Royal Artillery

The Company has a close association with the Royal Regiment of Artillery and a number of Liverymen are either past or serving members of the Regiment. We are proud to have both the former Master Gunner, St. James Park, Field Marshall The Lord Vincent, GBE, KCB, DSO and also his successor, General Sir Alexander Harley, KBE, CB as Honorary Court Assistants.

The association stems from the wheel and in the 1670 Bylaws of the Company it is decreed "That if att any time hereafter notice and command shall bee given too this Company to furnish His Majestys Trayne of Waggons or Artillery with wheelwrights to attend the service thereof Thereupon this Company shall appoint fitt and able persons admitted to this Society for the said work". It is also worth recording that the Royal Artillery is the only regiment in the British Army to have the traditional wheel incorporated within their cap badge.

The English first used guns in battle alongside longbows at Crécy in 1346. Since then it has used them in almost every war and campaign it has fought throughout the world, but it was almost four hundred years before a permanent force of artillery was formed.

In peacetime, guns were kept in castles and were looked after by Master Gunners, skilled in their manufacture and knowledgeable in their use.

In wartime, men were recruited and trained into a Trayne of Artillery until on the 26th May 1716 the first two Companies of Artillery were formed by Royal Warrant at Woolwich.

The guns of the Royal Artillery are the Regiment's Colours, in the same way that the flags and guidons of infantry regiments are theirs, leading them into battle.

The Colours represent pride in the Regiment, so the guns are protected and retained at all costs. If the situation demands that they are left behind they must be disabled or destroyed.

The gun depicted on the cap badge is a 9pdr Rifled Muzzle Loader of about 1871, and the rammer used to ram the charge into the muzzle is also seen, to the left of the carriage wheel. Ubique, surmounting the gun, means "Everywhere", and the motto below Quo Fas et Gloria Ducunt, "Where right and glory lead us".

More information regarding the history and traditions of the Royal Regiment of Artillery can be found by visiting the Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich or visiting their website at www.firepower.org.uk

In recognition of the close links between the Livery Company and the Royal Artillery the Company make annual awards to the best Warrant Officer on the Long Gunnery Course and the best Gunner Students at the Army Foundation College.