Royal Field Artillery - any good links available

[nellie d]

Hello
I am looking into the Royal Field Artillery. Particularly the years between 1907-1919, as this is when my great grandfather was signed up with them.
Having already used the splendid resources highlighted by Garen’s, 2nd Anglo-Afghan War site, I was wondering if there was anything similar for the Royal Field Artillery?
I have carried out the usual online searches but cannot seem to find anything, which I am sure is down to me and not that fact that nothing exists, other than various Wiki sites of course.
Any ideas would be most welcome!

[Andy J2022]

That's an awfully wide subject. Are you mainly interested in the weapons, the tactics, the activities of a soldier in the RFA, or the individual units, where they were stationed in peacetime and where they deployed to in war? Since this a family history site I assume that you are more interested in the human aspects and how they affected your great grandfather. Therefore, unless you already know, you need to start by trying to find out which unit (the battery) he served with, because that in turn will tell you what he might of been doing, based on the the type(s) of gun the unit was equipped with. For example was he a regular soldier or a member of the Territorial Force (part-timers up until the start of the war)? Do you know his trade? He might have been a gun number, that is a member of the team who loaded the shells into the gun and fired them, or the man responsible for aiming the gun (the gun layer). Alternatively he might have been part of the ammunition train which brought the shells forward  to the guns from an ammunition dump. He might have been a signaller, a driver or one of several other trades. Do you know what medals he got during WW1? This will help identify where he served if you don't know his actual unit, which might have been France/Flanders, or it might have been Turkey (the Dardanelles) or Palestine, or even India or West Africa. 

If you haven't already looked at this site The Long, Long Trail then I suggest that would be a good starting point. For a general overview of the RFA you could splash out about £10 on this book (second hand) British Artillery 1914–19: Field Army Artillery by Dale Clarke and published by Osprey. But it will tell you mostly about the equipment and deployments in general and won't have much that will relate directly to your great grandfather's service. There are films on YouTube showing the British artillery in action during WW1 (for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCsyd-FfGhk). They generally don't identify whether the unit is RFA or Royal Horse Artillery (which operated very similarly) or indeed the Royal Garrison Artillery, although once you can recognise the different types of guns, you can rule out the RGA because they fired substantially larger guns than the RFA or RHA. 

[nellie d]

Thank you AndyJ2022.
I am looking to find out what action the units saw.
I have “decoded” 🤣 his records and I know his Brigades and Batteries and his movements in a general way…as in that he was in France, then Salonika during the First WW, there is, fortunately plenty of information on that era for me to comb through.
I was, specifically looking at the years from 1907 when he enlisted at Woolwich, to the outbreak of WW1.
For example, he was in South Africa in 1911 through till 1913, but I cannot find any records of conflict in that area, in that time frame. Would it be possible that they were on exercise?
I recall that you helped with my queries regarding the 2nd Anglo Afghan War and I managed to map out my gt gt grandfathers movements around Northern India.
I was planning to do the same for my gt grandfather.
I can chart his progress fairly accurately from 1914 onwards, but, as I said, it’s before then that I am really interested in.
With regards to your opening sentences…my initial interest is in the personal but as I explore the subject, the other wider aspects pique my interest. It’s fascinating.
The other thing I have been trying to do is find his name in the London Gazette. His records show that he was mentioned in dispatches in Jan 1916 and Jan 1918…I have been ploughing through them…makes for great night time reading! 😆

[Andy J2022]

Being Mentioned in Dispatches won't necessarily have made it into the Gazette in wartime, as it was a fairly common occurrence, but you may be lucky. The other place to look is the war diaries of his unit, as there may be a report of the events for which he was later MiD 'd.

As you are probably aware the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 and although the British still had significant interests there, the country gradually became responsible for its own defence. I am not aware of any fighting there during the period 1911 to 1913. I imagine it was just another peacetime posting. You probably need to consult a general history of the Royal Artillery, such as The Story of the Royal Regiment of Artillery by Brigadier AL Graham.

[nellie d]

Thank you Andy.
That information will certainly help me.m