The Establishment of the Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport The Main Gates As late as the mid 19th century there was no continuous service for ratings in the Royal Navy. Sailors either volunteered or were press ganged for a single voyage, one which could sometimes last for a lengthy period. In 1811, Lord Cochrane informed the House of Commons that the eighteenth ship to bear the name of Drake, a 32 gun vessel with eighty eight crew on board, had been on continuous station in the Dutch East Indies for six years. He drew attention to the fact that as no pay was given until the end of the commission, the families back in England could well be suffering considerable financial hardship. Once a ship returned to pen, the crew was free to go. However, many might be far from home, facing a long journey that some would never complete. Many inns named The Ship or The Anchor, often many miles from the sea, often owe their names to weary sailors stopping off, perhaps later to marry the pretty barmaid or the landlord's daughter and take over the inn.
These time honoured arrangements had lasted through many centuries and numerous wars, but by Victorian times it was finally realised that this was rather a waste of skilled and experienced ratings. In 1859 continuous service for ratings was introduced, where they signed on for ten years at the age of eighteen. This revolutionary change inevitably produced a requirement for permanent accommodation in port. Initially this need was met by housing men in the hulks of old ships no longer in commission, moored in the rivers and estuaries close to the naval dockyards. The hulk of Defiance lay in the entrance to the River Lynher and a long line of hulks lined the shore at Torpoint, some remaining in existence well into the present century.
Conditions on the hulk were spartan and in the interest of providing better conditions for ratings, it was decided to create a more modem purpose-built establishments ashore. Plymouth led the way, the first RN. Barracks was constructed in Devonport not far from the dockyard, in open countryside at the head of the Keyham Creek and was first occupied on June 4 1889. Naval barracks were later built at Portsmouth, Chatham and other bases.
..... "The Royal Naval Barracks at Devonport consist of a fine and substantially built group of stone buildings, and as viewed from the higher ground on the right of the mad by which they an approached, present a pleasing picture. Anyone not acquainted with the locality would search in vain for the barracks in Devonport; as a matter of fact they lie at the present extremity of Keyham Dockyard which, however, is in the process of being considerably extended, the ground between the barracks and the harbour being just now - and likely to be for a few years to come - a wilderness given over to the tender mercies of the inexorable contractor whose plant and crazy looking little wagons are much in evidence. These works have already encroached considerably on the barracks premises, the old cricket ground and golf links having been swallowed up, and further confiscation's being possibly in prospect.
The barracks were built of course, to supersede The old depot-ship, and they perform a precisely similar function, being the centre to which all seamen belonging to the port return in the expiration of their leave, and from which they are drafted in strict rotation, as crews are required for ships being commissioned," enthused The Navy and Army Illustrated on August 6 1897.
Others were less impressed. In June 1892 when the barracks had been inspected by The Lords of the Admiralty, the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Anthony Hoskins snorted that he "had never seen such a wicked waste of money as the barracks had cost." He was not alone in such a reactionary view. The buildings had been ready sometime before 1889, but delay in occupation was caused probably by "scruples existing in the conservative minds of some of the authorities who are loathed to see blue jackets berthed on shore and the time honoured depot ships relegated to the past." These were misguided attitudes, for in addition to the rotting and obsolete hulks lying in the Hamoaze providing poor living conditions, they were highly inefficient for training purposes. They were supposed to provide vital gunnery training but with weapon technology improving at a rapid rate, attempting this in the confines of Nelson's 'wooden walls' was manifestly futile. The guns on the hulks were so outdated that the training had little relevance. In 1890 there were some ninety different types of guns in service, all requiring varying types of ammunition.
All this was a nightmare for Admiral Sir John Fisher, firstly as Director of Naval Ordnance and then First Sea Lord, as he grappled with the task of readying the Navy for the inevitable conflict with Germany, his assistant, the erstwhile captain of the last seagoing H.M.S. Drake, was the young and energetic John Jellicoe. An efficient naval barracks was all part of this modernisation programme and progressively the one at Devonport was extended with additional accommodation, the elegant wardroom, highly distinctive clock tower, St Nicholas Church, the swimming pool and gymnasium.
