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 (where the main officers' mess and certain central functions are based), though in practice the two will often be co-located in the same place.
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'.[1] At that time
Maidstone Barracks served as depot for the British Cavalry; while the depot for the Infantry (established at
Chatham Barracks in the 1770s) 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 (and in 1830 a similar arrangement was established at Chatham for infantry regiments stationed in India and New South Wales).[2] 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 (with additional accommodation provided when necessary in Colchester). In 1897 the Cavalry Depot at Canterbury was closed, with responsibility for recruitment devolving on the home-based regiments (which began to be affiliated with regiments serving overseas for the purpose of recruitment).[3]
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.[4]
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.[7]