by Bob King | Feb 19, 2021 | Uncategorized, Victorian Britain
6 months ago I wasn’t aware of any births on the Island. I knew a few troops were accompanied by their families on the Island from newspaper cuttings and parts of the buildings had been labelled as quarters. The first Island baby I found out about through Sue Cook...
by Bob King | Jul 9, 2020 | Victorian Britain
The last decade of the 19th Century began with Gunner Dawson of the Island Garrison saving the life of Gunner Kelly. Both had been on the Royal Artillery Cutter returning from Millbay to the Island when Gunner Kelly fell overboard prompting Gunner Dawson to...
by Bob King | Jul 3, 2020 | Victorian Britain
The first reliable breech loading guns became available in 1880 so less than a decade after the Palmerston Fort on the Island was completed its armaments were already out of date. The guns could now be loaded more quickly as the powder and shell could be loaded from...
by Bob King | Jun 25, 2020 | Victorian Britain
By 1874 the first set of Army Reforms known as the Cardwell Reforms after the Secretary of State for War had been promulgated. The Crimean War had exposed the Army as being undermanned and incompetently administered but reforms were being resisted by the old and bold...
by Bob King | Jun 18, 2020 | Victorian Britain
By 1873 a detachment of the 12th Brigade of the Royal Artillery were garrisoning Plymouth with 3rd Battery stationed on Drake’s Island. Major Cummings RA was the Battery Commander. It seems the first time the Garrison had been at full strength for a while was the...
by Bob King | Jun 11, 2020 | Victorian Britain
During the construction of the casemates there was still a garrison on the Island, mainly provided by units of the Royal Artillery and the routine of Garrison life went on. Soldiers got into trouble, training and experiments were undertaken and one or two unusual...
