Оружейный департамент және Лондон мұнарасының тарихы

English and British body responsible for forts
the U. S. body

The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence of the realm and its overseas possessions, and as the supplier of munitions and equipment to both the Army and the Navy'. The Board also maintained and directed the Artillery and Engineer corps, which it founded in the 18th century. By the 19th century, the Board of Ordnance was second in size only to HM Treasury among government departments. The Board lasted until 1855, at which point (tarnished by poor performance in supplying the Army in Crimea) it was disbanded.

The broad arrow was the Board's mark, used as such from the 17th century. Stamped on guns, papers, buildings and all kinds of equipment, it originally signified royal ownership. A proclamation of 1699 clarified its use on stores of war belonging to the Board of Ordnance; just over a hundred years later, in 1806, the Board directed its Storekeepers and others to mark "all descriptions of Ordnance Stores with the broad arrow as soon as they shall have been received as fit for His Majesty's Service".

In the 16th century, the Constable of the Tower of London routinely exercised his right (as ex officio Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets) to summon local citizens to form a garrison to guard the Tower; by the early 17th century this had been formalised into a standing militia. During the reign of Charles II, the Tower was still consistently being guarded by two garrison companies of militia. as well as guarding the stocks of guns, arms and ammunition in the Tower more effectively, it was envisaged that the new regiment would provide protection for the artillery trains, which were formed when necessary to deliver ordnance (e. g. to the battlefield at time of war). The old guard companies formed the core of this new regiment, but they were soon augmented by a further ten companies of 100 men each (again drafted from the Tower Hamlets); there was in addition a company of miners. The regiment was to be housed in the Grand Storehouse, then under construction in the Tower. Today, the Tower remains the Regimental Headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

In the medieval period, storage and supply of weapons and armaments was the responsibility of the King's Wardrobe. Royal palaces (including the Tower of London) were therefore used for storage of armour, weapons and (in time) gunpowder. When the Office of Ordnance came into being, the Tower of London was already established as the main repository, and it remained the administrative centre of the new Board. Gunpowder was stored in the White Tower (and continued to be kept there until the mid 19th century). Small arms, ammunition, armour and other equipment were stored elsewhere within the Tower precinct, a succession of Storehouses and Armouries having been built for such purposes since the fourteenth century. From the mid 16th century bulkier items began to be stored in warehouses in the nearby Minories and cannons were proof tested on the 'Old Artillery Ground' to the north. Within the Tower, the New Armouries of 1664 served the Board as a small arms store (it can still be seen today in the Inner Ward). The vast Grand Storehouse of 1692 served not just as a store, but also as a museum of ordnance, precursor to today's Royal Armouries. (It was destroyed (along with its contents, some 60,000 objects) in a fire in 1841). The Board's administrative staff had expanded during the Napoleonic Wars to such an extent that in 1806 it purchased the lease of Cumberland House in Pall Mall and moved its main offices there, subsequently expanding into neighbouring properties. The Board itself also began to hold its meetings there, in preference to the Tower or Woolwich or other locations where it had previously been accustomed to meet. At the same time the Tower, though still technically the Board's headquarters, was mostly given over to storage.

In the mid 17th century the Board began to use land at Woolwich for storing and proving its guns. The land (known as The Warren) was purchased in 1671 and in 1682 a thousand cannons and ten thousand cannonballs were transferred to Woolwich from the Tower and the Minories. At the same time, the Old Artillery Ground was sold and the staff and equipment involved in proof testing moved to Woolwich. The Woolwich Warren (later renamed the Royal Arsenal) continued to serve as Britain's principal ordnance depot until the mid twentieth century. It also developed into a major manufacturing site (see below). During the Napoleonic Wars, concerns were expressed about the vulnerability of the nation's ordnance stores to attack from the sea. One response was the establishment of a Royal Ordnance Depot at Weedon Bec, well away from the coast in Northamptonshire: a sizeable complex of storehouses and gunpowder magazines constructed along a waterway, it was connected to the Grand Union Canal to facilitate access and distribution. At the same time a similar (but short lived) facility was also built alongside the Grand Junction Canal at North Hyde, west of London.

