~ 5 ~ Law. 1 Currently the four trustees are Christopher Shaw, Des Mullaney, Susan Law and Vincent

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Preface

The modern British army is a flexible and formidable force, being a soldier today means that throughout their career they will receive training and education to develop their personal skills and gain promotion. This is not a modern day concept, and actually begun over 250 years ago in the 18th

Century. In the early period few countries maintained an expensive standing army. Britain preferred a small army that was enlarged with volunteers and Militia in time of war. This was a reaction against the English Civil War and the subsequent Commonwealth where the Major General controlled the country. Also in the minds of the British people, the defence of these Isles was the responsibility of the Royal Navy.

Shorncliffe is recognised as the “birthplace of the modern army” and the pioneering work begun by officers Coote Manningham, William Stewart and Sir John Moore continued at Shorncliffe for many years. In 1803 the first military lectures were delivered at Shorncliffe by Colonel Coote Manningham of the 95th_{Rifles. Between 1920 and 1939 the “focus of army education was}

at Shorncliffe” with the formation of the Army School of Education and the depot of the Army Educational Corps.

Continuing in this vein, funds were raised to build the Sir John Moore Memorial Library, to house a collection of books and training aids to enable men to better themselves, opened in 1916 (but not officially until 1923 when the Sir John Moore statue had been finished. The library closed in 1989 and its collections were redistributed.

It was long term dream of Chris Shaw the Chairman to restart these lectures at Shorncliffe. The Shorncliffe Trust originally called The Shorncliffe Redoubt Preservation Society (Est. 2005) and renamed in 2013.1

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Shorncliffe Trust at Folkestone Air Show 2014. As a registered charity2_{our aims are}

 To preserve and conserve Shorncliffe.

 To develop and improve the features of historic interest at Shorncliffe with public amenities and the preservation of a site of historic interest.

 To educate the public in the history of the military and the social impact of military history by the provision of resources.

 To create and maintain a museum.

The site encompasses over two centuries of continuous military, social and cultural history. The Trust intends to tell the story of Shorncliffe (and the men and women who trained and lived there) from its earliest days defending Britain against invasion, to its role in the birth of the modern army through the role of Sir John Moore, it’s extension through the Victorian period to the Edwardian and the First and Second World war and beyond to the modern day role of The Brigade of Ghurkha’s.

2_{Registered Charity Number 1152185.}

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The Trust wants to utilise existing redundant military buildings to convert them into an education centre, museum, heritage reference library, café, craft centre and open the park land to be accessible to visitors. Its goal is to protect the archaeology on the site which includes the 200 year old Napoleonic redoubt, Victorian pistol & rifle range, First World War trenches used for training and Second World War defences such as spigot mortar post, pillboxes and underground bunkers.

The volunteers for the Lighting in the Dark, 4 August 2014

The Trust have been telling the story of Shorncliffe for almost a decade. This quiet corner of Kent has ordered men to the defence of the oppressed of the world and to that of the realm through over two hundred years of history. Countless numbers of soldiers prepared to make the final sacrifice to defend freedom and rights trained at Shorncliffe.

Our efforts began with organising Channel 4 Time Team to investigate the secrets of the redoubt, through organising a commemorations to remember Sir John Moore in Sandgate for the 200th_{and subsequently 205}th_anniversary

of his death. Commemorations have also been organised in London, Corunna (Spain), Tarbes (France) and many other battlefields.

The soldiers from Shorncliffe fought in many other wars, the Crimea and the Boer wars, the Great War, and all those since, recent burials in the Cemetery include young men who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Des Mullaney lighting a candle for an Irish Soldier who was killed during the Great War, 4 August 2014

It is our intention to tell these stories so these sacrifices are not in vain. To that end on the 4th_{August 2014 the Trust and many volunteers lit 550}

lanterns on a balmy evening to remember those soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War. We intend to continue telling these stories into the future and hope that negotiations with both the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), Taylor Wimpey (the developers) and Shepway District Council, will allow us to establish this permanently at Shorncliffe and continue the theme of learning and education into the future for everyone.

