Prior to the creation of a “standing” army in the United Kingdom, Regiments were raised for specific purposes by a commission from the King. There did. However, exist an organisation which had the responsibility for the care, maintenance and issuing weapons and armour to those forces that the Crown saw fit to raise. That was the Board of Ordnance. The weapons and material that it had under its control was marked by a “Broad Arrow” which pointed up between a “B” and an “O”
Board of Ordnance Broad Arrow
According to Cleaveland’s “Notes on the Early History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery”, the origin of the “Broad Arrow” was the Crest of the Board of Ordnance. This was the “Thunderbolt of Jove” – a bundle of arrows in a clenched fist. Obviously, this could be easily marked upon a “Great gun” bu not so easily on a pike head. Hence the “Broad Arrow” which, when practical had the B and the O either side. He also maintains that the expression of “Broad Arrow” is a corruption of the original “Board’s Arrow”. In more recent times the B & O were replaced by the W & D of the War Department .
The Board of Ordnance was formally implemented in 1683, to become responsible for “preserving the state of our artillery, munitions, arms and all other habiliaments and equipage belonging to our Magazine Royal” and the duties of the various officers were formulated. By today’s terms, the Board was a combination of the Royal Artillery, Royal Logistical Corps and the Royal Engineers, with a bit of infantry and the Royal Navy’s guns and gunners thrown in.
In 1685, with the Duke of Monmouth’s Rebellion, Charles II recalled a number of infantry regiments from service in the Low Countries and also formed an Ordnance Regiment or the care and protection of the guns. It was to be called the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and was to consist of 12 companies of fusiliers and one company of miners. Because it was not, strictly speaking, an infantry regiment, or regiment of foot, it would not have company colours (ensigns) and therefore its commissioned officers would be 1 captain and two Lieutenants per company. The Lieutenants were to be paid the same but were to be termed the “First” Lieutenant and the “Second” Lieutenant rather than Lieutenant and Ensign.
Regular regiments of foot, of that era, consisted of companies of Musketeers (armed with muskets and swords), Pikemen (long pikes and swords) and Grenadiers (Hand grenades, muskets, bayonets, swords and hatchets). However, the private men of the Ordnance Regiment were to be armed with a “fusil” (a “snap-hance musquet with a bright barrel of three feet eight inches long) as well as a bayonet and sword; hence “Fusiliers”. The Fusiliers were not to man the guns, instead each gun had a crew of two gunners and a matrosse and were employed directly by the Board.
The Royal Fusiliers were raised in London, with two of the companies being old established independent companies from the Tower of London. And while the regiment was formed quite quickly, the Monmouth was in custody and the rebellion was over even more quickly swiftly, so it did not see any service then. In 1688, during the Glorious Revolution”, several companies saw service as marines with the Royal Navy and, with the accession of William and Mary to the throne, the Royal Fusiliers were considered a regiment of foot rather than an Ordnance regiment, even though it continued to operate without companies of pikemen but remained entirely armed with Fusils.
British Army Historical Database 