The Field Gun Run
With the Portsmouth Action Field Gun Club
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We are delighted once again to welcome a Royal Naval element to Chatsworth. The Portsmouth Action Field Gun Club's members consist of ex-armed forces and civilians all keen to keep alive the Field Gun Competition that used to be such a part of the Navy, and which was enjoyed by generations of the public at The Royal Tournament in London. They are responsible for its resurrection and its featuring at the British Military Tournament. Their appearance at Chatsworth is part of their annual training and their club's fund-raising. Their website can be found here.
Sadly we cannot show a full Field Gun Competition at Chatsworth because the necessary ground installations are not possible - there are two four foot diameter high-pressure water mains under the Grand Ring, and we think perhaps the risk is a bit much!
The Field Gun Run
There will be two teams of 12 men who actually perform the drill. They are controlled by a First Trainer, assisted by a 2nd Trainer/Safety Officer, plus safety marshals. The course consists of 3 sections - a run out, a run back, and a run home.
The equipment used is identical to that used in the full command field gun display in Portsmouth and previous Royal Tournaments. The gun and limber together weigh 1 ton, with the barrel alone weighing in at 900 lbs. Wheels weigh 120 lbs and the limber itself weighs 400 lbs.
A Little History
The origin of the competition lies in the gallant actions of the Bluejackets at Ladysmith in the South African War in the last years of the nineteenth century, in which the Navy took their guns apart and slung them on cables to get them over ravines and rivers and into action.
The competition display was started in 1912, inspired by these exploits of a Naval Brigade during the Boer War in 1899.
In South Africa at the turn of the last century relations between the Dutch in the Transvaal, the Orange State, the British in the Cape and Natal deteriorated rapidly after a conference held in Bloomfontein, capital of the Orange Free State, to resolve the problems arising form the massive influx of immigration as a result of the discovery of gold in the Transvaal and their claims for citizenship rights ended in stalemate. Both sides moved forces to their mutual borders; the British forces in Natal numbered less than 16,000 whilst the Transvaal Burgher army alone totalled nearly 27,000. In September 1899 the decision to despatch more than 10,000 troops to South Africa from home and abroad was made in London. The Transvaal Government responded to this major troop movement with an ultimatum issued on the 9th October, with a time limit of two days, that all British forces were to withdraw from the borders of the Transvaal and all the troops which had landed since the previous June were to be moved from South Africa and those on their way from overseas were not to be landed. Two days later on the 11th October 1899 at 5pm war was declared and the Boers invaded.
The British forces were quickly overwhelmed and forced back to the towns of Mafeking, Kimberley and Ladysmith, which were then besieged. Ladysmith was the most vulnerable of the three towns and, should it fall, a great moral victory could be claimed by the marauding Boer forces. It was at this point that the Royal Navy was called into action.
At anchor off Capetown were the cruisers, HMS Terrible and HMS Powerful. The British Commander in Natal, General Sir George White VC, signalled the ships for assistance, particularly long range guns. Fortunately for the General, Captain P Scott RN of HMS Terrible was a gunnery expert and he quickly designed a carriage that could hold 6 inch, and 4.7 inch, 12 pounder naval guns for transit and in action. Following initial tests, all the necessary guns and equipment were transported to Durban by HMS Terrible; the carriages were then speedily manufactured in the Durban Railway workshops. The contingent was soon ready and under the command of Captain H Lambton RN, the 280 officers and men with two 4.7 inch guns, four long range 12 pounders and four maxim guns, the Naval Brigade, as they were now called, left Durban by rail for Ladysmith. Their train was the last to complete the journey to Ladysmith on the 30th October just as the siege and bombardment started.
The Naval Brigade was soon in action against the Boer artillery; their long range guns were so effective in countering the enemy batteries and holding them at bay that it was not long before Captain Scott was being asked to provide another brigade. This was duly done and the new brigade, made up of sailors from the Frigates HMS Tartar and HMS Philomel anchored off Durban, acted in support of General Buller’s push towards their besieged comrades. Due to the nature of this operation the railway was of little use, therefore the guns had to be manhandled over difficult terrain to be brought into action in many different engagements, eventually reaching Ladysmith after 120 days of blockade. This is the whole idea of Field Gun: to try and reconstruct as near to the truth as possible what happened more than a century ago during the relief of Ladysmith. The men not only had to cope with very difficult terrain but they had to construct some sort of way of getting across a bottomless area of land; this is where the competition's chasm idea came from.
The news of the relief of Ladysmith was greeted with great jubilation in Britain and Queen Victoria sent a telegram to the Naval Brigades thanking them for their invaluable assistance. Leaving Ladysmith on the 7th March 1900 the sailors of Powerful and Terrible were soon back on board, the Powerful heading for home and arriving in Portsmouth on the 11th April.
The officers and men of HMS Powerful were soon invited to a number of military and civic receptions culminating in a Royal audience with Queen Victoria where she personally thanked the ship’s company for their part in the saving of Ladysmith.
Sadly, due to ‘Government cuts’ 1999 was the last year of the Royal Tournament as everybody knew it, and what was one of the toughest team sports in the world, so beloved of the Navy and the public, came to an end.
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