Aldershot Command was a Home Command of the British Army.
History
After the success of the Chobham Manoeuvres of 1853, reformers of the British Army decided to create a permanent training camp at Aldershot. To begin the preliminary work a small party of NCOs and men of the Royal Engineers arrived in November 1853 on the site of the present Princes Gardens in the town making them the first soldiers to arrive in Aldershot. These engineers were responsible for surveying and making the preliminary arrangements for The Camp at Aldershot. The Camp was established at Aldershot in 1854 on the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief, Viscount Hardinge. During the Crimean War, regiments of Militia embodied for home defence were housed at the camp, and the Brigade of Guards used it for summer training, and were reviewed by Queen Victoria.
After the Crimean War, a division of Regular troops was permanently based at Aldershot, and ‘the Division at Aldershot’ (including artillery at Christchurch, Hampshire, and cavalry at Hounslow, Middlesex), became one of the most important home commands of the British Army.
In January 1876 a ‘Mobilization Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland’ was published, with the ‘Active Army’ divided into eight army corps based on the major Commands and Districts. 2nd Corps was to be formed within Aldershot Command, based at Aldershot. This scheme disappeared in 1881, when the districts were retitled ‘District Commands’. In 1898 (when Queen Victoria's son, the Duke of Connaught, was General Officer Commanding (GOC)) Aldershot Command was ranked I on the list. A purpose-built command headquarters was completed in 1895.
The 1901 Army Estimates introduced by St John Brodrick allowed for six army corps based on six regional commands. As outlined in a paper published in 1903, I Corps was to be formed in a reconstituted Aldershot Command, with HQ at Aldershot. General Sir Redvers Buller was appointed acting General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOCinC) of I Corps in April 1903.
Under Army Order No 28 of 1907 the Home Commands were reorganised to provide a basis for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
Composition of Aldershot Command 1907
The composition was as follows: 1st Cavalry Brigade (Brig-Gen Hon Julian Byng)
1st Division (Maj-Gen James Grierson) 1st Brigade Aldershot 2nd Brigade Blackdown 3rd Brigade Bordon Three Field Artillery Brigades (each of three batteries) Royal Field Artillery One Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade RFA Two Field Companies Royal Engineers Two Divisional Telegraph Companies RE
2nd Division (Maj-Gen Bruce Hamilton) 4th (Guards) Brigade London 5th Brigade Aldershot 6th Brigade Aldershot Three Field Artillery Brigades RFA Two Field Companies RE
Army Troops
1st & 2nd Air Line Companies, RE
1st & 2nd Cable Telegraph Companies RE
1st & 2nd Wireless Telegraph Companies RE
1st & 2nd Balloon Companies RE
1st & 3rd Bridging Train RE
First World War
When the BEF was sent to France on the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Aldershot Command provided the basis for I Corps under Lieutenant-General Sir Douglas Haig. The Territorial Force and Special Reserve then took over home defence, with the assembly of Central Force beginning on 18 August 1914. First Army of Central Force was headquartered at Aldershot, with the Highland Division (later 51st (Highland) Division) and Highland Mounted Brigade of the TF under command. For the first two years of the war, command at Aldershot was divided between the Major-General, Administration (Major-General Alexander Hamilton-Gordon) and the commander of Aldershot Training Centre (General Sir Archibald Hunter). Aldershot Command was reinstated in 1916 under Hunter.
Second World War
In August 1939 its geographical area encompassed parts of the following four counties: Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex. The exact boundaries were as follows: "From the River Loddon where crossed by the Southern Railway at Loddon Bridge (south-east of Reading) along the railway through Wokingham, Bracknell and Ascot to Sunningdale–thence the eastern boundaries of the parishes of Chobham and Horsell to the railway at Woking–thence southward along the railway (omitting the portions of the parishes of Guildford and Artington to the west of the railway and the three small portions of Sussex lying to the north of the railway) to Liss–thence northward along the road leading to Reading, through Selborne, Alton and Odiham (but inclusive of the portions of the parishes of Alton and Chawton lying west of that road)–to Swallowfield–thence along the River Loddon to Loddon Bridge."