Their wartime role was to man coastal defences and fortifications, relieving the Royal Artillery (RA) for active service.

[6][7][8][9][10] The Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant was Richard Beaumont Burnaby, a retired Lt-Col in the Royal Artillery and a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo.

War having broken out with Russia and an expeditionary force sent to the Crimea, the militia began to be embodied for permanent service later that year.

It was due to be joined by the companies from Fort Blockhouse and Hurst Castle, but an error in drafting the 1852 Act led to large numbers of militiamen taking their discharge, including 174 of the Hampshire Artillery.

The reduced corps was sent back to Hampshire to occupy Southsea Castle, with two companies detached to Fort Blockhouse and later two to Browndown.

[7][8][11][13][14] In July No 2 Company was moved from Fort Blockhouse to Hurst Castle, with a detachment doing duty with the Regular RA at Point Battery Barracks.

On 21 July No 2 Company became the first militia artillery unit to fire a Royal Salute when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's vessel passed Hurst Castle.

During August militiamen were encouraged to transfer to the Regular Army, and 51 men of the Hampshire Artillery did so, mainly to the RA and Royal Marines, followed by another 45 in February 1856.

Other duties carried out by the unit included embarking guns and stores at Cowes on the Isle of Wight and mounting guard on the Gunpowder magazines at Marchwood outside Southampton.

The Hampshire Artillery maintained a training battery of six obsolete 6-pounder field guns at Gosport, which were fired on Anglesea Common.

[11][17] As soon as the 1858 training ended on 10 October the Hampshire Militia Artillery was embodied next day to supplement the Regulars while a large expeditionary force was absent fighting the Indian Mutiny.

On 18 October it went by special train to Plymouth, where it was quartered in Granby and Raglan Barracks, Devonport, supplying guards for the dockyard and gates.

In January 1859 the corps received new rifled carbines, and a party attended the School of Musketry at Hythe, Kent, for instruction.

[29] Recruitment had become a problem in Hampshire, and in January 1889 the unit was permitted to enlist men from the two neighbouring counties in the RA's Southern Division, Dorset and Wiltshire.

[6][8][12][30] In 1890 two machine guns were issued to the brigade, and its training that year practised mobilisation to man the Needles defences on the Isle of Wight.

In white metal (silver for officers) they had a scalloped edge with the Hampshire rose in place of the usual crown above the three cannons of the Board of Ordnance.