1st Lancashire Artillery Volunteers (original) (raw)

The 1st Lancashire Artillery Volunteers (1st LAV), popularly known as 'Brown's Corps', was an auxiliary unit of the British Army raised in Liverpool in 1859. As the Lancashire & Cheshire Royal Garrison Artillery in the Territorial Force it was responsible for defending the Mersey Estuary and the coastline of North West England. It was one of the few coast defence units to fire a shot during World War I but also provided personnel for a number of siege batteries that saw action on the Western Front. It continued in the coast defence role during World War II, at the end of which it sent troops to work in the rear areas in Europe. It was reformed postwar but was broken up when the coast artillery branch was abolished in 1956.