1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps

The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. Two such units were the 1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps (EVC) formed at Gloucester on 28 January 1861, and the 2nd Gloucestershire EVC formed at Bristol on 10 April 1861 by employees of the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Administratively, the 1st Gloucester EVC was attached to the 1st Administrative Battalion, Gloucestershire Rifle Volunteer Corps (later the 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment) and the 2nd EVC was attached to the 1st Gloucestershire Artillery Volunteers. However, in July 1867 they were both included in a new 1st Administrative Battalion of Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteers, with its headquarters at Bristol. The Administrative Battalion also included the 1st Somersetshire EVC when that was formed the following year, and the 1st Devonshire EVC joined in 1869. Captain James Henry Dowling of the Royal Glamorgan Militia was appointed to command the 1st Gloucester EVC on 11 July 1861, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel to command the 1st Admin Bn on 28 May 1870. With the reorganisation of the Volunteer Force in 1880, the Gloucestershire Admin Bn was consolidated as the 1st Gloucestershire (Gloucester, Somerset and Devon) EVC, with the 1st Devon providing E Company at Torquay and F Company at Exeter, and the 1st Somerset providing G and H Companies at Nailsea and I Company at Weston-super-Mare. However, in 1881, the 2nd Gloucestershire left the battalion and became an independent unit once more, as the 2nd Gloucestershire (The Bristol) EVC. In 1885, the 1st Gloucestershire Engineers formed a submarine mining company at Cardiff to cover the Severn Estuary. At the same time, the submarine miners were constituted into a separate branch of the RE Volunteers, and the Cardiff company became independent as the Severn Division Submarine Miners. ==Territorial Force==

When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) in 1908, only F Company of the 1st Gloucester RE (V) transferred to the new organisation, becoming the Gloucester and Worcester Brigade Company of the Army Service Corps in the South Midland Division Transport and Supply Column. ==Post 1947==

Two units of the post-1947 Territorial Army derived their seniority from the formation of the 1st Gloucestershire EVC in 1861: 108 Field Engineer Regiment at Swansea and 109 Construction Regiment, RE, at Cardiff, both descended in part from the Severn Division Submarine Miners. ==Honorary colonel==

The following officers served as honorary colonel of the unit: • Gen Sir John Lintorn Simmons, GCB, GCMG, appointed 14 July 1888 • Gen Sir Charles Warren, GCMG, KCB, RE, appointed 23 November 1901 ==Notes==