The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. It is the largest

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 formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

in the Army.

History

The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: *

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

Postal and Courier Service *

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 forces. It was formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1993; its units and tr ...

Royal Army Ordnance 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 ...

Royal Pioneer Corps The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army corps used for light engineering tasks. It was formed in 1939, and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Pioneer units performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war, including Nor ...

Army Catering Corps The Army Catering Corps (ACC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for the feeding of all Army units. It was formed in 1941 and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. History In 1938 Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Secretary of St ...

The RLC comprises both Regular and

Army Reserve Army Reserve refers to a land-based military reserve force, including: *Army Reserve (Ireland) *Army Reserve (United Kingdom) *Australian Army Reserve *Canadian Army Reserve * New Zealand Army Reserve *United States Army Reserve *United States Navy ...

units. The RLC is the only combat service support corps of the British Army with

battle honours A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military ...

, derived from the usage of previous transport elements of

the Royal Waggon Train The Royal Waggon Train was the name originally given to the Supply and Transport branch of the British Armed Forces, which would eventually become the Royal Logistic Corps. Origins and the Royal Waggoners In 1793, Revolutionary France invaded the ...

, and their successors as cavalry. The battle honours are: *

Peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

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 the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Taku Forts The Taku Forts or Dagukou Forts (大沽口炮台), also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary in the Binhai New Area, Tianjin, in northeastern China. They are located southeast of the Tianjin urban ...

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

Cap badge

The RLC

cap badge A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as ...

is an amalgamation of the cap badges of the forming corps: * The laurel and garter band is from the

* The Indian star is from the

* The shield in the centre is from the

* The crossed axes are from the

* The

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

, "We Sustain", is from the

The inscription on the garter band ''"

Honi soit qui mal y pense (, ; ) is a maxim (philosophy), maxim in the Anglo-Norman language, a dialect of Old Norman French spoken by the medieval ruling class in England, meaning "shamed be whoever thinks ill of it", usually translated as "shame on anyone who think ...

"'' can be translated as "Shame on anyone who thinks evil of it". It is the

of the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. The most senior order of knighthood in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system, it is outranked in ...

Headquarters

The Corps Headquarters is at

Worthy Down Camp MOD Worthy Down is a tri-service establishment in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It forms part of the wider Winchester Garrison and houses the headquarters of the Defence School of Logistics and Administration (DSLA), as well as the headquarter ...

near Winchester. It is headed by a Colonel (Colonel RLC) as the professional head of the Corps. Col RLC is responsible for the Moral Component, regimental infrastructure and support and works to Commander Home Command. Col RLC remains responsible for the

Corps of Drums A corps of drums, sometimes known as a fife and drum corps or simply field music, is a traditional European military music formation. Historically, a Corps of Drums' primary role was communication. Today, the primary role of a Corps of Dru ...

, which often parades with the RLC Band. (AG). The RLC Band was formed in 1993. It provides musical support while also representing the Royal Logistic Corps, and on occasion, the wider British Army. They are able to produce no more than 12 working ensembles at a time. These include a marching band, big band, fanfare team, and acoustic groups.

Museum

The

Royal Logistic Corps Museum The Royal Logistic Corps Museum tells the story of logistic support to the British Army from Agincourt to the modern day. Based at Worthy Down near Winchester, the museum holds the collection of the Royal Logistic Corps and the collections of it ...

was based at

Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut The Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut, commonly referred to as Deepcut Barracks, is a former British Army installation near Camberley, Surrey. It was the headquarters of the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) and also the Defence College of Logistics, Po ...

near

Camberley Camberley is a town in north-west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. It is in the Surrey Heath, Borough of Surrey Heath and is close to the county boundaries with Hampshire and Berkshire. Known originally as "Cambridge Tow ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, but was closed prior to a move to Worthy Down near Winchester, where it re-opened in May 2021.

List of units

Regiments

Specialist sub-units

*Commando Logistic Support Squadron RLC – part of the Commando Logistic Regiment **383 Commando Petroleum Troop RLC *20 Transport Squadron RLC – part of

London District London District (LONDIST) is the name given by the British Army to the area of operations encompassing the Greater London area. It was established in 1870 as ''Home District''. History In January 1876 a ‘Mobilization Scheme for the forces i ...

*44 Support Squadron RLC – part of

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

*96 (Duke of Gloucester) Squadron RLC - part of 1st Army Training Regiment Pirbright *105 Logistic Support Squadron – part of

British Army Training Unit Suffield The British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) is a British Army unit located at the vast training area of Canadian Forces Base Suffield near Suffield, Alberta, Canada. BATUS is the British Army's largest armoured training facility, and it can ...

*108 (The Princess Royal) Squadron RLC - part of 2nd Army Training Regiment Pirbright *132 Aviation Support Squadron RLC – part of 7 Aviation Close Support Battalion REME *821 EOD & Search Squadron RLC – part of

33 Engineer Regiment (EOD) 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD&S) is a regiment of the British Army's Royal Engineers. It is based at Carver Barracks, Essex. Organization Today the regiment consists of: * 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD&S), in Wimbish Wimbish is a small rural vil ...

* Joint Helicopter Support Squadron – part of

Joint Aviation Command The Joint Aviation Command (JAC), previously known as Joint Helicopter Command (JHC), is a tri-service organisation uniting battlefield military helicopters of all three services of the British Armed Forces and unmanned aerial vehicles of the B ...

*2 Operational Support Group

Master General of Logistics

There is also a ceremonial head (instituted in 2009), who heads the Corps and its wider family such as the Associations and Cadets, known as the Master General of Logistics (MGL). Holders of the post include: *General Sir

Kevin O'Donoghue General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue, (born 9 December 1947) is a retired British Army officer and former Chief of Defence Materiel. He retired from the service in December 2010, being succeeded as Chief of Defence Materiel by Bernard Gray. Early li ...

(2009–2012) *Lieutenant General Sir

Mark Poffley Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Sir Mark William Poffley, (born 1960) is a former senior British Army officer and an active director of the Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems. Military career Poffley was comm ...

(2012–2021) *Major General Simon T. Hutchings (2021–2024) *Major General Jonathan E. A. Chestnutt (2024–present)

Publications

''The Sustainer'' is the magazine of the RLC Association. ''The Waggoner'' remains the Journal of the RASC/RCT Association. ''The RAOC Gazette'' that of the RAOC Association and ''The Pioneer'' of the RPC Association. ''The Review'' is an annual magazine of essays published by the Corps.

Victoria Cross

The RLC has five Victoria Cross holders. All five derive historically from establishments that eventually became the

. *Private Samuel Morley. Military Train. 15 April 1858. *Private (Farrier) Michael Murphy. Military Train. 15 April 1858 (later forfeited). *Assistant Commissary James Langley Dalton. Commissariat & Transport Department. 22 January 1879. *Second Lieutenant

Alfred Cecil Herring Major Alfred Cecil Herring (26 October 1888 – 10 August 1966) was an England, English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kingdom, Br ...

. Army Service Corps. 23 March 1918. *Private Richard George Masters. Army Service Corps. 9 April 1918.

Order of precedence

References

Sources

External links

The Royal Logistic Corps

(archived 18 December 2006) {{Authority control British administrative corps Military logistics of the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1993 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom