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Transcriber’s Note:
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Superscripted
characters are preceded by ‘^’.
Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are
referenced. The numbering of footnotes began again at ‘1’ for each
chapter. In this version, footnotes have been re-sequenced across the
text for uniqueness of reference. There are several instances of
footnotes appearing as glosses on other footnotes, identified in all
instances as ‘a’. These have been numbered ‘Na’, where ‘N’ is the number
of the note.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
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[Illustration:
SOLDIER ARTIFICER COMPANY Plate I.
UNIFORM 1786 Printed by M & N Hanhart.
]
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FROM THE FORMATION OF THE CORPS IN MARCH 1772, TO THE DATE
WHEN ITS DESIGNATION WAS CHANGED TO THAT OF
ROYAL ENGINEERS,
IN OCTOBER 1856.
BY
T. W. J. CONNOLLY,
QUARTERMASTER OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS.
“Of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood and field;
Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach.”—_Shakspeare._
“There is a corps which is often about him, unseen and unsuspected, and
which is labouring
as hard for him in peace as others do in war.”—_The Times._
=With Seventeen Coloured Illustrations.=
_SECOND EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS._