THE BRITISH OVERSEAS RAILWAYS HISTORICAL TRUST
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Reference Sources for the Royal Pioneer Corps
A short history of the Royal Pioneer Corps
Predecessors
Records of Pioneers in the British Army to 1346 at Calais where the pay and muster rolls of the English garrison show pay records for pioneers. In about 1750, it was proposed that a Corps of Pioneers be formed. Nothing came of this for nearly one hundred years, until the Army Works Corps was established during the Crimean War in 1854. The Labour Corps was formed in 1917 during the First World War during which it employed 325,000 British troops, 98,000 Chinese, 10,000 Africans and at least 300,000 other labourers in units such as the Egyptian Labour Corps, Macedonian Labour Corps, Maltese Labour Corps and South African Native Labour Corps. Additionally, during WW1 many infantry regiments had one or perhaps more of their battalions designated as Pioneer Battalions whose primary duty was to act as military labour. It would be worth studying the Order of Battle for the theatre you are interested in to see if any infantry pioneer battalions are listed and consulting their War Dairies as well, in case they built railways.
The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army corps used for light engineering tasks. It was formed in 1939 and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Pioneer units performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war. They were used as infantry, mine clearance, guarding bases, laying prefabricated track on beaches, and effecting various logistical operations. With the Royal Engineers they constructed airfields and roads and erected bridges; they constructed the Mulberry Harbour and laid the Pipeline Under the Ocean (PLUTO). During WW2 Pioneer units were again raised in the Commonwealth, with Basutoland and Bechuanaland providing troops amongst others.
On 28 November 1946, in recognition of their performance during the Second World War, King George VI decreed that the Pioneer Corps should have the distinction "Royal" added to its title.
In April 1993, the Royal Pioneer Corps was joined with the Royal Corps of Transport, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the Army Catering Corps, and the Postal and Courier Service of the Royal Engineers to form the Royal Logistic Corps.
https://royalpioneercorps.co.uk/rpc/index.htm
We can find no museum for the Corps.
Bibliography
In making this bibliography it has been decided to include histories of any Commonwealth Pioneer Units as well.
Author |
Title |
Date |
Publisher |
Location |
Remarks |
BENT, Rowland Alan Robertson |
Ten thousand men of Africa: the story of the Bechuanaland Pioneers and Gunners 1941-1946 |
1952 |
Published for the Bechuanaland Govt. by H.M. Stationery Office |
London |
|
Bunbury, N. L. St. Pierre |
A brief history of the Hazara Pioneers (Indian Army): 1904 to 1933 |
1949? |
|
London |
|
Cowan, James, 1870-1943 |
The Maoris in the Great War: a history of the New Zealand Native Contingent and Pioneer Battalion, Gallipoli, 1915, France and Flanders, 1916-1918 |
1926 |
Maori Regimental Committee |
Auckland |
|
Davies, Will, |
The forgotten: the Chinese Labour Corps and the Chinese Anzacs in the Great War |
2020 |
Wilkinson Publishing Pty Ltd |
Melbourne, Victoria |
|
Elliott, E. R |
Royal Pioneers 1945-1993 |
1993 |
Hanley Swan |
|
|
Fry, Helen |
The King's Most Loyal Enemy Aliens: Germans who Fought for Britain in the Second World War. |
2007 |
Sutton |
Stroud |
ISBN 978-0-7509-4701-5. |
Haward, Edwin, 1884 |
"Pioneers on four fronts”: being a short record of the doings of the 107th Pioneers (now the 1/2nd Bombay Pioneer Regiment) in the Great War |
1923 |
Printed at "The Civil and Military gazette" Press |
Lahore |
|
James, Gregory |
The Chinese Labour Corps (1916-1920) |
2013 |
Bayview Educational |
Hong Kong |
|
KLEIN, Daryl. |
With the Chinks. [The Chinese Labour Corps in the Great War.] |
1919 |
John Lane |
London; New York |
|
Murland, H. F. |
Baillie-ki-paltan : being a history of the 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers (formerly the IV Madras Pioneers) 1759-1930 |
1932 |
Published for the Regiment by Higginbothams |
Madras |
|
Perlès, Alfred |
Alien Corn. [Reminiscences of the Pioneer Corps.] |
1944 |
G. Allen & Unwin |
London |
|
Pugsley, Christopher |
Te Hokowhitu a Tu: The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War |
2015 |
Oratia Media |
Oratia |
|
Pugsley, Christopher |
The Maori pioneer battalion in the First World War = Te Hokowhitu a tu |
1995 |
Reed |
Auckland |
|
Ratner, Harry |
A socialist at war: with the pioneer corps |
C2007 |
Socialist Platform Ltd |
London |
|
Rhodes-Wood, Major Edward Harold |
A War History of the Royal Pioneer Corps, 1939-1945. |
1960 |
Gale and Polden |
Aldershot |
|
Singha, Radhika |
The Coolie's Great War: Indian labour in a global conflict, 1914-1921 |
2020 |
Hurst & Company |
London |
|
Soutar, Monty |
Whitiki! Whiti! Whiti! E!: Māori in the First World War |
2019 |
Bateman Books |
Auckland, New Zealand |
|
Starling, John, Ivor Lee |
No labour, no battle: military labour during the First World War |
2014 |
The History Press |
Stroud |
|
Tugwell, W. B. P. |
History of the Bombay Pioneers |
1938 |
Sidney Press |
London; Bedford |
|
Turberville. Capt. Arthur Stanley |
A short history of the 20th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, B.E.L. Pioneers, 1915-1919. |
1923 |
Goddard, Walker & Brown |
Hull |
|
Vibart, Compiled by Major H. M. |
The Military History of the Madras Engineers and Pioneers, from 1743 up to the present time. |
1881 |
W. H. Allen & Co |
London |
2 Vols |
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