For storage of gunpowder, a nearby fortified building was often used initially: the Square Tower at Portsmouth, the Citadel at Plymouth, Upnor Castle at Chatham; later, the Ordnance Board created purpose built Gunpowder Magazines, often apart from the Yards, and at a safe distance from inhabited areas. Very soon, however, the Board was coming under pressure from local residents to remove the gunpowder store from Greenwich. Eventually, in 1763, a new set of magazines were built, along with a new proof house, further downriver at Purfleet. Named the Royal Gunpowder Magazine, it was likewise used as a central store, to receive and approve gunpowder from the manufacturers prior to distribution around the country. (Soon afterwards the Greenwich magazine closed, and it was later demolished.) At around the same time, significant improvements were made to the gunpowder depots at the Dockyards (where the Board was still often using old buildings in built up areas). New purpose built storage facilities were constructed close to the principal Dockyards at Portsmouth (Priddy's Hard) and Devonport (Keyham Point), and at Chatham the Upnor facility was (eventually) expanded. These centres continued to grow, as the processes for refining and preserving gunpowder became more complicated and as new explosives began to be used, requiring their own storage and maintenance areas. In 1850, Devonport's magazine depot was moved from Keyham to a new complex at Bull Point (where it was integrated with a nearby proofing and purifying facility) this proved to be the last major construction project of the Board of Ordnance before its disestablishment.

The Board of Ordnance was responsible, throughout its existence, for supplying the Army and Navy with weapons and ammunition. Other items were provided by various other boards and agencies (or, in earlier times, by private contractors). From 1822, however, the Board was given responsibility for sourcing, storing and supplying a variety of other items for the Army, including tents and camp equipment (formerly the remit of the Army's Storekeeper General) and 'barrack stores' (for which the Commissariat had been responsible since 1807). Later, in 1834, the Board inherited (also from the Commissariat) the task of providing food and 'fuel' (namely coal and candles for use in barracks) for all homeland troops, as well as forage for cavalry regiments.

Small arms manufacture was begun by the Board on Tower Wharf in 1804, before being moved to Lewisham (Royal Manufactory of Small Arms, 1807) and then transferring ten years later to Enfield (Royal Small Arms Factory, opened 1816). RSAF Enfield continued manufacturing until its closure in 1988. There is some indication that William Galloway, a gunsmith, produced long guns for the Tower's small arms office in the 1780s.

From the mid 17th century the Board of Ordnance began to be involved in the design, building and upkeep of forts, fortifications and various garrison buildings. Around the year 1635, a Francis Coningsby was appointed 'Commissary General of all His Majesty's Castles in England and Wales'. From 1660 the title was Engineer in Chief. The Chief Engineer had responsibility for drawing up designs, supervising site surveys and building works, and visiting established defence sites to evaluate their state of repair, readiness etc. An illustrious holder of this post was Sir Bernard de Gomme. In 1802 the post of Inspector General of Fortifications was established, and this official took over supervision of these works.

The Board also had responsibility for the building, upkeep and management of barracks and associated structures (except during a 30 year period, 1792 1822, when responsibility was transferred to a separate Barrack Office). Before this time, barracks were a rarity in mainland Britain and (other than those attached to royal residences) they were generally only found within garrisoned fortifications. In the wake of the French Revolution, however, there was a spate of barrack building and the new post of Barrackmaster General was established to oversee it; he was answerable not to the Board of Ordnance but to the Secretary at War. (The Board, though, retained responsibility for providing and provisioning barracks for its own corps). Apparent mismanagement in the Barrack Office led to a series of inquiries, however, and following the Napoleonic Wars responsibility for barracks was returned to the Board of Ordnance.

From the start, the Board (and its predecessor the Office) of Ordnance had had a department of military engineers and surveyors to build and improve harbours, forts and other fortifications. In 1716 a Corps of Engineers was founded by the Board of Ordnance, again at their Woolwich base. Initially an officer only corps, the Engineers (called Royal Engineers from 1787) were engaged in the design, construction and ongoing maintenance of defences, fortifications and other military installations. They were also engaged for large scale civilian projects from time to time. A civilian corps of 'artificers' provided the non commissioned workforce of carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers and other labourers; this corps was militarized in 1787, and named the Royal Military Artificers (they were then renamed the Royal Sappers and Miners 25 years later). The year after the demise of the Ordnance Board, the Sappers and Miners were fully amalgamated into the Royal Engineers, and at the same time the Corps moved from Woolwich to its present headquarters in Chatham.