The Clock Tower The origin of the word 'barrack' is uncertain; it was probably taken from the French word 'baraque' meaning booth or hut, but there are those cynics who would say that the Spanish 'barercoon', meaning slave pen, is more appropriate. Whilst ratings were grateful to leave the hulks, initial accommodation in the new barracks was still not all that might be desired, with proper water sup plies and other basic facilities not available for the first few years.
Initially the barracks name was 'Vivid' after the Commander-in-Chiefs yacht, H.M.S. Vivid. This was possibly why the eminent historian, Correlli Barnett had tagged the Victorian Royal Navy, somewhat unfairly, as an exclusive yacht club, whilst conceding Fisher's revolutionary changes then taking place. Certainly these were halcyon times; one of the longest periods of peace enjoyed by Britain for a very considerable time. Interrupted only by minor diversions when it became necessary to send a gunboat to quell some misguided insurgent for failing to follow the nag. One such foray saw the Navy again on the Nile, including the young naval officer David Beatty and an equally young and energetic Hussar named Winston Churchill, who took part in the British army's last cavalry charge at Omdurman in pursuit of the Khalifa and his Dervishes. It was Beatty who apparently introduced Churchill to champagne.
The RN Barracks at Devonport shared this seemingly endless summer of Empire. In January 1891 a grand ball was held in honour of the Commander in Chief, Admiral HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son. This glittering event was attended by twelve hundred guests who consumed 576 bottles of champagne, 540 bottles of spirits and 6800 oysters. Not surprisingly, one guest was found still asleep at 11am the next day. It was considered that the gathering had been exceedingly well catered for by the Army & Navy Stores at a cost of seven shillings and three pence per head - happy days!
The magnificent clock tower was completed in 1896, a fine architectural landmark surviving to this day. The clock, with four faces and a large bell for striking the hour, was driven by weights running the whole height of the tower and a considerable length below ground. These needed to be reset weekly, an arrangement that lasted until 1975. The tower originally did rather more than tell the time, for on its summit were semaphore arms which ensured direct visual communication with the Naval H.Q. at Mount Wise. This elegantly graphic situation was alas quickly made redundant by the coming of electrical communication. Prior to this in 1894 there had been a loft installed in the barracks for housing sixty homing pigeons. Fifty two birds were recruited for intense training, first off the end of the pier, then out in the harbour and finally from torpedo boats out in the Channel. The French Navy tried similar experiments but the system proved unreliable; too many birds were lost in fog and bad weather.
The Bakery The present wardroom was first occupied On January 29 1903, described at the time "as probably the most magnificent building erected for naval purposes." Naturally a grand ball was held to commemorate the opening. A contemporary account records: a beautiful scene - to celebrate the opening of the new officer's quarters at the Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport. Captain H.S.F. Niblett and the twenty eight officers resident in the old quarters gave a ball on Friday to which over six hundred invitations were issued. More than ten years had elapsed since a ball attracting so large a gathering was given at the barracks, and never before has there been witnessed so brilliant a scene." This time though, possibly so as not to risk the wrath of Admiral Hoskins again, the amount of champagne and oysters consumed is not recorded.
The Laundry These were gracious, spacious days: the British Empire was at a peak of power and prestige. The Royal Navy was the principal instrument for maintaining this splendid status quo, its size and strength were being added to constantly, for the nearby dockyard was building a new battleship almost annually. In 1902 the newly crowned Edward the Seventh visited Devonport for the ceremony of laying the keel of a new battleship bearing his name whilst his Consort, Alexandra broke a bottle of Colonial wine on the bows of 'Queen' launching that new battleship. Afterwards the King and Queen visited the Naval barracks, driven to the parade ground in a carriage and four for a ceremony attended by 9650 officers and men. The King presented 280 China and 60 South African medals following the recent end to the Boxer Rebellion and the Boer War.
'Bulwark' was launched only seven months after her keel was laid and not long afterwards H.M.S. Warspite was built. She was a Queen Elizabeth class battleship and was perhaps the most famous of all warships to leave the slipways of the Devonport Yard. With oil-fired boilers and fifteen inch guns, H.M.S. Warspite was the ultimate fighting machine. This frenzy of construction was highly appropriate, for a glittering era was coming to an end and just over the horizon a storm cloud was gathering that would engulf the whole world. The Great War, 'the war to end all wars.'
