Before World War II it became an anti-aircraft unit that served in the Battle of Britain, the Blitz and in the Far East where it converted to medium artillery in the Burma Campaign.

In 1860, his widow, Frances Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry, equipped a company raised for the 2nd Durham AVC from the colliery.

Two further companies were raised by the Mann brothers, local timber merchants, and a fourth from the bottlemakers of John Candlish's Londonderry Bottle Works.

On 24 June 1869, when the number of companies and officers was increased, Lord Ernest was appointed as second Lt-Col and Earl Vane's sons, Charles, Viscount Seaham and the Hon.

[6][7][8][9] (Another of Earl Vane's brothers, Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest, commanded the 3rd (Sunderland) Durham Rifle Volunteer Corps.

[6] From 5 May 1866, the corps was officially allowed to include '(Seaham)' in its title, and in 1868 four new batteries were added from around the West Rainton area.

These were originally to have formed a separate 5th (Rainton) Durham AVC, but the personnel raised were placed in the 2nd, and the new officers were gazetted to the 2nd on 24 June 1869.

This was particularly difficult for the divisional artillery, which had to gather requisitioned horses and mules and fit them with harness, and collect ammunition from Ordnance stores.

[24][25][30] On the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service and the large majority of the Northumbrian Division accepted.

On 15 August, the War Office (WO) issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units.

[17][31][32][33][34] The Northumbrian Division trained hard while manning the Tyne Defences, and orders to proceed to France to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) arrived on 16 April 1915.

Casualties among the infantry were heavy during the fighting to stabilise the British line (Battle of St Julien 24–28 April), but the divisional artillery did not take part.

The 50th Division had been split up to reinforce other formations and the infantry were heavily engaged for two days, but with ammunition being scarce there was little the gunners could do to support them.

[24][42] In December 1915, the division returned to the Ypres Salient, in the Hill 60 sector, with the divisional artillery distributed around Zillebeke Lake, in appalling conditions.

took their first and second objectives (Hook Trench and the Starfish Line), but the 47th (1/2nd London) Division to the right was unable to capture High Wood, and the Fusiliers suffered severe flanking fire from that dominant position.

D (H) Battery of CCLII Brigade fired obsolete 4.5-inch shrapnel shell for the last time: noting that a stubbornly held machine gun post in High Wood would have required a large amount of high explosive (HE) fire to get a direct hit, the battery commander, Maj R.M.

Guns opened simultaneously ... As seen from the air the barrage appeared to be a most perfect wall of fire, in which it was inconceivable that anything could live'.

[50] Further lodgements made in the enemy positions on 14 November were also driven back, and the divisional artillery was relieved that night.

When the TF was reconstituted as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921, the brigade and its batteries were renumbered:[6][17][62][63][64] The unit continued to be attached to the 50th (Northumbrian) Divisional area as 'Army Troops'.

[62] In the 1930s, the increasing need for anti-aircraft (AA) defence for Britain's cities was addressed by converting a number of TA units to that role.

On 1 January 1939, the RA replaced its traditional unit designation 'Brigade' by the modern 'Regiment', which allowed the 'AA Groups' to take the more usual formation title of 'Brigades'.

[6][70] In June 1939. a partial mobilisation of the TA was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected gun positions.

During the early part of the Battle of Britain, German day and night air raids and mine laying began along the East Coast of England, intensifying through June 1940.

Thereafter the Luftwaffe concentrated on Royal Air Force sites in the South of England, with occasional raids on the North East, such as the period 12–15 August.

[78] On 15 August, in the belief that the defences of NE England had been denuded, 65 Heinkel He 111 bombers of Kampfgeschwader 26, escorted by 35 Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters of Zerstörergeschwader 76, attacked Tyneside from bases in Norway.

At the end of December, it arrived at Ranchi, the base of operations for the Burma Campaign, under the 101st Lines of Communication (LoC) area.

[96][89][100] Shortly after the fall of Rangoon, IV Corps had been placed under the newly activated Twelfth Army, responsible for mopping up the remaining Japanese forces in Burma.

It carried this out until the end of the war including the Battle of the Sittang Bend, which involved severe fighting as the Japanese forces attempted to break out.

[98] When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, the regiment reformed with its HQ at Livingstone Road, Sunderland, as the 463 (Durham) HAA Rgt, and on 1 October the following year it became a 'Mixed' unit, indicating that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into it.

[17][63][104][105] Around 1865, the unit wore a pouch belt plate comprising an oval strap surmounted by a crown and bearing the words 'SEAHAM VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY', surrounding three gun barrels in pale derived from the arms of the Board of Ordnance.