A Field Train Department was established in 1792 to serve as 'the field force element of the Board of Ordnance Storekeeping system'; staffed by uniformed civilians, the Department had oversight of the supply and provision of small arms, ammunition and other armaments to all front line troops. After the Board's demise, the Ordnance Field Train was consolidated, together with the Ordnance Storekeepers and others, into a new Military Store Department, which eventually formed a key part of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. In 1796 a Corps of Royal Artillery Drivers was raised (separate from the Royal Artillery itself) to provide horses and drivers for conveying the field guns from place to place. It supported the work of the Ordnance Survey; after 1824 these duties were undertaken by Survey Companies of the Royal Corps of Sappers and Miners. Both corps were overseen by officers of the Royal Engineers in this work. Initially set up as 'the Medical Establishment for the Military Department of the Ordnance', its remit was extended to cover 'the Military and Civil Departments of the Ordnance' in 1814. In 1853 it was merged into the Army Medical Department. In 1796 Edward Coleman was appointed Veterinary Surgeon to the Board of Ordnance. He oversaw the training and appointment of more veterinary surgeons to provide for the needs of Artillery and Engineer horses; and in 1805 he supervised the setting up of a Veterinary Establishment in Woolwich (later named the Royal Horse Infirmary) which functioned as a hospital, veterinary store and centre of veterinary research. After the Crimean War, it became de facto headquarters of the emergent Army Veterinary Department.

The Board of Ordnance placed a high value on providing its future officers with a scientific and military education. In the eighteenth century there was no requirement for would be Army officers to receive any formal military education; but the Board, in contrast, moved fast (after the establishment of its artillery and engineer corps) to provide for the education of its officer cadets. The Board was also ahead of the Army in its provision of advanced training for officers.

In 1720 there were moves to set up an 'academy' within the Warren at Woolwich where the corps were based; and on 30 April 1741 the Academy was formally established there by Royal Warrant. The fact that the Warren itself was a place of scientific experiment and innovation no doubt helped form the style of education that emerged. Initially, it was a gathering of 'gentlemen cadets', brought together to learn 'gunnery, fortification, mathematics and a little French'. By 1764, the institution had been renamed the Royal Military Academy, and in the words of the Survey of London, 'it became a uniquely enlightened establishment in which training comprehended writing, arithmetic, algebra, Latin, French, mathematics, fortification, together with the attack and defence of fortified places, gunnery, mining and laboratory works [ ] along with the gentlemanly skills of dancing and fencing'. In time, the Academy outgrew its original home in the Arsenal, and in 1806 it moved into new headquarters on Woolwich Common. In 1946 it amalgamated with the Royal Military College to form the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

The Royal Military Repository was established, also within the Warren, in 1778 to provide practical, theoretical and historical training in gunnery, both for officers and other ranks; it too moved to Woolwich Common in the early 19th century. The Royal Engineer Establishment was established by the Board in Chatham in 1812, to provide advanced training for its Engineer officers; it was subsequently renamed the School of Military Engineering. The principal offices and drawing room of the Survey were in the Tower of London; this not only accommodated surveyors and draughtsmen, but also functioned as a place where cadets (some as young as eleven or twelve) were trained in mathematics and draughtsmanship by leading practitioners. In 1841 a fire prompted the Survey to move to new premises in Southampton; following the demise of the Board, it became part of the War Department.

The Ordnance Geological Survey, the world's first national geological survey, was established by the Board in 1835; Known since 1984 as the British Geological Survey, it remains active as a national research and advisory body.

In 1839 the Government gave its support to Major (later Sir) Edward Sabine for the establishment of four fixed magnetic and meteorological observatories in different parts of the world: one in Hobarton, one in Cape Town, one on Saint Helena, one in Toronto. The first would be overseen by Admiralty, staffed by officers of the Ross expedition; the other three were to be staffed by Artillery officers, under the authority of the Board of Ordnance. Sabine's intention was to undertake a global survey of terrestrial magnetism. Once the observatories were established, measurements were taken every two hours, day and night, at precisely the same moment in all four stations; the results were then conveyed to Sabine at his Magnetic Office in the Royal Artillery Institution Observatory at Woolwich. Measurements continued for three years at Hobarton, six years at Cape Town and Saint Helena, and nine years at Toronto. After this, the observatories (apart from Saint Helena's, which was dismantled) were handed over to the respective local governments; that in Toronto went on to becoming the Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory. In England, Sabine maintained his Magnetic Office at the observatory in Woolwich until 1871, when it moved to Kew Observatory. The Board of Ordnance continued to provide annual funding for the Observatory until 1818, when the Admiralty took over this responsibility. Despite providing funds, the Board was not in any way involved in the operational side of the Observatory, which was managed independently by the Astronomer Royal under the governance of a Board of Visitors.

