FROM EARLIEST DATE TO THE WORLD WAR Great Britain.—In earliest war annals it is difficult to dis tinguish the military from the civil engineer. Julius Caesar refers to his "praefectus fabrum," an official who controlled the labour gangs employed on road-making and also parties of artisans. The Domesday survey of A.D. 1086 includes one "Waldivus Ingenia tor," who held nine manors direct from the Crown, and was probably William the Conqueror's chief engineer. Throughout the middle ages ecclesiastics were frequently employed as military engineers; not only for purposes of planning and building, but also for fighting. The best known is Gundulph, bishop of Roches ter, a famous engineer of his day, who built the White tower of the Tower of London (1078) and Rochester castle. For labour civil artificers were engaged, principally carpenters, wood-cutters and sappers (fossatores) for road-making. In A.D. 1300 the name Attillator was given to the official responsible for the maintenance of permanent works of defence, and for manipulating the engines of war. This title, at the time synonymous with "engineer," may perhaps be the origin of "artillery." Headquarters of engineers existed at the Tower of London before A.D. 1350, and a century later developed into the Office (later Board) of Ordnance, whose duty was to administer all matters concerned with fortification, artillery and ordnance stores. The first English record of the employment of engineers and artillery in a siege is in A.D. 1346, when Edward III. was before Calais; the wages roll numbered 31,294, of whom 314 were engineers, gunners and other artificers. Edward III. believed in using trained artificers and he collected experienced miners from the Forest of Dean, also smiths and others from the City of London. The records of later sieges show similarly that bodies of carpenters, miners, labourers and smiths were employed, cf. Harfleur A.D. 1415. During the 15th century there are few references to engineers. In A.D. 1513 Henry VIII. appointed a "Master Trenchermaster," who later became "Master of the Ordnance." He also separated combatant engineers from those who merely constructed works ; the former were appointed for campaigns only and were entitled "Trenchmaster," or "Captain of the Pioneers"; they had no control over the artillery, which was under a master of the ordnance, also appointed for the cam paign, and usually himself an engineer. Those entrusted with the construction of permanent works were called "Surveyors of the King's Works," or sometimes "Master Masons." During this reign "Pioneers" were for the first time organized in regular corps during active operations. Henry VIII. gave much work to his engineers, and the numbers being insufficient, many foreigners, especially Italians and Spaniards, were brought to England; his fear of invasion gave special impetus to work on coast defences. Henry's best known chief engineer was Sir Richard Lee. Elizabeth introduced the title "Lieutenant of the Ordnance," which was borne by Sir William Pelham, the most distinguished engineer of her reign. The title of surveyor fell into disuse about the middle of the 17th century, when that of engineer again became general for both combatant and non-combatant branches. A new division gradually appeared (the King's Engineers) permanently appointed and patented, who were charged with the design, construction and inspection of the fortifications of the country; and engineers ap pointed to the trains that were formed for war and included all branches of the ordnance; viz., engineers, artillery and store or munitions branch. The commander of the train was usually the chief engineer. The duties of the board of ordnance were first clearly defined by royal warrant in 1683, when the principal en gineer was made responsible for the efficiency and attainments of the members of his branch. Previously each individual officer had corresponded direct with the board of ordnance, ministers or other authorities. At the end of the 17th century the train in cluded guns, howitzers, grenades, pontoons, tents, entrenching and artificers' tools, scaling ladders and mining timber; the men were formed into a mortar detachment, gun detachment, company of bridgemen, artificers, store and transport attendants; the whole being commanded by the senior engineer.
The artillery and engineers were separated in 1716, when two companies of artillery and a corps of engineer officers were estab lished, all under the board of ordnance. The system of appoint ment to the corps of engineers remained that of patronage. There was no academy, no examination, no competition. A code of instructions issued in 1740 shows that the engineers were still supposed to exercise a great measure of control over the artillery; the number of guns, their siting, mounting and protection, all lying within the province of the engineers. The Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, was founded by royal warrant in 1741, on the demand of the board of ordnance, in order "to instruct the raw and inexperienced people of this office in the several parts of Mathematicks necessary to qualify them for the service of the artillery and the business of engineers." The first record of engineers in India is in 1747, when a warrant was issued for a train to accompany the expedition under Admiral Boscawen; in by a warrant of the king, engineers serving in India ceased to be members of the corps.
