The role and establishments of British Ordnance Yards in the Mediterranean during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Essential for the successful prosecution of any war during the eighteenth century the Ordnance Yards are an under examined and oft-forgotten part of the British war effort. This chapter examines the establishments and role of the Ordnance Yards in the Mediterranean during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The main British Mediterranean Yards in this period were Gibraltar and Malta. These yards had to be manned and the chapter will use surviving personnel records to demonstrate that whole careers were spent in the employ of the British State. In addition, the chapter will begin to trace what happened to the families of those men who served the Ordnance by examining petitions of retired employees as well as petitions by widows.