

MILITARY AND NAVAL ORGANISATION. 



being under the direct authority of the commander- 

 in-chief. The military force of an infantry sub- 

 district consists of a brigade. It is composed of 

 two line battalions one of which is generally 

 abroad, the other at home two militia battalions, 

 the enrolled pensioners and army reserve, the 

 brigade depot, and the local rifle volunteer corps. 

 In an artillery sub-district there are the royal 

 artillery, the militia and volunteer artillery, and the 

 artillery of the army reserve. In a cavalry sub- 

 district, the force consists of the regular cavalry, 

 the yeomanry, volunteer, and reserve cavalry. 

 The colonels commanding these sub-districts are 

 necessarily officers in the regular army, and they 

 are responsible for the efficiency and discipline 

 of all the various forces, regular and auxiliary, 

 in their sub-districts. Thus it will be seen that 

 the auxiliary volunteer forces are no longer out 

 of the pale of our national army organisation, but 

 that regular army, and auxiliary volunteers and 

 reserves, all form one homogeneous defensive force. 

 As regards the sources from which our soldiery 

 are derived, the following table gives one an idea 

 of the numbers of men contributed to the army by 

 each of the three kingdoms : 



PERSONNEL. 



By the personnel of the army, we mean the 

 men belonging to the various combatant and 

 administrative branches of the army. 



Infantry. By the recent changes the 109 

 regiments of the line, with the Rifle Brigade, 

 have been so reorganised as to form 71 terri- 

 torial regiments, having linked battalions of line 

 and militia. Since 1881 the old numerical desig- 

 nations have made way for territorial ones, and 

 many of the smaller regiments have ceased to 

 have a separate existence, having become the 

 second battalion of one of the new regiments. 

 Thus the former 94th is now the second battalion 

 of the Connaught Rangers ; the 73d is the second 

 battalion of the Black Watch or Royal Highland 

 Regiment. Some of the old and familiar de- 

 scriptive (not numerical) names are still retained 

 by the regiments ; thus the East Kent Regiment 

 is also known as the Buffs. 



The Foot Guards include the Grenadier, Cold- 

 stream, and Scots Fusilier regiments, all celebrated 

 in history, from the days of Marlborough down- 

 wards. They are corps d'Jlite, the flower of the 

 British infantry. The men are picked men, of 

 great stature and strength ; the officers are to a 

 great extent members of the nobility, or of the 

 families of very wealthy commoners. 



The Colonial Corps consist of the West Indian 

 Regiments and Malta Fencibles. The West 

 Indian regiments are composed of negroes, with 



white officers and sergeants, and are enrolled 

 for duty in the West Indies and in Africa. 

 Under good leading, they render gallant service. 

 The Malta Fencibles is a corps of artillery, in 

 which officers and men are alike natives. 



The infantry are organised into regiments, a 

 man enlisted for one regiment serving throughout 

 his time in that same corps. Officers occasionally 

 exchange from one regiment into another ; but their 

 ordinary service and promotion are in one regi- 

 ment throughout their career, until they attain 

 the rank of general officer. As regards strength, 

 a regiment is somewhat indefinite, for it may 

 include any number of battalions ; and the num- 

 ber of companies in a battalion may vary from 8 

 to 14, while the men in a company range from 

 60 to 100, or even more. Each battalion com- 

 prises twelve companies, of which two remain at 

 home to form a depot of instruction for recruits 

 when the regiment is sent abroad. A company 

 is under the command of a captain, who has a 

 lieutenant and a sub-lieutenant, or, as he used to 

 be called, an ensign, to assist him. His men 

 consist of 4 corporals, I pioneer, and 60 privates ; 

 while, as an intermediate class the non-commis- 

 sioned officers there are i colour-sergeant, 3 

 sergeants, and 2 drummers. The total strength 

 of a company is therefore 74 officers and men of 

 all ranks, and 12 such companies form a battalion. 

 In command of the whole battalion (which is 

 usually divided into right and left wings) is a 

 lieutenant-colonel, assisted by a major for each 

 wing ; an adjutant, who superintends drill ; a 

 quartermaster, who looks after quarters, clothing, 

 &c. ; a paymaster, who pays the corps ; a surgeon- 

 major, and one or two surgeons, whose functions 

 are obvious. There are also certain non-com- 

 missioned officers of the regimental staff, as the 

 sergeant-major, schoolmaster, quartermaster-ser- 

 geant, sergeant-instructor of musketry, band-mas- 

 ter, drum-major, paymaster-sergeant, armourer- 

 sergeant, hospital-sergeant, orderly-room clerk, 

 band-sergeant, sergeant-master-tailor ; besides 

 musicians and hospital-orderlies. Finally, to 

 complete the corps, there is the colonel, who, 

 however, has no functions to perform, his office 

 being purely a sinecure, and constituting an 

 honourable pension of a thousand a year for a 

 general officer. 



For purposes of drill, each company is divided 

 into two subdivisions, and each subdivision into 

 two sections. When the men stand in position, 

 a 'rank' consists of a row of them taken sideways ; 

 a ' file,' of a row taken from front to back. Hence 

 the body of private soldiers are spoken of as rank 

 and file. 



The above description shews the organisation 

 of a battalion on its peace-footing, its strength 

 being about 930 men. On war breaking out, 

 nothing is easier than to augment this strength. 

 The whole machinery of officers and non-com- 

 missioned officers is ready ; it only remains to 

 add to the privates by new enlistment. The 

 recruits are distributed among the companies, 

 where their small number among the disciplined 

 soldiers renders their inexperience immaterial. 

 A battalion may thus be increased 30 per cent, 

 without seriously diminishing its efficiency. 



The 6oth Rifles and Rifle Brigade wear dark- 

 green uniforms ; certain Highland regiments are 

 clothed in the costume of their reputed clans, 



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