Aldershot

Aldershot, a small town in Hants 34 miles from London on the London and South-Western and South-Eastern Railways. The spot was selected by Lord Hardinge as suitable for a camp where practical instruction in field manoeuvres could be given to the officers and men of the three arms of our service. The country is open, undulating, and healthy, covered here and there with fir woods, and intersected by the Basingstoke Canal; strategically the position is of value as affording protection to the Metropolis. The suggestion was not carried out until 1855, and the first occupants of the new lines were two battalions of the Guards and seven of embodied militia. On the return of the army from the Crimea, a considerable force of cavalry, artillery, and infantry took up quarters here. The accommodation for troops consists of wooden huts and permanent barracks which make up the North and South Camps. There is also a pavilion for the use of the Queen. A brigade of three regiments of cavalry, eight or ten batteries of artillery, twelve battalions of infantry, with a full complement of Royal Engineers, Commissariat, and Army Service Corps, make up the garrison, the whole being under the command of a Lieutenant-General. Reviews and sham-fights are of constant occurrence during the spring and summer.