Regimental depot


The regimental depot of a regiment is its home base for recruiting and training. It is also where soldiers and officers awaiting discharge or postings are based and where injured soldiers return to full fitness after discharge from hospital before returning to full duty. Normally, a variety of regimental stores will also be kept at the depot. The regimental depot is not the same as the regimental headquarters, though in practice the two will often be co-located.

United Kingdom

In a military dictionary of 1802, the word Depot is given multiple meanings: primarily it is said to describe 'any particular place in which military stores are deposited for the use of the army'; but 'it also signifies an appropriated fort, or place, for the reception of recruits, or detached parties, belonging to different regiments'. At that time Maidstone Barracks served as depot for the British Cavalry; while the depot for the Infantry had moved in 1801 to Albany Barracks on the Isle of Wight. Later, the depot at Maidstone served specifically as a recruitment centre for cavalry regiments stationed in India. A second Cavalry Depot was later established at Canterbury; in 1865 the Maidstone depot closed and Canterbury alone then served as home depot for the cavalry regiments overseas. In 1897 the Cavalry Depot at Canterbury was closed, with responsibility for recruitment devolving on the home-based regiments.

List of UK Infantry Regimental Depots in the 1880s

A list of barracks in Britain and Ireland, either designated or newly built to serve as localization depots for infantry regiments in the wake of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s and the Childers Reforms which followed.
A list of barracks in Britain and Ireland designated to serve as depots for cavalry regiments.
In the French Royal Army and Imperial Army, in addition to many of the empire's many puppet states, a dépôt was a battalion in size and would provide drafts to the regular 'field battalions' on a regular basis. If mobilised, the depot itself would become a field battalion led by the depot's second in command, typically a senior captain. Each depot battalion comprised four companies and was commanded by a Major.