Pre World War I: Newport Artillery Volunteers

Newport Artillery Volunteers at Inverdovat

Newport Artillery Volunteers at Inverdovat

The 2nd Fife (Newport) Artillery Volunteers had been formed in April 1860, and these two excellent photographs show the volunteers at Inverdovat before the First World War. The photograph above is unusual because apparently very few pictures exist of the groups dressed with the armbands and the pouches.

Formation

In the late 1850s there was considerable international tension in Europe, and in particular much hostility between Britain and France. In Britain there was widespread concern at the military unpreparedness of the nation, and all over the country groups formed themselves into volunteer organisations with the purpose of defending their land. The movement was popular, with volunteers coming from all walks of life. All these groups were formalised into a nationwide organisation, with the Newport Volunteers being part of the wider 1st Fifeshire Brigade. For meetings they were based in the old Mission Hall opposite the pier, and they paraded on ground in the area of the Tay Road Bridge landfall.

Royal Approval

In August 1860 the Newport volunteers joined with hundreds of others for the first Royal Volunteer Review in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh when the men were inspected by Queen Victoria and other members of the royal family. Unfortunately the men were all soaked to the skin in torrential rain all day.

Ultimate Sacrifice

In the Leng Chapel there is a memorial tablet to the five Newport Volunteers who lost their lives in the Boer War in South Africa.

In 1908 the Artillery Volunteers became part of the new Territorial Army.

See the marksmanship cup won by local member Corporal Latto in 1867.

 

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