536 
ORGANISATION AND EMPLOYMENT OE SIEGE ARTILLERY. 
Establish¬ 
ment for a 
British 
unit, and 
considera¬ 
tion of its 
efficiency. 
For purposes of administration in the British service,, eight batteries 
of artillery, with establishments as below, have been allotted to a 
siege train unit, whether heavy or light. 
Establishment. 
For one battery. 
For eight batteries. 
Officers. 
Majors . 
1 
8 
Captains. 
1 
8 
Lieutenants . 
2 
16 
Total . 
4 
32 
N. C. Officers and Men. 
Battery Serjts.-Major . 
1 
8 
Serjeants... 
5 
40 
Corporals . 
5 
40 
Bombardiers . 
5 
40 
Gunners. 
120 
960 
Trumpeters . 
2 
16 
Total . 
138 
1104 
Grand total ... 
142 
1136 
These 8 batteries have on charge 36 guns, 300 Hale's rockets, 
together with the various stores for camp equipment, entrenching 
tools, instruments, miscellaneous, magazine, and ordnance stores; also 
the ammunition, and the siege, firing, travelling, and transport car¬ 
riages assigned to one unit.* 
Allowing 10 men per piece, the 30 larger pieces of an unit would 
require 300 men for actual service at the guns, or a total of 900 to 
afford 3 reliefs. 
Deducting from 1136 (the strength of eight batteries) 32 officers, 
8 Battery Serits.-Major, and 16 trumpeters, there remain 1080 men 
available for duty, or 180 (i.e., 1080 — 900) beyond the number 
necessary to furnish 3 reliefs. 180 divided by 3 gives 60 men- for 
each relief— i.e., two men per piece for extra duties; in other words, 
the 8 batteries actually supply for the larger pieces in the unit 
3 reliefs of 12 men each. 
As a general rule, however, not more than two-thirds of the 
ordnance in an unit would be mounted, or at any rate be engaged at 
the same time, in which case the before-named equipment of 1080 men, 
furnishing 3 complete reliefs of 18 men per gun, appears sufficient; 
but it is an open question whether an establishment intended to 
furnish the unit complete for war purposes should not provide for all 
the larger ordnance being in action simultaneously. It will be 
observed that in the foregoing estimate no allowance is made for 
either the 7-pr. guns or 300 Hale's rockets. 
Vide “Handbook for Field Service,” 1678, pp. 240-245?/. 