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Two candles lit for an officer who served after WWII. Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, 4 August 2014.

It is in keeping with this tradition that The Shorncliffe Trust restarted these lectures in November 2014.

Susan Law

Secretary of the Shorncliffe Trust 14 September 2014

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The Origins of the 95

th

_Rifles

By Stephen Summerfield and Susan Law

The War of Austrian Succession showed that the British had fallen behind in the use of light infantry unlike their Austrian Allies and their French opponents. During the Low Countries Campaign of 1742-48, the French light infantry took a great toll at Fontenoy (11 May 1745) and Melle (9 July 1745) by such units as Arquebusier de Grassin.

In Germany during the Seven Years War (1756-63), the British relied upon Hanoverian and Hessen-Kassel rifle armed Jäger auxiliaries and Freikorps for light infantry during their campaign.7_{By 1759, it was clear that Britain needed}

to raise their own light infantry. Keith’s Highlanders (later ranked as 87th

Foot) was formed and sent to serve under Ferdinand in June 1760.

The French and Indian Wars (1754-63) showed the weaknesses in the British army system and its training and equipment.8_{The heavy reliance on drill, the}

lack of initiative by officers who had purchased their commissions and their men, led to a number of defeats. It was quickly recognised that the skirmishing tactics of the Indians and the accuracy of the rifle needed to be incorporated into the British way of waging war. Neither these tactics nor the rifle were new, but their combination was powerful against the standard British linear tactics and the smoothbore muskets.

On 9 July 1755, General Braddock’s redcoats were defeated when ambushed by a smaller force of French and Indians in the forests of Ohio (North America) at the Monongahela River.9_{This resulted in Horse Guards in}

London deciding to raise a regiment with the express purpose of meeting this new style of forest tactics. On 24 December 1755, the 60th_(Royal

American) Regiment of four battalions was raised. In the later French Indian Wars (1758-64), light companies were formed by battalions serving in North America. The 60th_{Colonel-in-Chief, General Jeffrey Amherst, ordered that}

some companies in each of the four battalions of the 60th_{to be armed with}

rifles instead of muskets.

After the peace of 1763, the light companies of the Infantry Regiments were abolished. However, the experience of light infantry was preserved in the

7_{Summerfield (2015)}_{Hanoverian Army of War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War,}

Ken Trotman Publishing.

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CIRCULAR

Horse Guards,

January 17

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₁₈₀₀

Addressed to Officers Commanding

The 2nd_{Battalion Royals, the 21}st_{, 23}rd_{, 25}th_{, 27}th_{, 29}th_{, 49}th_,

55th_{, 69}th_{, 71}st_{, 72}nd_{, 79}th_{, 85}th_{, and 92}nd_Regiments.

Sir,

I have the honour to inform you that it is His Royal Highness the Commander- in- Chiefs intention to form a corps of detachments from the different regiments of the line for the purpose of its being instructed in the use of the rifle, and in the system of exercise adopted by soldiers so armed. It is His Royal Highness’s pleasure that you shall select from the regiment under your Command 2 sergeants, 2 corporals, and 30 private men for this duty, all of them being such men as appear most competent to the performance of the duty of Riflemen. These non-commissioned officers and privates are not to be considered as drafted from their regiments, but merely as detached for the purpose above recited; they will continue to be borne on the strength of their regiments, and will be clothed by their respective colonels.

His Royal Highness desires you will recommend 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, and 1 ensign of your regiment under your

command, who volunteer to serve in this corps of Riflemen, in order that His Royal Highness may select from the officers recommended from the regiments who will furnish their quota on this occasion a sufficient number of officers for the Rifle Corps. These officers are to be considered as detached on duty from their respective regiments, and will share in the

promotion that occurs in them during their absence.

