Some important augmentations had been made to the corps, which will be found among the services out of which they in great part arose. Other desirable additions followed, which, belonging more to the incidents of home, will follow in this chapter. A number of sergeants usually employed as clerks, drill-masters, and instructors in the schools, always kept the companies to which they belonged more or less impoverished; so to end a system that could not be avoided, but which operated injuriously, Lord Panmure gave authority, on the 9th October, for the removal of fourteen specially employed sergeants from the companies, bearing them on the rolls of the corps as supernumeraries. Two of the number were appointed staff-sergeants.
Widening daily into unwieldy dimensions, with a meagre controlling staff, gave rise to other essential appointments in the corps. On the 17th December, an Adjutant (Captain F. E. Cox, R.E.) and a Quartermaster (Michael Bradford, from the rank of sergeant-major) were commissioned.[[133]] The appointment of Brigade-Major, long felt to be an inadequate staff rank, was changed to that of Assistant Adjutant-General. Heretofore the chief executive of the royal sappers and miners held no higher regimental rank than that of Captain, with the staff commission of Brigade-Major. Under the same authority a sergeant-major and a quartermaster-sergeant were added to the corps.
There was an Exhibition at Fort George, Mauritius, in December, 1855, of a collection of productions indigenous to the island, and subjects of a constructive nature, to represent the industrial habits of the community in that distant region. Indebted for the idea to its great prototype in London, the Exhibition originated with the 22nd company of the corps stationed there, and most of the articles—such as models of inventions and objects of mechanical interest in the island—were contributed by non-commissioned officers and privates of the company, of whom sergeant Frederick Hibling was the chief exhibitor. The exposition was open for a week. Each day had its appointed charge varying from 3d. to 2s., and the surplus receipts were applied to charitable purposes.
From Bermuda the 21st company arrived on the 22nd December, leaving a small detachment of invalids to carry on the works. Its removal was accompanied by a representation which told of the loss the colony would sustain by the step; but the urgency of affairs in the East admitted of no consideration interfering with the resolve of sending the company to the Crimea, constituted as it was of climatized men and competent artificers. At the time of their landing, however, there were strong indications of diplomatic negociations putting an end to existing differences; but to prepare the company for the worst, it was forwarded to Aldershot on the 8th January, 1856, under the command of Lieutenant J. H. Wilson, to be trained in camp to the discipline and usages of war.
Another of the changes which resulted from the incorporation of the ordnance service with the army was the removal of the head-quarters from Woolwich to Chatham. Successive Directors of the establishment at Chatham had shown the benefits probably to accrue to the corps by the measure, but forty years’ representation were insufficient to dispose of the counter-advantages which were considered to be the effect of instruction carried out at two stations—one for forming the soldier, the other for working up the soldier into a sapper. At a time when the country was expecting changes, and those changes promised a return to the State more beneficial than an adherence to old systems was likely to yield, nothing was permitted to stand in the way of making the trial. Accordingly the fiat was issued by Lord Panmure; and Chatham from the 10th January became the head-quarters of the corps. On that day, Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke, Assistant Adjutant-General, marched into Brompton Barracks at the head of the sappers, leaving for the works at Woolwich a strong company quartered in temporary huts erected in Mill Hill road.
A detachment had been sent to Van Diemen’s Land in 1852 at the request of the Colonial Legislature to carry on the surveys of the settlement, but it had barely entered on its duties when a feeling of hostility was shown to its employment. Whenever a chance offered of presenting it in an unfavourable aspect, the Legislative Council greedily accepted it, and gave the imperial party the full weight of its opposition. In August, 1855, the Governor-General sent a message to the Council recommending Captain Hawkins who commanded the surveyors, for the appointment of Surveyor-General, but between a select committee nominated to inquire into its necessity and the Legislative Council, the office was never conferred. Matters went on coldly enough; the Council had grown stubborn in its sentiments; and to show that the colony had a will of its own, notwithstanding a royal warrant had been issued to form the detachment in accordance with the warm wishes of those who had authority to represent the wants of the province, the colonial secretary coolly intimated to Captain Hawkins, on the 16th October following, that himself and detachment were at the disposal of the Governor of New South Wales! The men composing the party were volunteers, had made sacrifices to emigrate, had purchased land in the vicinity of their labours, and were collecting about them members of their families, who, by ones and twos, had struggled to leave their English homes and were on their way to distant Tasmania. In revoking the service, the conduct of the rulers was as heartless and supercilious as absolute; and in beguiling men, by fair promises, to volunteer to serve them; then discountenancing their efficient exertions, and finally, without consulting their wishes, arranging for their transfer to any colony which might be in need of such a detachment, was a feature in colonial management strongly savouring of exceptional faith. The end of all was, that a few of the party, sooner than break up their new homes, took their discharges, and the remainder leaving Hobart Town on the 9th February, arrived in five days after at Sydney, to renew in that colony, under the auspices of Sir William Denison, those services so little appreciated by the censors of Van Diemen’s Land. Captain Hawkins, still in command of the detachment, fixed his head-quarters at Paramatta.
Under the authority of Lord Hardinge, the Commander-in-Chief, dated 2nd April, several increases and alterations took place in the corps. The 23rd company being composed of drivers was thrown out of the numeral roll of the companies and designated the A troop of the royal engineer field equipment. Its constitution and pay was fixed as under:—
| s. | d. | ||||
| 1 | troop sergeant-major | 3 | 9 | a-day. | |
| 1 | troop quartermaster-sergeant | 3 | 9 | ” | |
| 4 | sergeants | each | 2 | 10 | ” |
| 6 | corporals | ” | 2 | 4 | ” |
| 6 | second-corporals | ” | 2 | 2 | ” |
| 1 | farrier | 3 | 4 | ” | |
| 4 | shoeing smiths | each | 2 | 0 | ” |
| 2 | collar-makers | ” | 2 | 0 | ” |
| 2 | wheelers | ” | 2 | 0 | ” |
| 100 | drivers | ” | 1 | 9 | ” |
| 2 | buglers | ” | 1 | 9 | ” |
To fill up the gap occasioned by its withdrawal, another company, numbered the 23rd, was formed in April. The Corfu company which held a distinct organization, had its establishment risen from 82 to 120, so that it might take its place among the general service companies. A Band was also formed, consisting of one sergeant, one corporal, one second corporal, and thirty private musicians. The detachments raised by special royal warrants for service in Van Diemen’s Land and Sydney were absorbed in the 20th company. The result of all was that the corps gained a clear augmentation of 169 non-commissioned officers and men, and its organization was established according to the following detail:—
| Colour Sergeants. | Sergts. | Corpls. | 2nd Corpls. | Buglers. | Privates. | Total. | General Total. | ||||||
| 22 | general service companies, each | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 100 | 120 | = | 2640 | |||
| 1 | survey company | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 100 | 120 | = | 120 | |||
| 1 | survey company | 1 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 99 | 125 | = | 375 | |||
| 3135 | |||||||||||||
| The band | 1 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 33 | ||||||||
| Sergt.- Major | Q.-mast.- Sergt. | Sergts. | Corpls. | 2nd Corpls. | Artif- icers. | Bugl. | Drivers. | Total. | |||||
| Driver troop | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 100 | 129 | = | 129 | ||
| Staff— | Supernumerary sergeants with the rank of colour-sergeant4 sergeant-majors; 4 quartermaster-sergeants; 1 bugle-major, and 2 staff-sergeants | 11 | |||||||||||
| 1 assistant adjutant-general; 2 adjutants to corps, 1 adjutant of field equipment, and 4 quartermasters. | 8 | ||||||||||||
| General Total | 3328 | ||||||||||||