The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch,

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and domestic materials such as clothing, furniture and stationery and the supply of technical and military equipment. In 1965 its functions were divided between other Corps ( RCT and RAOC) and the RASC ceased to exist; subsequently, in 1993, they in their turn (with some functions of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

) became the "Forming Corps" of the Royal Logistic Corps.

History

For centuries, army transport was operated by contracted civilians. The first uniformed transport corps in the British Army was the Royal Waggoners formed in 1794. It was not a success and was disbanded the following year. In 1799, the Royal Waggon Corps was formed; by August 1802, it had been renamed the Royal Waggon Train. This was reduced to only two troops in 1818 and finally disbanded in 1833.

Direct predecessors

The Commissariat and the Military Train

A transport corps was not formed again until the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. In 1855, the Land Transport Corps was formed. This was renamed the Military Train the following year. The corps was initially based at

Horfield Barracks Horfield Barracks is a former military installation in the Horfield area of Bristol. History The barracks were built, largely in response to the Bristol riots of 1831, and completed between 1843 and 1847. During the Crimean War a mutiny took pla ...

in Bristol, but in 1859 the 'Brigade Office' and Depot moved to

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

. At this time, supply duties were the responsibility of the

Commissariat A commissariat is a department or organization commanded by a commissary or by a corps of commissaries. In many countries, commissary is a police rank. In those countries, a commissariat is a police station commanded by a commissary. In some ...

(a uniformed civilian body, principally responsible for food,

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also use ...

and fuel); while provision of arms, ammunition and other critical stores was the responsibility of the Military Store Department (formed following the abolition of the

Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence o ...

in 1855).

The Control Department

In 1869, there was a major reorganisation of army supply and transport capabilities: the commissaries of the

and the officers of the Military Train were amalgamated together with the officers of the Military Store Department to form what was called the Control Department under a Controller-in-Chief. The following year, other ranks of the Military Train were combined with those of the Commissariat Staff Corps and the Military Store Staff Corps to form a body of soldiers, officered by the Control Department, which was named the Army Service Corps (ASC). By 1871 new Corps numbered twelve Transport Companies, seven Supply Companies and three Ordnance Store Companies, each of around 105 non-commissioned officers and men. From 1870 the Control Department was placed within the new Department of the Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, who took over as Controller-in-Chief. The Department of the Surveyor General of the Ordnance retained the Control Department and further restructured it into four new divisions superintended by a director: the first was the Supply and Transport Division (formed from the merging of the former commissariat, purveyors and barrack departments), the second was an Artillery and Stores Division (that absorbed the former contracts, clothing, ordnance and stores departments) and the third was a Contracts Division. The fourth division created was called the Control Establishments Subdivision that became responsible for the administration of the control departments staff.

The Commissariat and Transport Department

In November 1875, the Control Department was abolished and its work in regard to field service was allocated to two new departments: the Commissariat and Transport Department and the

Ordnance Store Department The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...

. Following failures in the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, cou ...

, the Commissariat and Transport Department was disbanded in January 1880, and replaced with the Commissariat and Transport Staff. Although the officers of the former Control Department had been split between the two new departments in 1875, no parallel action was taken with regard to other ranks at that time; the Army Service Corps continued to serve both departments until 1881, whereupon it too was split along similar lines to form two distinct units: and the

Ordnance Store Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...

(which, together with the Ordnance Store Department, would go on to form the Royal Army Ordnance Corps) and the Commissariat and Transport Corps. The latter retained the Supply Companies (which had their depot at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

) and the Transport Companies (whose depot was at Woolwich). Initially, the Commissariat and Transport Department remained part of the Department of Surveyor General of the Ordnance (in 1878 the Control Establishments Subdivision’s name was altered to the Commissariat and Transport Establishments Division under the supervision of a Commissary General). In 1887, however, the Department of the Surveyor General of the Ordnance and its head was abolished; its former functions were then distributed among the several divisions of the Military and Civil Departments: the work of the Supply and Transport Division was allocated to the Quartermaster General’s Division.

Formation of a unified Corps

Army Service Corps recruiting poster 1915

Home_Counties_Transport_&_Supply_Column_Cigarette_Card

In December 1888, the ''Commissariat and Transport Staff'' and the ''Commissariat and Transport Corps'' amalgamated to form a new Army Service Corps, and for the first time officers and other ranks served in a single unified organisation. The War Department Fleet was transferred to the Corps in 1891, and the ASC also absorbed some transport elements of the

. Furthermore, the Corps of Military

Staff Clerk A staff clerk is a professional specialist clerk in the British Army who is a member of an administrative corps, as opposed to a unit clerk, who is a member of the corps or regiment in which he or she works and is trained first and foremost in the ...

s was amalgamated into the Supply branch of the ASC in 1893. After it was opened in 1895, Buller Barracks in Aldershot came to be regarded as the corps headquarters. In 1918, the corps received the "Royal" prefix for its service in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and became the Royal Army Service Corps. It was divided into Transport and Supply Branches. Before 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 opposi ...

, RASC recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall and could enlist up to 30 years of age (or 35 for tradesmen in the Transport Branch). They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a further six years with the reserve (seven years and five years for tradesmen and clerks, three years and nine years for butchers, bakers and supply issuers). They trained at

. Alone among the "Services" (i.e. rear echelon support corps), RASC personnel were considered to be combatant personnel. In 1965, the RASC was merged with the Transportation and Movement Control Service of the

(which was responsible for railway transport, inland water transport, port operations, and movements) to form the

Royal Corps of Transport The Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) was a British Army Corps established to manage all matters in relation to the transport of men and material for the Army and the wider Defence community. It was formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1993; its units and ...

. All its supply functions,(including the supply of vehicles, their care and preservation in storage and delivery), along with the staff clerks, were transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, leaving the new RCT solely responsible for transport and movements. In 1993, the RCT and RAOC were merged to form the Royal Logistic Corps, the modern descendant of the ASC.

Ranks

Officers of the Control Department, Commissariat and Transport Department, and Commissariat and Transport Staff held different ranks from the rest of the Army. From February 1885 they were given honorary military ranks, which they held in conjunction with their commissary ranks. Officers of the ASC and RASC held full military rank.

Notable personnel

* :Royal Army Service Corps soldiers * :Royal Army Service Corps officers

Footnotes

External links

{{Commons category, Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Service Corps and Royal Corps of Transport Association
British administrative corps Ordnance (stores) units and formations Military units and formations established in 1888 Military units and formations disestablished in 1965 Corps of the British Army in World War I Corps of the British Army in World War II