The Soldier Artificer Company was a unit of the British Army raised in Gibraltar in 1772 to work on improving the fortifications there. It was the Army's first unit of military artificers and labourers – the existing Corps of Engineers was entirely made up of commissioned officers – and it replaced the traditional but unreliable practice of employing civilian craftsmen. The company was an immediate success and was responsible for upgrading the British fortress's defences before the Great Siege of Gibraltar. During the siege between 1779–83, the Soldier Artificer Company played a key role in repairing the damage caused to the fortifications by Spanish bombardments. They also excavated tunnels inside the Rock of Gibraltar to enable the defenders to fire down into the Spanish lines. After the siege, they assisted in rebuilding the civilian settlement at Gibraltar. The Soldier Artificers' numbers were increased several times to a peak of about 250 men organised in two companies. Their success was such that similar units were raised back in Britain to form the Corps of Royal Military Artificers, a predecessor to today's Royal Engineers. The Soldier Artificer Company merged with the Royal Military Artificers in 1797.
History
Establishment
The Soldier Artificer Company was established by Lieutenant Colonel William Green to assist his programme of improvements to the fortifications of Gibraltar. He was posted to the fortress in 1761 as its Senior Engineer and in 1769 he put forward improvement plans which were eventually accepted after much debate. The go-ahead was given in October 1770, when the British Government authorised a major programme of construction works. The works were initially carried out by civilians recruited from England and elsewhere in Europe. They were not subject to military discipline, which made them difficult to manage. The only punishments available for misconduct were reprimands, suspension and dismissal; the latter incurred costs and disruption in having to find replacements. These problems caused significant delays and extra expense in completing the works. To remedy this situation, Green proposed that a company of military artificers should be raised to work on the fortifications. The garrison had occasionally used the artificing skills of individual soldiers, especially artillerymen, over the previous 70 years. Green's suggestion was welcomed by the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar and was recommended by them to the Secretary of State for endorsement. It was duly agreed and on 6 March 1772 Royal consent was granted. A warrant was issued authorising the raising of a 68-man company consisting of one sergeant-adjutant, three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer and 60 privates working variously as stonecutters, masons, miners, lime-burners, carpenters, smiths, gardeners and wheel-makers. Officers of the existing Corps of Engineers (which consisted entirely of commissioned officers) were put in command of the newly established Military Company of Artificers. It was almost immediately renamed the Soldier Artificer Company. Many of the civilian engineers, including almost all of the non-English ones, were dismissed when the Company was established, though a few of the better qualified and more reliable ones were retained. None took up an offer to join the Company. There was little difficulty in finding enough men to make up the numbers, as men from the garrison volunteered to join it. The Company soon proved to be a great improvement on the civilian workforce and a fresh warrant issued on 25 March 1774 authorised its expansion to 93 members, the additions comprising one extra sergeant and corporal and a further 23 private artificers. This proved to be a great improvement on the previous arrangements. General Robert Boyd, the Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar, commended the work of the Company in a letter to Lord Rochford, the Secretary of State: "We can depend only upon the artificer company for constant work, and on soldiers occasionally. Had it not been for the artificer company, we should not have made half the progress in the King's Bastion, as well as in the other works of the garrison." The building of the King's Bastion was one of the most important projects carried out by the Company. It was a key fortification positioned on the waterfront between the fortress's old and new moles. The bastion's foundation stone was laid in 1773 but the progress of its construction was slow at first. It was hindered by the departure of foreign artificers and the loss of manpower resulting from the withdrawal of three Hanoverian regiments which had provided a number of artificers to supplement the Company. It was decided to expand the Company to make up for the shortfall and this was authorised on 16 January 1776, bringing its numbers to 116 non-commissioned officers and men. The Company worked on the bastion "from gun-fire in the morning to gun-fire in the evening, as also on Sundays" and completed it in 1776. The bastion, which mounted over 20 guns and had bomb-proof casemates capable of housing 800 men, demonstrated its military worth only a few years after its completion when it withstood several years of heavy bombardment during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, which began in June 1779.
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