Regimental depot

It is also where soldiers and officers awaiting discharge or postings are based and where injured soldiers return to full fitness after discharge from hospital before returning to full duty.

In a military dictionary of 1802, the word Depot is given multiple meanings: primarily it is said to describe 'any particular place in which military stores are deposited for the use of the army'; but 'it also signifies an appropriated fort, or place, for the reception of recruits, or detached parties, belonging to different regiments'.

Later, the depot at Maidstone served specifically as a recruitment centre for cavalry regiments stationed in India (and in 1830 a similar arrangement was established at Chatham for infantry regiments stationed in India and New South Wales).

[4] A list of barracks in Britain and Ireland designated to serve as depots for cavalry regiments.

[5][6] In the French Royal Army and Imperial Army, in addition to many of the empire's many puppet states, a dépôt was a battalion in size and would provide drafts to the regular 'field battalions' on a regular basis.