it was created and grouped with the Royal Horse Artillery. The two were considered as a single corps for the purposes of the Army Act.
The new Royal Garrison Artillery brought into a single corps the army’s coastal, mountain, heavy and siege artillery. The lighter and more mobile forces became the Royal Horse & Royal Field Artillery. Although the RFA was grouped with the RHA as a corps by the 1899 Army Orders, it retained a separate identity in its role of providing fire support for the forces of the infantry. It had the same rank and pay structure as the RHA.
On 1 August 1914, the combined RH & RFA employed 99,086 officers and men. By 1 August 1917, it was employing 360,461.
Expansion of the RFA during the Great War
| Units | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RFA Batteries | 153 | 722 | 622* | 611 | 605 | 355 |
| – of which, in France | 0 | 246 | 422 | 408 | 415 | 56 |
| – in Egypt | 0 | 45 | 0 | 4 | 29 | 15 |
| – in Mesopotamia | 0 | 15 | 29 | 47 | 22 | 4 |
| – in Salonika | 0 | 38 | 76 | 61 | 48 | 0 |
| – in Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| – in Black Sea area | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| – in North Russia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| – in Germany | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 |
| – at home | 105 | 367 | 84 | 82 | 66 | 186 |
| – in India | 45 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 12 |
| – in colonies | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The source of this table is “Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire during the Great War” , p.163. The figures shown are as of 1 August each year.
*The reduced number of batteries was due to restructuring. Most batteries were made up to six guns where they had previously been four, and many of the additional guns were provided by breaking up some of the existing batteries.
RFA losses
It is very difficult to isolate RFA casualties from those of the RHA, but the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database returns 35,753 dead through a simple search using “Royal Field Artillery” as its term.
Further reading
Three volumes of “History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery” by General Sir Martin Farndale (London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1986-1989)
“History of the Royal Artillery – volume II – 1899-1914” by Major-General Sir John Headlam (Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institition, 1937) (free version at Archive.org)
“‘The Infantry cannot do with a gun less’: the place of the artillery in the British Expeditionary Force, 1914-1918” by Sanders Marble (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013) (free version at Archive.org)
“Artillery in the Great War” by Paul Strong and Sanders Marble (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2013)
Some of the RFA Brigades have published histories.