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==Postwar==
==Postwar==
On the re-establishment of the TA in 1947, 1 and 2 AA Group Signals re-merged and were numbered '''11 AA (Mixed) Signal Regiment''' ('mixed' indicating that members of the [[Women's Royal Army Corps]] were integrated into the unit) and was based at [[Kensington]].<ref name = Lord/><ref>[http://www.orbat.com/site/history/library-new/1946-1990/britishempire/ta47.html Watson, ''TA 1947'']{{dead link|date=June 2016}}</ref> The unit was retained when [[Anti-Aircraft Command|AA Command]] was disbanded in 1955, becoming the East Anglian District Signal Regiment of the Army Emergency Reserve (AER), and being numbered '''83 Signal Regiment''' in 1959. The size of the TA was reduced in 1967, when 83 Signal Regiment (AER) became 83 Signal Squadron (Volunteers) and later 83 Support Squadron in [[31 (City of London) Signal Regiment]], which was disbanded in 2010.<ref name = Lord/><ref>[http://www.afsa-assu.co.uk/#/83-london-sign-sqn-v/4533443350 83 (London) Signal Sqn at Air Formation Signals]</ref><ref>[http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/organisation/7680.aspx 31 Signal Rgt at British Army website]{{dead link|date=June 2016}}</ref>
On the re-establishment of the TA in 1947, 1 and 2 AA Group Signals re-merged and were numbered '''11 AA (Mixed) Signal Regiment''' ('mixed' indicating that members of the [[Women's Royal Army Corps]] were integrated into the unit) and was based at [[Kensington]].<ref name = Lord/><ref>[http://www.orbat.com/site/history/library-new/1946-1990/britishempire/ta47.html Watson, ''TA 1947''] {{wayback|url=http://www.orbat.com/site/history/library-new/1946-1990/britishempire/ta47.html |date=20160303170054 }}</ref> The unit was retained when [[Anti-Aircraft Command|AA Command]] was disbanded in 1955, becoming the East Anglian District Signal Regiment of the Army Emergency Reserve (AER), and being numbered '''83 Signal Regiment''' in 1959. The size of the TA was reduced in 1967, when 83 Signal Regiment (AER) became 83 Signal Squadron (Volunteers) and later 83 Support Squadron in [[31 (City of London) Signal Regiment]], which was disbanded in 2010.<ref name = Lord/><ref>[http://www.afsa-assu.co.uk/#/83-london-sign-sqn-v/4533443350 83 (London) Signal Sqn at Air Formation Signals]</ref><ref>[http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/organisation/7680.aspx 31 Signal Rgt at British Army website] {{wayback|url=http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/organisation/7680.aspx |date=20090114013345 }}</ref>


In 2010, 83 Support Sqn was renamed '''47 Signal Troop''', (recognising the former [[47th (2nd London) Division]]) and became part of [[71 (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment|71 (City of London Yeomanry) Signal Regiment]]. The Troop is based in [[Uxbridge]] and [[Southfields]].<ref>[http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/organisation/8053.aspx 83 Support Sqn at British Army website]</ref><ref>[http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/25283.aspx 71 Yeomanry Signal Rgt at British Army website]</ref>
In 2010, 83 Support Sqn was renamed '''47 Signal Troop''', (recognising the former [[47th (2nd London) Division]]) and became part of [[71 (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment|71 (City of London Yeomanry) Signal Regiment]]. The Troop is based in [[Uxbridge]] and [[Southfields]].<ref>[http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/organisation/8053.aspx 83 Support Sqn at British Army website]</ref><ref>[http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/25283.aspx 71 Yeomanry Signal Rgt at British Army website]</ref>
Line 65: Line 65:
* [http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk British Military History]
* [http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk British Military History]
* [http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php Great War Forum]
* [http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php Great War Forum]
* [http://www.orbat.com/site/history/library-new/1946-1990/britishempire/ta47.html Graham Watson, ''The Territorial Army 1947'']{{dead link|date=June 2016}}
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20160303170054/http://www.orbat.com/site/history/library-new/1946-1990/britishempire/ta47.html Graham Watson, ''The Territorial Army 1947'']


[[Category:Signal units of the Royal Engineers]]
[[Category:Signal units of the Royal Engineers]]

Revision as of 03:12, 15 June 2016

London District Signals
Active1908–present
Country United Kingdom
Branch Territorial Army
TypeHQ Signals unit
Part ofRoyal Engineers (1908–20)
Royal Corps of Signals (1920–)
EngagementsGallipoli
Western Front
The Blitz
Operation Diver

London District Signals was a headquarters signal unit of the Royal Engineers (RE) and later Royal Corps of Signals in Britain's Territorial Army from 1908. It served with a corps headquarters at Gallipoli and on the Western Front during World War I, and later became an air defence signal unit during World War II. Its successor unit continues in the Army Reserve today.

