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Tidworth Camp is a military installation at
Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, south o ...
in
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England. It forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison.


History

The Camp was established when the
War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from t ...
acquired a 19th-century mansion –
Tedworth House Tedworth House, also known as South Tidworth House, is a 19th-century country house in Tidworth, Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is used by the charity Help for Heroes. The house and its grounds were in Hampshire until ...
– and large tracts of land to its north in 1897. Headquarters
Southern Command Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
was established at Tidworth Camp in 1905. Lucknow Barracks and Mooltan Barracks were completed in 1905, Tidworth
Military Hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...
was finished in 1907. Aliwal Barracks, Assaye Barracks, Bhurtpore Barracks, Candahar Barracks, Delhi Barracks and Jellalabad Barracks were added later, and a
Royal Ordnance Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories (abbreviated ROFs) which manufactured explosives, ammunition ...
depot was established during the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...
. The barracks are named for battles in India and Afghanistan: Aliwal,
Assaye Assaye is a small village in the Jalna district of the state of Maharashtra in western India. The village was the location of the Battle of Assaye in 1803, fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company The East Ind ...
, Bhurtpore, Candahar,
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, Jellalabad,
Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the List of million-plus urban agg ...
and
Mooltan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the olde ...
. (Jellalabad Barracks should not be confused with the former barracks of the same name in Taunton, Somerset). There was also an army hospital during the First World War. A description of it, including actions taken to address a suspected meningitis outbreak, is provided by Arthur Bullock, who spent around a week there in 1918. In the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Camp was home from 1942 to 1944 to various formations of the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
including 7th Armored Division (14 June to 7 August 1944), 9th Armored Division, and 8th Armored Division. HQ Southern Command left the Camp and moved to
Erskine Barracks Erskine Barracks was a military installation at Fugglestone St Peter, in Wilton parish some northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. History The site, which had been farmland until used for temporary army buildings during World War II, w ...
near
Fugglestone St Peter Fugglestone St Peter was a small village, manor, and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, lying between the town of Wilton and the city of Salisbury. The civil parish came to an end in 1894 when it was divided between the adjoining parishes, an ...
in 1949. The military hospital closed in March 1977. Extensive reconstruction at the Camp involving 160 new or refurbished buildings was carried out under
Project Allenby Connaught Project Allenby Connaught is a scheme begun in 2006 to redevelop the military garrisons of Aldershot and Salisbury Plain in the United Kingdom. The project is named after Lord Allenby who served as a cavalry commander on Salisbury Plain, and the ...
between 2006 and 2014. Tedworth House had various military uses, including providing accommodation for nurses; from 1977 to 2011 it was the Officers' Mess for the Camp. It is now a recovery centre operated by the
Help for Heroes Help for Heroes (H4H) is a British charity which provides lifelong recovery support to British Armed Forces service personnel who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty, and to their families, originally only since 11 September 2001, th ...
charity.


Military cemetery

Tidworth Military Cemetery, north of the Camp and surrounded by farmland, is under the care of the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...
. 417 First World War burials from Tidworth, and from Fargo Military Hospital near
Larkhill Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlemen ...
, include many of Australian or New Zealand servicemen. There are also 106 graves of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and 40 of other nationalities.


Former branch railway

A branch from the
Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...
at Ludgershall was built in 1901 and opened to passengers in 1902. Goods tracks known as Tidworth Military Railway continued west from Tidworth station into the military area. The branch returned to military control in 1955 and was closed in 1963.


Barracks

The barracks which encompass the camp include: * Aliwal Barracks **
King's Royal Hussars The King's Royal Hussars (KRH) is a Royal Armoured Corps regiment of the British Army formed in 1992. Based at Tidworth it serves as the armoured regiment of the 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team (ABCT). Under Army 2020 Refine, it is intended to ...
**
Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as t ...
* Assaye Barracks **
Queen's Royal Hussars The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish) (QRH) is a British armoured regiment. It was formed on 1 September 1993 from the amalgamation of the Queen's Own Hussars and the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars. The regiment and its antece ...
** 4th Armoured Medical Regiment,
Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...
**3rd Armoured Close Support Battalion,
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's fo ...
* Bhurtpore Barracks **1st Armoured Medical Regiment, Royal Army Medical Corps * Candahar Barracks **10 Army Education Centre Group,
Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 peopl ...
Army Policy & Secretariat,
FOI(A) Request relating to current AECs (7 December 2020).
whatdotheyknow.com.'' Retrieved 8 December 2020.
*Delhi Barracks **Headquarters, 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade **Headquarters, 1st Artillery Brigade **6th Armoured Close Support Battalion, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers *Jellalabad Barracks ** Headquarters South West **4th Armoured Close Support Battalion, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers *Lucknow Barracks **1st Battalion,
Royal Welsh The Royal Welsh (R WELSH) ( cy, Y Cymry Brenhinol) is an armoured infantry regiment of the British Army. It was established in 2006 from the Royal Welch Fusiliers (23rd Foot) and the Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot). History The ...
**British Army Bands Tidworth *** Band of the Royal Artillery ***Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers ***Band of the Adjutant General's Corps *Mooltan Barracks **1st Battalion,
Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (often referred to as the Royal Fusiliers or, simply, the Fusiliers) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st battalion, part ...
*Prince Philip Lines ** 5th Force Support Battalion, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers


References

{{reflist Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Military history of Wiltshire Tidworth