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The Tower Hamlets Engineers was a Volunteer unit of the British Royal Engineers (RE) based in East London. Raised in 1868, it provided engineers for two London infantry divisions of the Territorial Force during World War I. In World War II it operated as an RE headquarters, particularly on D-Day and at the Rhine Crossing, while its subordinate companies served in a number of campaigns, including the Siege of Tobruk and with the Chindits. Its successor unit continues to serve in today's Army Reserve. ==Origin== The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.〔Beckett.〕 One such unit was the 1st Tower Hamlets Engineer Volunteer Corps (EVC) formed at Cannon Street Road, Whitechapel, in the Tower Hamlets district of East London. The first officers' commissions were issued on 20 June 1861.〔Beckett, Appendix IX.〕〔Westlake, p. 14.〕〔(1st London Engineers at Regiments.org )〕 Administratively, the unit was attached to the 1st Middlesex EVC in 1863, and in 1865 it moved to a new HQ at Gretton Place, Victoria Park Square, in Bethnal Green. However, the ''London Gazette'' for 9 October 1868 announced the disbandment of the 1st Tower Hamlets EVC and simultaneously the formation of a new 2nd Tower Hamlets (East London) Engineer Volunteers. The officers' commissions for the new unit had been issued on 3 October, and by November the former members of the 1st Corps had been absorbed into the new unit, which also used the Gretton Place headquarters.〔〔〔(''London Gazette'', 9 October 1868. )〕〔''Quarterly Army List''.〕 By 1872 the unit consisted of six companies. It was also administratively responsible for the 1st Hampshire (1870–81) and 1st Northamptonshire (1872–1901) EVCs and for the Cadet Corps at Bedford Grammar School (1888–1900). By 1876, it had moved its HQ the short distance to the barracks of the Queen's Own Royal Tower Hamlets Militia Light Infantry (later 5th Battalion, Rifle Brigade) in Victoria Park Square.〔〔〔Barnes, Appendices II & III.〕〔(''Victoria County History'' at British History Online. )〕 The EVC titles were abandoned in 1888, when the units became 'Engineer Volunteers, Royal Engineers', proclaiming their affiliation to the Regular Royal Engineers (RE), and then simply 'Royal Engineers (Volunteers)' in 1896. The Tower Hamlets unit was renamed the East London (Tower Hamlets) RE (V) in September 1900.〔〔Westlake, pp. 3 & 14.〕 From 1890 until his death in 1903, the Commanding Officer was Colonel William Whetherly, VD.〔Whetherly's VD was awarded in 1901 ((''London Gazette'', 5 March 1901 )). He built a house at 31 Egerton Gardens, Kensington ((''Survey of London'' )) and when he died in 1903 he was buried at Brompton Cemetery ().〕 In 1896 the unit built a new drill hall at Victoria Park Square, next door to the Tower Hamlets Militia Barracks. It became a popular venue for boxing matches in the 1930s. The unit continued to occupy the drill hall into the 1960s. Today the site is occupied by a police station built in 1997.〔〔(Bethnal Green Drill Hall at Greater London Volunteer Tribute )〕〔(London Ex-Boxers Association. )〕〔(Boxing History. )〕〔Cherry, O'Brien & Pevsner, p. 369.〕 The unit sent a detachment of one officer and 25 other ranks to South Africa in 1900 to assist the regular REs during the Second Boer War, and a second detachment went out the following year. Seven of the volunteers died on campaign (''see Memorials below'').〔Watson, pp. 42–3.〕 The eminent surgeon John Thomson-Walker (later knighted) was Surgeon-Lieutenant in the East London (Tower Hamlets) RE (V) from 1902.〔(''London Gazette'', 15 April 1902. )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tower Hamlets Engineers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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