Our team have been to the historic @bovingtonarmy Camp to service all their laundry equipment, set in our beautiful Dorset Countryside. It is home to the Royal Armoured Corps where every soldier destined for an RAC regiment goes to be trained.
1899 – The Army bought over 1000 acres of local land from the Frampton family, to be used as a rifle range or for any military use.
1914 – Lord Kitchener’s appeal for volunteers saw 500,000 sign ups in the first month alone – completely overwhelming the Army’s supply chains.
1915 – Wooden huts came into service replacing the tents and were built by local carpenters for the thousands of recruits now stationed at Bovington. The Australian Army also used Bovington as a Command Depot.
1916 – The ‘Heavy Section’ of the Motor Machine Gun Corps was moved from Elvedon in Norfolk to Bovington.
1917 – The Heavy Section was renamed the Tank Corps with an increase of 9 tanks to 300 by the end of the year.
1918 – Arrival of the first US tank battalions.
1923 – Private T E Shaw (‘Lawrence of Arabia’) joined as a recruit and in 1937.
1947 – Bovington became the Royal Armoured Corps Centre and in 1952 the ‘Boys’ Squadron RAC’ became the Junior Leaders Regiment. The camp remained much as it had been in 1925 until the 1960s, when a programme of rebuilding and modernisation took place.
1965 – HQ Director Royal Armoured Corps (DRAC) moved to Bovington from Whitehall in 1965, a new headquarters building being completed in 1978 to contain HQ DRAC, HQ RAC Centre, the Tactics School, a Court Martial Centre and other units.
1987 – The Armour School closed and Armour Technology training was moved to the Royal College of Military Science at Shrivenham.
1993 – The Tactics School moved to Warminster to become part of the Combined All-Arms Training Centre. In 1999 the RAC Centre was renamed the Armour Centre (ARMCEN) as it provides training in tracked armoured vehicles to the whole Field Army rather than just the RAC.
Lots of personnel means lots of laundry and catering requirements, which is why we’re always happy to help!
