Lord Palmerston and the Fortification of the U.K.

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston born 20 October 1784 died 18 October 1865. (Wikipedia)

Palmerston served two periods as 'First Lord of the Treasury' of England, in 1861 and 1865.

During his first tenure a French intervention in Italy caused an invasion scare. Palmerston responded by setting up The Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, reporting in 1860. Its recommendations were responsible for the most ambitious and expensive defence building programme that the UK had ever contemplated, sometimes referred to as The Palmerston Forts. The report of the 1860 Commission laid before Parliament caused the Fortifications (provisions for Expenses) Act to be passed which enabled a Loan to be raised to pay for the fortifications. The finance was transferred from the Army Estimates to the Loan which was to be floated by the Government. The expenditure under the loan indirectly caused the resignation of Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In 1888 the Imperial Defence Loan was raised to complete the defences of the U.K.. In 1890 under the Barracks Act the Army was given another £3 million to provide accommodation for the soldiers and more money was asked for to upgrade the fortifications to take the new fire control equipment and new concrete gun emplacements necessary for improved guns and their mountings. Members of Parliament demanded an accounting of the money expended so far which revealed that £12,154,416 had been spent on works and another £5,484,810 had been expended on the guns to arm them. Parliament had originally baulked at the estimates of £11 million and now they found that £17 million had been spent and still the defences were not complete.

The Palmerston Forts Society was founded in 1984, primarily to support the conservation and development of Fort Nelson, on Portsdown Hill in Portsmouth. Initially the name Victorian Forts Society was chosen but this was rejected because of the possible confusion with the already existing Victorian Society. The name Palmerston Forts Society was therefore selected as it would be a unique reference to the Forts and the First Lord of the Treasury who initiated their construction. The Society almost immediately changed its focus to all of the forts of Portsmouth as they were neglected, abandoned and overgrown in most cases. Shortly afterwards, following increasing interest from authorities in other countries such as Malta, the remit of the Society expanded to support the conservation, preservation and study of all Victorian fortification and associated artillery world-wide.