The year 1747 saw the commencement of the military survey of Scotland, which was undertaken as a preliminary to the in vasion of the Highlands. This was entrusted to the corps of en gineers and became the precursor of the Ordnance Survey, which remains to this day under control of Royal Engineer officers. At that period engineer officers had no recognized military rank or status, unless, as occasionally happened, they were granted com missions in other regiments, or on the staff. This was naturally unsatisfactory and had long been a grievance. Direct appeal was at last made by the officers to H.R.H the duke of Cumberland, Captain-General of the Forces, at which the board of ordnance was highly incensed. In 1757, after nearly ten years of friction and argument, military rank was formally approved; no warrant can be traced, but every engineer officer received a signed com mission from the king. Thirty years later the title of the corps was changed to its present one of "Royal Engineers," and it was authorized to take precedence with the artillery on the right of the line. No regular units or establishment of men had existed until 1772, when a "corps of military artificers" was formed for service in Gibraltar, in place of the mixed lot of local civilians, soldiers and workmen from England. A similar organization for England was proposed in 1779; but prolonged discussion took place in parliament before a warrant was issued for the formation of six companies of military artificers, each consisting of loo men, to be officered by the Royal Engineers. The companies were stationed in certain ports in the south of England and might not be employed elsewhere. This was the position during the greater part of the Napoleonic wars, and it is not surprising that Welling ton's references to both artillery and engineers are often uncom plimentary. The whole of the train, artillery, engineers and stores departments being directly under the board of ordnance, were entirely independent of control by the military chiefs, while the board could never be persuaded to meet the demands of com manders in the field for either men or material. The numerous sieges in Spain were planned and conducted by engineer officers practically without technical troops or material. Their greatest privilege was to lead the storming party to the assault, where the majority met death or disablement. Wellington's chief en gineer in the Peninsular War, Sir Richard Fletcher, was himself killed before San Sebastian in 1813. Four companies of Royal Sappers and Miners took part in this siege, Wellington's insistence having at last prevailed upon the board of ordnance to organize units of technical troops. In this same year the new name had been substituted for the old one of "military artificers." A regular organization was steadily built up, and at Waterloo in 1815 a brigade of engineers was attached to each division, and there was in addition a pontoon train of several companies. The French wars also led to certain improvements in the status and pay of senior engineer officers, and in 1802 the title of chief engineer in England was changed to "inspector-general of fortifications." Another result was the establishment in 1812 of the School of Military Engineering at Chatham under Capt. Charles Pasley, to give instruction to officers and men "in the duties of sapping and mining and other military field works." Pasley had been incapaci tated by many wounds from further active service; he remained for nearly 3o years in control of the school, where his scientific knowledge, sane judgment, and broad vision left a permanent mark. The end of the French wars found the engineers at the summit of their fortunes, and the need for scientific soldiers had been proved to the utmost. The subsequent long peace brought drastic reductions and stagnation of promotion, till subalterns of 25 years' service became quite common. A slight improvement re sulted from the inception of the ordnance survey of Ireland in 1825; and in 1832 the King granted to the corps its motto "Ubique quo fas et gloria ducunt." Little interest, however, was taken in military engineers until the Great Exhibition of 1851, the construction of which was entrusted by the Prince Consort to Royal Engineer officers. The universality of application to engi neering problems that they displayed, combined with the success of the exhibition, brought the corps prominently to notice; and the subsequent warm interest shown at all times by Queen Victoria opened the door to many and varied channels of scientific and general employment for R.E. officers. The opening of the Crimean War in 18S4 found the engineers, like the rest of the army, reduced in numbers and starved for equipment. An immediate increase in numbers was made, seven battalions of sappers being formed, each battalion having 48 officers of Royal Engineers. The old defects in organization still persisted, and were only remedied as the result of the lessons of this war. In Lord Raglan, master general of the ordnance, died in the Crimea, and the whole board of ordnance was then abolished. Engineer officers and men were at last amalgamated in one "Corps of Royal Engineers" and came directly under the commander-in-chief.
The most distinguished engineer officer of this period, and the first engineer to become field-marshal, was Sir John Burgoyne, who won fame both as military and civil engineer; he died in 1871, aged 89 years, of which 68 had been devoted to the public service. The first mounted troop was hurriedly formed for the transport of bridging equipment in the Crimea, but had no regular status until 1863, when "A" pontoon troop and "B" field equip ment troop were formed at Aldershot with a mounted depot to serve both. Field signalling had been first devised and practised at Chatham; also trials with the electric telegraph. Two sappers trained in telegraphy were sent to the Crimea, where they estab lished precarious communication between the trenches and the base ; but economy hampered progress, and little more was done until 187o when, under the influence of the Franco-German War, "C" telegraph troop was added to those at Aldershot. In the same year a detachment of R.E. telegraphists was sent to the post office for employment and training ; later they were formed into a regular unit, which for many years exercised complete con trol over the civil telegraph system in a large part of southern England. The mounted detachment (later named field troop, and then field squadron) was first formed for service in Egypt in 1885.
Ballooning for military purposes was first practised by the French revolutionary armies at the end of the i8th century. Early efforts by R.E. officers met with cold support, and not till 1890 was a proper establishment formed at Aldershot; theoretical instruction in ballooning being added at the same time to the Chatham course. The balloon detachment saw service in the Sudan in 1884, and later in Bechuanaland and South Africa; and gradually died out with the advance of aviation. Submarine min ing was introduced by the Royal Engineers. Established as a regular service about 1863, it remained in the hands of the corps for more than 4o years, and was then taken over by the navy. Mechanical transport was another child of the military engineer. Instruction in the maintenance and driving of steam road vehicles (then termed steam "sappers") was given at Chatham, and the first steam road transport unit was organized for service in South Africa in 1899 as an engineer unit.
The charge of military buildings was entrusted to the Royal Engineers in 1826, and at the same time training in practical architecture was added to the course at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham. For over ioo years this has provided the principal means by which British military engineers have been practised in peace in the various branches of constructional en gineering and have been kept abreast of scientific advance and development. The greatest monuments to their skill as architects are perhaps to be found in India, exemplified in the irrigation works, railways, surveys, roads, bridges, public buildings and defences of the country. The Indian corps of engineers, at first separately constituted in the three presidencies, and reorganized in 17 7o by the East India Company, was finally amalgamated with and became part of the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1862, when Indian administration was transferred to the Crown.
During the latter half of the i9th century R.E. officers were prominent in many lands and many spheres as soldiers, scientists and statesmen. Among famous soldiers may be mentioned Field Marshals Lord Napier, Sir J. Lintorn Simmons, Lord Nicholson and Maj.-Gen. Charles ("Chinese") Gordon. One of the outstand ing figures of the World War of 1914-18, Field-Marshal Earl Kitchener, belonged to the corps of Royal Engineers, among whose officers many rose in the war to high commands and posts, the latter including both adjutant-general and quartermaster general to the forces. The Institution of Royal Engineers was founded in 1875 with the object of "the general advancement of military science and more particularly for promoting the acquisi tion of historical and scientific knowledge in relation to engineer ing as applied to military purposes." In 1923 the institution re ceived the honour of incorporation by royal charter.