Honourable Artillery Company

From a 1611 training revival until 1779, members of the HAC trained the officers of the City of London Trained Bands and also aided the civil power by maintaining law and order, especially in the later 18th century. The Regiment initially comprised only infantry sub-units but in 1781 an artillery division was created for the first time. Members of the HAC’s infantry and artillery units fought in the South African War during 1900 as part of the City Imperial Volunteers, with some men remaining in South Africa to fight in other units for the rest of the war. Seven HAC units distinguished themselves in the First World War on the Western Front (winning two VCs in 1917) and in the Middle East. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the HAC’s Infantry Battalion was disbanded and became an officer training unit and the HAC artillery regiments were mobilised for war service overseas: two served in North Africa and Italy and two participated in the Normandy Landings; an infantry unit defended the East London docks. The HAC has long provided a training ground for potential officers and over 4,000 men were commissioned into other units of the armed forces during each of these two wars.

HAC officers and soldiers were deployed to the Balkans from November 1995 (the first deployments since 1945), to Iraq between 2003 and 2010 and have been deployed for operations in Afghanistan since 2007. Today the HAC Regiment has an exacting role, providing patrols in the forward battle area to gather intelligence and identify targets for long-range weapons. For the most part, individual deployments to Afghanistan have been in support of 4/73 Battery of the 5th Regiment RA, the HAC’s Regular Army counterpart. The Regiment and its Veterans have also long contributed to the ceremonial life of the City of London. HM Queen Elizabeth II is the HAC’s Captain-General.