Introduction - A history of the Royal Marine Barracks, Eastney
Eastney Barracks opened in 1864 to house the whole of the Royal Marines Artillery (RMA) Division. The subsequent development within the Barracks reflects the changes in the role of the Royal Marines throughout the 20th century - from the move to an amalgamated Royal Marines Barracks in 1923, to the final departure of RM Commando Training and Reserve HQ in 1991. The population of the Barracks would also vary according to war or peace status - as a RM Artillery division, around 2000 men could be present, while by 1990 there were barely 40 Royal Marines located there.
Article Highlights
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Introduction - A history of the Royal Marines Barracks, Eastney
Article Highlights
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Introduction - A history of the Royal Marines Barracks, Eastney
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Building and development
Building and development
Constructors started work on the Royal Marines Artillery Division barracks at Eastney in 1862. Before then each Royal Marines Division had seperate Artillery companies attached to them at Plymouth, Chatham, Woolwich, and Portsmouth.
The Companies of the Portsmouth Division were formerly stationed at Gun Wharf and Clarence Barracks in Old Portsmouth, but they undertook most of their training at Fort Cumberland, to the east of the Eastney site. In the move to Eastney, the RMA retained the musketry and gunnery training fields. These, and with the large parade ground and eventually a gymnasium, theatre, infirmary and drill shed, ensured that the needs of the Division were self contained.
Planners had chosen the barrack site to fit behind a long defensive curtain with two coastal forts that were part of the areas’ general defences. Parliament criticised this since a potential enemy bombardment of these low profile forts meant any long fall of shot would smash into the higher barrack buildings behind.
Constructors did not complete work on the main barrack block until 1864 and the first detachment of men marched in at the end of that year. Occupation by the whole Artillery Division, however, did not take place until 1867.
The Royal Marines organised themselves at a divisional level. Therefore, unlike their Army equivalents, their respective barracks were a permanent Headquarters and home. This enabled the Barracks to develop and change to reflect the role of the Royal Marines throughout the 20th Century.
The following time line highlights some of these developments and activities -
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1900 new boiler house.
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1903 July 22nd Royal Naval School of Music formed.
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1904 canteen rebuilt and enlarged. Swimming baths, telephone exchange and electric power installed.
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1905 St Andrew's Church completed.
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1907 Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II visit to Eastney.
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1912 Winston Churchill as 1st Sea Lord inspects RMA at Eastney. 12” Instructional Turret commissioned at the Sea Service Battery, Crinoline church bell used as fire bell.
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1921 new cookhouse, and promenade road built.
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1923 RMA & Portsmouth RMLI became Portsmouth Division RM at Eastney.
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1936 Edward VIII inspects Portsmouth Division at Eastney.
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1939 George VI presents recruit F E Woods with King's Badge on Eastney Parade.
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1942 Eastney strafed by Fw 190s. Training for Cockleshell raid RMBPD.
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1947 Portsmouth Group RM.
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1956 23rd April presentation of new colours by Duke of Edinburgh as Captain General.
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1958 28th October Corps Museum founded.
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1959 14th July Freedom of Portsmouth.
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1965 27th October Earl Mountbatten Life Col Commandant inspects Eastney.
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1968 Melville Camp (Hutment) abandoned and demolished.
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c.1969 Building commences on the Wrens Block and the Verge Inn.
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1969 Training Group RM HQ formed.
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1975 1st August new Museum opens in Officers' Mess building.
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1979 RMTRFHQ formed.
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1983 Divisional School (old Museum) and buildings north of Gunners Walk demolished. Sergeants' Mess, WRNS block and Verge Inn also pulled down.
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1991 31 October last RM detachment leave Eastney. Cadets left on 8th December.
To learn about the histories of some the buildings within Eastney Barracks, select Next
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Introduction - A history of the Royal Marines Barracks, Eastney
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Buildings of interest
Buildings of interest
To find out about some of the buildings in Eastney Royal Marine Barracks, select the links
The Officers' Mess
The Theatre
Sick Quarters
Barrack School
The Church
Swimming Baths
Football Grounds and Tennis Courts
The Sergeants' Mess
To discover the history of the barracks during World War One, select Next
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Introduction - A history of the Royal Marines Barracks, Eastney
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The Barracks during World War One
The Barracks during World War One
Throughout World War One Eastney, as an RMA barracks, was a hive of activity with men mustering to fight in Belgium and France, on the Western Front and at Gallipoli.
On general mobilisation in August 1914, the Corps formed a Royal Marine Brigade made up of battalions from each of the Divisions including the RMA at Eastney. A fortnight later the Brigade was in Ostend, but returned home in a week. A month later the RMA formed an Anti-Aircraft Brigade with two-pounder pom-pom guns mounted on armoured cars. These were soon in action in northern France and Belgium.
At this time most of the Marines, RMA and RMLI, were at sea in ships of the Grand Fleet, then the prime task of the Corps. However Portsmouth Marines started serving in larger numbers ashore as part of the Royal Naval Division, which in 1915 took part in the ill-fated expedition to Gallipoli and later spent more than three years on the Western Front.
The RMA also formed the Howitzer Brigade at Eastney which used the largest calibre mobile howitzers of the war. One gun remained at nearby Fort Cumberland for training purposes while the others deployed to France.
