Together, these companies formed London District Signals, defined as 'Army Troops RE' in the TF organisation, serving HQ London District based at Horse Guards. The unit headquarters was at 12 Palmer Street, Westminster.[4][5][6]
World War I
On the outbreak of war in August 1914 the London Wireless Signal Company was temporarily attached to 1st Mounted Division, but had left by March 1915.[7] On 3 November 1914 a London Motor Airline Section embarked for the Western Front.[8] In June 1915, London District Signals joined IX Corps HQ forming at the Tower of London and went to Gallipoli as IX Corps Signals. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, the Corps HQ went to France and served on the Western Front until the end of the war. The Corps Signals also ran a Signals Training Centre.[3][6][9]
Interwar
Former Drill Hall of 1st AA Divisional Signals in Regency Street, London SW1
When the renamed Territorial Army (TA) was reconstituted in 1920, London District Signals was reformed as 1st London Corps Signals (Army Troops) in the Royal Corps of Signals.[a] It was retitled as Anti-Aircraft Signals in 1922, and then Air Defence Signals in 1925 when it formed 26th (London) and 27th (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade Signals Companies.[3][6][10] When 1st Anti-Aircraft Division was formed at RAF Uxbridge in 1935 (with 26 and 27 AA Bdes under command), the unit provided the signals component. It was based at 46 Regency Street, the former Drill Hall of the London Electrical Engineers.[3][11] The divisional signals unit was duplicated for 6th Anti-Aircraft Division in 1939 when the TA doubled in size after the Munich Crisis. 6th AA Division took responsibility for the air defence of the Thames estuary, Essex and North Kent, with its HQ at RAF Uxbridge.[3][6][12] Just before mobilisation, the regiment organised as:[13]
No.1, 2, and 3 Signal Companies at Regency Street, London
Cadet Affiliation — 'D' Company, 1st West London Cadet Corps
World War II
Together, 1st and 6th AA Divisions defended London and the Thames Estuary during The Blitz. As the war developed, increasing numbers of women from the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) became integrated into AA and signals units, which were termed 'Mixed'. By June 1942, the composition of the two units was as follows:[6][14]
1st AA Divisional Signals
Commanding Officer: Lieutenant-Colonel A. Hemsley, MBE, TD (1939–45)
1st AA Divisional Mixed Signal Unit HQ
HQ No 1 Company:
1 AA Command Mixed Signal Office Section
1 AA Division Mixed Signal Office Section
26 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
38 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
48 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
49 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
HQ No 2 Company:
601 AA Gun Operations Room (Class 'D') Mixed Signal Section
315 AA Gun Operations Room (Class 'B') Mixed Signal Section
112 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
5 AA Line Maintenance Section
1st AA Divisional Signals had provided Anti-Aircraft Command's Signals section since the latter's establishment in 1938. Between 1940 and 1942, both 1st and 6th AA Divisions came under 1st Aa Corps, but from June 1942, 1st AA Division was directly under AA Command HQ.
329 AA Gun Operations Room (Class 'B') Mixed Signal Section
37 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
309 AA Gun Operations Room (Class 'B') Mixed Signal Section
15 AA Line Maintenance Section
HQ No 2 Company:
328 AA Gun Operations Room (Class 'B') Mixed Signal Section
28 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
56 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
101 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
310 AA Gun Operations Room (Class 'B') Mixed Signal Section
71 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
16 AA Line Maintenance Section
When AA Command was reorganised in October 1942 the two divisions became 1 AA Group and 2 AA Group, with the signals units renamed 1st and 2nd AA Group (Mixed) Signals. The two groups operated alongside No. 11 Group RAF and took a leading role in defence against V-1 flying bombs (Operation Diver) in 1944–45.[3][6][15]
Postwar
On the re-establishment of the TA in 1947, 1 and 2 AA Group Signals re-merged and were numbered 11 AA (Mixed) Signal Regiment, 'Mixed' now indicating that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps (successors to the ATS) were integrated into the unit. The new unit was based at Kensington.[3][6][16] The unit was retained when AA Command was disbanded in 1955, becoming Eastern Command Mixed Signal Regiment, the East Anglian District Signal Regiment of the Army Emergency Reserve (AER). Eastern Command Signal Regiment was numbered 83 Signal Regiment in 1959.[3][6]
The size of the TA was reduced in 1967, when 83 Signal Regiment (AER) became 83 Signal Squadron (Volunteers) and later 83 Support Squadron in 31 (City of London) Signal Regiment, which was disbanded in 2010.[3][6][19][20]
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-39-8.
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 4: The Army Council, GHQs, Armies, and Corps 1914–1918, London: HM Stationery Office, 1944/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN1-84734-743-6.
Cliff Lord & Graham Watson, Royal Corps of Signals: Unit Histories of the Corps (1920–2001) and its Antecedents, Solihull: Helion, 2003, ISBN1-874622-92-2.
Maj-Gen R.F.H Nalder, The Royal Corps of Signals: A History of its Antecedents and Developments (Circa 1800–1955), London: Royal Signals Institution, 1958.
Titles and Designations of Formations and Units of the Territorial Army, London: War Office, 7 November 1927.
