Royal Naval Artillery Volunteer Force

A volunteer naval reserve that was organized into units in several locations around the British Isles. The volunteers were unpaid civilians who bought their own uniforms and paid for travel expenses. The Royal Naval Reserve (Volunteers) was a separate organization that recruited men from the mercantile marine. The Royal Naval Artillery Reserve was disbanded in 1892, but the Naval Forces Act of 1903 established the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) whose recruits were civilians without seagoing experience. The Royal Naval Artillery Volunteer Force was thus a forerunner to the RNVR.