Origin

When the Territorial Force was created in 1908 as a result of the Haldane Reforms, the London Division, Electrical Engineers of the Royal Engineers (Volunteers) spun off three telegraph companies, later termed signal companies:[1][2][3]

  • London Wireless Signal Company
  • London Cable Signal Company
  • London Air-Line Signal Company

Together, these companies formed London District Signals, defined as 'Army Troops RE' in the TF organisation, serving HQ London District based at Horse Guards. The unit headquarters was at 12 Palmer Street, Westminster.[4][5]

World War I

In June 1915, London District Signals joined IX Corps HQ forming at the Tower of London and went to Gallipoli as IX Corps Signals. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, the Corps HQ went to France and served on the Western Front until the end of the war. The Corps Signals also ran a Signals Training Centre.[3][6]

Interwar

Former Drill Hall of 1st AA Divisional Signals in Regency Street, London SW1

When the renamed Territorial Army (TA) was reconstituted in 1920, London District Signals was reformed as 1st London Corps Signals (Army Troops) in the Royal Corps of Signals. It was retitled as Anti-Aircraft Signals in 1922, and then Air Defence Signals in 1925 when it formed 26th (London) and 27th (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade Signals Companies.[3][7] When 1st Anti-Aircraft Division was formed at RAF Uxbridge in 1935 (with 26 and 27 AA Bdes under command), the unit provided the signals component. It was based at 46 Regency Street, the former Drill Hall of the London Electrical Engineers.[3][8] The divisional signals unit was duplicated for 6th Anti-Aircraft Division in 1939 when the TA doubled in size after the Munich Crisis. 6th AA Division took responsibility for the air defence of the Thames estuary, Essex and North Kent, with its HQ at RAF Uxbridge.[3][9]

World War II

Together, 1st and 6th AA Divisions defended London and the Thames Estuary during The Blitz. When AA Command was reorganised in October 1942 they became 1 AA Group and 2 AA Group operating alongside No. 11 Group RAF and taking a leading role in defence against V-1 flying bombs (Operation Diver) in 1944–45.[3][10]

Postwar

On the re-establishment of the TA in 1947, 1 and 2 AA Group Signals re-merged and were numbered 11 AA (Mixed) Signal Regiment ('mixed' indicating that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into the unit) and was based at Kensington.[3][11] The unit was retained when AA Command was disbanded in 1955, becoming the East Anglian District Signal Regiment of the Army Emergency Reserve (AER), and being numbered 83 Signal Regiment in 1959. The size of the TA was reduced in 1967, when 83 Signal Regiment (AER) became 83 Signal Squadron (Volunteers) and later 83 Support Squadron in 31 (City of London) Signal Regiment, which was disbanded in 2010.[3][12][13]

In 2010, 83 Support Sqn was renamed 47 Signal Troop, (recognising the former 47th (2nd London) Division) and became part of 71 (City of London Yeomanry) Signal Regiment. The Troop is based in Uxbridge and Southfields.[14][15]

Honorary Colonel

The first Honorary Colonel of London District Signals was Col A. Bain, TD, MICE, MIEE, appointed on 14 July 1912.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ London Gazette, 20 March 1908.
  2. ^ London Gazette, 14 October 1910.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lord & Watson, p. 184.
  4. ^ a b Army List, August 1914.
  5. ^ London Cable Signal Company at Great War Forum
  6. ^ Becke, pp. 185–91.
  7. ^ Titles and Designations.
  8. ^ 1 AA Division 1936–38 at British Military History.
  9. ^ 6 AA Division 1939 at British Military History.
  10. ^ AA Command 1940 at British Military History.
  11. ^ Watson, TA 1947 Template:Wayback
  12. ^ 83 (London) Signal Sqn at Air Formation Signals
  13. ^ 31 Signal Rgt at British Army website Template:Wayback
  14. ^ 83 Support Sqn at British Army website
  15. ^ 71 Yeomanry Signal Rgt at British Army website

References

  • Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 4: The Army Council, GHQs, Armies, and Corps 1914–1918, London: HM Stationery Office, 1944/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-84734-743-6.
  • Cliff Lord & Graham Watson, Royal Corps of Signals: Unit Histories of the Corps (1920–2001) and its Antecedents, Solihull: Helion, 2003, ISBN 1-874622-92-2.
  • Titles and Designations of Formations and Units of the Territorial Army, London: War Office, 7 November 1927.

Online sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=London_District_Signals&oldid=725345244"