Eight drummers will be required to act as bugle- horns, and I request you will acquaint me, for the information of His Royal Highness, whether you have any in the regiment qualified to act as such, or of a capacity to be easily instructed.

I have, & c. Harry Calvert

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The Experimental Corp of Rifles covered the advance and proceeded to occupy a ridge of hills adjoining the bay, just as they gained the summit fell in with a party of the enemy that they drove back. Lt-Col Stewart was wounded in the chest.63

At daybreak, the position on the heights of Brion and Balon was attacked by a considerable body of the enemy, who were repulsed with much loss, and the British remained in complete possession of the heights for the loss of 16 killed and 68 wounded. In this action Captains Travers and Hamilton, and Lieutenant Edmonston, and eight other ranks of the Rifle Corps were wounded.

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Early British Rifles and the Ezekiel

Baker Tests

By Vince Law and Stephen Summerfield

In 1747, Benjamin Robins157_{read a paper entitled “Observations of the}

Nature and Advantage of Rifled Barrel Pieces” to the Royal Society. This formed the basis of the thinking on the effect and design of rifling.158_{Up to}

the end of the 18th_{Century, the Board of Ordnance experimented with the}

use of rifles.

During the Seven Years War (1756-63), the British relied upon Hanoverian and Hessen-Kassel rifle armed Jäger auxiliaries in their German campaign.159

Various rifle companies as already stated had been raised.

What could be accomplished by a small number of riflemen is shown by the incident on 19 March 1780, Captain Ewald (1744-1813) of the Hessen-Kassel Jäger Corps commanding one NCO and 32 Jäger encountered General Lafayette160_{with 800 men. Ewald posted his men to command the narrow}

breast of the damn that could only be crossed three abreast. The Americans attacked three times repulsed each time by the accurate rifle fire of just 33 Jäger and were ordered to withdraw by Lafayette. Ewald and many other Jäger were injured.161

Ferguson Rifle (1775-80)

In c1775, Captain Patrick Ferguson of the light company of the 70th

Highlanders designed a revolutionary breech loading rifle using an ingenious loading mechanism that permitted it as a high rate of fire. The action had a threaded plug attached to the trigger guard that engaged a vertical threaded section in the breech end of the barrel. This idea was not new but was greatly improved by Ferguson. In loading, the plug was lowered and the barrel

157_{Benjamin Robins}_{was Engineer-General to the Honourable East India Company and a}

distinguished mathematician.

158_{Roger (1960) p107.}

159_{Summerfield (in press)}_{Hanoverian Army of George II,}_{Ken Trotman Publishing.} 160_{Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, Marquis de}

Lafayette (1757-1834) joined the French Army 2nd_{Lt in the Musketeers (1771), Lt in}

Noailles Dragoons (1773), Captain (1775). Recruited into the Continental Army as a Maj-Gen (177). Return to France (1784).

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“Regulations for the Rifle Corps”

(95

th

_{) and Rifleman Education}

By Susan Law and Stephen Head

The advent of the flintlock musket and the socket bayonet in the 1690s produced a system where the man could defend himself against cavalry without the need of sheltering under the protection of pikes. This in turn led to battles becoming unbroken lines facing each other at musket range. This showed itself in the drill needed for close formation fighting, and discouraged thinking among the officers let alone the soldiers. The soldier was taught to be more afraid of his officer than the

enemy, and the man was expendable. A military revolution grew with the experiences of war in the America’s, where rifles were used against the British by men who were using intelligence and forethought, and led to the changes documented in this book. The introduction, or arguably re introduction of tactics requiring combined fighting by intelligent individuals demanding courage, common sense and skill, rolled together in a new discipline. This change did not happen quickly, but the change did come and what a few started was completed by Sir John Moore as Fuller says “what these men proposed Moore accomplished; thus it came about that the British Army was reborn in the camp at Shorncliffe.”180

In 1801, the Regulations for the Rifle Corps formed at Blatchinton Barracks under the Command of Colonel Manningham were published in 1801.

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