When did the royal engineers become 'royal'?

Answer 1

Officers - King's Engineers were first formed on a permanent establishment in

Norman times and were employed on fortification works. With the introduction of

gunpowder to Europe in the Fourteenth Century and the subsequent development of

cannon for siege warfare, the Board of Ordnance raised Ordnance Trains in times of war.

Engineer officers served in these trains and often commanded them. On 26 May 1716 the

Artillery and Engineers of the Board of Ordnance were constituted as separate

establishments. On 25 April 1787 the officer Corps of Engineers was granted the Royal

title.

Soldiers - Soldiers, or Engineer Other Ranks as they were formerly known, were

first enlisted on a permanent basis when a Company of Soldier Artificers was raised in

Gibraltar in 1772. In 1787 Companies of the Corps of Royal Military Artificers were

raised for service at home and overseas. The Soldier Artificers of Gibraltar were absorbed

into the Corps of Royal Military Artificers in 1797. In 1812/13 the title was changed to

the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. Officers for these Soldiers' Corps were provided

from the Corps of Royal Engineers. The Board of Ordnance administered both Corps.

Amalgamation of Officer and Soldier Corps - Towards the close of the Crimean

War in 1855, the Board of Ordnance was absorbed into the Corps of Royal Engineers. On

17 October 1856 the reconstituted Corps came directly under War Office control, thus

ending the long-standing anomaly of engineer officers and soldiers belonging to separate

Corps, and the peculiarity of the Artillery and Engineers not coming directly under the

orders of the Commander-in-Chief.