In the years immediately after the First World War, the Royal Marines faced a crisis. The government called for a reduction of the Corps to just 6000 men from the wartime high of 55 000. A compromise was reached and, to retain 9500 men, in 1923 the Corps agreed to amalgamate the RMA with the RMLI at Gosport. The RMLI would move over to Eastney and Forton Barracks, Gosport, would close.
To learn about the history of the barracks during World War Two, select Next
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The Barracks during World War Two
The Barracks during World War Two
By the start of World War Two Eastney was still a premier base. The Barracks' principal training function continued to be Sea Service - the main role of the Royal Marine Corps. The atmosphere of the Barracks was one of confidence and activity.
When Britain declared war on 3 September 1939 the Orderly Officer reported the news to the senior officer in the Mess and requested his orders. The reply was succinct: 'Shut the White Gate.' (This gate, mainly used by the officers, was at the end of a long road through the Barracks, by Teapot Row.)
To cope with the influx of new recruits, a camp of huts was built behind St Andrew's Church, henceforth known as Hutment Camp.
Although the Barracks survived the War virtually unscathed, there was one incident of note. One afternoon in August 1942 two squads were rehearsing ceremonial drill on the Parade Ground. Suddenly two German fighter-bombers appeared above the Officers' Mess and began to strafe the parade ground, wounding a number of men. An NCO named Alfred Hewitt ordered his squad (167 HO) to 'Open order march' to create space between the ranks.
As the wounded were being carried to the Drill Shed by their colleagues of 176 (Regulars) Squad, the second plane opened fire and bullets flew all around Hewitt. Miraculously, he was not hit. Once inside the Drill Shed the men heard a loud explosion outside the Barracks. The clock face shattered and the clock stopped, reading 1450. Alfred Hewitt was later recommended for commissioning as an officer and became a lieutenant.
The experience of being a new recruit at Eastney during the war is clearly remembered by former Royal Marine Archibald Clarke. He recalls how the Drill Shed was used as the Reception Centre for recruits; tables were set up to dispense room and squad numbers.
The Recruit Block was 'a prison-like building' of three storeys. The ground floor housed the toilets and bath-washrooms. From the entrance a wide stone staircase with black-painted hand-rails climbed in flights of ten to the top. All the rooms were of the same pattern and size, with high white ceilings, green walls and brown lino floors. In the centre of each room a pot-bellied stove stood on a steel plate. The solid iron beds with palliasses of woven steel bases 'could have been the original ones', Clarke comments. There was a long rifle rack in the centre of the room, and a wooden shelf over each bed completed the furniture.
To discover the history of the barracks in its final years, select Next
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Introduction - A history of the Royal Marines Barracks, Eastney
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The final years
The final years
In the aftermath of the Second World War reorganisation and cutbacks were imposed upon the Royal Marines. In 1950 the Corps closed Chatham Barracks, but at Eastney the changes were slower.
The area between the Officers' Mess and Fort Cumberland was the first to be affected as the Admiralty took over land for Naval Married Quarters. In 1956 the admiralty created three estates. The Esplanade Gardens estate stood on the former allotments between Eastney Fort East and the Infirmary.
At the same time constructor built an estate of 50 houses for other ranks and ratings on the land north of the Gunnery School (Fort Cumberland Road). Three shops followed later. They built a third estate beyond the rugby pitch and Hutment Camp. This comprised the two twelve-flat blocks, four six-flat blocks and five houses called Halliday Crescent.
There were some additions to Eastney, too. After the closure of Chatham, the Royal Marines Drafting, Pay and Records Office moved to Eastney. For thirteen years they were sited in the old Gun Battery and Hutment Camp (known as Melville Camp in 1960); 43 Commando briefly stayed at Melville, then renamed Comacchio Camp, before disbanding in 1968. The Royal Marines Museum, founded in 1958, was established in the old School building north of the main gate.
By the late 1960s Britain's military and naval commitments were changing radically. Sea Service for Royal Marines was largely a thing of the past. The capital ships (battleships and cruisers) had gone from the fleet. The Royal Marines now fully embraced the commando role and Eastney was no longer needed.
In 1971 the main blow fell on Eastney. It was announced that the Technical and Signals Training Wings would leave; only the Headquarters Training Group, Corps Museum, the office of the RM journal, the 'Globe and Laurel', the Royal Marines Association central office and the Portsmouth Royal Marines Band would remain. Read a report of the barracks from 1970 showing how the Barracks was organised and the Royal Marines units present.
By 1973 the 'contraction' of Eastney had taken place. Only 200 people remained and there was now a great empty estate around them. The Ministry of Defence ordered that the Hutment Camp be demolished in 1976, and seven years later, sold the land for private housing (the present Cockleshell Gardens). They also had the northern barracks of the old School, Signals School and Canteen demolished to make way for the housing estate, Lidiard Gardens.
Following the final departure of the Royal Marines from the Barracks on 31 October 1991, the Ministry of Defence sold the site to property developers. The remaining buildings of Eastney Barracks became listed and from the esplanade, the barracks appears much as many of the former Portsmouth Royal Marines would have remembered it.
