[1] The 1st Norfolk Artillery Volunteer Corps (AVC) was formed at Great Yarmouth on 29 September 1859, with further batteries being added on 23 February and 4 June 1860, and 26 December 1862.

In January 1864 several AVCs from Essex and Suffolk were attached to the 1st Norfolk for administration, and in November that year the 1st Administrative Brigade, Norfolk Artillery Volunteers, was formed with the following composition:[2][3][4][5] In the early years the corps used large coastal artillery guns at Great Yarmouth.

[6] When the Volunteers were reorganised in April 1880 the 1st Norfolk Admin Bde was consolidated into a single unit with headquarters at Great Yarmouth.

But the War Office refused to pay for the upkeep of field guns for Volunteers and they had largely died out in the 1870s.

[17][18] Meanwhile, the formation of duplicate or 2nd Line TF units from Home Service men and recruits had been authorised, and towards the end of 1914 the 2nd East Anglian Division came into existence at Peterborough.

The divisional artillery rejoined 54th Division at Mena Camp near Cairo and in April moved into No 1 (Southern) Section of the Suez Canal defences.

[23] After crossing the Wilderness,[24] the division took part in the First (26–7 March) and Second Battle of Gaza (17–9 April) Between 26 June and 1 July 1917 the brigade was reorganised, with A Bty transferred to CCLXIV Bde of 52nd (Lowland) Divisional Artillery and C (Howitzer) Bty (originally the 1st Suffolk Battery, see above) joining from CCLXXI (1/II East Anglian) Bde.

It next moved to Beirut, where it was concentrating when the Armistice of Mudros was signed with Turkey and hostilities ended on 31 October.

[17] In late November 1918 the division was ordered to return to Egypt, the artillery proceeding by sea and arriving in mid-December.

In March and April, when its guns had been handed in and about one-third of its men had left, 54th Divisional Artillery was converted into an ad hoc cavalry regiment to act as mounted police during disturbances in Cairo.

[17][25] Training for the 2nd Line artillery was hindered by the shortage of equipment, and several months passed before guns, horses and harness were received.

Early in 1915 the 2nd East Anglian Division (which was numbered 69th in August 1915) concentrated round Thetford, where it formed part of First Army in Central Force.

[19] On 1 September 1916, C Bty changed places (and designations) with 533 (Howitzer) Battery, RFA, at Cowshott (near Aldershot).

On the reconstitution of the TF as the Territorial Army in 1921 it was numbered as 84th (East Anglian) Brigade, RFA,, with the following organisation:[11][7][27][28] When the RFA merged into the Royal Artillery on 1 June 1924, the unit changed its title to a 'Field Brigade, RA', and the subtitle '1st East Anglian' was restored in 1937.

[11][27] The brigade moved into new drill halls at All Saints Green, Norwich, Artillery Square, Great Yarmouth, and Lincoln Road, Peterborough.

The commander of Persia and Iraq Command (PAIFORCE), Gen Henry Maitland Wilson, had urgently requested additional AA units, to cover the vital oilfields and other facilities in case of Luftwaffe attack from the Caucasus,[46] and the regiment joined Ninth Army in October.

[31][33][47][48] In the event, the Germans did not break through in the Caucasus and the Luftwaffe was never able to bomb Iraq or Persia, which made the job of AA units in PAIFORCE rather dull.

[46] By January 1943, 78th HAA Rgt was part of 'AA Defence Area Levant' in 20th AA Bde, which covered Haifa, Beirut and Tripoli.

In July the brigade was relieved and moved across Italy to defend Civitavecchia and US airfields on the Tiber plain, then back across to Ancona.

[11][30][31][33] When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, the unit reformed at Great Yarmouth as 284th (1st East Anglian) (Mixed) HAA Rgt, the 'Mixed' now indicating that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into the regiment.