By the Ordnance Board Transfer Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 117), the 'powers, authorities, rights and privileges' formerly vested in the Principal Officers of the Ordnance were transferred to 'Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the War Department'. With this came responsibility for stores, land, contracts, surveys, defensive works and manufacturing, along with all their various associated personnel. The board's former offices in Pall Mall now became the headquarters of a newly reconstituted and greatly expanded War Office.]] The catalyst for the board's disestablishment was the Crimean War. 'Disastrous logistical difficulties' plagued the campaign, especially during the Russian winter of 1854. Then, in 1833, a parliamentary Commission of Enquiry was set up to look into consolidating the civil departments of the Army and the Ordnance (another commission was set up with similar terms of reference two years later) but its recommendations were not carried through. Furthermore, following forty years of relative peace, the army and its support services found themselves ill prepared and ill equipped for war: for example, responsibility for providing food, fuel and forage to troops overseas fell to the Commissariat (a branch of the Treasury which, in the years since Waterloo, had developed into an administrative division, unpractised in warfare); while the Army's land transport capability, the Royal Waggon Train, had been abolished as a cost cutting measure in 1832.<blockquote>(In 1855) . a loud outcry against Lord Raglan had begun in the press. He was charged with neglecting to see to the actual state of his troops, and to the necessary measures for their relief. Their condition was becoming more and more pitiable; their numbers dwindling rapidly from death and disease. The road between Balaclava and the camp had become a muddy quagmire, the few remaining horses of our cavalry were rapidly disappearing, every day the difficulty of getting up food and other necessaries from Balaclava was becoming more serious, and still no provision was being made for supplying an effective means of transport. his removal from the UK at the outbreak of war left a void in leadership at the head of the Board of Ordnance (which was compounded by the absence of the Surveyor General of the Ordnance, who also went to Crimea). The post of Lieutenant General of the Ordnance was therefore belatedly revived to try to fill the gaps, but its duties were left ill defined. Nevertheless, the Commander in Chief Lord Hardinge spoke positively of the board's contribution in his evidence to the 1855 Parliamentary Committee into the conduct of the Crimean War: The Board of Ordnance had met the military difficulties of the situation with determination and success. Starting with the advantage of a well trained and excellent personnel and reliable and sufficient materiel, they had faced the terrible losses of the winter of 1854 with resource and energy, and had lost no time in correcting the blunder of the absence of siege transport. Men and horses were quickly obtained and sent to the front, and, though every mistake in war demands an inevitable penalty, the military organisation did not fail under the heavy strain placed upon it. Nothing could exceed the military arrangements of the Ordnance Department. Ultimately, the war in Crimea revealed failings across multiple departments compounded by confused structures of command and control; and the disestablishment of the Board of Ordnance became one of a series of wide ranging military reforms which took place in the UK over the next half century.

Under the Secretary of State for War, a new Under Secretary was appointed in 1856 to take over the duties of the Clerk of the Ordnance (the one remaining Principal Officer, who had retained oversight of the board's civil staff in the interim following its disestablishment). Several directorates were formed: there was a Director General of Stores (successor to the old Principal Storekeeper, with responsibility also for barracks), a Director General of Contracts and a number of technical advisers: the Inspector General of Fortifications, Director General of Naval Artillery and Director General, Royal Artillery. In 1857, the network of Storekeepers and Clerks across various locations was reconstituted to form the Military Store Department. The Field Train remained operational alongside the Military Store Department for a short time, before being merged into it on 27 September 1859. In Britain there was a longstanding (and at this time still lingering) suspicion of the idea of a standing army; so, although the Board of Ordnance troops (the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers) were merged into the Army and placed under the Commander in Chief, the Military Store Department (with its sizeable stocks of armaments and ammunition) remained under the civil oversight of the Secretary of State. Subsequently a series of organisational changes took place in an attempt to consolidate the various departments and responsibilities formerly pertaining to the Board of Ordnance, along with those of the Commissariat (which had likewise been absorbed by the War Office in 1855); this led in time to their amalgamation as part of the short lived Control Department, before re emerging as the Ordnance Store Department and the Commissariat and Transport Department (both of which evolved into military units in due course). Up until 1939, the Ordnance Board (like the Ordnance Select Committee before it) was based at the Royal Arsenal, in Verbruggen House. The board worked closely with the Proof and Experimental Establishment, the Research Department and the Design Department (which later amalgamated to form the Armament Research and Development Establishment) all of which were likewise based at the Royal Arsenal until 1939; it also had close links to the Inspection (or Quality Assurance) Department, which remained at the Arsenal into the 1990s. John Wilson (1782–1866) was a Clerk of Works with the Board of Ordnance, and went to Guernsey to supervise work on the barracks at the garrison in around 1813. In the 17 years he spent there, he also took commissions as an architect from the local government and private individuals. He is best remembered today as the architect of many of the island's most iconic public and private buildings.