1st Kent Artillery Volunteers
| 1st Kent Artillery Volunteers Kent Royal Garrison Artillery Kent & Sussex Heavy Brigade 410 (Kent) Coast Regiment |
|
|---|---|
| Active | 1860–1956 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Volunteer Force
|
| Type | Artillery Corps |
| Role | Garrison Artillery Coastal Artillery Heavy Artillery Anti-Aircraft Artillery |
| Garrison/HQ |
Gravesend (1860–1908) Fort Clarence, Rochester Dover |
| Engagements |
World War I World War II |
The 1st Kent Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery from 1860 to 1956. Primarily serving as coastal artillery defending the Port of Dover and other harbours in South-East England, the unit's successors also served in the heavy artillery role on the Western Front during World War I and as anti-aircraft artillery during the Blitz and later in the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II.
Many Volunteer units were raised in Great Britain as a result of an invasion scare in 1859. These small independent units were quickly organised into larger groupings, and the 1st Administrative Brigade of Kent Artillery Volunteers was formed in August 1860. It comprised the following Corps:
A reorganisation in May 1880 saw the Plumstead and Woolwich units become independent, and the remaining Corps were consolidated as the 1st Kent Artillery Volunteer Corps (1st KAVC) with HQ at Gravesend and eleven batteries provided as follows:
In 1887 the 1st KAVC was redesigned the 3rd Volunteer (Kent) Brigade, Cinque Ports Division, Royal Artillery, but this title only lasted until 1889, when it became 1st Kent Artillery Volunteer Corps (Eastern Division, Royal Artillery).
By 1892 the Kent Artillery Volunteer Corps were organised as follows:
In 1902 the Artillery Volunteers became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), and the 1st KAVC was designated 1st Kent Brigade RGA (Volunteers).
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the 1st Kent Brigade provided the Home Counties (Kent) Heavy Battery, RGA, including its ammunition column, and three companies of the Sussex and Kent Royal Garrison Artillery. However this unit was broken up in 1910, and the Kent batteries became the separate Kent RGA.
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