12/31/2022
R4/095951 Sgt Charles Salmon of the Army Service Corps worked with horses as a civilian and so it was a logical step for him to join an Army Service Corps remount squadron when he volunteered for the army in June 1915.
Living in Hampshire, Charles and his wife Adeline had four children born between 1900 and 1907 and fifth would arrive in September 1915. Two months later, Charles sailed for Egypt. Charles was a private then, and he wouldn't be promoted acting sergeant until November 1917. This photo dates to 1916 when Charles was serving with 44 Remount Squadron. Happily he survived the war and returned home to his family in April 1919, duty done.
Notes:
1. The British Remount Depots were actually run by the ASC (Army Service Corps) not by the Army Vetenary Corps (AVC). The Remounts Service was responsible for the provisioning of horses and mules to all other army units. It was not a large part of the ASC, amounting to only four Remount Squadrons in 1914 that ran 4 Remount Depots in the United Kingdom. A Remount Squadron consisted of approximately 200 soldiers, who obtained and trained 500 horses.
A Base Remount depot (with 2,600 animals) and two Advanced Remount Depots (300 each) went to France with the original British Expeditionary Force. As the campaign continued, two further Base Remount Depots opened at the base ports.
At the peak in December 1917, these facilities were training a total of 93,847 horses and 36,613 mules.
Animals were obtained by compulsory purchase in the United Kingdom and by purchasing from North and South America, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, India and China. As the army expanded, several more ASC Remount Squadrons were established. No ASC Remount personnel went to the Middle East theatres, all of the requirement being fulfilled by similar units of the Indian Army.
2. The Army Service Corps was the largest Corps in the history of the British Army and would gain the Royal prefix at the end of WW1 in thanks for their service.
They were also one of the very few "services" where the soldiers were considered and trained as fighting soldiers first, and in specialist roles secondary. In 1965 its functions were divided between other Corps (RCT and RAOC) and the RASC ceased to exist; subsequently, in 1993, they in their turn (with some functions of the Royal Engineers) became the "Forming Corps" of the Royal Logistic Corps
